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May 19, 2008

Help wanted

Sometimes 140 characters are not enough.

Friends, I need your help with two things.

First, as you've probably noticed :-) I've been doing some analysis here of PR pitches received by bloggers. I'd like to continue this as a regular feature, with at least one good and one bad pitch per week. But I need your help. Between what I get myself and blogger friends, I have a pretty steady supply of pitches aimed at marketers and moms. I'd like to broaden the coverage to other topic areas, especially pitches aimed at environmental, political, tech, entertainment and health bloggers.

On the bad pitches, I black out all product, agency and blogger names. This exercise isn't about shame or blame, it's about learning. On the good pitches, I do share the company and agency names and with permission, the blogger's. Always nice to give credit when it is due.

Second item. We need database programmers and web developers for a few pending projects. Preferably based in eastern Massachusetts. Contract work. Some of the work could be done by entry-level programmers, some of it does require more experience, preferably with a variety of platforms and toolsets. My business partner in these projects manages the technical end and can tell interested parties much more about the requirements and volume of work. I'm just checking with my network for leads. Sound like you or someone you know? Please get in touch.

Email pitches and leads to me at sgetgood@getgood.com

Thanks!

Posted @ 9:05AM in Blogger relations, Web/Tech | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 15, 2008

Blogger relations tip: Check the blog before you press send

In all the chatter this week about blacklists and the quality (or lackthereof) of media databases, a comment by Doug Haslam, both on Twitter and a post by John Cass and Jason Falls, reminded me of one of my personal cardinal rules of blogger relations.

No matter how well you know the blogger or love the blog, it's next to impossible to read every day, every post. No one expects that you will. But, if you are going to pitch, you absolutely must check the blog before you press <send>.

For the most part, we don't have visibility into the lives of the mainstream media journalists to whom we email our pitches. We can't be expected to know that they are on vacation or the dog died or they just got out of hospital. In other words, that it is a bad time to send a pitch.

Well, we do have that visibility into the lives of bloggers. Especially those that write about their lives, but even business/professional bloggers leave clues.

There is no excuse for not checking first, sending second.

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Posted @ 4:05PM in Blogger relations | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

May 14, 2008

Anatomy of a good pitch

Far too many of my posts lately have been examples of lousy PR pitches. It's beginning to wear on me, so I thought I would share a good pitch with you for a change. This is courtesy of Mir Kamin from Woulda Coulda Shoulda and WantNot.net, and is one of the examples we discussed at the Improve This Pitch panel at BlogHer Business last month.

One note: while I do black out the names and companies in the bad pitches, because this is not about beating people up, it's about learning how to do it better, I have not done so with this screen shot. The client was Outback Steakhouse and the PR person who sent the pitch is Charlie Kondek of MS&L Digital. A little link love for doing a nice job.

This is a good pitch because:

  • Charlie has taken the time over a couple of years to get to know Mir. He regularly reads her blogs -- "pretty pretty Mir" refers to a blog in-joke that Mir and her readers understand without explanation.
  • He doesn't assume that "her readers will love this offer" or ask her to write about it. He simply presents it and suggests it might be a nice giveaway for one of her blogs. 
  • He gives a couple interesting facts and a link, not seven paragraphs, embedded photos and multiple attachments to clog up her inbox. 

Let's review.

  • Relationship - check
  • Relevant, personal communication - check
  • Short - check
  • Respectful of the blogger, her time and blog purpose - check
  • Bonus points for use of humor, which he knows she'll appreciate because, see point one, he has taken the time to get to know her.

I want to write more posts like this one. If you have examples of pitches you really liked, please email them to me at sgetgood@getgood.com

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Posted @ 1:05PM in Blogger relations | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

May 12, 2008

The real PR problem (black list debate part 3)

The real PR outreach problem we should be solving:

 

This email was sent to multiple parent bloggers today. All of whose names were not available.

This problem doesn't get solved by talking about how to punish the transgressors. It gets solved by making the investments in training, technology and research that avoid mass blast emails sent to "Name Not Available." Pony up, PR agencies.

 It gets solved when clients start having realistic expectations of media and blogger outreach, and realize that the customer should be the focus, not them. Let your agency lead with something compelling and relevant for the customer. If the agency doesn't suggest a more personal, more customer centric approach, get a new PR agency.

Count 'em: six references in the first graph to the specific brand/company (the black boxes) , three to the category, photo gifts, and only  two, if you stretch it, to the customer. We can't in good conscience count Name Not Available as a reference to the customer.

We have got to start treating our customers right. Or suffer the consequences. Because as we've seen this week, there will be consequences.

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Posted @ 5:05PM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Black lists don't work, part two

In Stowe Boyd's responses to the latest black list flap, he advocates a totally transparent model for what he terms microPR:

"So, this is an additional argument for MicroPR: forcing PR firms to approach us in the open, on open social flow apps like Twitter, and in the small, where they have to jettison all the claptrap of the old press release model. In the open, that can't lie easily, or they will be caught on it. In the small, they have to junk the meaningless superlatives, the bogus quotes that no CEO ever mouthed, the run-on phrases, the disembodied third party mumbo jumbo, as if the press release were edited by God."

There is some merit to bringing the entire conversation out into the light, but I can't see it happening any time soon. There are too many impediments, including, but not limited to, the inevitable control issues. Companies and their PR agencies still think that they can maintain control over the process by managing it in a certain fashion. Wishful thinking.

So while I don't think every communication between company and blogger has to happen in public, I believe we ought to act, write and speak as though they were. We used say:  would you do it, say it if your actions would appear on the front page of the NY Times tomorrow? Well, now, they could spread even wider. Act accordingly. Expect that your pitch will be published in full on a blog. Or used as an example.

More important than where you have the conversation is what you talk about. We have to stop being product centric and start being customer centric. For real, not just lip service.

The blogger isn't simply an intermediary. He or she is your customer. Instead of asking the question:  how can we get the blogger to write about our laundry soap or tech widget? companies, and their agencies, should be asking, How can I help my customer? What information from us would be truly valuable and useful in their daily lives? What can we do for them? I guarantee you, it isn't that your juice has 25% less sugar than yesterday or you are now at version 2.4.5.x of your software.

Companies should be talking to their customers where they are. If they are on Twitter, and they, like Stowe Boyd, want to be Twit-pitched, great. But if not -- if the place is Facebook or MySpace or some other community, that's where the company employees and PR reps should hang out. Get to know the people, their interests. Let the people get to know them. And then make the customers, not the company, not the product, the center of the story. However you pitch it, public or one-to-one.

"But that's so hard and takes so long," says traditional PR flack.

Hhmm. Yes. But isn't talking with your customer worth a little time?

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Posted @ 10:05AM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 9, 2008

Black lists don't work

This week, the idea of a black list to stop PR agencies from spamming bloggers and journalists reared its not terribly attractive head, this time from Gina Trapani of Lifehacker who published a list of domains that had sent unsolicited email to her personal email address.  In the not distant past, we had the same invocation from Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired.

They have a point, and I don't dismiss the concern at all. More and more, PR pitches are poorly targeted, poorly written spam. Bad when sent to journalists. Inexcusable sent to bloggers.

But black lists don't work. Not really. They didn't work for Joseph McCarthy in the 50s and they aren't going to stop bad blog pitching now.

Why? Because they trap the innocent, the naive, the well-intentioned as much as they trap the disingenuous, the guilty, the spammers. And since the truly guilty are playing a numbers game, a block here or there matters little to them.

Our collective attitude about PR is no different than our attitude toward advertising. It's not that we don't like ads. What we don't like is bad advertising, poor direct mail and fundraising calls during dinner.

For the most part, we don't want to block ALL email from PR and marketing agencies. Just that which is untargeted, irrelevant, impersonal.

