ATLANTA– (February 20, 2024) – Despite big changes in marketing and public relations in the last 25 years, successful campaigns still depend on knowing how to deliver the right story to the right audience. Calysto Communications, a global marketing communications agency specializing in the AI, IoT, mobile, wireless and telecom industries, has built its business helping clients do just that. This year, Calysto reached a celebratory milestone: 25 years in business as a highly respected boutique public relations (PR) and marketing firm exclusively serving information and communications technology (ICT) clients.
When Laura Borgstede, Calysto’s founder, launched the PR and marketing firm in 1999, she had already been involved in several key communications industry milestones. She helped Sprint Spectrum launch the first PCS network, Nokia unveil the first smartphone and BellSouth launch Cellemetry, the first commercial machine-to-machine/Internet of Things (M2M/IoT) service.
She quickly recognized that companies in the fast-growing communications industry needed more specialized services than public relations and marketing generalists could provide. Communications industry players needed experienced PR professionals that understood their industry, knew their audience and could speak their language. In 1999, she launched Calysto with a pioneering vision: Create a specialized public relations firm consisting of insiders focused solely on companies in the communications industry – and more specifically, the mobile, wireless and telecom industries.
In the last 25 years, Calysto has expanded its reach – including adding additional content development services and social media marketing as well as expanding into new areas such as IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) – to help its clients adapt to changes in both marketing and the communications industry. And Borgstede and her team at Calysto Communications have continued to innovate with a number of business “firsts.”
For instance, Calysto was among the first to embrace a “work from home” (WFH) model and start an online-based team back in 2006 – more than a decade before Zoom and Cloud became household names. This allowed Calysto to attract experienced PR professionals from around the county and the world who had insider knowledge of the communications industry. It was the first to position clients in hot new market sectors such as IoT and AI. And it was among the first to add many new PR and marketing strategies to the mix – including social media marketing, content marketing, customized PR strategies, and campaign ROI measurement using AI.
In the past 25 years, Calysto has built and maintained its success by delivering unique project-based PR, marketing, digital and content campaigns that are strategically built to deliver very specific business goals. These campaigns have achieved impressive outcomes for clients, including:
- Repositioning Globecomm from a satellite company to an IoT solutions integration company to achieve more than 300 media mentions reaching 115 million eyeballs in several countries – and thus positioning the company for a successful exit
- Developing messaging and positioning for a PR campaign that led to IoT client Quuppa tripling its sales in one year and growing its partner network by 85%
- Securing nearly 20 million U.S. media impressions for Israel-based Allot Communications in key publications such as The New York Times (a campaign for which Calysto was later given a Stevie Award for the most impressions for a small budget)
- Creating a Twitter/X and LinkedIn social media campaign for iBasis that resulted in 3,510 additional page views to its website by more than 1,000 unique visitors representing 88 countries – with more than 60% of those viewers being new visitors
- Using strategic repositioning for AI client One Tech (now MicroAI) to deliver more than $1.4 million worth of advertising exposure reaching 155 million potential customers and partners – in just 10 months – at a fraction of the cost using PR
Even more impressive: Calysto has helped more than two dozen clients increase their valuation when going public or positioning their companies for exit. In total, Calysto’s clients have secured more than $4.8 billion in publicly reported valuations for clients in the last 25 years.
One of those companies was RacoWireless, which Calysto started working with in May 2011. In four years, Calysto helped RacoWireless go from an M2M start-up founded by former T-Mobile executives to a $160 million acquisition by Kore Wireless. Raco’s then-president John Horn was so impressed by Calysto’s thought leadership work that he has hired the Calysto team repeatedly.
“When I focus on messaging with a new company, one of the first things I do is call Laura Borgstede and the amazing team at Calysto to help me with public relations. Not only does the Calysto team know the industry, they are specialists at creating PR strategies designed to achieve specific business goals. As one example, when I was president of RacoWireless, Calysto helped us leverage public relations to drive sales,” said John Horn, IoT Executive and Board Member.
Calysto helped companies Everstream build its businesses by turning a “boring” story about B2B fiber network launches into compelling content and positioning that led to coverage in The Wall Street Journal as well as local coverage in NPR, The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press and Crain’s Cleveland Business.
