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Welcome to the September edition of the Milldam Monthly.
As August turns to September and our weather turns from “hot and humid” to “classic New England fall,” our thoughts turn towards the inevitable rush of PR campaigns and exciting announcements that populate the autumn months.
Though Milldam has been in business for over 10 years, we enjoyed stepping back for this newsletter and thinking about some “basics.” What does it mean to send a “pitch” today? How can we all improve our networking skills (something we don’t always consider with focus)?
Our September newsletter explores both topics, in addition to offering a sweeping view of news from our clients and industry updates from the previous month.
We’ve also been regularly posting pictures from New Orleans, Las Vegas, and San Francisco as we attend trade shows and meet with clients all over the country. See our pictures on the Milldam Instagram!
As always, if you’re interested in exploring how we can support your public relations and marketing campaigns, just reach out.Best Wishes,
Adam Waitkunas
President
Milldam Public Relations
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Critical Facilities Summit Welcome Reception
Milldam Public Relations is pleased to host a welcome reception at the 2016
Critical Facilities Summit, in Charlotte, North Carolina!
Are you attending the show? Setting up a booth? Kick-off the event by relaxing with Milldam and networking with your peers.WHAT:
Drinks, light appetizers, and networking to begin the Critical Facilities Summit
WHEN:
Sunday, October 2 at 7:00 PM
WHERE:
100 West Trade Street
Charlotte,
North Carolina
28202
– Suite number to be announced –
Please RSVP by clicking on the button below. We’ll send you the suite number on Sunday afternoon prior to the event.
Your guests are welcome – just let us know how many are attending with you.
Questions? Call or email Caroline:
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Back to Basics: The PR Pitch
The PR pitch is the backbone of our work. Crafting your news into stories that generate media interest is a skill we never stop honing. The pitch is deceptively simple, though.
There are a few basic elements: write the story or news release in a condensed paragraph or two, determine the publication you’re pitching, and research which reporters are most likely to be interested. Pulling these three pieces together successfully takes thought, analysis, understanding, creativity, and of course, some trusted media contacts.
SpinSucks, the popular PR blog, recently published a piece that looks beyond these components to ask a few more questions about the PR pitch in an effort to better shape successful approaches to pitching.
Here are author Michelle Garrett’s main points:
To whom?
She questions the final step of the pitch closely: WHO are you actually sending this story to? Before you even pitch this person, it’s best to read some articles, understand what he or she is usually interested in writing about, and maybe even head to social media to share and comment on some of their articles.
Wildly pitching media lists is only worthwhile if you know the importance of each and every contact on that list.
How many at once?
After putting a lot of work into a nicely crafted email about a piece of news, it can be tempting to use the exact same copy and just fire it off to 10 or 15 of your favorite reporters within the field. This is lazy! It typically won’t produce the results you’re looking for.
Always edit a pitch to reflect the publication and reporter to whom you’re reaching out. Most important is demonstrating your understanding of why this story is relevant to his or her typical beat.
What else?
While the carefully crafted email pitch is usually our first point of contact for a story, there are a number of other ways to pitch news. Here are some options noted by Garrett in her article:
- Research first, to see who’s writing about what. This might open some opportunities to pitch future stories.
- Use a media database. For example, Milldam uses CisionPoint to craft lists of reporters interested in a particular field.
- Engage on social media. Many reporters tweet about their stories and it’s another avenue for reaching out. Toss them a retweet while you’re at it.
- Read through the print version! Most outlets are online, but if print is available it can offer inspiration or insight into the trends and interest of a particular publication.
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Plaid Shirts, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, and Networking
Networking is always a popular topic for business columns. Ideas about how or when to network seem to work their way into articles about career growth, conference attendance, meeting follow-up, sales tactics, and general professional development. This year, we’ve noticed a new approach: networking specifically considered as the seasons shift.
The following are a few pieces we’ve recently come across that outline tips and tactics for kick-starting your fall networking skills after (perhaps) taking the summer off.
“Sticky Situation: 6 Ways To Prepare For Fall Networking”
Huffington Post
While reading this article that focuses on giving actionable advice, we found the first two points to be most important if you’re looking to “up” your networking game.
- Review the year to date so you can evaluate your success so far.
- Set realistic goals for the remainder of the year.
Get all 6 tips here.
“Career Coach: Summer’s over, time to put yourself in a networking frame of mind”
The Washington Post
This article defines the concept of “networking” today and proceeds to analyze why networking is important before offering some suggestions for how to increase your networking activity both within and outside of your organization.
“Check In with Your Network – and Make New Contacts – Now That Summer’s Over”
Media Bistro
An article geared for the younger professional, this piece is nonetheless a helpful reminder for us all to remember to strengthen our networks with both in-person contacts as well as online profiles for social media networking.
“6 Tips for Transitioning Your Summer Career Habits Into Fall”
U.S. News: Money
The second and fifth tips are most relevant to the topic of networking. While number 2 specifically encourages you to “get networking,” we feel it’s important to do this in accordance with number 5, “plan your daily schedules” to be sure it doesn’t fall by the wayside.
Between watching fall football, wearing new flannels, and managing an uptick in projects at work, remembering to revisit your goals for professional networking should remain a priority.