So companies, and their agencies, need to get with the program and figure out how to reach out to their customers online in positive ways. Reactive and proactive.

How? It starts with understanding what interests your customer. Perhaps your product, but generally, campaigns built around products fall flat. You need to think beyond YOUR product and into your customer's interests. Needs. Desires. Hopes. Aspirations.

That's not so easy for your average cereal or soap marketer. And why so many campaigns end up in the bad pitch column. Even when they aren't necessarily that bad.

And unfortunately, there is no magic formula. Anyone who tells you there is? Liar.

It's a process. It starts with preparation, research and active participation with the bloggers that matter to you. And for whom you matter.

Then when you go to engage -- to pitch -- it means developing a program that is as much, or more, about them than it is about you.  A press release about your latest announcement does not qualify. Sorry.

Watch this space over the next few months for some examples of companies that seem to understand what this means and have done outreach programs that resonated with bloggers.

And, please, stop looking for the bogeyman. There isn't one -- not even at the stupidest, spammiest PR Agency . Focusing our energies on looking for one obscures the real issue.

How do we want to engage with our customers online?

Want some help? I don't often promote my consulting business here on the Roadmap. I figure if you want to call, you will. But please don't forget that helping companies meet their customers online is my business. If I can be of service to you, nothing would make me happier.

Especially if it reduced the number of bad pitches landing in our inboxes.

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Posted @ 11:05PM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

May 7, 2008

A Mother of a Day: Mom bloggers on the Today Show and a bad-pitch-apalooza

What a day!

It started with the C-string on the Today Show -- that's the team after Matt and Meredith, after Al and Ann, which apparently now features Kathie Lee Gifford along with Hoda Kotb. This is where Today decided to effectively bury its taped segment with mom bloggers Jill Asher, Kristen Chase and Mir Kamin as well as its live interview with Heather Armstrong (dooce). Jill, Kristen and Mir at least benefited from a reporter, Janet Shamlian, who actually listened to their answers, although I do wonder about the editing of the interview. As Christina mentions in her post, the women discussed far more topics, including the importance of community, than made the cut.  And amateurs on YouTube do a better job with chyrons than whoever edited the taped piece. Here's just one example -- below is a screen grab of Jill Asher from Silicon Valley Moms. Maria Bailey is later in the piece, without a chyron at all.

But it was a decent segment and also included mentions of BlogHer. Too bad the network showed it at a time when it has relatively few viewers. So few in fact that it the local affiliates run second and third tier advertising. And in my case, the weekly tests of the emergency broadcast system.

The interview with Heather Armstrong was ... There are really no words other than to say that the decision to employ Kathie Lee Gifford shows how out of touch the network is with its audience. Gifford was absolutely awful. I wish I had video skilz because then I would create a mash-up of the segment with the discussion on Twitter running alongside. You would literally pee your pants at some of the very on-target comments. Just do a few searches on tweetscan and summize, on Today show and Kathie Lee (use various spellings and intials, no one was too fussed about spelling it right).

Let's just say no one was too impressed with Kathie Lee, her attitude, her preparation for the interview or the way she stomped on Heather's answers.

I ask again: why did NBC think hiring Kathie Lee was a good thing? Seriously, I'd rather watch an infomercial. At least they are honest. Gifford has the gall to judge mom bloggers for writing about their kids when we ALL remember how she pimped her own kids on Regis & Kathie Lee. Blecch.

Moving on to the bad-pitch-apalooza. Apparently Mother's Day brings out the best in bad pitches... Does that even make sense? Today, two duds crossed my desk, shared with me by mom blogger friends. Names have been removed to protect the innocent and guilty. Here are the first paragraphs from both.

and

Where, oh where, do I start? I know. How about:

  • Grammatical English. Moms, not Mom's
  • Learn the tools, people. The parenthetical comment in the first is just embarassing. For those PR folks that still don't get how bad this crap is, read it. And weep. The pitch was awful too, but it almost doesn't matter. Nobody read past the parens.
  • As for the second. Sent to mom bloggers? Uhm, last I checked, they weren't going to prom. For most of us, our kids don't even have all their adult teeth, forget about zits. I did an informal and completely unscientific survey on Twitter and many moms I know personally received this mass emailed pitch. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Especially given the analysis Johnson's  recently experienced.

There's no excuse for this sort of error. It is absolutely crystal clear that no one is doing any homework here.

Compare and contrast with this pitch I received today:

Now, that's refreshing. A PR person who actually understands that sending me a pitch is risky business. A calculated risk on the sender's part that I would appreciate this approach, but if you read my blog, you'd be smart and take the chance. As she did. Sure, I'm critical, but always in the interest of doing it better, getting it right.

I also feel strongly about helping junior people get it right. My friend Liz Gumbinner (Mom-101 and Cool Mom Picks) regularly replies back to PR folks  for the same reason. We know they are young kids, thrown in the deep end, without enough help or training. "Just send these emails."

In this case, the pitch, for a market research report, was on target but way too long. No one would read it. I certainly didn't. I also do not recommend asking bloggers to write. If the pitch is good, you don't need to ask.  I gave her some input and asked for the report, and was pleased to receive, along with the report, her grateful reply that she was re-writing her email pitch based on my feedback.

Amen. And thanks.

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Posted @ 10:05PM in Blogger relations | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

May 5, 2008

New Comm Forum, blog move, Star-Ledger on Camp Baby

Just a few quick updates.

First, I will eventually get the slides from the Alumni panel at New Comm Forum up on the conference wiki, but for now, I've linked them here (PDF 2M). Thanks again to Jen McCLure, executive director of the Society for New Communications Research for supporting the panel and giving it such a nice slot on the program, and to the four alumni who shared their stories: Wendy Harman, Bob Siller, Doug Bardwell and Chris Turner.

Don't miss the Star-Ledger's story on Johnson's Camp Baby. No news in it for readers of this blog, but nice to see mainstream media do such a balanced blogging story.

Finally, Marketing Roadmaps will be moving to Word Press sometime this summer, but I promise to give plenty of warning and will run in parallel for at least a month. Thanks to everyone for their advice and words of encouragement.


Posted @ 8:05AM in Blogger relations, Blogging, Workshops | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 29, 2008

Power

crossposted to Snapshot Chronicles. Warning: long post

Power. Of the collective. Of the parent. Of the blogger. That's today's topic.

Let's start with what the collective can achieve when we come together. In this case, for charity. As you may recall, about two weeks ago, in one of my Camp Baby case study posts, I suggested that companies interested in reaching women bloggers put their money into the charities that we care about. Not that we don't like schwag or free products, or hell, even some link love. But I have yet to meet a parent blogger that doesn't contribute what she or he can to charity. It's why BlogHers Act has such resonance for the community.

Which is why I was thrilled to get an email from Kristen Chase this morning telling me about the latest Parent Bloggers Network BlogBlast campaign. PBN has teamed up with Johnson's to promote Johnson's Baby Cause, the company's new charitable giving site to support the health and well-being of mothers and children worldwide. Details of the promotion are on the PBN post, but short version, blog about how you'd like to be recognized on Mother's Day. Both Johnson's and PBN are donating prizes; I love the PBN prize -- a $25 credit to donate to the cause of your choice at Baby Cause. Ten winners. There's also a charity auction for gently used celebrity baby goods on eBay that will benefit Baby Cause.

Why do I like this so much? To start with, charity. That will get me EVERY TIME. Which I am sure Kristen knew when she emailed me. And then there's the Johnson's component. I absolutely love that this Parent Bloggers Network campaign came about as a result of Lori Dolginoff from Johnson's and Kristen meeting at Camp Baby, a fact which I confirmed with Lori before posting tonight. (And perhaps of  Lori and Julie Marsh, Kristen's partner in PBN, not meeting for all the reasons we already know.)

