Daily Archives: June 7, 2009

Business Wire, exhibiting at the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) 2009 Annual Conference, will be highlighting its improved press release presentation at its Business Wire is High Definition booth.

Business Wire’s superior formatting and delivery technology will demonstrate the continued benefit of using a widely-distributed press release — including full financial tables — as the cornerstone of disclosure strategy, rather than a standalone web posting or a “Notice & Access” release which requires market participants to attempt to retrieve financial results from a company’s servers.

The Business Wire model of a widely-distributed financial press release conforms to NIRI’s Standards of Practice for Investor Relations regarding Earnings Release Content, which states that the best practice for financial statements is to “provide sufficient line item information for the investor to follow the calculation from revenue to net income.”

Business Wire’s advanced press release features include:

Delivery via Business Wire’s exclusive, patented NX platform. NX provides high-speed, simultaneous transmission of Business Wire’s technologically and aesthetically advanced news file to all recipients, including analysts, institutional investors, retail investors and financial information systems.
Exclusive XHTML formatting, enhancing press release functionality by embedding multimedia and data tags, as well as enhancing SEO through search-engine-friendly style benefits, such as embedded hyperlinks, bolds, and bulleted lists.
Earnings tables are presented in a format that closely mirrors the original spreadsheet presentation — wider tables, with underlined headers that can be cut and pasted into a spread sheet.
Delivery of XBRL-tagged financials. Business Wire offers complete in-house tagging and delivery of financial results in XBRL, helping companies to meet the SEC mandate on XBRL.
NewsTrak reports which provide measurement information including press release views, referring links, click-throughs and other crucial audience data.
Business Wire’s industry-leading technology and presentation make the press release more valuable than ever as the leading tool for maintaining best practices in disclosure.

When you distribute material news via Business Wire, your financials are available to all market participants simultaneously. Institutional investors, retail investors, automated financial news systems and algorithmic trading systems (which now comprise 40 percent of total US equities trading) all have instantaneous, simultaneous access to your financial results and other material news. Because our patented NX Network is push-driven and bi-directional for verification of receipt, capital markets and thousands of media have access to your press release. This model also fits with the SEC’s XBRL mandate, making your tagged financials instantly consumable by investors, analysts and financial news systems.

In contrast, Notice & Access releases require market participants to come to your servers, via a variety of routes, to retrieve your financials which must then be transferred manually, increasing the risk of errors and/or slowdowns in trading decisions and news delivery. Delivery is non-simultaneous, as users may access yours at different times and download speeds. These limitations in technology and information flow can increase the cost of capital for issuers and result in less efficient, less transparent markets.

Further information on the advantages of wire disclosure over “Notice & Access” and web posting will be available via a set of handouts available at the Business Wire booth.

Business Wire will also be hosting XBRL educational opportunities at the conference, with XBRL School. Disclosure and XBRL expert Gary Purnhagen will lead six 45-minute sessions on Monday, June 8 and Tuesday, June 9, to teach attendees all they need to know about XBRL, including what it is, how it fits each company’s mission statement, and what the SEC’s rules are regarding XBRL.

Visit Business Wire at Booth #312 & 314 to register for any of the XBRL School sessions and to register to win a Blu-Ray player and Blu-Ray discs in a raffle to be drawn at the conference.

About Business Wire

Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is utilized by tens of thousands of member companies and organizations worldwide to functionally enhance and communicate investor relations and public relations content to target audiences. As a recognized disclosure service in the United States, Canada and a dozen European countries, Business Wire facilitates the simultaneous flow of market-moving press releases from corporations to financial markets and their audiences, including regulatory authorities, media, investors, financial information systems and consumer news services. Business Wire also handles XBRL tagging, document formatting and regulatory filing into EDGAR, SEDAR, FSA and other systems.

Communications professionals turn to Business Wire to optimize and issue press releases, photos and multimedia to news organizations, journalists, trade publications, search engines, and individuals, with full-text posting to web sites, online services and databases. A range of distribution options enables members to target by geography, industry, news theme and audience demographics.

