Media Contact:

Cynthia Baker

Accolades Public Relations
512-586-8278

Cynthia@AccoladesPR.com

-Communications firm assists with public relations and social media campaigns-

Springfield, MO, July 13, 2010 — Drury University, a nationally accredited institution of higher learning, has tapped Accolades PR to assist with the launch of its Social Media Certificate program for graduate credit.  Accolades PR will develop public relations and social media campaigns that will increase brand awareness and enrollment in the university’s online webinar course.

Drury University offers both on-campus classes and the new online webinar class as a means of providing training in the best practices, texts and research compiled in new media communications. Students who successfully complete Drury’s social media graduate course will receive three hours of graduate credit that is transferrable to accredited universities accepting social media courses within their degree offerings.

Deltina Hay, social media pioneer and author of “A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization” will facilitate the webinar program, teaching students how to use social media and Web 2.0 technologies. Serving as a social media instructor, Hay will be leading students in how to connect and expand a brand on the social web.  Covering RSS feeds, widgets, applications and plug-ins, the webinar will turn social media students into seasoned practitioners by teaching them how to apply these tools to fulfill specified goals.

“Since Accolades PR has taken a leading role in applying Web 2.0 technologies to their PR practice they are an appropriate firm to represent Deltina Hay and our curriculum,” comments Dr. Curt Gilstrap, Director of Graduate and Continuing Studies at Drury.  “The PR 2.0 firm’s progressive marketing strategies are what we needed to increase visibility online about our program.”

Students will be taught how to design and pilot social media campaigns. Going beyond technology skill development, students will gain media management skills and the ability to adapt to the changing landscape of integrated media. Upon completion of the course, they will receive a social media certificate from Drury University to demonstrate competency in social media gained through an accredited, graduate level curriculum.

“The Drury team and I are thrilled at the opportunity to teach social media practices that will impact the business lives of students,” responded Deltina Hay.  “Knowing the success and dedication that Accolades PR had delivered to their clients in the past, I recommended that they take on the promotion of the Drury program.”

The first graduate-level social media webinar program began July 5^th. Drury’s Social Media Certificate program is open to anyone with a bachelor’s degree. The course counts for three credit hours toward Drury’s Master of Arts in Communication, which is transferrable to other accredited institutions.

For more information and to register, visit Drury University’s Social Media Certificate Web site at:  www.socialmediacertificate.net

About Accolades PR

Accolades Public Relations is a results-oriented communications firm committed to progressive strategies in public relations, social media and marketing. It is a new breed of PR 2.0 firm where the clients’ needs drive solutions – whether in media exposure or news online.

The firm’s mission is to set the standard in what carefully executed public relations and communication strategies can do for sales, lead generation and the bottom line of ROI. Accolades’ team of public relations strategists practice a blend of traditional public relations along with optimized PR and social media. They provide integrated communications solutions, including tactical web marketing strategies designed to sync public relations initiatives to B2B agendas.

Collectively the team has garnered media placements in The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, VentureWire, New York Times, Red Herring, BusinessWeek, CNBC, Franchise Times, USA Today, Self and Family Magazine along with a host of trade publications, regional business journals, dailies and broadcast outlets. These traditional PR efforts complement the integrated communications campaigns the team develops and executes for clients to assist each in growing an interactive presence online. Based upon an initial, strategic plan, the Accolades team consults and assists with blogging, integrating social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and building community engagement.

The agency focuses growing and protecting its clients’ most valuable asset – their brand. With expertise in corporate communications, brand management, media relations, social media, product launches, and special events, the firm’s capabilities empower client initiatives. Accolades Public Relations is based in Austin, Texas and serves both regional and national clients in the education, technology, advertising, financial, franchise, restaurant and business sectors.

For more information on Accolades PR and the clients they serve, visit www.AccoldesPR.com

About Drury University, College of Graduate and Continuing Studies

Drury is an independent University, church related, grounded in the liberal arts tradition and committed to personalized education in a community of scholars who value the arts of teaching and learning. Education at Drury seeks to cultivate spiritual sensibilities and imaginative faculties as well as ethical insight and critical thought; to foster the integration of theoretical and practical knowledge; and to liberate persons to participate responsibly in and contribute to a global community.