I'm sure the broader charity effort was well underway before Camp Baby earlier this month but as a direct result of the event, Johnson's decided to team up with PBN to promote it. In short, it learned how valuable it is to work with people within the community, and that, my friends, is worth the price of admission.

Okay, you get here for free, but you know what I mean.

Another way we exercise our power as bloggers is when we help build our community. As Kim Moldofsky did today with a "link love" post for her Camp Baby friends on parentcenter. Yet another consequence, and hopefully not unintended, of getting 56 women with common interests together.

The power of the collective to effect change. Use it. Write a post. Help a friend with a little link love. Donate, to Baby Cause or BlogHers Act. But I'm thinking, buy a new diaper bag. 

Parent bloggers have power. And that's the segue into my next topic, which is to tell you about a project that launched its public beta today called ParentPower. Full disclosure: I've been consulting for the company developing ParentPower, advising them about the parent blogger space.

What is ParentPower? It's an application for parenting blogs. There’s a lot to it – a desktop widget, an index of top parenting blogs, links to sites we visit all the time like Flickr, Twitter and parenting sites, an RSS reader, the weather, and more. More details in the overview on the site.

Why do I like this project? Because Active Access, the company that developed the app, asked. And they listened. And not just to me and my colleague Kami Huyse, who brought me into the project. They did focus groups with parent bloggers. They've started talking in Twitter. We're talking with BlogHer about the best way to work with the community. And we are asking for even more feedback in the beta process. So if you decide to download the app, please complete the Polldaddy survey or send email to myvoice@parentpowerindex.com

As everyone who reads my Marketing Roadmaps blog knows, I have my concerns about indexes, but Active Access has done a good job here. There's no subjective component in the Parent Power index and blogs that score the same get the same rank.

Personally, I'm LMAO that my personal/parent blog Snapshot Chronicles, which isn't even a year old and has a very small number of loyal, wonderful subscribers, currently has a better ranking on ParentPower than Marketing Roadmaps (three+ years old, 1000 plus subscribers) has on the AdAge Power150. I'll let you draw your own conclusions, but (hint hint) I think the ParentPower algorithm is better (no offense meant,  AdAge 150), and  hope those parent bloggers whose blogs are not yet included in ParentPower will add them and knock me down the pegs I probably deserve.

The power of parents. That's truly what the folks behind ParentPower want to support, and I urge you to give your feedback. On the application, on the index, on whatever floats your boat. The feedback from the parent blogger focus groups was invaluable, and really, we just want "more, more..."

And finally, power. As in laptop power supply. Marketing Roadmaps readers will remember rmy sad tale, posted on April 3, of a broken iGo power supply during my trip to NYC for BlogHer, the 4-hour search for parts and the $130 I spent on new cables because, contrary to the information provided by iGo support, neither Best Buy nor RadioShack stocked the part I needed. Well, today I got an email from a marketing manager at iGo offering to replace my broken part. While I am tickled pink? purple? some other color? at the fact that finally, a company actually read my frakking blog and responded, customer support already sent a replacement part at no charge to my home. Which is great and much appreciated, but does not compensate for the added costs or the wasted time while I was in NY. Nothing really can, but if they respond back to my  reply, I will tell them that I'd be thrilled with some  free product to give away on Snapshot Chronicles. (Sorry Roadmaps readers, all giveaways happen on the personal blog.)

We do have power as bloggers. Our opinions of companies do matter, as this study by SNCR demonstrates, and companies are starting to listen. Slowly.

So use that power wisely. Don't bitch to hear the sound of your own voice or read the melody of your own words.

Write to change things for the better.

That's power.

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Addendum - credit where credit is due (4/30/08)

Kim Moldofsky wanted to make sure everyone knows that credit for the weekly post sharing idea goes to Jodi at www.momsfavoritestuff.com 

In my zeal to be transparent about my small part in the ParentPower project, it came across to some readers as though this was my project. While I think ParentPower is a great product and hope folks try it out, I simply provided some advice about the parent blogger space. ParentPower was developed by Active Access. Livingston Communications and Kami Huyse led the product marketing, strategy and PR, and Shannon Whitley developed the Index algorithm.

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Posted @ 11:04PM in Blogger relations, Charity, Customers | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 25, 2008

Camp Baby: Final Chapter, including Johnson & Johnson's perspective

There's little doubt that as an event, Camp Baby was a success. The mom bloggers who attended had a great time, and when I spoke to event architect Lori Dolginoff last week, she told me that Johnson & Johnson considers the event a success based on both their interactions with the women at the event and the emails she personally received from attendees afterward.

"We accomplished our goal of building relationships with the mom bloggers. We wanted to get to know the women face to face, not just through email. Even though there was risk attached in doing an event like this -- there are always people that won't like something -- we felt it was worth it. Overall, the bloggers seem to appreciate that we are making an effort so I consider it a win. For me personally, seeing the women enjoying each other's company was very rewarding."

I asked Lori why face-to-face was so important to them. She told me that J&J wanted to be seen as a leader in working with the mom blogger community and felt that the only way to do this was to meet the women. Clearly they wanted to make a strong public statement about their commitment to the community by entering it in a big, visible way.

But what about the long-term? Do wine and dine events make a solid foundation for long term relationships? For J&J or any company? I asked Lori how they intended to follow up Camp Baby with both the women who attended and the larger population of parent bloggers who didn't enjoy the antics of Ted Allen, a free Nintendo DS and the wonderful world of Wii at the Frog and Peach dinner. Even though it is still early days yet, J&J must have some idea on how it intends to build on what it learned at Camp Baby.

She told me that moving forward, J&J will be focusing on growing the one-to-one relationships they began at Camp Baby as well as working with  groups and networks of women/mom bloggers to make sure that future programs and communications are relevant. She said that  J&J already has two specific initiatives in the planning stages, but could not give me any details at this time.

One hot topic among the moms who attended the event was chemical additives in baby products. Lori said they knew this going into the event and wanted to address it up front by having a speaker on the subject: "We are listening and looking at the best science. The feedback is very important and we definitely captured everything." 

I wasn't at Camp Baby, but from what I've heard and read, my sense is that they had hoped to convince the women of the safety of the additives and J&J's science, and were somewhat surprised that the moms didn't just take their word for it. That said, we should give J&J a little time to take action. Especially since the feedback may not have been what they expected.

I also asked Lori about the unacknowledged product component in the sessions. She said they needed to have it in order to have a place for the questions about specific issues, but that Camp Baby was about relationships, not publicity:

"We didn't introduce any new products, as I would have at an event for press. By having it all there, we could then determine who was most interested in a given issue or product. For example, many women didn't know that Neutrogena was one of our brands. We are now planning some Neutrogena giveaways with some of the bloggers."

No one really minded the product pitch component; the women expected it and most commented that it was very soft-sell. Nevertheless, I would recommend that companies doing a similar big event be even more explicit about any product component. Especially if attending a product expo or site visit is a required activity in order to participate. It's like sitting through the timeshare presentation in order to get the free gift. It's okay if you know that's the bargain you've made. Not so much if it is a surprise.

As I said in my first post about Camp Baby, set the right expectations. I'd also recommend a few sessions, educational as well as recreational, that have absolutely nothing to do with products or company initiatives. By the way, I'm still baffled by the hair braiding session. There has to have been some other way to tie in hair care products....

I don't want to revisit the pre-event criticisms too much because Lori stepped up, personally responded and addressed folks' concerns as best she could. Anyone who has ever planned a big event,  personally or professionally,  knows that there are always a few kinks. However, one area I would recommend paying particular attention to is the invitiation process. J&J invited somewhere between 100-150 women for the 56 spaces and aggressively recruited women that it ultimately had to turn away.  Think carefully about the ratio of invites to expected attendees and leave sufficient time between first outreach and follow-up to gauge real response.