Founded in 1961, Business Wire has dual headquarters in San Francisco and New York, with 30 bureaus in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Paris, Frankfurt, London, Brussels, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney and reciprocal offices throughout the world. Business Wire’s patented NX data platform supports XML, XHTML and XBRL code that enhances news release interactivity, social media sharing and search engine optimization. More information about Business Wire and its services is located on its website at www.BusinessWire.com.

Patty Briguglio, president of MMI Associates, Inc. (www.mmimarketing.com), a Raleigh-based public relations firm, has announced the release of a podcast outlining the public relations applications of Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging website that is growing in popularity. In the podcast, MMI new media specialist Bobby McDonald discusses how to use Twitter, who is using Twitter and what benefits Twitter provides for public relations professionals. MMI is launching the podcast as part of its initiative to provide a full range of new media services to clients.

The podcast is now available for download at www.mmimarketing.com/podcast/mmi-new-media-specialist-discusses-twitters-public-relations-applications.

Visit MMI on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MMIAssociates.

News Facts:
• Patty Briguglio, president of MMI Associates, Inc. (www.mmimarketing.com), a Raleigh-based public relations firm, has announced the release of a podcast outlining the public relations applications of Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging website that is growing in popularity.
• In the podcast, MMI new media specialist Bobby McDonald discusses how to use Twitter, who is using Twitter and what benefits Twitter provides for public relations professionals.
• MMI is launching the podcast as part of its initiative to provide a full range of new media services to clients.
• The podcast is now available for download at www.mmimarketing.com/podcast/mmi-new-media-specialist-discusses-twitters-public-relations-applications.
• Visit MMI on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MMIAssociates.

Quotes:
“Twitter is an exciting frontier for conversations drawn from all kinds of social circles,” said Briguglio. “There is tremendous opportunity for people and businesses to weave ideas into a larger discussion.”

About MMI Associates, Inc.:
MMI Associates, Inc. is a full-service public relations firm offering a wide range of services to help clients achieve measurable results in brand awareness, name recognition, market penetration and crisis management. Established in 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona, this award-winning firm was named one of the top 10 public relations firms in the state. In North Carolina, the Triangle Business Journal’s Book of Lists has recognized MMI as one of the top five public relations firms in the Triangle. The firm has received numerous awards for its work and was awarded the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce’s 2007 and 2008 Pinnacle Award for Steady Growth and Profitability, and was named a Best Place to Work by the Triangle Business Journal. For more information, please call (919) 233-6600 or visit the Web site at www.mmimarketing.com.

Veteran web copywriting company Michelle Salater Writing & Editorial, LLC, has relaunched with a new name, new website, and several new services. Now called Sumèr, LLC, the Charleston-based company specializes in web copywriting, SEO copywriting, and the marketing and promotion of websites after ch.

Marketing a business online differs greatly from marketing offline. For many business owners, necessary online marketing techniques such as optimization for the web and social media marketing sound like a foreign language.

“Over fifty percent of websites disappear within three years of launching,” says S?mèr president, Michelle Salater. “Even with hard work, a good idea, and well-written copy, sites often fail to connect to their target audience. In order for businesses to survive online, many need help connecting to their customers from someone who understands the ways of the web.”

Sumèr, LLC, helps clients around the country who are passionate about their brand message, dedicated to great results, and willing to make the investment required to fulfill their goals. With a focus on keeping websites current and search-engine friendly, S?mèr offers four services geared toward generating exposure and maintaining a robust online presence. These innovative services include Web Copywriting, Rank Your Site, Life after Launch, and Optimized Press Releases.

“Our name is inspired by the Sumerian civilization,” says Salater. “Their innovation inspired us to approach websites and online marketing possibilities in a more comprehensive way. From SEO web copy to the promotion of websites after launch, we are reinventing how companies communicate and connect to their target audience by providing a clear message and sharing that unique message with the world.”

Sumèr’s website describes the services offered in detail and features an ezine, S?mèr’s Secrets. In each issue, readers discover how to market their businesses and drive traffic to their websites without spending a fortune, while expanding their customer base and accelerating profits. Subscribers learn about marketing tools such as ezines and email marketing and receive special promotions on services and upcoming events such as teleseminars and workshops.

