While the holiday season is behind us there is one more annual tradition to prepare for: the game of musical chairs in the finance industry. Most Wall Street firms pay annual bonuses to employees either at or shortly after the end of the year. Anticipation of these payments, which may account for the majority of total compensation, tends to cause employees to time their job hunts to minimize the amount of bonus money they leave behind with a former employer.

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In today’s “knowledge economy,” most of us are in the business of selling ideas. Whether your industry is banking, insurance, advisory services, consulting, engineering/architecture, pharmaceuticals or medical equipment, chances are your customers care as much about how you think and what you know (i.e., ideas, insights) as they do about the features/functions of what you sell. In this environment, successful marketing means smart thought leadership (e.g., books, studies, analyses, blog posts, articles).

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Happy Monday! The financial services sector kicks off this week’s headlines with markets, banking and bankruptcy news making the biggest splash. Announcements from Citigroup, Exxon, and the upcoming Fed meeting will keep our public relations professionals busy as we monitor for developing stories.

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To date, news coverage on healthcare reform has focused disproportionately on payment models: should we have a Public plan? Private plans? Insurance cooperatives? Which model will offer consumers the most choice? Which will be the most cost-effective?

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What do new retail banking legislation, soaring commodities prices and the healthcare reform bill have in common? All will be making headlines as this week unfolds.

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As we round the bend into the holiday season, the media is no doubt preparing an onslaught of year- end round-up stories pointing out the highs (there were a few….) and lows (there were a lot…) that the financial services industry went through.

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It’s Monday, so it’s time again for our weekly preview of this week’s headlines in the B2B sectors we work in the most.  Last week we focused on banking, insurance, and real estate; this week we’re going to several other corners of the business world. We found some interesting nuggets today from three different sectors: [...]

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Last week we shared with you our firm’s “Top Line News Summary” which included highlights from three sectors including retail, HR/management, and markets.

This week our media relations professionals highlight three different sectors: banking, insurance, and real estate.

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How often have you heard experts say “Good ideas sell themselves?”

I love a good idea as much as anybody – more probably. But all-too-often, the hardest ideas to market are those that break new ground. It’s easy to talk to prospects about well-trod topics such as debt restructuring or CRM solutions. These topics already mean something to people. They come with a pre-existing history, set of assumptions and influential voices. All we need to do to be understood and heard is to say something different – or shout a little louder.

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Google launched Sidewiki last week to mixed reviews. Sidewiki (in a very small nutshell) is a tool that allows consumers to engage with web sites (and their brands) by contributing content directly to the website itself. Click here for Google’s description of the tool, or read SearchEngineLand’s post for an in-depth analysis.

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