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3 Critical Ways to Avoid Being Hacked.

Every day we are besieged by enticing email messages to trick us into a virus or scam. Errant phone calls that fast talk us it a blunder. Hackers are prodding our firewall to plunder our bank accounts and data.
Our defense? Knowledge and readiness. The complimentary webinar “3 Critical Ways to Avoid Being Hacked” will feature a panel of three experienced IT professionals. The free, virtual event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 10, 9-10 a.m.
The panel of IT experts includes Kevin Martin of Nerds to Go; Paul LaFlamme of Centrend; and Will MacFee of Systems Support. The panel discussion will be led by Steve Dubin of PR Works.
This presentation is targeted at business executives and business owners and intended to be straightforward, easy to understand solutions to complex IT security problems. Participants will learn –
• Training staff to recognize hacking/scamming red flags
• Setting simple policies and passwords
• Determining necessary firewall, intrusion detection and encryption
• Identifying general safeguards
• Monitoring of platform, patches and malware protection
The event is sponsored by My Pinnacle Network which hosts monthly networking meetings for business-to-business professionals at four locations throughout Massachusetts including Mansfield, Needham, Pembroke, and Westborough.

Although there is no cost for the webinar, reservations are required. To participate, please RSVP to https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkd-qqqzkoH9O5I4uMcG9y3Ctf0v4S6iP-
Or call My Pinnacle Network at 781-582-1061.

3 Critical Ways to Avoid Being Hacked.Read More

Believe it. Our client had a Super Bowl ad. 

Maybe you remember seeing the Apartments.com commercials and star pitchman Jeff Goldblum (what a fall from grace) on this year’s Super Bowl. Sure, you do. Aliens looking for a suitable place to rent.

This shows the evolution of the Apartment.com concept. Twenty years or so ago, we were working with Nelson Rodriguez when he was 20-something and launching the concept out of the back office of a law firm in downtown Boston.

Good view. Bad parking.

He knew he had a tiger by the tail. How great would it be to go to one reliable place and find just the facts ma’am on apartments for rent in key cities. At the time, it was New York, Houston, Boston and New Bedford.

Just kidding about the New Bedford part. I like to refer to my home region any chance I get.

So, Nelson was starting to pick up apartment listings and share leasing revenue. But it was obvious from the start that some big real estate gorilla was needed to really blow this out. Expand the apartment listings across the U.S. and launch national advertising to reach consumers.

According to Crunchbase, a merger and acquisition-focused website, Apartments.com was acquired by CoStar Group for $585M on Mar 3, 2014.

So you see, Apartments.com did pretty well for itself.

As for us, we are looking for our next start-up to giddy-up.

Let us know if we can help you.

Believe it. Our client had a Super Bowl ad. Read More

Be a Podcast Guest Star – Complimentary seminar prepares you to be a podcast guest.

Want to be a subject expert?  Want to leverage someone else’s audience? Want to generate content that can be shared across your social media, website and E-newsletter?

Be part of the communications revolution. Experts and listeners agree, we are in the Golden Age of Podcasting. More than half of American homes tune into a podcast regularly.

This complimentary webinar prepares you to be part of the boom as a podcast guest. The free, live event is set for Wednesday, January 24, 9 – 10 a.m. at the offices of the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce, 100 Armstrong Rd STE 204, Plymouth, MA 02360. Participants are asked to RSVP at https://rb.gy/vjhnh8.

Podcast appearances establish credibility, visibility, lead generation, speaking opportunities, search engine optimization, cultural authority, and an increase value proposition. The “Podcast Now” webinar gets you into the game and on the air.

The workshop will be led by Steve Dubin, founder and director of PR Works, a publication and marketing firm based in Plymouth, MA and serving clients throughout North America.  Steve has been hosting and guesting on a wide range of podcasts for several years.

Learn how to  –

  • Develop hot topics of interest.
  • Compile Podcast Pitch Kit – author bio, backgrounders, questions for the interviewer and headshot 
  • Research and identify appropriate guest appearance opportunities – podcast portals, LinkedIn, Google
  • Choose the right equipment at a reasonable pricing
  • Look and sound great on Zoom and other virtual platforms
  • Establish taping protocols
  • Draft standard questions
  • Promote each episode via podcast portals, social media, e-newsletters and leveraging the marketing channels of each guest or host.

