strategic narrative
Market Leadership

The (Only) Three Questions to Ask Your PR Firm

After being in the PR business for more than 30 years, it’s been an interesting ride to see how it’s evolved, morphed and changed. Yet, while PR has been around for a while, it still is a mystery for many CEOs, CMOs and marketing folks. Oftentimes, they don’t understand what kind of results they should expect and, if they are hiring a PR firm, how they operate. We often get asked the standard questions when

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Terri Douglas May 1, 2017
Market Leadership

Raise Your Brand Volume with Execution-as-a-Strategy

One of the best ways to beat your competition is to out execute them. This is especially true when it comes to PR and marketing. All too often companies get bogged down when it comes to PR cadence and frequency. Activities are done in fits and starts. Then, long lags in time occur as the company goes “quiet.” Meanwhile, the leaders in the market seem to be communication machines – frequently and consistently posting social

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Guy Murrel April 21, 2017
Thought Leadership

Accelerate Your Career Path by Becoming a Messaging Expert

We (PR and marketing pros) have the freedom to create our own unique vision for success. As we pursue our individual careers, there’s a good chance we’ll have some big highlights to reflect upon when we reach retirement age. On the other hand, there may be seasons where we feel stuck or uninspired, when direction is murky and movement is limited. While we are creating our career paths, we’re also likely to run into stiff

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Christin Jeffers April 4, 2017
Strategic Narrative

Why It’s Important to Use Industry Megatrends as Part of Your Messaging Strategy

Everyone has “that friend.” The one you dread meeting up with because you know that for every story or update you have, they will have one to match it. Everything you say somehow relates to them, and makes you want to (maybe not so) politely exit the conversation. While it’s often easy to tell when you are being like this type of person, it’s much more difficult to recognize this behavior on an organizational level.

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Olivia Heel March 29, 2017
strategic narrative marketing
Strategic Narrative

Championing a Narrative in the On-Demand Economy

The ability to have immediate access to goods and services through a digital marketplace is in turn causing radical, disruptive effects on businesses across the world. What’s more? My generation (Millennial) and the generations hereafter are starting to (almost) exclusively use on-demand services for numerous facets of our lives – from shopping and transportation to news and entertainment. Previous generations are making the migration as well. So, how are businesses leveraging public relations in the

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Jeremy Douglas March 17, 2017
Market Leadership

Drive Content Marketing Success with an Industry Narrative

Content marketing costs 62 percent less than outbound marketing, but generates more than three times as many leads (Content Marketing Institute). Marketers recognize the value of leveraging good content and most companies today use some form of content marketing. We see evidence of this on social media, blogs and other online content distribution sources. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of material that companies are constantly pushing out has reached spam-like levels. Without the right content strategy,

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Guy Murrel February 10, 2017
Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Marketing from Launch to Adoption | Part 12

Strategic Narrative Marketing (SNM) is a new approach to company positioning and messaging. If you’ve been tracking along with our blog series, you probably have a decent grasp on what it’s all about (newcomers – start with Part 1). You’ve learned how to truly think and act like a leader in your industry and perhaps you are considering developing and launching a market category or framework for your organization. Recently, the series covered how to

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Guy Murrel February 1, 2017
Strategic Narrative

Prepare for Launch | Part 11

As we draw closer to the end of our Strategic Narrative Marketing Series, we will explore how to put the industry narrative into action. If you’re new, Strategic Narrative Marketing is a bold approach to company positioning and messaging that speaks at the industry level and challenges organizations to be more strategic. When Strategic Narrative Marketing is properly executed companies stand out as leaders in their industry because they have something to say that is

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Guy Murrel January 23, 2017
Strategic Narrative

Long-Form Category Building| Part 10

The Strategic Narrative Marketing Series continues as we explain the next step in the narrative development process. Previously we discussed developing Power Point slides that will serve as the basis of your narrative. Today we will explore long-form category definition through the development of a white paper or positioning document. If you’re just jumping into this Series now, check out our first blog which explains what Strategic Narrative Marketing is all about. You can then

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Guy Murrel January 18, 2017
strategic narrative
Market Leadership

Your Strategic Narrative | Part 9

If strategic narrative you’ve followed along with our Strategic Narrative Marketing blog series, you’ve learned about this new industry approach that was developed by Catapult PR to help companies lead markets, stand apart from their competitors, and have something meaningful to say in crowded content spaces. Recently we transitioned from the “what” to the “how.” We covered the basics of conducting a discovery session to unwrap a Strategic Narrative and explained how that will lead

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Christin Jeffers January 6, 2017
strategic narrative
Market Leadership

Crafting Your Strategic Narrative Statement | Part 8

To continue our ongoing series on “Strategic Narrative Development: Elements of Success,” we’ll take a look this week at actually creating a strategic narrative statement. Last week, we discussed the elements most important to conducting a workshop and developing a category: gathering the right people, thinking at an industry level, using the workshop for discovery and not to answer questions, and to hold an extensive discussion that allows the team to consider all its options

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Guy Murrel December 20, 2016
strategic narrative
Market Leadership

