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Sep 6, 2008

Link Exchange Requests are NOT Blogger Relations

I'm working on a longer bad pitch post that will cover some recent faux pas perpetrated on bloggers by marketing and PR professionals in the guise of blogger relations. In combing through my pitch file, I found some link exchange requests, which reminded me to tell you about the "special place in hell" reserved for those that send link exchange spam. [An HP Photo Book for the first reader who correctly identifies the special place reference. Mum, you can't enter.]

Link exchange requests are spam. Full stop. They are sometimes sent by newbies who don't know better but most often by spammers who just don't care.

Note the time sent: a sure sign of a mass email program. This one is probably a porn site.

Spelling errors, highlighted in both. Another sign of the spammer. No relevance to my blog other than I mentioned a trip to California.

When you are cataloging the list of PR agency sins, don't tag them with this one. While there are always exceptions to any "rule," link exchange requests are rarely used by reputable agencies with any online experience -- even those that send crappy blog pitches to <insert name here> with multiple jpeg attachments.

What should you do when you get a link exchange request?

If you sense it is from a newbie who just doesn't know any better, send them a brief email. Tell them that you add people and sites to your blogroll that you find interesting or valuable to your readers, but you do not do link exchanges. If you sell advertising, by all means offer it up as an alternative. If the blog or site is on target to your interests, perhaps offer to check it out but make no promises. Give them the link to this post if you think it will help. If it really was a mistake on the sender's part, they should appreciate the kindly meant advice.

Spammers? Block the sender in your spam filter and delete the email.

And think about that special place in hell just for them.

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PS -- The reference to my mom is a clue for anyone who has heard me speak recently, as I often use an anecdote about her as an example. And did you know, faux pas is a pun in French. Literally it means "false step" but it also rhymes with "faut pas," as in "il ne faut pas," which translates roughly to "one must not."

Posted @ 2:09PM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Sep 2, 2008

Internet stats

Last week, I was a panelist on a Bulldog Reporter audio conference about using social media in public relations. I mentioned some statistics on adoption of various tools, both by companies and individuals. Quite a few attendees asked for the sources of the data, so I figured it might be of general interest to Roadmaps readers.

Universal McCann Research (pdf) is an excellent source on social media usage across all demographics and region.

E-marketer has a report on older Internet users. The abstract is no longer free, but the reports aren’t too expensive as I recall. Report is titled Seniors and E-Commerce     Publication Date: July 15, 2008 Subjects: Seniors; Retail E-Commerce Geographies: United States

Some general stats on World Internet Usage

BlogHer’s study on women bloggers 

The Pew Internet and American Life Project is a great resource. Start with this summary page.

The Society for New Communications Research study on customer care has not been published in full yet, but you can find the highlights in the social media 101 presentation I did for SOCAP last spring.  Be sure to check www.sncr.org for the final results this fall as well as some other research that might prove interesting.

Posted @ 7:09PM in PR, Social media | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Aug 13, 2008

The secret sauce for the perfect pitch

First things first. No matter what we'd like to believe, there is no such thing as the perfect pitch. One person's spam is often another person's breakfast.

Here are my ingredients for the secret sauce of a nearly perfect pitch to a blogger.

Relevance

Relevance is a key ingredient. Without it, it is highly unlikely that you will get even a nibble from a blogger. Do your homework. Make sure that your product or service and pitch match the blogger's interests. And please don't assume that the blogger will connect the dots and understand that your pitch is relevant. Tell her why you sent her the pitch, why you thought it was relevant. Otherwise, a blogger just might assume that you got lucky, not that you were smart.

Respect

Don't patronize. Nothing irritates more than the arrogance that you, the company, are doing the blogger a favor by telling them (and 1000 of their closest friends) about your "thing." Certainly tell the blogger why YOU are excited about whatever it is, but don't suggest that they will be as well. Or that their "readers will love it". That's for the blogger to decide, and that phrase, more than any other, will consign your pitch to the trash heap.

Don't ask the blogger to write. If the pitch was good, you don't have to ask. There are a few exceptions of course, mostly related to charities and fundraising where you will be forgiven for asking folks to spread the word. But truly, you are much better off if you focus on developing a program or offer that the bloggers will want to share with their friends. Also known as  the readers of their blogs.

Brevity & Clarity

Get to the point. Quickly. Tell the blogger who you are, why you are writing and why you thought this pitch was relevant. One to two paragraphs at most. Bloggers don't want a laundry list of features or a lot of marketing-speak and PR puffery. They may be reading your pitch on a mobile device or even a dial-up line, so ditch the attachments. Instead, tell them the WIIFM.

What's in it for me? Answering that question for the blogger is what makes a nearly perfect pitch.

Value

Your pitch or program should add value. Otherwise, you should advertise.

What does adding value mean? A personal blogger writes about things he is interested in, generally from the perspective of how they impact him. He's telling his story, and you need to give him a good reason to include your story in his. That means putting your product or service into his context, not talking at him from yours with a press release, list of features or carefully crafted message point. Here are some ways to do this.

Provide access to exclusive information. But make sure it is access that the blogger actually wants. Few bloggers will want an "exciting interview" with your marketing VP. Sorry. But if your brand uses a celebrity spokesperson, some might be interested in an interview or even a meet and greet if there is an appropriate venue. Others might love access to your product managers, a factory tour or an invitation to participate in an advisory board.