Please RSVP for this complimentary webinar – https://rb.gy/vjhnh8.   

For more information about the Podcast event or Podcasting services, contact PR Works at www.PRWorkZone.com, (781) 582-1061, 18 Main Street Extension, Suite 409, Plymouth, MA.

Be a Podcast Guest Star – Complimentary seminar prepares you to be a podcast guest.Read More

Crickets? – You are better than that! – Please respond in any way – Panera friends – Tell to me to go hell. Or head for Panera. – On the road with Panera and PR

The above headline of this post was also the subject line of my last email note to all marketing executives at Panera Bread. This is my 5th email to them. I also left several voice mail messages. Can “corporate America” still respond to consumers? Or not?

Below is the most recent self-explanatory email message…

Panera Friends –

I’m following up again. Tell me to go to hell. Or delight me with some words of encouragement.

I’m a Panera card holder and a long-time Public Relations pro.  I’m also about the drive across this great nation of ours (September 15 – October 15). I’d like to include Panera in that plan.

Here is the short version of the story (rare for a PR guy).

My wife and I are traveling from America’s Hometown (right, Plymouth, MA) to a family wedding in Seattle, WA this September. We are taking an entire month to take in the sites and cover a lot of ground.

I’d like to blog about it along the way. And use various Panera Bread locations along the way for connectivity and sustenance.

I’d like to talk with someone in your PR/Communications department about how to maximize this experience for both of us. This is a great way to underscore that Panera is THE oasis for busy professionals and travelers who want to check in and refuel in every way.

As a backgrounder, here are out social channels –

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PRWorkZone/

LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenvdubin/

Twitter – @PRWorkZone

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/stevendubin

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8cHlBnDmpohD_ztRNjaZrg

Website – https://www.prworkzone.com/

Here is my bio –

STEVEN V. DUBIN, president of PR WORKS and founder of MY PINNACLE NETWORK, knows the “marketing” business.  His newspaper career started by covering the Boston Celtics for the New Bedford Standard Times, Steve and Larry Bird shared rookie years.  From there Steve progressed to editing and marketing positions in several publishing companies, including Mariner Newspapers. 

He is the author of the E-Book “PR 101” – download for free at www.PRWorkZone.com.  Steve has is a contributing author to “Get Slightly Famous”, a book about becoming a celebrity in your field and attracting more business with less effort and “Tricks of the Trade”, the complete guide to succeeding in the advice business.

He understands that good marketing has to be a win-win.  Content must be useful and interesting to an editor’s primary audience.  Free exposure is only available to those who recognize news angles, package news in a digestible form, and take care of all the details of story placement – from arranging interviews to providing appropriate visuals.

Steve is the past president of the New England Franchise Association, founding president of the South Shore Ad Club and founder member of My Pinnacle Network, a business-to-business lead generation group with eight groups throughout Massachusetts. 

He has presented seminars on various marketing topics for the SCORE, Association of Franchisees and Dealers; Small Business Development Center, University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth; numerous Chambers of Commerce; New England Healthcare Assembly; and South Shore Women’s Business Network.

He resides in America’s hometown Plymouth, MA with his wife Wendy.

Please give me a call to discuss possible next steps.

Steve Dubin, SDubin@PRWorkZone.com, (781) 864-1837

Crickets? – You are better than that! – Please respond in any way – Panera friends – Tell to me to go hell. Or head for Panera. – On the road with Panera and PRRead More

Retirement Dreams or Nightmares.

 ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’

Transition counselor offers a free roundtable workshop for the first 10 seniors to respond.  Starting…

…NOW!

By Steven V. Dubin

What do you want to be when you grow up? So, you still haven’t figured it out.  Don’t worry neither have I.

Are you nearing or at retirement age? 

You are in luck. Help is on the way!

