Year: 2016

North Coast Media brands win 14 Regional Azbee Awards from ASBPE

 

CLEVELAND — North Coast Media (NCM) is proud announce that its brands and staff combined to win 14 Azbee awards at the ASBPE Heartland Region banquet June 24 in Cleveland.

Launched in 1964 as the American Society of Business Press Editors, ASBPE is the professional association of editors, writers, art directors and designers in the business, trade and specialty publishing industry.

Heartland Region awards were selected from more than 1,200 entries from member states Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.

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NCM staff members at the 2016 ASBPE Heartland Region awards banquet in Cleveland

North Coast Media publications Golfdom, GPS World, Landscape Management, LP Gas and Pest Management Professional received awards, as did the company’s corporate website. (See below for the complete list)

Several of the regional finalists are also finalists for national awards, which will be announced July 21 at the Azbee Awards of Excellence Banquet during the ASBPE National Conference at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida.

NCM’s Joelle Harms will represent the company at the National Awards, where she is also being named a Young Leader.

The complete list of NCM brands and staff recognized includes:

Golfdom

masterpiece of minimalismPrint, Original Research, Gold Medalist, “The Golfdom Report,” Seth Jones, Pete Seltzer and Grant Gannon

Design, Front Cover-Photo, Silver Medalist, “A Masterpiece of Minimalism,” Pete Seltzer and Seth Jones

Design, Opening Page/Spread-Illustration, Bronze Medalist, “Water, Water, Everywhere” (November 2015), Pete Seltzer

GPS World

Design, Website Redesign, Bronze Medalist, GPSWorld.com, Jesse Malcmacher, Joelle Harms, Bethany Chambers and Pete Seltzer.

Landscape Management

Print, Special Supplement, Gold Medalist, LM150, Marisa Palmieri, Dillon Stewart and Tracie Martinez

Print, How-To Article, Silver Medalist, “Step by Step: How to store pesticides,” Marisa Palmieri, Dillon Stewart and Tracie Martinez

Online, Social Media Presence, Silver Medalist, Landscape Management social media, Marisa Palmieri, Allison Barwacz and Dillon Stewart

LP Gas

Online, Web Feature Article, Silver Medalist, “The digital revolution and its impact on the propane industry,” Allison Barwacz

Print, Original Research, Bronze Medalist, “Concealed carry policy discussion,” Megan Smalley

North Coast Media

Design, Website Design, Silver Medalist, NorthCoastMedia.net, Jesse Malcmacher, Joelle Harms, Bethany Chambers, Pete Seltzer and Steve Galperin

Pest Management Professional

PMP_PesTech_419x600-210x300Design, Front Cover-Illustration, Silver Medalist, “PestTech 3.0” (December 2015), Leo Michael, Illustrator; Tracie Martinez, Marty Whitford and Heather Gooch

Print, Humorous/Fun Department, Silver Medalist, “Start-Up Diaries,” Pete Schopen, Contributor; Marty Whitford, Heather Gooch and Tracie Martinez

Design, Front Cover-Best Typographic Cover, Bronze Medalist, “2016 State of the Industry Survey” (November 2015), Tracie Martinez, Marty Whitford and Heather Gooch

Top takeaways from the Cavs’ social media strategy

By Allison Barwacz, Digital Media Content Producer

The Cleveland Cavaliers becoming NBA champions for the first time in franchise history gave Cleveland a spotlight it’s been yearning for since LeBron James first joined the team in 2003. Cleveland’s first major sports title in 52 years ignited an explosion of cheers, tears and—not surprisingly—social media posts.

With a victory secured by Kyrie Irving’s 3-pointer in the final minute of Game 7, the Cavs’ social media team prepared for what would soon be an ongoing influx of posts for months to follow. The 15-person digital team, including social media coordinators Lucy Matz, Matt North and Courtney Shilling, made its presence known as a social media leader among the 390,000+ Clevelanders tweeting and sharing their NBA Finals experiences.

It took some serious planning, though.

