K2 Global Communications

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the community and content manager for a hand-painted portraits company. Our business is primarily a gift service; we service the US and a global clientele. I help out with branding and ensure that our community and content stay on brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with K2 Global Communications?

We were looking to get our name out there. Almost all of our media hits were paid, so we were looking to expand. We wanted to get PR media hits to tell people more about us and our customers’ experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially worked with K2 Global Communications to introduce them to our brand and story. They went on to reach out to media publications all over the US to advocate for us and get us published. We had constant meetings to discuss strategy; midway through the process, we changed the strategy and brand voice, so our content and focus shifted slightly. The team moved along with us and communicated more individual stories toward the end.

K2 Global Communications reached out to customers and interviewed them to learn more about our company and to share those stories directly with the media. They took our small brief and expanded it for each publication; they reached out to men's and women’s publications and emphasized what was important to those applications. In terms of content, they created the pitch they sent to the media. The team also coached one of our independent artists in her interviews to ensure she would represent the brand properly.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two team members every week, including the founder.

How did you come to work with K2 Global Communications?

I came in after they’d already joined us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in March 2022, and it ended in August 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We had nine media hits altogether; some of them were a bit low-level, but some of them were very successful. K2 Global Communications communicated with some of our independent artists and got them featured in an online article, which was picked up by TV. The interview with The Independent was quite successful, and they got us onto some lists. Overall, they built great traction and got our name out.

How did K2 Global Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed quite well. We had weekly meetings, and they tracked the progress and kept us in the loop at all times. Although we didn’t have strict deadlines, they kept pace. Moreover, K2 Global Communications was completely transparent and meticulous in all of their efforts.

We communicated through Google Meet and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their strength was their ability to immerse themselves in our brand. Our product isn’t easy to understand, but they were able to understand it and share it with others in a way that represented us properly. The pitch and stories they wrote resonated with our brand and showed our product in the best possible way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe they could’ve pushed a little harder in their sector.  We work at a fast pace, and they didn’t match it. We expected to get more than what we got from them, so we would’ve wanted them to put more pressure on these projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication needs to be at the forefront. K2 Global Communications is good at picking up and jumping on board, but you need to explain your objectives and understand the PR angle of what you’re trying to achieve. If you don’t do it, you won’t be able to get what you want.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing communication manager for a global IoT company. We create IoT platforms as well as software and hardware solutions for security, safety, and healthcare service providers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with K2 Global Communications?

About five years ago, we went through a rebranding process and started marketing our solutions worldwide. Part of that included events and digital marketing, so we began looking for a PR partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We collaborate with K2 Global Communications to create PR strategies, and then they help write and distribute the PR releases. They set up meetings with relevant media outlets to promote our events and also do content writing. They do a few PR projects a month and have done some case studies, as well.

What is the team composition?

We usually work with about three people but have one main point of contact.

How did you come to work with K2 Global Communications?

Our head of marketing chose them because they’d worked together previously.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in December 2013, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve accomplished the goals we’ve set.

How did K2 Global Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

They have good project management skills, making sure that the projects are going smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand our needs and know how to engage with media outlets that are relevant to our industry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We haven’t been able to reach big media outlets, but we can work on that too.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Create a yearly plan that outlines what you want to accomplish and when. It’ll make your PR efforts more focused and efficient.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing at CyberInt, a cybersecurity company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with K2 Global Communications?

Our visibility within our market was low due to the lack of awareness activities we participated in. We hired K2 Global Communications to help us build a relationship with media outlets.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

K2 Global Communications writes and sends out press releases. They also disseminate articles written about us from media outlets after connecting us with them. Their team helped us scout various industry awards and fill out forms. Communication with partner companies’ PR departments is also handled by their team if needed.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Amy (COO & Co-Founder, K2 Global Communications), and there are other writers.

How did you come to work with K2 Global Communications?

I had previously worked with Amy at a smaller company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2018, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Judging by the quarterly reports on hits and other results, I can tell they’re doing a good job. We’ve won several awards that enable more industry recognition. They’ve released dozens of articles and press releases to help our visibility efforts.

