Miller Consulting (MCG), Boston, Mass., is the only public relations firm designed from the ground up to unite business and market strategy with winning program implementation. MCG partners with high-technology companies - from emerging start-up ventures to established market leaders - to create long-term strategic public relations programs that deliver focused, sustainable, and unassailable market positioning.
top of page	How do we define public relations? (see illustration below) With more than 30 years of experience in technology marketing, MCG founder Andy Miller has seen the craft of public relations move from its early roots in product publicity to its place today as a strategic management tool. During the 1970s, PR professionals typically filled a tactical role as product or services publicists. The 1980s saw the appearance of vertically aligned PR specialists, who delivered industry-specific public relations services leveraging domain expertise in specific markets. Dominant among these were "high-tech PR" specialists responding primarily to the explosive PC revolution. Andy Miller's first firm, Miller Communications, was the leader of this group of agencies. By the 1990s, IT was redefining the way every company conducted business, which brought a new type of PR strategist who adapted communications programs to new models, new media, and a faster pace. As we enter the next millenium, the Internet is forcing every company in every industry to reinvent business and marketing models. As a result, PR must fill a strategic role that goes well beyond communications to core business and marketing strategies. Today's successful PR professionals act as strategists and consultants, who are bilingual in technology and business language, and can leverage each to maximize the value of the other.
top of page	Why a new model for the public relations industry? As the Internet induces strategic business change at unprecedented speeds, companies are being forced to closely examine and align their business and communications strategies. It is here, at the intersection of business and communications strategies, that MCG has seized its opportunity. MCG was created from the conviction that many companies, seeking to position themselves in the highly competitive, fast-moving Internet-driven business landscape, dramatically underestimate the strategic impact of communications programming and its linkage to business planning. In conceiving MCG, Andy Miller set out to build a public relations firm driven by market strategy and designed to create market leaders through a unique service model that continually links strategy with implementation through feedback and revision.
top of page	Why is positioning so important? (see illustration below) In the new economy, the old definitions of positioning and marketing no longer apply. Survival in today's change-driven markets depends on new marketing communications models that are grounded in a unified, positioning-based strategy that anticipates and sustains constant shifts in market dynamics. In change-driven markets, leadership recognition must be based on credibly keeping perception ahead of reality. Key to positioning is a delicate balance between a company's current reality and its ultimate vision. However, vision and innovation aren't enough; a company must also deliver real customer value if it wants to be perceived as a credible leader.
top of page	What kinds of positioning problems can MCG solve? MCG's client base comprises both emerging technology companies and more established industry leaders. Each partnership is designed to meet the client's unique positioning challenges and implementation needs. The MCG team has led clients through complete re-positioning exercises based on market or internal changes such as M&As or reorganizations. The launch of a company, product, a new service or even a new competitor has led many clients to retain MCG's services to ensure their positioning can withstand the change, and that the company's voice is heard and understood. In addition to counseling clients regarding strategic positioning driven by market changes, the MCG team also directs clients through major internal events, such as financial reversals, IPOs and shifts in management.
top of page	How do we work with clients? All of MCG's client partnerships are rooted in positioning. MCG's multi-phased model is unique among PR firms. Unlike traditional agencies, MCG provides two service modules that are linked together by one dedicated senior team and an integrated strategy-driven communications plan. Strategy: MCG conducts a fixed time/fixed price strategic positioning exercise at the beginning of every engagement, the result of which is a set of strategic positioning platforms and messages that will permeate all communications activities. Linkage - Communications Planning: Then, the MCG team develops and executes a long-term strategic public relations plan with the goal of creating and sustaining perceptions that will drive the desired market position. In addition, MCG incorporates a continual loop with strategic positioning and implementation to ensure constant feedback between the media, the market and the client. Implementation: Plan implementation includes aggressive media and analyst relations, news management, press materials, press tours, industry monitoring, event management, speechwriting, seminars and conferences, and lead generation, to name just a few.
top of page	Who are our partners? MCG partners with companies with complementary resources to offer even more comprehensive services to our clients. Currently, we are working with the following:   Global reach - Fleishman-Hillard, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, is one of the world's leading global communications consultancies, with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia, and affiliates in Latin America. Design and corporate identity - Gill Fishman Associates is a full-service graphic design firm offering creative consulting services for corporate identity, annual reports, corporate brochures, and packaging. If you are interested in a partnership, please contact: Andy Miller, Chairman/CEO.  andy@millergrp.com.
top of page	How can you contact us? For inquiries about MCG and our services, please contact:  andy@millergrp.com   781 . 398 . 9481