“Covering games during the regular season, and more so the Playoffs, prepared us for what was expected for Game 7,” Matz says. “As far as victory posts, we had a lot of copy planned that we genuinely had prepared for at the beginning of the season that we were hoping to use when we finally won. So, most of the Game 7 posting was very thought-out and planned for. Our digital team was very proactive to being prepared for winning it all. We had graphics and splash pages ready to go.”

With that in mind, here are some takeaways we can use from the Cavs’ social media strategy.

1. Promote your brand.

When your company is attending or hosting an event, heavily promote the event on all platforms using a short, catchy hashtag. Aligning with the previous year’s hashtag and Cleveland’s area code, the Cavs’ social media gurus made #Allin216 more than just a hashtag. It became a symbol spray-painted throughout city sidewalks, a logo plastered on Cavs T-shirts and a phrase chanted throughout Cleveland.

 

The #NBAFinals looks good on you, @TheQArena. #ALLin216

A photo posted by Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) on

2. Encourage engagement.

Make sure you share or retweet relevant or interesting social media posts, as well as answer questions your followers ask you. There’s nothing wrong with additional content on your social media pages—especially if it catches your readers’ interests.

Encourage engagement by starting conversations on your page, too. Ask your audience a question or invite them to send or tag you in pictures from an event. You can share those images to promote your brand and entice your followers.

“Content, fan engagement and marketing/activations fuel our social media strategy,” Matz says. “Whether it’s documenting a game, sharing a player feature, getting involved in trending internet topics or showcasing our community involvement, we drive most of our strategy based off of team-related content. Fan engagement is huge for the Cavs in social media. Unlike many professional sporting teams, we reply to our fans and listen to what they’re telling us.”

Your social media engagement will help build a community, as long as you keep your shares, retweets and comments professional and friendly.

 

3. Integrate multimedia.

People have become accustomed to seeing pictures on social media, so much so that the importance of visual social media is a given. Almost everyone has a smartphone, making it easy to immediately post pictures to their social media accounts.

“Social media platforms, particularly Facebook and Twitter, have redesigned their news feeds to place more emphasis on visuals,” says Catriona Pollard, director of Australian PR and social media agency CP Communications, in a Huffington Post blog. “Images are attention grabbing pieces of ‘snackable’ content which users can understand and engage with ease. Images used in your social media are far more likely to evoke emotional reactions in viewers and can portray information more efficiently than text.”

Videos, pictures and GIFs flood the Cavs’ social media accounts, making them interesting, appealing and informational. Matz emphasized using a slightly different strategy for each platform, based on character limitations, user interest and engagement.

“For our purposes, we find that photos, GIFs and videos receive more engagement with our fans,” she says. “We like to mix up our content across channels to stay fresh, so we keep a constant rotation of photos, GIFs and videos. On Twitter, we’re likely to use team-oriented GIFs over popular-culture GIFs, as that is more fitting to our brand identity. We’ve also utilized Facebook Live recently, which has received massive views, especially during the playoffs.”

4. Be personable and helpful.

If someone makes a positive comment to you, make sure you respond. It’s important to establish a friendly voice. The Cavs’ social media team assists followers who ask questions and offers helpful tips based off of other user comments.

“We often reply (as @cavs) to fans on Instagram or Facebook, and very often ‘like’ our fans comments or shares across all social platforms,” Matz says. “For any valid questions that concern the team or Quicken Loans Arena, we utilize @TheQAssist account to reply, to keep the @cavs handle game/team specific, while providing a customer-service-driven portal for fans to assist where needed.”

Your users will look up to you as a credible, reliable source for their needs.

5. Have fun with it.

While social media can be a challenging beast to tackle, keep this in mind: You can be both professional and fun.

“It’s important that we humanize our brand as fans come to our social media pages to be entertained and feel good about their team,” Matz says. “We try to keep things light-hearted and fun across the board in our strategy. That stands from game content to a corporate-partner activation. We always try to keep Cavs Nation enjoying our posts.”

