Ruth Furman nominated for 2024 Top Tech Awards honor
Ruth Furman has always dared to do things differently, and she’s no stranger to pushing boundaries and comfort zones – especially her own.
That approach to life recently earned her company ImageWords Communications a unique accolade as a qualified nominee for the 2024 Top Tech Awards Las Vegas in the small/medium-sized business category.
Winners will be announced at the Top Tech Awards event on Oct. 23, 2024at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.Tickets for the event are still available.
So how did a PR pro get noticed as a tech leader? Read on to learn how she did it.
COVID brings opportunity
During the COVID pandemic, Furman, like so many others, was trying to stay connected with industry peers and clients through Zoom calls and online networking events. During that time, she began to notice a trend. Digital marketing and SEO pros would often tell her that PR and media exposure is a great way to boost SEO, website traffic and potential leads, yet their clients often failed to seize these opportunities.
Furman saw a problem that she had the skills and background to solve. So, she launched an SEO PR division for ImageWords Communications.
“The honor of being chosen as a tech innovator is so humbling, but yet very life affirming. It lets me know that the risk I took in up-leveling my business to add SEO PR is definitely paying off, and how awesome it feels that others are noticing it,” Furman said.
How it works
With SEO PR, ImageWords Communications aligns itself with a client’s social media, SEO and digital marketing arms. Furman treats media engagements (TV/podcast interviews, article quotes, etc.) as digital assets that can be used to amplify a brand, sales and nurture SEO for their website. The goal is to optimize these digital assets by embedding them into properly keyworded blogs and press releases, and distribute them on social media platforms with plenty of tags and backlinks.
When possible, Furman also expands a digital assets’ reach by grouping several of her clients into a media story. That strategy often boosts the reach and engagement of the digital asset 200% to 300%. Since launching SEO PR, ImageWords has seen tremendous growth in several key industries it serves, including 900% growth in home services business and 600% growth in healthcare.
Even with her efforts now getting noticed by the tech community, Furman still says her success is the result of her old fashioned midwestern work ethic.
“I’ve always prided myself in being a solopreneur with big impact. I don’t have a tech background or a large staff and I don’t subscribe to expensive media lists. All of my work is done the old-fashioned way. I hustle. I match my clients up with national and local journalists to help create great stories,” Furman added. “What I love about SEO PR is that it has helped me to get so much closer to my clients. Media opportunities aren’t just a one-and-done experience, now. I am more aligned with the entire marketing team and we together are making a more meaningful impact for the client and others.”
