"The decision to change PR agencies is not one that organizations take lightly. It can be a painful process of transition and reeducation. Once that decision is reached, however, there is a very brief window of opportunity for new agencies to win the business. The challenge is being in the right place at the right time to swing through that window.

That was one of the objectives Tech Image had when we started working with eNewsBuilder in 2002. Our PR Intelligence Report has given us a consistent presence among clients, prospects, business partners, and other interested parties. From the beginning we made the decision to make the newsletter valuable to readers by focusing on ideas and information about public relations and the technology industry rather making it a self-serving promotional piece.

It’s a decision that has paid off. Every issue we receive multiple compliments from readers saying how much they enjoy it. In fact, I was recently surprised when the CEO of one of Chicago’s leading technology companies sought me out to mention how much he enjoys reading it. Each issue is opened immediately by roughly one-third of the people who receive it, while click-through rates on articles average 15% to 20%. We know recipients are reading it.

Tech Image often recommended using a newsletter to our clients to help them stay in front of prospects. But the thought of producing one for ourselves seemed daunting until we became an eNewsBuilder customer. The eNewsBuilder hosted application made it easy for us to take the content we produced (as well as content we captured from other sources) and send a very professional-looking newsletter.

In the beginning we used the basic service, taking advantage of the template the company helped us build while doing most of the work ourselves. Recently we switched to managed services, which made the newsletter even easier for us to produce. eNewsBuilder takes care of all of the layout and logistics, leaving us free to focus on the content that keeps the PR Intelligence Report from being deleted without opening. As an added bonus using the managed service meant that we didn’t have to add a full-time salary when the person who used to put it together in-house left the company.

The e-mail-delivered newsletter fits in well with our business, too. As the name implies, Tech Image is a Chicago-based public relations agency that is 100% focused on technology products and services. In fact, we are the largest independent technology-focused agency in the Midwest, with a staff larger than the technology practices at some of the largest agencies. Our client list, which includes FrontRange Solutions, Language Analysis Systems, ITA Software, Relational LLC, Fieldglass, and the Society for Information Management among others, hails from all over the U.S. As part of the Worldcom network of independent PR agencies, we have the relationships to help our clients get their unfair share of media coverage around the world, and have collaborated with some of those partners to get their clients launched in the U.S.

Tech Image has often been at the forefront of the technology business we live in every day. We were actually the first PR agency in the U.S. to have a Web site (www.techimage.com). Our proprietary database of reporters and analysts is unequalled to our knowledge. Our use of eNewsBuilder is one more way that we’ve been able to get ahead – and stay ahead of – the curve.

As you can tell, we’re very satisfied customers. eNewsBuilder has helped us make sure that we don’t fall into becoming the shoemaker’s children."

Mike Nikolich is Founder and CEO of Tech Image Ltd., the largest independent technology focused public relations agency in the Midwest and a partner in the Worldcom network of independent public relations agencies. Incidentally, we send our PR Intelligence Report to those partners as well and have received many compliments from all over the globe.