The Cavs’ social media team carefully chooses which posts to share from the account’s followers, ensuring they’re appropriate and user-friendly. The team manages to intertwine business and fun, sharing posts that avoid dryness and embrace excitement.

“Your professional social media site is supposed to be about your business, though you still want to make sure that it’s getting the attention you want it to get,” says entrepreneur and penny stock expert Timothy Sykes in an article on Entrepreneur.com. “Simply put, you want to be popular on social media. However, you need to find that balance between popularity and business. You need to have a little bit of both and mix the more fun side that wants popularity with the serious and informative side that boosts the reputation of your business.”

And by doing so, the Cavs’ social media team has been reaping the rewards.

“We continue to see large impressions on all of our posts that we’ve shared from Game 7 to today,” Matz says. “We’ve also seen an incredible growth in our audience during the NBA Finals and since we’ve won. It’s amazing what winning a championship can do.”

Allison holds a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism with specializations in Spanish and English. Her understanding of the ever-changing digital media world allows her to quickly grasp what a target audience desires and create content that is appealing and relevant for any client across any platform.

5 Must-follow corporate security rules for passwords

By Ennio Gallucci, Digital Media Intern

Passwords are important for maintaining security because a poorly conceived password can destroy a user or a company. Even if the breach is repaired, reputations for the business are often impossible to mend. For example, LinkedIn was a victim of a massive password leak, and lost many of its users because of it.

Here are five tips for creating effective passwords:

1. Don’t think the bare minimum is good enough.

An eight-digit password is usually the status quo for accounts online, and some websites may take the attempt at security a step further by requiring a number, a capital letter, or a special character. To fulfill these criteria, you could create a password like $Rubber89. This password is nine digits, has a capital letter, a special character and two numbers. Although it may seem secure, it is not; password-cracking algorithms easily substitute for capital letters and account for numbers and symbols in obvious places. The base of the password (rubber) is easily found and compromised in dictionary-based attacks.

2. Do strive for complexity.

A better password would use a “random” series of digits, including lower and upper-case letters, numbers, and characters. The eight-digit requirement is a good start, but is also weak; 16 characters is a dramatic improvement. A better password would be %fY0ml*8)jj^`5_Ux>. Passwords like this can be generated randomly (or as randomly as possible) with online password generators for those who are less creative. Unfortunately, with the additional security, the ease of use is sacrificed.

Here are two password generators:

https://www.passwordsgenerator.net/

https://lastpass.com/generatepassword.php

3. Do keep track carefully.

Online password managers are a good solution, especially if multiple passwords are being used. Writing down your passwords on a local machine/account or on a sheet of paper is an equally bad idea, as this can easily be compromised regardless of the quality of your passwords.

Here are two online password managers:

https://www.dashlane.com/passwordmanager

https://lastpass.com/

4. Don’t get complacent.

Never use the same password in multiple places. It might be easier to remember the same password for multiple accounts, but doing so will severely comprise your security.

5. Do consider alternatives.

An alternative method, and one that makes remembering passwords easier, is to use pass phrases. Instead of a good password like %fY0ml*8)jj^`5_Ux>, a good pass phrase would be inevitable substitute paint chameleon zephyr. This password is a whopping 44 characters, and is a lot easier to remember. It should be noted that the phrase is “random,” meaning it is not expected that the words would go together. A pass phrase like green leaves are red in autumn is a poor password because the phrase takes a predictable path and can be easily cracked.

Of course, cracking a password is an involved process, and it is unlikely that someone would target you anyway, but there is still always a risk. In a worst case scenario, you would use the same password for your email, website and social media.

A hacker could then crack one password, and then use this information to take over other accounts. Most accounts are linked, meaning that your email is going to be associated with your social media and work accounts. A hacker can easily link the accounts together and attack multiple accounts at once if only one password is used for everything. With this information, a hacker could lock you out of your email, your social media or website.

The latter could be the most problematic; a hacker could hold your site for ransom and only give you back access if you pay a fee. Paying a ransom, unfortunately, is often a cheaper and easier solution than mitigating the problem on your own. But, by taking the necessary precautions, you can reasonably assure that you won’t be an easy target for exploitation.