“At Everstream, we asked Calysto to secure local media coverage in several major cities to drive new business leads for our B2B broadband fiber service. It was not the kind of story that mainstream media is usually excited to cover,” said Sarah Von Harten, B2B Marketing Leader and former CMO of Everstream. “But Calysto made it exciting, not just by creating compelling stories about our business but also by helping us tie that story to major local news events. In a campaign that spanned just a few months, Calysto secured more than 32 articles and interviews for us in leading print and broadcast outlets, including local NPR affiliates. Better yet, directly after these placements, we saw a record number of inbound sales leads – an 87% increase over the previous year.”
In the last 25 years, Calysto has witnessed many changes in the PR world. In 1999, pitching for news and press releases was done primarily via phone calls and fax machines. Trade shows and press tours were all in person instead of online. Media coverage was documented by creating thick books filled with printed press clips, and ROI was mainly calculated by the number of eyeballs reached. Meanwhile, most publications were still printed and mailed.
Twenty-five years ago, you could speak directly to customers via advertising or trade shows, but the primary way to get your message across was to influence the influencers – mainly media and analysts. You would pitch your story to editors and analysts with the goal of convincing them to cover your company so that your target audience – customers, prospects, investors or partners – read about you in influential publications.
Today, the number of methods companies can use to reach their target audiences has exploded. Digital publications are the norm, and companies today often communicate not only with influencers but also directly to customers, prospects, investors and partners via social media, email, blogs and many other digital channels. That’s why Calysto has expanded its services since 1999 to offer a wide range of flexible public relations and marketing strategies that allow their clients to not only target influencers but also to directly appeal to customers, prospects, investors and partners.
Of course, in the last 25 years, one thing hasn’t changed: The importance of having relationships with the right industry influencers – and creating compelling stories that capture their interest. Calysto’s seasoned team of industry insiders is the most knowledgeable and well-connected in the industry – and that’s a big reason why Calysto is so successful in getting results for its clients. Just ask Matthew Vartabedian, Senior Editor of No Jitter.
“I’ve been a technology and telecom editor, writer and industry analyst for more than twenty-five years. I constantly receive emails from PR and marketing firms asking if I’ll talk to their clients. Canned, generic pitches are obvious, and I ignore them,” said Matt Vartabedian, Senior Editor, with Informa Tech’s No Jitter. “I’ve worked with Laura and Calysto for a very long time. She and her team have always taken the time to learn my beat, ask what I’m working on, and then maintained that relationship so when my coverage intersects with what their clients do, they pitch me on something that makes sense. Moreover, when I get on the call with a Calysto client, it’s clear that Calysto has fully briefed the executives on my outlet and the topics that are important to my audience. A briefing with a Calysto client is never a waste of my time.”
In addition to its industry expertise, Calysto prides itself on creating customized programs that fit each client’s unique needs. Calysto builds long-term strategic marketing plans as well as project-based plans focused on specific business goals or fixed-fee budgets (no retainers required). Calysto’s team has created and implemented innovative marketing strategies for hundreds of companies in its 25 years in business, including well-respected names such as Tellabs, ADTRAN, BroadSoft (Cisco), Level 3 Communications (CenturyLink), Broadwing (Level 3), Globalstar, Hitachi, MetaSolv (Oracle), Molex, mPRO5, Intec Telecom Systems (CSG), SAP, Telica (Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia)) and innovative startups like RacoWireless (Kore), Allot Communications, Quuppa, Longview IoT, OptConnect, Soracom, One Tech (MicroAI) and many more.
About Calysto Communications™
Calysto Communications™ is a global marketing communications and public relations agency that specializes in raising awareness and driving value for companies in the AI, IoT, mobile, wireless and telecom markets. With a 25-year history of building buzz, brands and business results, Calysto’s team of industry insiders specializes in reaching the right communications industry influencers with the most compelling content about your company. Through strategic counsel, market positioning, content marketing, public relations and social media strategies, Calysto creates flexible, customized PR and marketing campaigns for clients specifically designed to drive leads and maximize ROI. Learn more about Calysto at www.calysto.com.