Five Ways to Get More Value from your PR Firm

After you’ve selected a PR firm to help your organization define and share a strategic narrative with the world, you need to make sure you get the most value for every PR dollar spent. The success of a PR initiative is not completely dependent on the agency, however. While a good agency knows how to work around unique quirks or challenges a client brings to the table, there are a number of decisions and actions

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Laura Balboni December 9, 2016
strategic narrative
Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Development: Elements of Success |Part 7

In our previous Strategic Narrative Marketing Series post, we discussed the value of conducting a discovery workshop to uncover raw, honest insights into your company’s view and vision for the industry. Without having any experience, these discovery sessions can be difficult to conduct and it’s easy to fall off course. We highly recommend looking into an expert third party to conduct the workshop for you. But, if you are determined to go at it alone,

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Guy Murrel December 8, 2016
strategic narrative
Market Leadership

Differentiating Yourself From the Crowd Without Fake News

The more we look around the current tech landscape, the more we see examples of just how important a strategic narrative is in differentiating yourself from the crowd. Take, for instance, the latest controversy surrounding Facebook and its “fake news” problem. Facebook has long positioned itself as a data collection company masquerading as a social networking organization. However, with its move into live broadcasting and, apparently, news curation, it’s clear that the company has moved

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Charles Trowbridge December 2, 2016
Social Media
Market Leadership

Three Reasons to Adopt a Social Media Strategy

At Catapult PR, we offer a wide variety of services to our B2B tech clients. From analyst and media relations to content development, to capturing speaking and award opportunities there isn’t much we can’t do. While programs such as these are pretty painless in terms of getting clients on board, there is one initiative that is often a struggle: social media. Perhaps it’s because of how new social media is in terms of being a

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Olivia Heel November 29, 2016
Strategic Narrative
Market Leadership

The DevOps Enterprise Summit San Francisco Was Everything We Hoped For and More!

We (Catapult PR) just returned from an action-packed three days at the 2016 DevOps Enterprise Summit San Francisco (DOES16) where 1,300 DevOps luminaries, business leaders and practitioners united to unpack current DevOps trends and predictions, share success stories and collaborate for the betterment of Dev and Ops practices at large, complex organizations. The conference featured a jam-packed schedule including speakers from some of the world’s biggest brands, such as Target, Verizon and Disney, who shared

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Terri Douglas November 17, 2016
Market Leadership

Unwrap Your Company’s Strategic Narrative | Part 6

If you’ve been following along with our Strategic Narrative Marketing blog series, you’ve learned how your organization has a unique opportunity to be heard in the face of today’s oversaturated content and digital marketing channels. You’ve learned how a Strategic Narrative can help elevate your organization above the competition with a higher-level, strategic approach to positioning and messaging. You’ve also learned some of the key building blocks of a Strategic Narrative – including tenets to

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Guy Murrel November 15, 2016
strategic narrative
Market Leadership

The Rules of Engagement: PR Edition

rule of en·gage·ment noun “A directive issued by a military authority specifying the circumstances and limitations under which forces will engage in combat with the enemy.” The [PR] rules of engagement (ROE) are standing orders to public relations firms (and individual PR professionals) that define the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which the use of pitching, writing or socializing may be applied. These rules provide authorization for and/or limits on, among other things, the

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Jeremy Douglas November 10, 2016
Strategic Narrative
Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Marketing: Core Tenets of an Industry Narrative | Part 5

Today we are diving into Part 5 of our Strategic Narrative Marketing Blog series. To guide you through this new, unique approach to company messaging and strategy, we’ve broken down the key pillars of what makes up a marketing-based Strategic Narrative. Our aim is twofold: 1) help those of us in charge of “messaging” create a more industry level industry narrative and, 2) provide a guide that is open and available to make a meaningful

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Guy Murrel November 7, 2016
strategic narrative marketing
Market Leadership

Get to Know the Mind Behind, “A Practical Guide to Strategic Narrative Marketing”

A few weeks ago we announced a new book by Catapult co-founder and principal, Guy Murrel. The book, “A Practical Guide to Strategic Narrative Marketing,” is a brief ‘how-to’ guide for those looking to lead their market and stand apart from competitors while embracing a new messaging strategy. I asked Guy a few questions this week to get his perspective on what Strategic Narrative Marketing is and what it means to the PR and marketing

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Terri Douglas November 2, 2016
strategic narrative
Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Themes: Creating Messaging that is New and Meaningful | Part 4

For the past several weeks we have been writing about key Strategic Narrative Marketing practices on our Catapult blog. We’ve looked at how you can find your company’s voice, think higher than a mission statement, and guide strategic direction with a strategic narrative. Today we look at creating entirely unique strategic narrative spaces and themes. What, exactly, do we mean by that? Let’s start with the common understand that to standout in the marketplace, you

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Guy Murrel October 28, 2016
Strategic Narrative
Market Leadership

5 Ways Strategic Narratives Guide Strategic Direction | Part 3

A common catchphrase emanating from boardrooms these days is, “we need a new narrative.” With business landscapes changing quickly – from the advent of new technologies, global competition, evolving customer behaviors and more – it’s no longer enough to say, “we make widgets” or, simply, “our services are the best.” As a leader, you want a powerful narrative that inspires employees, excites partners, entices customers and engages influencers. A message that is succinct, but also

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Guy Murrel October 20, 2016
Strategic Narrative
Market Leadership

Drop Your Mission Statement, Pick Up a Strategic Narrative | Part 2

We all have that “one” friend. The one we dread inviting over for dinner or out to brunch because we know all they will do is talk about themselves. While we wait for a natural pause to interject our own thoughts, we begin to lose interest in what they are saying and perhaps begin daydreaming, watching the final cares we have drift away. Think of this friend as the traditional approach to positioning and messaging.