Ennio Gallucci is a student at Cleveland State University, where he is working on his degree in computer science. At NCM, he is assisting the digital team with SEO and web development.
 
Photo credit: perspec_photo88 via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

How the 2016 U.S. Open taught me about the difference between B2B and B2C media

By Adam Asadorian, Digital Media Intern

If someone were to ask you how business-to-business (B2B) marketing and media differs from business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing and media, what would you say? It wasn’t until I got to North Coast Media that I asked myself this question. I began researching the difference, but it wasn’t until my first few days at North Coast Media that I really could grasp what it all meant to the business world.

If you’re new to the B2B world or considering a job in this area, one of the quickest ways to see the difference is by comparing the coverage of a major event or news story to that of a B2C.

During my first two weeks on the job, the major event that was taking place was the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. This was an amazing opportunity for me right out of the gate working with Golfdom magazine, a B2B publication. I quickly realized that the B2B operation in front of me was entirely different than any type of media that I had come across before as a consumer.

To break down the differences in these techniques, I compared what I was seeing this year with Golfdom to what I have seen in past years with ESPN and Sports Illustrated. Here are just a few points, along with social media examples, that I picked out about each of the different types of media:

1. ESPN, B2C

Perhaps the most well-known media source for sports fans around the world, ESPN’s main focus on this year’s tournament was the golfers participating and the final outcome. ESPN’s website includes stats, schedules, rankings and players. Prior to the tournament, they focus on who they believe will win and how each player could benefit from a solid finish in the Open. While the actual event is taking place from Thursday to Sunday, ESPN gives the day-by-day highlights of every player and talks about who has impressed and who has disappointed.

When all is said and done, the winner of the U.S. Open and how the tournament coverage is displayed to a dedicated audience of golf fans is what really matters to ESPN.

2. Sports Illustrated, B2C

Sports Illustrated is one of the most popular magazines for all major sports in the United States. They cover every detail and drama that the tournament has to offer. Typically, they cover the players in-depth and mention anything that may come up that is out of the ordinary. This year for the U.S. Open, a main focus that Sports Illustrated had was on the TV coverage of Fox. Last year the coverage was referred to as “disastrous,” giving SI a story to write about prior to this year’s tournament. Other top stories they covered included the USGA rules fiasco and Dustin Johnson’s first major victory. Sports Illustrated covers human interest stories they believe are of interest to sports fans in general.

3. Golfdom, B2B

Golfdom is a magazine that offers news and insights to other businesses and individuals who own, manage and maintain golf courses. The posts that Golfdom creates mainly deal with course renovations, conditions, and the equipment used to perform different tasks on the course. This year with the U.S. Open, Golfdom seemed to do most of its work during the days leading up to the tournament. News dealt with the course conditions, the recent tree removal process that took place, and how the Oakmont CC grounds crew was handling the year leading up to this one weekend.

Overall, Golfdom is interested more in the U.S. Open process and every step that goes into preparing the course more than the golfers actually performing in the event.

As a consumer, I know that what matters most is how we benefit directly from something — in this case, if our favorite golfer won the tournament or if the USGA is living up to our standards — and that news is what B2C publications give us. On the consumer end we can lose sight of the process and hard work that contributes to the end result. Ultimately, B2B readers want the same things; they want information that can benefit them directly, but in their professional lives. This is the behind-the-scenes information B2C readers may miss. Following Golfdom as my B2B source was an eye-opening experience that made me appreciate the 2016 U.S. Open in a different way than ever before.

Adam Asadorian is a student at The Ohio State University majoring in business. He is also a lifelong golf fan. (Feature photo by Seth Jones.)

Performance reviews: How to showcase your talents

By Diane Sofranec, Managing Editor

 

Nearly every company requires employees to participate in the performance review process. But how can you get the most out of an on-the-job assessment with your boss?