I asked Lori what she would do differently next time:

"We would develop a website or area on our site explaining the program details. Our instinct with Camp Baby was to handle everything one-to-one with the women. In hindsight, it would have been better to also do some broad communication up front to address common questions. I also think we would have benefited from the extra layer of a senior person's eye on the outreach, to understand things like if a woman recently had a baby, she might want to bring the newborn with her."

I agree 100%. Both of these things, a blog site and having people with more experience involved in blogger outreach, would make the process much smoother. It also bears repeating that you have to do your homework (prepare) and participate in a community before you jump in with a pitch or a program. Regardless of the level of research J&J did during the planning of Camp Baby, the company  was simply a big company to the mom blogger community when it started the outreach. There was no trust, no relationship. They jumped in at the middle -- the pitch -- before it had laid the proper foundation.

Lori told me that as hard as it was to have all the critcism up front, she feels it was worth it: "It's hard to explain, but we might not have had the level of engagement with the community if there hadn't been some hiccups."

While I am glad it worked out for her, setting off a blogstorm is not a strategy I recommend. It wasn't until she stepped in as a real person to address the criticism that things started to calm down. It's so much easier to start the relationship with that personal engagement, and then invite bloggers to your party.

Whether Camp Baby ultimately is a success? Only time will tell. J&J certainly has made a splash and has the opportunity to engage with parent bloggers over the long term. But it has to stay the course. One date does not a relationship make, and more importantly, if you ask someone's opinion, you have to be willing to take action. 

That's what the mom blogger community will be watching for -- will J&J walk the talk?

Stay tuned.

--

My previous Camp Baby posts:

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Posted @ 1:04PM in Blogger relations | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 24, 2008

Where's Susan?

On vacation... sort of. For the past two days, I was at New Comm Forum in Santa Rosa, but other than that and checking email, I've been trying to enjoy our family vacation in San Diego. I have been posting pictures more or less regularly over at Snapshot Chronicles but posting here will continue to be light until next week. 

I did interview Lori Dolginoff of Johnson & Johnson about Camp Baby last Wednesday and am trying to get that post written this week. The early part of next week is crazy -- isn't it always after vacation? -- but once I get clear, I have a lot of material in backlog, including the HP Photo Books case study, some of the principal points from the Improve this Pitch panel at BlogHer, some notes on the alumni panel at New Comm Forum this week, plus hopefully a 360 degree view of the Katie Couric-mom blogger visit in early April, an outreach that impressed me with both its simplicity and impact.

In the meantime, if you are really missing my deathless (deadly?) prose, I was interviewed by Industry Week about blogger relations earlier this month. Here's the article.

 

Posted @ 10:04AM in Blogger relations, Blogging, Travel | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 16, 2008

What I learned from Camp Baby (part 2 of 2)

On Monday, I covered the the mom bloggers' perceptions of Johnson and Johnson's Camp Baby and I was hoping to follow that up with an interview with the event organizers. Unfortunately, they haven't responded to my queries. I can only hope that it was because my emails got caught in their spam filter or something...

While I could take a guess at their goals for the event, my speculation would still just be my opinion, and I certainly can't pass judgment on whether it was a success. That's their call, based on what they hoped to achieve.

But I go on vacation on Friday and need to wrap up my J&J coverage before I leave. Other stories beckon. For now, we'll have to be satisfied with their public statement about the event on their blog and this short article in BrandWeek.

Instead, this wrap-up post will focus on what we can all learn from Camp Baby. Starting with some advice from two women who attended. I asked them what advice they would give to another consumer products company considering doing a similar event. Jodi, from Mom's Favorite Stuff said:

"I’d recommend re-vamping the invitation process.  It should have been more streamlined, and more explicit (ie: no kids, space is limited, etc). If another consumer products firm wanted to do something similar, I’d just recommend being very clear and transparent.  Explain the objectives, the expectations, and I think most mommy bloggers will appreciate it!"

Christina from A Mommy Story also pointed out that they packed a lot into a very short time, and it took her a couple days to recover from the exhaustion. Her advice for another company trying to reach out to mom bloggers:

"Events like these will work to draw in a lot of attention - just look at all of the Twitter noise from those three days! But be prepared for the snark as well as the positive blogging. And please, if you ask for our opinion about your products, be ready for a lot of criticism along with praise. We're an educated bunch, and we know what we're talking about. Take our suggestions seriously. I will be watching to see if J&J implements any of the suggestions we gave them."

Let's make these the foundation for our learning points.

One. Be clear and explicit from the get-go. Make your expectations clear so the bloggers can set theirs. If you are going to do an event (more about my evolving opinion of events in a bit), define your group carefully and as narrowly as possible. If you can't accommodate nursing moms or people who can't stay the whole time, don't invite them.

Two. Transparency. It is more than just asking bloggers to acknowledge the junket. It starts with clearly communicating the objectives of your event to the participants. It also means being honest about your agenda. Christina commented in her email, which I quoted in the earlier post, that it was clear that the sessions all had an unacknowledged product component. Guess what: the women figured it out.

Three. It's not a one-way conversation any more. Just because a company says it is so does not mean that customers/bloggers will believe it. If you ask for feedback and opinions, be prepared. For critcism and to take some action. Or don't ask. As Christina points out in her comment above, the women at Camp Baby had strong concerns about chemicals in baby products. Did J&J take them seriously? Only time will tell, but it does sound like the company was surprised at the strength of the bloggers' convictions. And knowledge about the subject.

Four. You've read it here before. Read the blogs. Over time, not over night. You have to know what the bloggers are interested in -- to invite them, to create a program that interests them, to have a relationship. There isn't a ranking system or index available that can replace the knowledge gained by truly getting to know someone. At a minimum, as Julie (mothergoosemouse) says in the comments to my previous J&J  post, at least read the About Page. You'll be amazed at the wealth of information.

Finally, and this is my opinion, not something from the feedback or comments about Camp Baby -- consider that a blow-out event may not be the best way to engage over time with the customers you are trying to reach.

Lindsay Ferrier (Suburban Turmoil) wrote this week about how the momosphere is changing, and  not necessarily for the better. The focus on monetizing the blog, getting ad revenue, paid posts and all expenses paid junkets, whether to New Brunswick New Jersey or Orlando, has created a different, less friendly world than before. So far 72 comments and counting.

So the question is, what is the best way for companies to engage with bloggers? With their customers.

Sure, a big event can be a lot of fun -- even for the organizers, there is a certain exhiliration in having pulled it off, but wining and dining is a date. Getting to know someone, helping them achieve their goals, adding value consistently over time. That's a relationship. As a marketer, I want a long-term relationship with customers. Not a one night stand. Generally, those aren't terribly satisfying.

How can you help the blogger all the time, not just once? Access to company resources for research? Involvement in new product development? User Councils? Think outside the box, and not just about getting this or that product reviewed. What is the customer relationship with the company over time? What will make her love you? Why do you love her?

If you work for one of those consumer companies salivating over the mom blogger segment, or even a smaller firm that wants to reach women bloggers, including mom bloggers, I have some advice for you.

If you want to reach women bloggers, especially in the United States and Canada, don't dump thousands of dollars into a big event. Devote a fraction, just a fraction, of that budget, to supporting a BlogHers Act initiative. This year, the focus is on maternal health in the US, the environment in Canada, but there are other causes within this umbrella as well. I guarantee you, you will reach more people, garner more positive attention for your company, your brand, than any slick event.

Here are just a few ideas, all of which I came up with driving to a business lunch today. Imagine what we could do with a bit more thought.