Transition Counselor Beth Davis, a Plymouth, MA resident, is offering a free three-session roundtable discussion group to help you figure it out.  Specifics of the facilitated, self-discovery group are being finalized, but the general format is to meet once a month for three months for an hour and a half, late afternoon, 4 p.m. or so, at a comfortable Plymouth location.  The Plymouth Center for Active Living and the Plymouth Public Library are leading venue candidates.

Beth has over 25 years of experience as a professionally trained coach, facilitator, business leader and entrepreneur. Additionally, she is a real estate agent and home renovator with her husband Steve Feldman; they are agents with the Plymouth office of Keller Williams Realty. Beth has helped many seniors to transition from a “life of success to a life of significance.”

After selling the business she founded and nurtured for close to a decade, she re-focused her career on coaching and developing others through the stages of lifecycles. Her coaching clients place a high value on learning, life planning and design, and creating positive change.

Don’t expect a heavy load of homework or pop quizzes.  Beth will suggest numerous books and exercises that will be helpful in the quest for self-discovery, but there will be no official syllabus. Among the titles on the recommended reading list will be “Flourish” by Martin D.P. Seligman, “The Retirement Life” by Matthew Kelly, and “Transitions” by William Bridges.

Some questions to be pondered during the self-discovery workshops are What scares me?  What holds me back? 

Contact Beth Davis directly to reserve your seat.  She can be reached at beth@planningwhatsnext.com.

Additionally, if you know of a senior who is doing something interesting with their retirement, I look forward to hearing from you! Please email me at SDubin@PRWorkZone.com

Steven V. Dubin is the founder of PR Works, a lightly used Public Relations firm based in Plymouth, MA, which helps small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies navigate the overwhelming options of advertising. Steve lives in Plymouth with his wife Wendy.  He is a contributing author to “Get Slightly Famous” and “Tricks of the Trade,” the complete guide to succeeding in the advice business. He recently authored “PR 101,” an E-book.

Retirement Dreams or Nightmares.Read More

TELL US YOUR RETIREMENT DREAMS—OR NIGHTMARES

This new South Shore Senior News monthly column explores the next big step—or misstep.

By Steven V. Dubin

At age 67, I bump into old friends and colleagues and invariably the first thing they say – after telling me how great I still look, of course – is “Are you retired yet?”

Do I look that tired?  That successful?  I’m not sure what to make of that question.  Or how to answer it.

You may or may not as well.  I encourage fellow readers of South Shore Senior News to respond and add to our monthly exploration of this new monthly column titled “Retirement Dreams or Nightmares?” 

We’d like to share the secrets of your retirement success.  Or failures.  Or refusal to retire at all.

In running a “lightly used” public relations company based in beautiful downtown Plymouth, I am torn.  I really love the work our 4-person staff does each day.  There are no simple answers.  We solve a new puzzle each morning – attempting to win hearts and minds for clients.  Not any easy task, but wonderful at it unfolds. 

But I have FOMO – Fear of Missing Out.  Should I be traveling, fine-tuning my pickleball game, micromanaging my children’s lives?

Or take one from column A and another from column B?  Work a little, play a little?

Maybe you’ve completely left the workforce and are entirely happy being a nuisance at your local health club.  Or you meet the gang twice a week for coffee. 

On the other hand, perhaps you gave your notice on Friday and begged for your job back on Monday.

Or maybe you just love what you do and refuse to leave until the authorities come for you.

Your thoughts and comments can provide insight for us all.

I look forward to hearing from you, our readers! Please email me at SDubin@PRWorkZone.com

Steven V. Dubin is the founder of PR Works. Steve lives in Plymouth with his wife Wendy.  He is a contributing author to “Get Slightly Famous” and “Tricks of the Trade,” the complete guide to succeeding in the advice business. He recently authored “PR 101,” an E-book.

TELL US YOUR RETIREMENT DREAMS—OR NIGHTMARESRead More

The underrated and underutilized benefit of Zoom

People are now used to appearing on camera.

That’s it.

How is that a benefit? Well, if you’re looking to get testimonials for your business it adds a new wrinkle.

First, a video testimonial will usually provide more options than simple text. You can use it on several different social media channels, your blog and even on the home page of your website—what better way to introduce people to your business than a satisfied customer/client?