Before your performance review meeting, take time to think about the outstanding work you’ve done over the past year. Pay particular attention to the successes your boss may not have noticed.

In part one of my performance review blog post, I explained how to ensure you get the most out of your performance review. This time, I’ll explore how you can show you’re an asset to your company.

Here are 4 steps to ensure your performance review will help your career:

1. Keep track of your accomplishments.

Now is the time to show how you are an asset to your company. Tell your boss how you helped your company save money, successfully completed a project before deadline and under budget, or established a valuable contact. Prove your value by documenting examples of the good job you consistently do. If you don’t do so already, keep track of the amazing work you do throughout the year so you won’t forget accomplishments worth mentioning.

2. Show off your stellar attitude.

Let your boss know you are eager to learn. Take on new challenges and responsibility. Volunteer for the work your colleagues shirk. Learn new skills that will take your job performance to the next level. Show your boss you are a reliable, hard working professional who can successfully complete a variety of tasks, no matter how large or small.

3. Disclose positive feedback.

Make sure your boss knows you received compliments from clients and coworkers throughout the year. If you have them in writing, present copies to your boss during your performance review. Clarify the comments with a brief explanation of what you did to earn the accolades.

4. Ask what you can do now to advance your career in the future.

If you love the company you work for, let your boss know you want to stick around and move up the corporate ladder. Convey your excitement about your future with your company by suggesting new projects or offering helpful ideas. Demonstrate your willingness to go above and beyond what’s expected of you.

Before your performance review meeting, think about the positive contributions you make to your company, and then share them with you boss. It may be one of the best career moves you make.

 

Diane Sofranec has more than 25 years of B2B media experience. She joined North Coast Media in 2013 as a digital content producer and is now managing editor of the company’s Pest Management Professional magazine.

 

7 Business tips from the championship-winning Cleveland Cavs

 

By Bethany Chambers, Digital Operations Manager

Sunday, June 19, 2016 is a date the people of Cleveland will long remember as The Day the Losing Ended. In 48 hard-fought minutes and one three-point clutch shot by a 24-year-old superstar in the making, it reset the clock on 52 years of misery.

The Cleveland Cavaliers joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1970 and went 46 years without a Walter A. Brown or Larry O’Brien trophy. While it’s true you learn a lot from failure as a business, this time Clevelanders get to learn from a success.

 

1. Play to your strengths, but switch it up every now and then.

LeBron James is arguably one of the best forwards in history. Kyrie Irving is making a run for his mark on point guard. When you have specialists, let them specialize.

That management theory was also on display this week in an episode of ESPN 30 for 30’s “O.J.: Made in America.” As you know if you were a fan of “The Juice,” an ill-advised coach moved O.J. Simpson to receiver in his first two years with the Buffalo Bills, even though he was a Heisman Trophy-winning running back at USC.

A teammate of O.J.’s says in the documentary: “I tell you, if [head coach] Lou Saban hadn’t have come in, we wouldn’t be doing this story right now.”

In O.J.’s case, making an American icon meant knowing what he did best (run) what he couldn’t do at all (catch). You put your players in a position to succeed.

That said, this NBA Finals series was won by switching that worked for the Cavs and lost by switching that felt forced and unnatural for the Warriors, especially on defense.

Of course your company needs strong players — the best marketers, editors and sales team — but looking for unicorns, people who have strengths in more than one core area and can contribute where they are needed, when they are needed is what makes a winning team.

 

2. Make a place for the misfits.

Unicorns are different, and that can make it hard for them to fit in. The Cavs’ unicorn is Kevin Love, and he has been on the receiving end of ongoing invective from Cleveland fans. Everyone from the media to the people of Reddit have tried to figure out why people don’t like Kevin Love, but the answer is simple: He’s aloof and strange and doesn’t fit the mold of the highly paid athlete (either the one of the grateful gentleman or the charming cad). It’s natural selection to find the runt and pick on him.

In Game 7 though, that 6’10” runt showed up big time with nine points and 14 rebounds. In your business, sometimes the ones you least expect to carry your team will step up and shine when it matters most. As a manager, those will be your brightest moments.