For more information, visit www.drury.edu/strategicplan.

Media Contact:
Monica Hampton
Accolades Public Relations
512-698-4647
Monica@AccoladesPR.com

MBSQuoteline selects Accolades Public Relations for Integrated Communications
- Financial information company taps PR firm to develop social media strategies to reach clients online –

Austin, Texas, January 28, 2010 — Accolades PR, a results-oriented communications firm committed to progressive strategies in public relations and marketing, announced today that it has recently launched the social media presence for MBSQuoteline, a successful financial information company that provides live mortgage market information for originators.

Since 1992, MBSQuoteline has offered its clients live MBS prices, as trades happen, and up to the minute mortgage market news and analysis, as events occur.  The Austin-based firm’s  expertise in the mortgage backed securities (MBS) market enables them to provide concise, factual reporting on market movements, financial news and incisive, market commentary throughout the day by experienced analysts.

Accolades PR will assist MBSQuoteline in delivering a portion of the market updates and financial alerts directly to consumers on the Web using social networking sites. Using Web 2.0 technologies, the PR firm will make it easier for loan originators to access MBSQuoteline’s real-time data and to experience first-hand how it can help them better serve their customers and make better lock-float decisions.

“MBSQuoteline is the perfect example of a company providing valuable data to its subscriber base,” states Cynthia Baker, president of Accolades PR. “We have developed an integrated communications strategy that will significantly expand the network of mortgage professionals who will be able to access and test this time-sensitive market information.”

Scott Sanderson, founder and managing partner of MBSQuoteline, is a veteran of the mortgage industry with a career spanning over 25 years.  He has seen his fair share of market volatility and understands how clients benefit from observing market trends that indicate when investors are about to re-price and issue new rates.

“Much of our business is conducted on the Web and our financial information is delivered to the client’s desktop or PDA.   We realized that it is now time to take the next step and start utilizing social media to connect with our core audiences,” says Scott Sanderson. “Accolades’ team members are experts in social media, and they know how to reach our targeted clients online.”

Accolades Public Relations will build awareness for MBSQuoteline’s subscriber services through a series of strategic social media campaigns that highlight the firm’s real-time MBS and treasury prices, insightful commentary, charting, and more. They will expand the social media presence for MBSQuoteline and connect to loan originators on social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.  They will showcase the expertise of the analysts and highlight the value of the services that MBSQuoteline provides.

About MBSQuoteline

MBSQuoteline, a proven financial information company has been serving loan originators, loan officers and risk managers with actionable, mortgage backed securities data since its inception in 1992. The Austin-based firm provides concise, factual reporting on mortgage market movements, financial news and incisive market commentary throughout the day by experienced analysts – as the news happens

The mortgage market experts offer advance notice of when investors will re-price loans, which creates a window of time for lock/float decisions. This crucial information is summarized within a proprietary Price Change Chart, live streaming of MBS prices as trades happen, scheduled updates on mortgage rates at intervals throughout the day and special alerts when pricing becomes favorable or unfavorable. The up-to-the-minute market news and analysis of financial events as they occur is delivered directly by email or mobile phones.

MBSQuoteline provide professional reporting of the mortgage rates and economic indicators without forecasting, which keeps the autonomy of the decision-making in the hands of the loan officers. Loan officers and originators benefit by knowing when investors are about to re-price loans, seeing volatility and trends developing in the market and gaining financial newsletters to report this information back to their clients.

For additional information, please visit the MBSQuoteline web site at

http://budurl.com/mbsquoteline

About Accolades Public Relations
Austin-based Accolades PR is a results-oriented communications firm committed to progressive strategies for public relations and marketing communications. The agency focuses on building and protecting its clients’ most valuable asset – their brand. With expertise in media relations, corporate communications, product launches and special events, the firm’s capabilities encompass a variety of practice areas.  As a team, Accolades PR delivers more than 50 years of experience in building media relationships and developing effective marketing campaigns. Accolades PR’s mission is to set the standard in what carefully executed public relations and communications strategies can do for sales, lead generation and the bottom line of ROI.