       
  • Make a donation. Through BlogHer's widget or through a blogger whose cause you support;
    •    
  • Give products to women bloggers in your network for giveaways/raffles on their blogs;
    •    
  • Match donations over some specified period;
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  • Create a contest or giveaway on your site to benefit BlogHers Act -- more complex than the other ideas but potentially quite rewarding.

Keep in mind,  this is how I make my living, but today, in this post, the advice is free. I hope like hell someone pays attention.

But, no fooling, you want to explore one of these ideas and need some help, give me a call. 978 562 5979.

 

UPDATE 4/20: I have spoken to Lori Dolginoff, but just haven't had time to write up the interview. Look for it later this coming week.

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Posted @ 10:04PM in Blogger relations, BlogHer, Charity | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 15, 2008

Privileged and Confidential... Pitches?

We interrupt our current Johnson & Johnson analysis programming to bring you my latest pet peeve. I mean, I know you were waiting for it, right?

Why, please tell me, why are PR agencies  including "privileged and confidential" footers on their pitches?

Like this one:

----- This email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. Dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail or the information herein by anyone other than the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error or would like not to receive future emails from AGENCY please immediately notify us by forwarding this email to PostMaster@AGENCY.com.

And this one:

Privileged and confidential information may be contained in this e-mail and any files transmitted with it are intended only for the use of the addressee. If you are not the addressee, or not the person responsible for delivering it to the person addressed, you may not copy or deliver this to anyone else. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please notify us immediately by telephone or e-mail and delete it from your system immediately. The recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The company accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted with this email. Thank you.

 I do understand that these footers are added globally at the email server level, but it is beyond me why PUBLIC RELATIONS agencies, whose job it is to spread the word, would do this. Don't you want people to tell other people?

Wouldn't it make more sense to train staff to add this information to their email signature when something really IS privileged?

It just looks stupid to see such a disclaimer on what is clearly a generic pitch.

Unless of course they have some faint hope that this disclaimer will prevent bloggers from passing the pitches around amongst themselves.

That would really be stupid.

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Posted @ 11:04AM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 14, 2008

Camp Baby Post Mortem Part One: The Mom Bloggers' Perspective

Warning: VERY long post. First of at least two, hopefully three, parts about Johnson & Johnson's recent Camp Baby event. This post summarizes  the mom bloggers' reactions and perceptions. Hopefully, I'll hear from J&J to get their perspective for the second post, and the third will be recommendations for companies considering similar programs.

Despite some issues with the initial outreach, J&J's Camp Baby  was top-notch, and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves tremendously. I have not read or spoken to a single woman who did not enjoy herself, even if she had some criticisms of the event.

The 56 women who attended enjoyed the opportunity to see their mom blogger friends and make new ones, and no one felt too pressured by product pitches.   

"What I enjoyed most from the event though was the opportunity to meet and bond with so many amazing women who happen to be mommy bloggers. I hope that J&J continues to do more Camp Babies, and allow more individuals (other mommy bloggers, more women of color, even daddy bloggers too) to enjoy the incredible experience that we had last week at Camp Baby." - Maryam Scoble   

"I guess what I came away with more than anything was a feeling that this is my tribe. Despite the fact that these women may live hundreds of miles away from me, there is some undeniable thread connecting us, a kinship that feels easy and natural and real. I love these ladies."- Sweetney   

"It's quite clear that J&J definitely know how to throw a party. The hotel and food were outstanding, as was the Saturday evening dinner party sponsored by Wii and Nintendo. The camp fire, which sounded a bit odd, was actually very nice -- set up in a cabin fashion with after dinner and bed time drinks and snacks." - Kristen Chase, Motherhood Uncensored, via email

While most of the women expected a certain amount of product pitching, they were generally pleased that overall, it wasn't "yucky direct sell," in the words of  Kim from Hormone-Colored Days (phone conversation).

Erika Jurney (Plain Jane Mom) gives an excellent rundown of the whole event. In summary, she liked most of the main sessions, but felt that the breakout sessions were "where the wheels came off. They divided us into 3 groups for smaller sessions, which is fine, but the sessions were… odd." Including the much talked about session "What's going on down there?" and the hair braiding. Kristin over at Better Now also has a good description of the hair braiding class, with photos.

A session that got kudos from many mom bloggers was the InfantSEE program. Says Tania, on her blog Chicky Chick Baby: "I had never heard about this program encouraging parents to get their young children's eye sight checked but I'm very interested in it now. And you should {be} too. Go check it out, I'll wait."  Far far better marks than the hair braiding and aforementioned vagina session:   

"There wasn't anything truly negative about my experience at Camp Baby [...]. The organizers of the event went out of their way to ensure we all had a pleasurable and educational experience and I commend them on a job well done. But I really could have done without the hair braiding and I, correctly, skipped the vah jay jay panel. When I heard from other women in attendance the words "collapsed pelvis floor" and "anal leakage," I figured then was a good time to go up to my room and rest before dinner." (Tania, via email)

Less satisfactory was the session on J&J Baby Products

Adrienne at Baby Toolkit has a long post about her conversations with the J&J folks about the health effects of phthalates and other additives:   

"In and after the session, I specifically requested future production of unscented baby products (J&J currently only offers a few under their Aveeno line) as phthalates are most often found in fragrances. Apparently, J&J feels that the psychological effects of the scents are so strong that they are deeply reluctant to forgo the fragrances. As a child who didn't use their classic pink lotion because of sensitive skin, I reiterated that they're missing a market of people who dislike and/or cannot use scented products (including families with allergies and asthma). The cynic in me thinks that their dedication to fragrance may be a subtle but powerful form of branding as scent memories have overwhelming influence on decision making, but sometimes my inner cynic is paranoid."

Vivienne of Cool Moms Rule writes:   

"Of all the talks of the day, this one felt most like a Johnson and Johnson commercial to me.  Added to that, the speaker, although I am sure it was unintentional, spoke as if she were talking to a group of preschoolers.  I felt that she was using a different, sweeter, more singsong voice and basically condescending to her audience, so that may be why my own reaction to this presentation was so strong and so negative (however, the Moms sitting near me echoed my own sentiments at lunch time). I think most Moms are aware of Johnson & Johnson's "No More Tears" shampoo and baby wash, so telling us that baby's eyes are more sensitive and they tend to rub their eyes when they are tired just came across as a selling point rather than crucial health information. My take:  Spare me. Give Moms some credit next time."

Jodi from Mom's Favorite Stuff, in email:

"The content was generally very good.  My favorites were the morning sessions – Dr. Scott Jens from InfantSEE, Dr. Germ, and Jodi Mindell. I thought the nutrition and Babycenter discussions missed their mark as they told us things we already knew for the most part.  The panel discussion on skin was downright uncomfortable.  I felt that the J&J employees were just trying to “tell” us their products were safe, and didn’t really want to hear from some of the mommies who do lots of research.  One of the employees kept saying she was giving us a “chemistry lesson” which came across as condescending."

Tania, Chicky Chicky Baby, in email:   

"I was split on the session content. Some of it was very informative, like the InfantSEE program for instance. I had no idea such a program existed.  I was not, however, pleased with our "experts" dancing around the hard questions asked of them by some bloggers about 1,4 Dioxane and other additives in their baby products that could potentially pose long term damage to our children.  The general attitude of the bloggers seemed to be: Just be frank and upfront with us about what goes into your products and we'll make an informed decision from there.  But J&J seemed to downplay our concerns which didn't sit well with some, if not most, of us."