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Guy Murrel October 14, 2016
Strategic Narrative Workshop
Market Leadership

What Is a Strategic Narrative Workshop?

As you’ve been reading in our blog, Strategic Narrative Marketing is an entirely new approach to what some folks refer to as “storytelling” or traditional “positioning and messaging.” Strategic Narrative Marketing elevates both of these to a much higher industry level that gets companies out of talking about themselves, their products, services, bits and bytes, and instead focuses on important issues taking place in their industries. It is a way for companies to not only

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Terri Douglas October 12, 2016
Find your voice
Market Leadership

Find Your Voice with Strategic Narrative Marketing | Part 1

How loud is your company’s voice? No matter the industry, I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of us are seeing heavy saturation when it comes to online publishing and content marketing. The noise has its advantages and disadvantages. While you have the opportunity to disrupt the marketplace on platforms that can reach big audiences through PR and marketing, you might find it difficult to make an impact amongst the noise. Here’s an

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Guy Murrel October 6, 2016
Strategic Narrative Marketing
Market Leadership

Strategic Narrative Marketing – A New Marketing Category To Help Companies Stand Out & Be Noticed

Today is a special day at Catapult. Strategic Narrative Marketing After years of helping our clients develop their stories and turn them into narratives and entire market categories, we have taken our own good advice. We have formally packaged up this proven service offering and are now making it available to clients, small and large. We call it “Strategic Narrative Marketing.” It’s a new marketing category designed to help lift organizations up above the fray

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Terri Douglas September 27, 2016
Catapult 17 years
Market Leadership

Cheers to 17 Years for Catapult in the high-tech PR trenches!

Today Catapult PR is celebrating 17 years as a boutique public relations firm in the high-tech B2B market. Since 1999, this agency has ridden the highs and lows of the tech industry. We’ve helped numerous companies lead markets, build and own categories and, in many instances, get purchased or lead to successful IPOs. Over the years, we’ve become a leader in developing our clients’ strategic narratives; increasing their visibility among industry influencers and their audiences;

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Jeremy Douglas September 9, 2016
Lead your market
Market Leadership

Is your marketing content helping you lead your market?

Whether you are a content or digital marketer, branding guru, PR professional or C-level executive, the content you put out there matters. You probably want your content to be seen. You might even want your content to be strong enough to secure leads and engage your audience. If all those things are true, I’m willing to bet that you want to be recognized in your industry as a leader. So how is it going? Has

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Guy Murrel September 9, 2016
Telling the Same Story
Market Leadership

Telling the Same Story? Look Higher at an Industry Narrative

Every brand has a story to tell.  Content and digital marketing teams spend hours toiling over ways they can capture the hearts of their audience through storytelling.  While there is a clear value in storytelling when it works, it’s not easy to come up with a compelling, sustainable and unique story that will grab your audience’s attention and make a difference in the marketplace. This is especially true for many B2B tech companies.  Despite the

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Christin Jeffers September 1, 2016
Strategic Narrative
Market Leadership

Market Confusion – Obstacle or Opportunity?

Market confusion brought on by disruptive mega-trends, new legislation or shifting industry norms can be difficult. However, this confusion also can present a wonderful opportunity to stand out as an industry leader by actively clarifying any misperceptions that are adversely impacting your industry. Companies that lead markets will always play an active role in shaping a positive industry narrative, and proactively and consistently educating the market about the overall benefits, advancements and evolution of the

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Guy Murrel May 25, 2016
Strategic Narrative Marketing-Be Unique-Catapult PR-IR
Market Leadership

Avoid Blind Spots with an Industry Strategic Narrative

At Catapult we run industry Strategic Narrative workshops that help organizations dig deep into mega trends, category dynamics, transformational shifts and future possibilities – focused primarily on leading industry success and maturity. Our intent is to create a higher-level messaging framework that defines and leads categories, and goes beyond storytelling to guide all forms of marketing. However, the process also serves as a forcing function to address key issues that ultimately guide the strategic direction

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Guy Murrel May 20, 2016
16226019243_9c026e6621_k
Market Leadership

Three Reasons CEOs Need an Industry Strategic Narrative

Every great company benefits from clear vision and leadership. The dynamics of an organization’s culture is set at the top, and it is the job of every CEO to connect and inspire people to effectively move toward a common strategic goal. Here are 3 reasons why every CEO should have a strategic narrative that outlines the current state of the industry, vision for the category and role the organization will play to advance the overall

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Guy Murrel May 10, 2016

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