Now, the person giving the testimonial may not like how they look or sound. No problem if you record the session. Microsoft Word has a transcribing function that enables you to get a fairly accurate transcript of the interview. Then, it’s just a matter of cleaning it up and utilizing the best quotes. Here’s an example of that below:

Now, the person giving the testimonial may not like how they look or sound. No problem if you record the session. Microsoft Word has a transcribing function that enables you to get a fairly accurate transcript of the interview. Then, it’s just a matter of cleaning it up and utilizing the best quotes. Here’s an example of that below:

There is some finesse involved in getting a decent testimonial. Particularly if the person is not necessarily a comfortable speaker. A few ways to get your interviewee comfortable is send a few questions in advance of the call so they can prepare. You will also want to have a little friendly chit-chat prior to getting into the questions as a warm up.

You really don’t need to many questions. It can be as simple as:

  • What was the situation that necessitated you hiring my company?
  • What did my company do?
  • What was the end result?
  • If you had to pick only one aspect of the service you received what would it be?

The answers to these questions typically provide enough material for at least one short testimonial. Usually more than one.

One caveat to using Zoom for testimonials. As stated above, people are now comfortable using Zoom. Too comfortable. They may not show up as dressed up as you would like a testimonial to be. They may not be logging on from a quiet, well lit place. So you really have to emphasize that you will be recording and possibly using the testimonial in promotional materials. This may take several reminders.

If this sounds like something you would like to do for your business but you don’t have the bandwidth or background to take this on, drop a line and we can discuss a testimonial strategy.

The underrated and underutilized benefit of ZoomRead More

Straight talk on office ergonomics to save your neck, back and shoulders. Complimentary webinar discusses the dos and don’ts for better office ergonomics, Sept. 22, 9am

PLYMOUTH, MA…

Jen Graham of Ergo Consulting, LLC and Steve Wilson of Office Furniture Consulting

From a very young age we’re told to sit up straight. Unfortunately, many people are sitting up straight but looking down at their screen or cell phone. Or perhaps we’re sitting in an office chair with no lumbar support or set at the wrong height. All these scenarios can be a real pain in the neck, back and other places. Hence, the topic of ergonomics for the upcoming Straight Talk on Office Ergonomics webinar set for Thursday, September 22 at 9am.  The webinar is free, but reservations are recommended.

The free online webinar features Jennifer Graham of JG Ergo Consulting, a certified ergonomic assessment specialist and licensed physical therapist, and Steve Wilson, owner of Office Furniture Consulting. To RSVP, please visit shorturl.at/joPX3.

As part of her PT and ergonomic assessment practice, Graham offers in-person and virtual assessments of workstations and overall office ergonomics for companies of all sizes. She works hand in hand with human resource departments, facilities managers and business owners.

As owner of Office Furniture Consulting, Wilson provides space planning, quote specification development, ergonomic research, relocation services, and office furniture procurement services.

“Ergonomics has become even more important as people split time between a home office and/or a traditional office. Having proper ergonomics at both locations can prevent any nagging problems or conditions from occurring and recurring,” said Joe D’Eramo, of PR Works and founder of My Pinnacle Network, a B2B networking organization that’s one of the sponsors of the webinar.

In addition to My Pinnacle Network which hosts monthly meetings for business-to-business professionals at six locations throughout Massachusetts (Braintree, Wrentham, Newton, Marshfield and Westborough), the event’s sponsors include: South Shore Networking Professionals which connects business people monthly at locations throughout the South Shore; and Rockland Trust, offering a wide range of banking, investment, and insurance services to businesses and individuals through retail branches, commercial lending offices, investment management offices, and residential lending centers located in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, as well as through online, mobile and phone banking.

The business community is welcome to attend. To RSVP, click here or call Steve Dubin, My Pinnacle Network, at 781-582-1061 or admin@mypinnaclenetwork.com.

Straight talk on office ergonomics to save your neck, back and shoulders. Complimentary webinar discusses the dos and don’ts for better office ergonomics, Sept. 22, 9amRead More