 

3. What you say matters more than how you say it – as long as you back it up with actions.

 

Six long years ago when LeBron decided to take his talents to South Beach, team owner Dan Gilbert wrote a letter to fans about the “cowardly betrayal.” It was emotional and embodied how we felt…but it was typed in Comic Sans. The clown car of typography. The preferred font of preschools.

The letter was peppered with ALL-CAPS sentences. You could practically hear Dan shouting at his computer.

But you know what? Dan delivered on his [PERSONAL] GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP.

So, while I don’t advise using Comic Sans ever, go ahead and show your quirkiest, Kevin Love-iest self with your own signature typeface — just so long as you make good on your promises.

4. Delayed gratification has its benefits.

With parents from Pittsburgh, I grew up in a house full of “City of Champions” memorabilia. Then I went to elementary school and learned the story of the long-suffering native Clevelander. I adopted the teams of my parents’ adopted home. Then I went to college in Pittsburgh…and got a front-row seat to Super Bowl and Stanley Cup wins. Pittsburghers love their teams, but it’s a fact: Your first championship feels the best. After that you just don’t get the euphoric high.

At work I liken this to the bottle of champagne I keep at my desk. In your  career, what award is the one that leads you to pop that bottle and go nuts like J.R. Smith in Las Vegas? If you’re not a pro athlete, it’s probably not that clear. Instead view each professional milestone not as a championship but as another game in a long series. If you’re successful, you’ll retire knowing you ended up with a lot of Game 7 victories.

5. Winning is better when you do it as a team.

 

LeBron said something that stuck with me in his postgame press conference when asked about turning around the team’s 3-1 series deficit in the finals: “I’m their leader and they allow me to lead, those guys, every single night, and I was true to that.”

LeBron exemplifies a key attribute of successful teams: The team makes the leader, not vice versa. Leadership is not a role you take, it’s a power that is bestowed by the people around you.

6. Proving people wrong is a strong motivator.

 

A lot of people doubted the Cavs. In the ESPN Game 7 pregame coverage, all but one commentator picked the Warriors to win. And their criticism of the Cavs was mild compared to that of other big-name Cleveland-hating talking heads Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith.

Even here in the city, we had to contend with the executive producer of the 2016 Republican Convention wishing for “an early dismissal” from the playoffs for our team, so they could set up a stage. Do you know how many Republican Conventions have taken place since a Cleveland team last won a championship? 12. With four Republicans being elected in that time. And three of them serving two terms. That’s a lot of years.

The Cavs — and I would say Cleveland — turned all that negativity into a positive. Positively Cleveland. Your business can do that too by positioning weaknesses as opportunities.

 

7. When it’s not meant to be, it won’t be. But when it’s meant to be…

 

Entrepreneurs, like Cleveland fans, know a lot about what’s not meant to be. Google “failures that led to success,” though, and you’ll find a treasure trove of #MondayMotivation about “8 successful products that only exist because of failure” and “6 stories of super successes who overcame failure.”

Want something longer on the topic, and you can check out Malcolm Gladwell’s must-read New Yorker piece “Late Bloomers,” which points out that genius and success need not come quickly nor early in life. Gladwell writes something that I think anyone who has been putting in long hours in the office — and many years watching the cursed Cleveland teams — will find heartening.

Late bloomers’ stories are invariably love stories, and this may be why we have such difficulty with them. We’d like to think that mundane matters like loyalty, steadfastness, and the willingness to keep writing checks to support what looks like failure have nothing to do with something as rarefied as genius. But sometimes genius is anything but rarefied; sometimes it’s just the thing that emerges after twenty years of working at your kitchen table.

Or in 52 years of cheering on your teams.

Chambers is a lifelong sports fan and graduate of the sports marketing program at Duquesne University’s A.J. Palumbo School of Business Administration. She wrote this column largely because she wanted to type that headline out to make this Cleveland championship feel real.

Feature photo by Erik Drost/Flickr.


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