How did K2 Global Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at managing the project and very responsive. We use typically use email and WhatsApp to speak, but also phone calls when it’s urgent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We value that their team is responsive and quick to react.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Being more proactive could be an improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ensure they are actively approaching the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing for Binah.ai. We’re a startup that creates AI-powered applications for a number of markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with K2 Global Communications?

We hired K2 Global Communications to help create and execute our marketing efforts because we didn’t have the resources in-house. We used them to fulfill our content and PR needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

K2 Global Communications provides a range of support. For the PR efforts, they draft and schedule our press releases, manage journalist outreach, handle our social media accounts and find speaking opportunities for our team.

Their team also locates awards for us to apply to and works with us on the submissions. Similarly, they handle our relationship with relevant individuals and follow up on briefs. Additionally, they write content for our site, post it, and create reports through our management tool.

What is the team composition?

Amy (Co-Founder & COO, K2 Global Communications) is our main point of contact, but there is a team of around four others working on the project, as well.

How did you come to work with K2 Global Communications?

They’re very well known in our market, and we had been familiar with them for a long time. They also have a great number of recommendations online, so I knew their reputation was good.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $6,000 per month for our retainer.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

K2 Global Communications have been successful in executing strong campaigns and strategies. Their skill set has proven helpful in managing and optimizing our marketing efforts.

How did K2 Global Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great in managing the workload and meeting our deadlines. K2 Global Communications are quick and proactive, making them easy to work with. We work remotely, so we only have in-person meetings a couple of times a year.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their proactive nature, impressive knowledge, and high professionalism stand out to us. They also bring great energy to the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although some project management aspects could be handled quicker, there is nothing I’d suggest they improve. If they weren’t fulfilling our needs, we wouldn’t continue working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make them a part of your team. Keep K2 Global Communications informed on your needs and take advantage of their skill set. The more they know about your project, the better they can make recommendations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is responsible for information protection. Our solution provides a layer of protection for any type of file, whether that file is inside or outside of an organization. With our software, files will be safe regardless of the type of platform where the data is held, the owner of the files, and so on. I am a marketing manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with K2 Global Communications?

Our main goal initially was to create our main messaging and come up with a strategy for getting our message out there for companies to understand exactly who we are and what we do.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

K2 Global Communications came to our office and went through a period of getting to understand our company. We had several meetings where they really tried to understand who we are and what we are. It was a lot of listening on their part and writing everything down in order to understand exactly what our company does. After that period, they put together the messaging document with all of the main points of the different aspects of our company. Then we started to develop our website and our messaging, changing it slowly to make everything a little more clear as to what the company does, who we’re targeting, and what makes us unique. After a lot of brainstorming, we started to put together our deliverables, our collaterals, blogs, our website content, and so on. K2 was responsible for everything from content, blogs, PR articles, awards, and more.

I worked primarily with Amy Kenigsberg.

How did you come to work with K2 Global Communications?

We met with several firms and had received a lot of recommendations for K2. We looked at their previous work and felt we had a good connection with them.

How much have you invested with K2 Global Communications?

We spent less than $10,000. We’re a small startup so our budget was tight. We maximized what we could within our abilities.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2015, and the project was completed in February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our website definitely received a lot more attention as a result of a few articles and press releases that K2 distributed. With K2's help and with the articles they wrote for us, we gained a lot of good exposure in relevant target markets in the US and Europe. K2 also helped us to receive several awards.

How did K2 Global Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed well. We would have weekly meetings and phone calls just to go over the status of our project. We could easily follow up on projects. They delivered on projects that we worked on together.

What did you find most impressive about K2 Global Communications?

They were always available to us whenever we needed them even though we gave them a lot of projects on short notice. The messaging that they put together was something that really worked well for us. We use it all the time for our different materials and for our website. They helped us clear up our message and understand who we are, what we are, and what we do. They helped us make it easier for users to grasp what we do and how we can help them from our company’s point of view. We’ve had a really good relationship with them.