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Future Facilities Launches Performance Indicator Assessment Service
The Performance Indicator is the Green Grid’s newest metric for the data center industry and was released this summer as an improved understanding of data center efficiency and operations, beyond PUE. Future Facilities is equipped to help owner/operators apply PI to maximize OpEx. Read about this new service at
Facility Executive.
Instor Opens Virginia Office and Welcomes Former Digital Realty Executive
Instor Solutions announced a formal expansion to the East Coast, based from an office in the data center hot-bed of Ashburn, Virginia. Supported by a number of new hires, the East Coast growth will be led by Gary Wong, formerly of Digital Realty who joins Instor as Director of Applications Engineering. See details about the expansion at
Virginia Business. Level3 Brings Connectivity to ColocationGuard’s Brooklyn Data Center
The only data center in Brooklyn has welcomed Level3 to its portfolio of networks providing premium connectivity. Customers of ColocationGuard now have access to Level 3’s dark fiber and high-speed Internet protocol services through 10Gig, 1Gig and 100 Mbps ports with an international reach. See the article at
Datacenter Dynamics. Critical Facilities Summit Focuses on Healthcare at 2016 Show
While the Summit always offers a number of tracks covering a variety of topics, this year’s line-up features several sessions specifically geared towards the healthcare industry. John Mattox from Carrier and Johnson + Culture and Bruce Kaskel and Sarah Sinusas of Wiss, Janney and Elstner Associates, Inc. are leading these presentations at the conference. Learn more at
Mission Critical Magazine. RF Code Manages over 125,000 Racks with CenterScape
CenterScape, the data center management platform by RF Code, is now responsible for managing over 125,000 racks. A subscription pricing model has made this scope achievable while also allowing customers to lease software and hardware from RF Code on an annual per-rack basis. This approach offers additional flexibility and eliminates excess maintenance costs. Read the full story at
Healthcare Facilities Today.
ColocationGuard Expands Data Center Footprint in Jersey City
The only data center in Brooklyn, ColocationGuard has expanded out of the borough and gained 10,000 square feet of space at 111 Town Square Place in New Jersey. The expansion will offer customers of ColocationGuard various connectivity options at 111 TSP as well as security and safety features including integrated CCTV, biometrics and a cross-zoned fire protection system. Read the article at
Commercial Property Executive.
Upsite Technologies Releases New Grommets
Compelling Session on ASHRAE 90.4 to be Held at Critical Facilities Summit
Instor Expands Workforce in Southwest and West Coast
Due to high demand and rapid growth, Instor Solutions welcomed four more industry professionals to offices in Texas and California. Of the new hires, Byron Ferguson joins the company as Director of Professional Services. This position was established specifically to further ensure quality and execution for Instor’s customers. Get details at
Data Centres News. Luxembourg Welcomes Hurricane Electric
The global IP backbone company establishes Points-of-Presence all over the world. This month’s location was announced in Luxembourg at LuxConnect’s DC1.1 data center. Hurricane Electric has over 17,000 BGP sessions with over 5,700 different networks via more than 145 major exchange points. See more about this new PoP at
Capacity Magazine.
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The Silicon Valley to Experience Further Data Center Growth
Despite the expense of purchasing land and power, as well as the threat of earthquakes and an unstable natural environment, the Silicon Valley remains a popular destination for data center locations because of its proximity to some of the biggest players in the technology industry. The piece focuses specifically on Santa Clara and, unsurprising for most of us in the industry, lists
Northern Virginia, Dallas/Forth Worth, Northern New
Jersey and Chicago. as the next locations prime for growth. Read the full article at
Data Center Frontier.
A New Enterprise Needs A New Infrastructure
Rather than supplementing a legacy infrastructure with a more flexible or scalable cloud, data center developers are considering operational workflows that take advantage of the cloud’s unique attributes. These new ways of thinking about cloud are arising as an increasing number of businesses recognize the opportunity for cloud but retain hesitation around issues such as security, migration, and integration. Read more details at
IT Business Edge.
Former eBay Executive Dean Nelson to Lead Uber Compute
Dean Nelson, formerly with Ebay, has recently joined Uber as Head of Uber Compute. Hiring an executive with this level of data center expertise indicates that Uber’s data infrastructure is poised for great growth and is possibly anticipating the establishment of its own data centers. In the announcement of this position, Nelson referred to his role with Uber as “hyperscale meets supercomputing.” Learn more at
Data Center Frontier. |
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October 3-5
Charlotte Convention Center
Charlotte, NC
October 5-6
Cityplace Events
Dallas, TX
October 5-6
Hyatt Regency Toronto
Toronto, Canata
October 6
PwC
Boston, MA
October 13
Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, MA
Harvard Business School
Cambridge, MA
October 17-18
Hyatt Vineyard Creek
Santa Rosa, CA
October 23-26
JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort
Phoenix, AZ
October 27
Fairmont Miramar Hotel
Santa Monica, CA
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About Milldam Public Relations
Concord, Massachusetts-based Milldam Public Relations is a full-service public relations firm that provides competitively priced communications, media-relations, event-management, social media, business-development, writing services, and outreach to small and midsize technology companies.
We have particular expertise in data centers, IT, energy, and telecom. No matter your vertical, we will facilitate media relations, drive brand awareness, and engage your audience with the stories that count.
To find out how Milldam can earn unbiased editorial coverage for your company, please visit our website.
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