More information on the firm and its unique service offerings is available at http://budurl.com/accoladespr

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Media Contact
Cathy Hale
Accolades Public Relations
512.658.2709 (cell)
Cathy@AccoladesPR.com

New Era Portfolio selects Accolades Public Relations
-Fine art publisher taps PR firm to develop social media strategy to reach consumers online-

Austin, Texas, November 20, 2009 — Accolades PR, a results-oriented communications firm committed to progressive strategies in public relations and marketing, announced today that it has recently launched the social media presence for New Era Portfolio, an award winning fine art publisher and manufacturer that markets limited edition artwork nationally.

New Era Portfolio’s expertise in managing artists and forecasting style trends allow the company to deliver current, vital artwork to corporate and hospitality design arenas and a prestigious collection of retail clients.  New Era Portfolio’s technological platform, not only delivers fine custom artwork quickly, but also creates web-based solutions for blue chip retailers.

Joe Garcia, CEO and president, has led his company into Inc. 500 company status and is now guiding it through recessionary times. The skilled entrepreneur is innovating on multiple fronts in order to more directly meet the needs and interests of consumers.  With the convergence of media online and the advent of cost effective Web 2.0 technologies, Garcia envisioned an immediate opportunity to expand his business by selling directly to consumers online.

“Accolades Public Relations is one of the first communications firms in Austin to embrace social media strategies along with traditional PR,” comments Joe Garcia. “When I read of their expertise, I knew they would understand how to integrate our Facebook, blog, Twitter and LinkedIn sites for an effective social media presence.”

New Era Portfolio selected Accolades PR to assist the company in developing and executing a social media strategy that would help them to leverage their business accomplishments and news into online PR as well as social media content that would be of interest to their business relationships.  The communications firm was also tasked with mapping the communications appropriate for the firm’s four websites and associated social networking sites.

“An integrated communications strategy can be confusing to clients initially since there are so many unfamiliar moving parts – blogs, social networking sites, RSS feeds, widgets, etc. along with optimized PR and traditional media services,” comments Cynthia Baker, president and founder of Accolades Public Relations. “Understanding the client’s pre-existing business relationships and communities (and knowing where those groups are living online) is a crucial part of developing a solid social media strategy.”

Accolades PR has assisted New Era Portfolio to date in developing an active and ongoing presence online and by significantly growing their social networks. The public relations firm introduced New Era Portfolio to tools and systems that empower them to tap into online communities at will and to maintain conversations and networking through social media. At the same time, Accolades PR has handled the public relations efforts for the company.

“Clients count on us to have the answers, and we are pleased to be a PR 2.0 firm with the full set of the skills needed to gain client exposure on the Web,” states Baker. “The combination of PR skills and social media knowledge is key to getting reliable results.”

New Era Portfolio is an award-winning fine art publisher, offering, limited–edition artwork customizable to commercial or residential settings.  Commissioning top artists from around the nation, New Era’s extensive cache of artwork provides interior designers with Pantone color-coded fine art that can be customized and framed for specific needs. New Era is the innovative pioneer in the art world, providing full-service, integrated processes for publishing, printing, manufacturing and framing fine art. Besides commercial interior designers, the company also works extensively with the hospitality, retail, healthcare, television and cinema industries.

About Accolades Public Relations
Austin-based Accolades PR is a results-oriented communications firm committed to progressive strategies for public relations and marketing communications. The agency focuses on building and protecting its clients’ most valuable asset – their brand. With expertise in media relations, corporate communications, product launches and special events, the firm’s capabilities encompass a variety of practice areas.  As a team, Accolades PR delivers more than 50 years of experience in building media relationships and developing effective marketing campaigns. Accolades PR’s mission is to set the standard in what carefully executed public relations and communications strategies can do for sales, lead generation and the bottom line of ROI.

More information on the firm and its unique service offerings is available at www.AccoladesPR.com