Are there any areas K2 Global Communications could improve?

We had issues getting through to major magazines or major channels that we would have liked to appear on. It would be good for them to broaden their connections with different channels with bigger names just to be able to get more exposure.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Starhome Mach is a telecom provider that offers value-added roaming area services through telecom operators worldwide. I served in various roles at Starhome from marketing communications manager to marketing manager. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with K2 Global Communications?

Initially, we used a U.K. company for a couple of years. We decided to find a new provider for several reasons. We were paying a lot of money, but the results were not very good. We had to practically rewrite everything that they delivered. Because the vendor was in the U.K., they weren’t able to meet our needs in Israel. They were restricted in terms of how much work they’d do each month, so we weren’t getting coverage, attention, or interviews throughout the year. K2 offered us a totally different level of service.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were looking for a public relations company that could boost our worldwide coverage every month, handle interviews, and increase our presence in the industry for analysts, journalists, and end users.

Once K2 started working, we had planning calls every month. First of all, they had a basic outreach plan where we built together a list of publications and analysts, ranked in order of importance. They conducted outreach efforts based on whatever topic we had for that month. We got a monthly report from them about different outreach efforts, and they worked hard to arrange interviews for us periodically.

In addition, K2 focused on public relations. We would come up with topics, either articles or press releases, that we wanted to promote. Sometimes, we had to strategize with them because we didn’t always have news. They were always ready to do more work, even though we didn’t have enough. We strategized together on what to do and when. We gave them the raw materials, and they wrote the press releases for that month. We’d go back and forth until the releases were ready, and then K2 would publish them according to our schedule.

When we had important exhibitions, we had a separate PR campaign. This event was handled as a separate, more detailed process. K2 put together a separate outreach plan where they would work with the event guide to contact all the journalists and analysts that were attending. They would arrange and book interviews for us over the course of the event and send us a full brief with background information about each publication, journalist and analyst, their main focus, and topics to be covered.

How did you come to work with K2 Global Communications?

I may have met them through a local marketing event or by a recommendation. When we initially spoke, they were more cost-effective than our earlier options. They had a lot of international experience in telecom, and we also liked their approach.

Over the years, whenever we had a new vice president at our company, we always weighed our options and came back to K2 because of their great prices and service. There’s no reason to change if we’re happy.

How much have you invested with K2 Global Communications?

I don't remember the prices but they were very reasonable, under $2,500 per month. Initially, K2 did one press release a month, and then we bumped it up to two per month. Multiply that by 12 and go back up at least 6 or 7 years, and you’ll have a rough idea of how much we spent.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working at Starhome at the end of 2000 and took over this project with K2 in the mid-2000s. So, the company has been working with them for at least 6 or 7 years.

The new company I’m working at is also using K2, although I’m not involved in that area. My previous vice president left Starhome a few years ago, and she’s here now. When she asked about our PR agent, I recommended K2. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

During our agreement, our metrics were based on getting coverage from two press releases a month and at least 10–12 interviews at the major global telecom event that we held. Sometimes, we didn’t need a release because we didn’t have anything to promote. But, K2 was always ahead of us in terms of being able to do more, by suggesting topics for articles and briefs. Since I left Starhome over a year ago, I don’t remember any other specific metrics, but they met our requirements.

How did K2 Global Communications perform from a project management standpoint?

Their responses were always quick, both for initiating and responding. They have a strong organization process with regular meetings and calls, and their monthly reports are well-structured.

They were usually managing us because we were so busy with other activities. We didn’t have enough material to give them at times.

What did you find most impressive about K2 Global Communications?

They’re a small company making a big difference. We run into fewer political issues or writer changes. Working with the same person helps them better understand our business. We sent them materials, and I think they put their hearts into doing good work. That makes a big difference in the end result. After working with several other providers over the years, I think the main pluses of K2 are their understanding of our business and willingness to give us their best. They are also very personable and we had a great relationship. I could pick up the phone anytime to talk to them.

Are there any areas K2 Global Communications could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.