Christina, A Mommy Story, in email:   

"Some sessions were genuinely informative, like learning about the InfantSEE program, but most were thinly veiled product pushes, which I expected, so I wasn't offended in any way. They knew we would be asking about chemicals in their products, and they were ready to defend their products as safe. But the explanations they gave weren't satisfying to many, and they didn't seem to pay attention when we asked if they would just TRY to make one product free of phthalates, parabens, artificial fragrance, etc. and see how well it does. They asked several questions about their entire baby products brand, and several bloggers answered back that many of us no longer look at trusting an entire brand - we're loyal to individual products that we trust, but not brands as a whole."

Was Camp Baby a success?

Jaelithe has a terrific post that covers her expectations for Camp Baby as well as how well they were met. Overall, she was impressed with the event but wondered if the organizers really understood beforehand who they had invited:   

"During one presentation by a Johnson and Johnson scientist focused on product safety, the presenter quipped that by the end of her presentation, she'd have turned us all into amateur scientists. And I had to stifle a laugh, considering that I was sitting three feet away from a former neuroscientist, and couldn't glance in any direction without my gaze falling on current or former nurses. To be sure, the non-scientist, non-health-professional members of the group were a majority. But many of them, I am sure, were teachers, or lawyers, or reporters, or professional freelance writers, or ad execs, etc., (and many others, I am sure, had been such, before they became stay-at-home-moms)."

This is a common misconception about mom bloggers -- that they are "just"  moms. As I wrote in Some Advice on Reaching Out to Mommy Bloggers (pdf):   

"Apparently, once women become mothers, our interests shift entirely to laundry, lunch and Lestoil.And not just interest, mind you. Love. In the Madison Avenue mindset, women are passionate about clean clothes, nice smelling rooms and Hamburger Helper. More or less modern June Cleavers, regardless of profession, education, employment, race or cultural background."

It's why so much of the outreach addressed to moms  is somewhat condescending. I was pleased to see that after the time spent with the women at Camp Baby, the folks at J&J seem to understand this, but I am not inclined to give the company a completely free pass. One could also learn this by reading the moms' blogs over a period of time.

It seems like they spent the bulk of their preparation time creating a wonderful, swanky event, which is reflected in all the blog posts and conversations I've had with participants, but not nearly enough on getting to know the blogs, and the women, through their blogs. Or what they were really interested in. Which may be why some of the sessions did not go over as well as others. For example, I'm willing to bet many women would have passed on the hair braiding to have a longer discussion about product additives.Or product packaging. As Kristen Chase wrote me afterward:   

"The invitation debacle was clearly a smaller issue in the bigger problem that J&J did not know who they were inviting. It wasn't a matter of bigger bloggers vs smaller bloggers, popular vs unpopular, or even ethnic vs non ethnic, but rather who the women and moms actually were and what they would be interested in. It's clear based on some of the sessions that they had not at all thought it through. While some were definitely interesting, most showed their image of mothers being fairly uninformed and almost goofy -- something which bloggers are most clearly not."

From the few comments above, it also isn't entirely clear, yet, whether J&J took the feedback about the additives on board. Only time will tell.

That said, while it's not certain that J&J had spent a whole lot of time reading all the mom blogs before they issued the invitations, it is crystal clear that once they had a firm invite list, they made the effort to get to know who was coming to the event. Jaelithe notes on her blog:   

"I was able to talk with Lori, the person from Johnson and Johnson's communications division in charge of organizing the Camp Baby event, immediately upon arrival at the hotel regarding the nursing mothers situation. And I do mean immediately: having read my blog post the night before, Lori was actually waiting for me in the hotel lobby, ready to have a conversation."

On some level, the issue of not knowing who they were inviting was part of the outreach problems as well. While I don't want to dwell on things covered previously, it is important to point out that the invitation to participate clearly was sent to far more women that J&J had space for. That in itself is not necessarily a problem. Not everyone will be able to come; the event planners rightly should hedge their bets. But it wasn't clear at the outset that space was limited and some women didn't initially recognize the invite as legitimate, perhaps delaying their response and leading to disappointment when there was no space left.

Said Tania, Chicky Chicky Baby (email):   

"The invite process left a lot to be desired.  The initial email I received sounded like a scam, like someone was trying to sell me the proverbial vacation time share condo."

And Christina, A Mommy Story (email):   

"When I got the invite, I didn't believe it was real. Once I realized it was real, I was willing to go only if I knew at least one other blogger there. Seeing that several bloggers I know would be there, I decided it would be a fun way to meet up with them again."

Saddest of all is the tale of the Pinks and Blues ladies, a group blog written by a mom and her two adult daughters:   

"So, this is what went down. When “we” at Pinks & Blues were invited to Camp Baby, we really were under the impression that “we” would all be going - Mom (a mom to 4, grandmother to 7, soon-to-be 9), Audrey (a mom to 3, soon-to-be 4) and me (my doggies are my babies, but I know that most people don’t consider them “kids”… for the record, though, I do.) In fact, the original email we received regarding Camp Baby was addressed to the “Pinks & Blues Ladies” at our general P&B email address. But by the time we realized that each of us would need to be sent a separate email invite in order to register, and the invites were sent to Mom and Audrey, the event was full (we also didn’t realize that there was such a limited number of spaces). And so it’s up to me, the married-but-childless one to represent Pinks & Blues at Camp Baby."

I'll cover this more in my recommendations post but as marketers, we need to think about who we really want to attend an event, and start there. A broadcast, "first come first served" invitation, especially to something so attractive as Camp Baby, may not meet the needs of the bloggers or the company.

Diversity

While I give J&J credit for going beyond the "top" bloggers and inviting a range of woman, the group wasn't racially or culturally diverse. Socal Mom discussed this with them:   

"We also touched upon the lack of diversity among this event's participants, which many of us found strange -- especially when we learned that Johnson & Johnson's President of Baby Care is an African-American woman. The publicist I talked to -- who is also African-American -- said that they had hoped for a more diverse group, but that the ethnicity of bloggers isn't often apparent from their writing. I got the feeling that she was sincere... and that they will try harder next time."

I also think J&J  will try harder in future, although I also am having a bit of difficulty with the idea that it is too hard to determine the ethnicity of bloggers. Maybe it isn't that easy if you only read a post or or two. But if you read over time, it's not as tough as all that. We post pictures. We talk about cultural and religious holidays. Some moms actually have blogs devoted to their cultural background. Kimchi Mamas anyone?

Bottom Line

In the conclusion of her post linked above, Erika Jurney pondered:   

"The real question I’m left with is: why did they send us on this trip? Well, we know that Moms are purchasing decision makers, so it makes sense for us to be wooed (is that a word?) by a company which makes family products. So did it work? I can’t say I have a better or worse opinion of J&J products than I did before. I definitely am a little in love with the amazing women who planned this huge event, because not only did they rock their clipboards, drink wine with us, and get us unfailingly where we needed to be, but they were some of the nicest people I have ever met. (And y’all need raises ;) But when I’m at Target and I see a J&J product next to the same thing made by another company, which will I choose? I can honestly say I don’t know, but they for sure captured my attention. Now I can’t help but notice when I see the J&J name on a product. Was that worth the thousands of dollars they spent on me? Probably."

My biggest question about Camp Baby,  from the outreach through the departure of the last GM-sponsored car, is: what were the goals of the event? In  the posts I've read and conversations I've had so far, I haven't heard much beyond "getting to know the moms," which seems far too squishy for the amount of money that must have been spent.

Kristen Chase commented to me that:   

"The other major problem was that it was clear that J&J did not know what the purpose of their event was. Had they thought about what they had hoped to gain from the attendees, chances are they might have planned their sessions in such a way to gain information. Perhaps it was a group of green moms that would assist them in learning more about what moms want from products, along with time to experience green spa treatments and food from a green minded chef. Or perhaps it was just a way to show moms that Johnson & Johnson cares about moms -- with a weekend of sessions by experts on various timely topics, and then some time to socialize and relax. And while they did attempt to learn something from the moms as part of a focus group session, because they were unaware of who they had attending, it really wasn't effective."