According to Salater, “Sumèr’s philosophy revolves around the power of personal connection, with the hope that capitalism across the globe can be healed through conscious entrepreneurship in small businesses and large corporations. Anything is possible—and great things can happen if everyone learns to communicate effectively.”

About Sumèr, LLC:
Sumèr, LLC, is a unique web marketing company located in Charleston, South Carolina, specializing in web copywriting, SEO copywriting, and the promotion and marketing of websites after they launch. Approaching websites and online marketing possibilities in a more comprehensive way, Sumèr’s mission is to continuously help clients craft a simplified message that clearly conveys their vision and objectives.

In a world where people barely have time to gesture a friendly wave to a neighbor or stand in line long enough for fast food, micro-blogging Twitter has found an effective and increasingly acceptable place within todays micro-managing society.

GreenNationGardens.com is accommodationg busy customers with lightning fast updates and announcements.
“While email delivers relevant information to customers such as feature articles, tips, updates and pricing, it does not measure up to the real time value of Twitter”, explains Mark Pappas, Co-owner of Internet based retailer, Green Nation Gardens. Twitter is a real time blogging platform where members can follow one another, reading short entries from each member. Of course, the idea is to let each other know what you are doing.

Green Nation Gardens recognizes the advantages of sending out frequent updates to customers and fellow Twitter followers including up to the minute price changes, new product listings and select articles featured on the E-commerce site. Pappas goes on to say, “Twitter is the perfect communication machine and this is the perfect time to change the way we stay in contact with a busy and fast paced society.” You can follow Green Nation Gardens at http://www.Twitter.com/GreenNation

Mark Pappas, is Co-owner of Green Nation Gardens, a leading Internet retailer of Green Living Products for Home and Garden. You can visit Green Nation Gardens at http://www.GreenNationGardens.com

The Horizon Interactive Awards, a leading international interactive media awards competition, announced the 2009 award winners to highlight this year’s “best of the best” in interactive media production.

The Carlsbad Department of Development, located in Carlsbad, New Mexico, was recognized for their excellence with a Bronze award for the government website category.

“This is a fantastic honor,” said John Waters, Executive Director of the Carlsbad Department of Development. “We spent many hours planning and designing our website to be as user-friendly to site selectors, current residents and people moving to Carlsbad. Our entire team works very hard to make our website as up to date and accurate as possible. Receiving this award was a surprise and I am glad the efforts of our entire team are recognized.”

The eighth annual, international competition saw just over 2000 entries from 32 countries around world and nearly all 50 of the United States of America. An international panel of judges, consisting of industry professionals with diverse backgrounds, as well as an end user panel evaluated 19 different categories ranging from online advertising to video games. The 2009 winning entries showcase the industry’s best interactive media solutions including web sites, CDs and DVDs, online ads, video and more.

“The 2009 competition was an all new level for the competition,” said Mike Sauce – Founder of the Horizon Interactive Awards. “The overall quality of entries was far and away the best we have ever had and judging was very competitive. Year after year, we are amazed at the level of creativity and overall technical excellence of the entries that are recognized by the competition. They truly are the best of the best!”

In its 8th year, the Horizon Interactive Awards was created to recognize excellence in interactive media production worldwide. Since 2001, the competition has received many thousands of entries from countries around the world and nearly all 50 US States. Each year, those entries are narrowed down to the best of the best to be recognized and promoted on and international stage for their excellence. The judging process involves a Horizon Interactive Awards advisory panel, end user panel and a worldwide panel of judges consisting of industry professionals. For more information, visit www.horizoninteractiveawards.com.

The Carlsbad Department of Development (CDOD) is a private non-profit agency incorporated as a 501(c)(6) organization in 1966. The membership of the CDOD represents over 100 chief executive officers in industry, business and finance, the City of Carlsbad, Eddy County Board of Commissioners, New Mexico State University-Carlsbad, and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. The goal of the CDOD is to promote the economic and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Carlsbad and South Eddy County through job retention and creation by recruiting new industry, identifying new job opportunities, expanding and retaining existing business and diversifying their economy. For more information, visit www.developcarlsbad.org.

The Carlsbad Department of Development promotes the economic and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Carlsbad and South Eddy County, New Mexico.