Tania (Chicky Chicky Baby ), who was very positive about the execution of the event and her overall experience in both in her blog and email to me, had similar thoughts:   

"I never felt like J&J was very clear on their objectives so I went in with as open a mind as possible.  I thought the two and a half days were going to be one long product push.  What we ended up with was very different than what I had expected."

Christina, A Mommy Story, also generally positive about the event, said:

"They didn't really tell us any objectives for the event. We were given some session topics (like hair braiding) and they stressed that we were not required to blog about the event. But any objectives were kept quiet."

I find this very interesting because over and over, I spoke or emailed with moms who couldn't figure out why they were invited, since their blog wasn't a "top" blog. Again, while I give J&J credit for going beyond the most popular blogs to invite a broader spectrum. I think it would have been helpful to have some focus beyond the number of spaces available for both the programming and the ultimate value of the feedback. Apart from the easy target of hair braiding, more focus on the interests of the moms, as well as who they were, might have made the event more valuable for all concerned.

True transparency means be willing to share with the customers what you are trying to achieve. Assuming, as I do in this case, that the goals are not nefarious, what's the harm in telling the attendees what you expect to achieve from the event? They are smart. They know you aren't spending thousands of dollars EACH just because moms have it tough. They know you've got goals. Tell them. Who knows, they might get you there faster once they know.

Or not. And that's the risk of blogger relations. Just because you, the company, want to be "friends" with the potential customer, doesn't mean they want to be friends with you.

And that's true whether they come to the party and drink your wine.  Or not.

--

REPORT CARD

Positives:   

  • Great event
    •    
  • Informative sessions
    •    
  • Not too much product pitching. Although I have to call out this priceless comment that Christina posted on her review blog: "I fully expected to have a lot of product information pushed at us. I realized this was a business trip. But I wish they would have put together a morning of product information and then have sessions that weren't necessarily related to a product. It became a game after a while to identify the pitch. Dr. Germ = Purell. The nutritionist = Splenda. Hairbraiding = J&J hair care products. Even the "down there" session = lube, pads, and the surgical materials used to fix a prolapse."
    •    
  • Transparency, at least in terms of asking bloggers to acknowledge that J&J paid
    •    
  • Attitude of J&J staff
    •    
  • Great schwag

Negatives:   

  • SNAFUs during initial outreach
    •    
  • Mid-week timing
    •    
  • Not sufficient knowledge about the moms which impacted the event in numerous ways
    •    
  • Lack of clarity about objectives. Clearly it was to convey product information. Be more upfront.
    •    
  • Hair braiding. Whose idea was this? Really.

Overall Grade: B+

J&J deserves good marks for its first major engagement with mom bloggers. At least as far as the moms are concerned. With the possible exception of the response to the whole additives question. Now to the other side of the question: Did the event meet J&J's goals? What were J&J's goals?

I hope to speak with Lori Dolginoff this week. If I do, that will be my next post in the Camp Baby Series, followed by my analysis of what companies can learn from the J&J event.

--

Special thanks to Kristen Chase from Motherhood Uncensored, Christina from A Mommy Story, Tania from Chicky Chicky Baby, Kim from Hormone-Colored Days and Jodi from Mom's Favorite Stuff for sharing their detailed feedback after the event as well as all the women who emailed me or commented after my initial Camp Baby post, spoke to me in person at the NYC parent blogger karaoke meet-up, posted about Camp Baby or "twitted"  their thoughts during Camp Baby. Everyone's thoughts  and feedback have contributed greatly to my understanding of Johnson & Johnson's Camp Baby.

More blog coverage of the event and its aftermath:   

  • The Ladybug and Blogging Mama with pictures : -) (via Twitter)
    •    
  • Camp Baby Blog (includes posts from multiple attendees)
    •    
  • BrandWeek
    •    
  • And the Johnson & Johnson view from event organizer Lori Dolginoff. I hope to speak with Lori later this week for the more on the company perspective.
    •    
  • If you have a post that isn't included here, I've probably read it but this post has been two days in the making and has eaten my brain. If I didn't read it while I was actually writing, I probably missed it in the post. Please forgive me, and add it to the comments.Thanks.

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Posted @ 11:04PM in Blogger relations | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 9, 2008

It's the little things that matter: Disney

In a recent post, I commented  that blogger outreach from the big consumer companies seems to be trending toward big-budget brand events. There's nothing wrong with this of course. The bloggers invited enjoy themselves tremendously and the companies get a chance to meet with some of their customers in person. Which in and of itself is revolutionary for the big brand companies.

The recent Johnson & Johnson Camp Baby event, for example, seems to have been a success. I'll be doing a case study on it soon, with feedback from bloggers who attended and hopefully some comments from J&J as well.

I do wonder how much influence big events have on building long-term, sustainable relationships between companies and their customers. We can't possibly know yet;  it is still early days, and certainly the impact will be nil if the companies don't continue to reach out.

What I do know is that in the focus on the BIG EVENT, sometimes the little things get lost. The little things that really matter to us as people.

For example, Disney. I have no doubt that the company wants to engage with its customers. But it's a big company. With rules and red tape and all those other things that can get in the way of real relationships.

And this week, Disney could have missed an opportunity with many of the mom bloggers that it has reached out to recently.

Here's the short story.

Susan/Whymommy from Toddler Planet had been invited to Disney's mom blogger weekend later this month. She's not going, but in the outreach, Disney had asked for feedback and ideas from the moms. Around the same time, another mom blogger learned that her cancer had returned quite aggressively, and a group of her mom blogger friends decided to see what they could do to make her dream of a family vacation to Disney come true. They are raising money and coming together as a community to make it happen. Susan thought: Disney just reached out to mom bloggers, they want to be part of our community, maybe they could help. So she reached out to her contact at Disney. Read her post for all the details, including the Disney reply in full, but long story short, her Disney contact referred her to a group called Compassion Partners.

It seemed like a missed opportunity.

I completely understand that Disney cannot respond personally to every request as well as the danger of setting a precedent.  In that context, the information about Compassion Partners is useful and a reasonable standard response to queries like these.

However, the context of this specific request is different. Susan was well aware of Disney’s plan to host a bunch of mom bloggers for a 3-day weekend. Of its desire to build relationships with the moms. And of the concern on mom blogs about the timing of the event during Passover. [Note: The previous line has been edited. Someone graciously told me that my initial wording trivialized the timing mistake and would be insulting to members of the Jewish community. I have edited it out, rather than use strike-through, as strike-through perpetuates the insult.] In that context, it isn’t an unreasonable request. As she put it in her email, Disney asked for ideas and she gave it one.

Blogger relations is more like making friends than anything else. Of course we all realize that bloggers and companies aren't friends in the real-life sense; it's business, and we expect both sides to benefit from the relationship. But when a company reaches out to an individual, as it does when it reaches out to personal bloggers, and particularly when it asks to participate in the community, it's a different playing field. New rules.

My initial thought was, instead of the standard corporate response, I wished Disney had responded as a member of the community, and offered the family some passes to the parks.

But I strive to be fair. So, I contacted Disney.

It turns out to be a simple matter of miscommunication.

Craig Dezern, head of PR at Disney, told me that they get, and grant, thousands of requests per year. In order to manage it properly, they work through wish-granting organizations like Give Kids the World, of which Compassion Partners is part.  What's not clear in the reply e-mail is that while Compassion Partners is a third-party organization, Donna, the individual Susan was referred to, is dedicated to requests that come in through or for Disney parks. She sits in a Disney office and has a Disney email address. She is absolutely the right person to help in this situation, and trust me, at this point, she's probably waiting for the call.

Craig also said that Disney feels very strongly about not publicizing its support for wish-granting groups. They never want it to look like they are taking advantage of someone's misfortune. While this wasn't the case here at all, and most likely never is, I do see the point. It's a fine line, and even finer when we talk about blogs versus traditional media.

I pointed out that in blogger relations, when you are dealing with people as individuals, versus as "markets" in the mass media model, you have to expect that they are going to act like, well, people. They are going to have different expectations of your company. If you don't meet them, or if there's a miscommunication, it can be worse than if you'd never tried. If you reach out as a friend, the blogger is going to expect you to act like a friend.

Craig's a good communicator -- he didn't miss a beat and replied that if a friend approached him with the same request, he would give the same answer. And cynical though I am, I believe him. Sometimes you just have to pick up the phone and talk to people.

The devil is always in the details. It's always a bunch of little things that make up the big picture. Like so many other blogger relations SNAFUs, the problem here was clarity and information. There just needed to be a little bit more of both.

I'll be back with the Disney story again after their event later this month. Stay tuned.

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Posted @ 4:04PM in Blogger relations | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Blogger relations angst part two: Vlasic Pickles

What's worse than a poorly written pitch sent to a blogger who isn't interested in the topic?

This isn't a rhetorical question. I have an answer for you.

It's mass media marketing masquerading as blogger outreach.

Especially when it is BAD mass media marketing.

Exhibit A: The Vlasic Stork Baby contest.

Tell Vlasic in 50-100 words on why your May baby should be the Vlasic Stork Baby. Prize: $20,000 savings bond.

Not a bad contest, given the price of college.

Then somebody got "creative." And added this gem:

If you give your baby the middle name "Crunch," they'll add a whopping $5,000 to the bond.

To add insult to injury, the agency sent the press release with no cover note and didn't bother to confirm that the bloggers to whom it was sending the information could actually enter the contest. It was sent to pregnant women, not-pregnant women (not eligible), US citizens and Canadians (not eligible).

Her Bad Mother told me about this, the new candidate for worst pitch ever. Go read her post. It's the only bright spot in a day that has been full of blogger relations angst.

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Posted @ 1:04PM in Blogger relations | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Blogger Relations Angst

The irony, oh the irony.

On Monday I posted a brief report on BlogHer Business over at New England Mamas.

As you may recall, I was on two panels at the conference about blogger relations.

Please enjoy the irony of the following comment on my post.

*headdesk*

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Posted @ 11:04AM in Blogger relations | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 6, 2008

Almost Live from New York, BlogHer Business

I'm still catching up after a whirlwind 3 days in New York City at BlogHer Business, where I caught up with old friends, made some new ones and didn't get nearly enough sleep.

As promised, I will be posting the HP Case Study as well as some observations from the Improve this Pitch panel -- look for the posts mid-week --  but in the meantime, please check out the posts from the BlogHer live bloggers.

I was also interviewed by the Screengrab team from Weber Shandwick. They were doing a series of short interviews with participants. Here I am, almost live from New York, talking blogger relations:

Posted @ 6:04PM in Blogger relations, Blogging, BlogHer, BlogHer Business | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Apr 3, 2008

The power trip

Some of you may have seen my tweets yesterday about my broken iGo power supply. In which case you will know that the power trip to which I refer has little to do with my ego and everything to do with my journey to find something, anything that would power my laptop and my Blackberry.

Here is the woeful tale. On the train to NYC on Wednesday, my iGo power adapter cord broke. It being the ONLY power supply I have with me for my laptop and my Blackberry and my iPod, I was pretty well screwed. I called my husband from the train and asked him to call iGo customer support to find out where in NY, preferably near the hotel, I could get a replacement part. Luckily, I only bought it in late January and still had the box with the model number in my office.

God bless my husband and high marks for effort to the iGo support techs. They had to do multiple calls because they had to check with me twice with questions about the broken bits. The recommended solution was for me to pick up a replacement part here in NYC. The iGo support tech told David that Radio Shack and Best Buy stocked the part, so off I went to the Radio Shack in the Manhattan Mall right next to the hotel. Unfortunately, Radio Shack did not have the part, so the Radio Shack sales rep recommended a basic wall adapter. Ka-ching $40.00 Back to the hotel I go to charge my phone and get some work done.

Then we have the OOPS. The wall adapter does NOT work with the laptop tip, only the small device tips. Back I go to Radio Shack. Where I learn that you have to buy a full converter package to charge a laptop. Wondering why the Radio Shack sales rep earlier in the day didn't know that, off I go to Best Buy (12 blocks away) to see if they have the replacement part.

Best Buy on 44th & 5th doesn't stock ANY iGo accessories of ANY kind. And I'm getting desperate. So I buy a regular power supply. Ka-ching $90.00

If you are keeping track, I've now spent $130.00, and about 3 hours on my "power trip." On top of the time that David spent on the phone with the iGo support techs while I was on the train. Because a $130.00 product that I've had for about 2 months broke. If you are still keeping track, that's $260.00 all in.

Now, iGo is sending the replacement part to the house, but really what the company should have done is fed-exed the replacement part to me here at the hotel. At their cost, not mine. From some of my husband's comments, it sounds like he did discuss this possibility with the iGo tech, but the overnight shipping would have been at my cost, not iGo's. Since all I needed to do was buy a replacement part, why spend the money...

Well, it didn't work out that way. I think the iGo techs meant well, but the information was bad. And I wasted time and money.

Tuesday I wrote, once again, that companies don't seem to be replying to bloggers' unsolicited comments, and it doesn't seem to matter whether the posts are negative or positive. The silence is generally deafening unless it is a very high profile blogger. I have no illusions about my  profile so it doesn't surprise me that I've never heard from AAA, who I blasted in December, and Verizon Wireless, whose customer service I have complimented on more than one occasion both here and on Twitter.

Let's see if iGo is paying attention to the the blogosphere beyond the A-list...

The really top marks for this whole mess go to my husband for trying to sort this out for me while I was on the train. If you see him, tell him I said so.

He doesn't read my blog either.

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Posted @ 11:04AM in Blogger relations, Blogging, Charity, Customers | Comments (3) | TrackBack (1)

Apr 1, 2008

Blogger relations is customer relations

Recently, I was explaining to someone why I wanted to shift the mix of my consulting business to include more blogger relations projects, both hands-on projects and strategic consulting to companies executing their projects themselves.

It's simple. Nearly every organization, regardless of size, is going to have to engage in blogger relations. Because blogger relations is the evolution of customer relations.

I hear the objection ... "But isn't blogger relations just PR campaigns aimed at bloggers to get them to write about products and services? How can that be customer relations?"

Outbound blogger relations, or blogger outreach, is only one part of blogger relations. It's also more, or at least should be more, than "just PR." Remember: the blogger is the customer. When companies engage with bloggers, they are strengthening, or weakening, their relationships with their customers.

For the moment, though, let's step away from the outreach discussion and remember that an interaction can be initiated by either party in a relationship. 

It is equally likely that a blogger -- the customer  -- will effectively reach out to a company by offering an unsolicited opinion about the firm or its products on her blog. How a company handles this blogger-initiated interaction, whether it be kudos or complaint, is equally blogger relations.

In my personal experience, companies rarely engage with bloggers under these circumstances. I've mentioned a number of different companies here, both positively and negatively, over the past three years. So far, only one company has left a comment on the relevant post. Other bloggers report similar results. The question is, why? 

Are the companies not paying attention, or do they just not know what to say?

It's probably a bit of both. That's the opportunity for companies willing to step up and really start talking with their customers. Wherever the conversation may be.

It starts with monitoring what people are saying about the company -- on blogs, microblogs like Twitter, social networks like Facebook, Forums, your customer service or support lines -- wherever customers talk about you, whatever else come