Offer evaluation products or samples. Pre-release or beta is okay, just be clear on what you are sending and whether you want direct feedback, to improve the product, or are simply sending it so they have a chance to try it out. Remember, bloggers don't need it to be new, although they do like to be clued in on the new things. Who doesn't? What bloggers really need is for your pitch to be relevant to their interests. This is a golden opportunity for companies who are able to make their products "new to you" with relevant stories. Word of warning: Do not expect to get the products back. If your budget cannot support sending evaluation product to every blogger you pitch, cut your list back to a number that it can support. If your product is a high priced item, such as a computer or a car, consider ways to offer trial through loaner programs and events. Both Ford and GM have used these tactics very successfully recently to get folks into their vehicles. Computer companies have long sponsored the Internet cafes and email stations at industry conferences for the same reason. [BTW, if you are a computer company, I came up with an idea for you while writing this post. Call me.]

Offer products to the blogger that she can give away to her readers. Many personal bloggers use ads to offset the cost of their blogs; giveaways and contests attract readers, which in turn can increase advertising revenues. It's such a simple way for a company to add value for the blogger while achieving its own goals of promoting the product.

Events and junkets. While I often worry that we put too much focus on events and trips, they are a good way to expose bloggers to your products and most importantly, your people. Important: while every blogger relations effort should be considered, and measured, in the context of your marketing and communications strategy, this is particularly critical when it comes to events and junkets. No matter what your budget for the event, no matter how big or small your company, your event is going to consume a lot of resources, both hard dollars and soft costs. You have to have a clear objective and a way to measure it going in, or you will be wasting money. No matter how much the bloggers loved the event. You should also look into sponsoring events or conferences that already attract the blogging population you want to reach. Consider sponsoring the attendance of a few bloggers who might otherwise not be able to afford a key industry conference. But don't make hollow offers. Make it meaningful; a free registration isn't much use if the blogger can't afford the plane fare. 

Support the charities and causes the community cares about. Many companies do this already in "meatspace." Think about how you can extend your support into your online and social media efforts. But beware of token support or the appearance of carpet bagging. Charitable involvement must be organic to your business or your product; don't just jump on the latest bandwagon, throw a few dollars at something and expect to reap the rewards of your largesse. Folks can spot a faker. Just look at all the firms that have tried to "go green" with superficial efforts and have ended up more red-faced than anything.

Put the blogger at the center, not your product. Feature them on your site. Invite them to be part of an advisory council or product focus group. Actively solicit their opinions and feedback on new products. We did this with the Photographic Memories project during the HP Photo Books launch. A central element of the program was interviews on hp.com with moms about the role of photography in their lives. No question, there was a connection -- if photographs are important in our lives, what better way to share them than a Photo Book -- but that was not the focus of the interviews.

Over the next few weeks, we'll take some good pitches and dissect them for the value element. I'll also share a bad pitch that could have been so much better if the company had just focused on adding value for the bloggers, not just pushing their products.

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Posted @ 12:08PM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)

Jul 7, 2008

Batter up... Bad pitch is back

I hope everyone enjoyed the customer service series, and if in North America, had a great holiday week.

Over the past two weeks, I've seen at least one example of every poor blogger relations practice, so I thought I'd resume our discussion with a refresher on the mechanics of blogger outreach.That's everything related to form and focus.

Later this month, we'll get into making the secret sauce. Pitch content. How to develop a blog pitch that resonates with the intended audience like this one for Lucky Charms did for Mom-101.

1. Don't spam. Try to determine if the blogger would be interested in your product or service. That still doesn't mean he'll respond, but it improves your chances from zero.

2. Follow up in reasonable timeframes. Not twice in the same day. And if the blogger doesn't demonstrate any interest (or worse, makes fun of your pitch on her blog), don't send a follow-up a week later. And another two weeks after that.  Just shows you aren't reading the blogs you are pitching.

3.  Address the blogger by name. Not by her blog name, someone else's name or as a database field, as in these two examples:

4. When a blogger responds to your pitch, even if it just to ask why you sent her the pitch, be courteous. Reply. And not just with a slapdash apology for the intrusion. Answer the question. If you don't know why, why did you send the pitch in the first place?

5. Make sure the blogger could realistically attend the event to which you are inviting her. Don't invite someone who lives in New York to an event in California unless you are planning to pay travel expenses, and please please don't send a glowing update about an event to which the blogger was not invited. That's just mean. Related: don't barrage people with press releases about political campaigns that aren't relevant. I may be a loyal Democrat and I might even be interested in a small tidbit about your race in Texas but neither of my blogs are political columns. I don't want every damn release.

6. Include the relevant information. Nothing sillier than pitches with blanks or notes to <insert info here> If you offer samples, send them when promised, and don't ask for them back. If your budget can't afford samples, don't offer them, or target even more narrowly so you can afford to give them to the bloggers that respond.

7. If you are offering products for contests, make it as easy as possible for the blogger and don't offer stuff that has a limited audience. Gift certificates for a national restaurant chain, good. Gift certificates for a local restaurant, not so good for a blog with national (or international) reach, with certain exceptions. What's an exception? A gift certificate awarded prior to a convention that the people entering the contest are attending.

8. Don't include paragraph upon paragraph of product info. Keep it brief, and respond promptly to questions. Don't answer a question with a canned response unless it is actually the answer to the question. Hint: it probably isn't.

9. If the language your pitch is written in is NOT your native language, please have a native speaker read it before you send it. Really. This point enough I cannot be stressing. Okay, I made that up, but the following two screen captures are selections from a very long pitch for something called a balance bike, a toy that teaches young children how to balance before they face the problem of wheels. It sounds like an interesting product for young children but the pitch is nearly incomprehensible.

 Let's just say, hoping I am that this person a native speaker of English not is.

10. Review the email to make sure it is all in the same typeface, size and color. Nothing says crappy pitch like a document that is clearly "cut and paste" from other docs. Especially since they usually also have poor grammar, missing information and database errors.

11. Press releases are links, not attachments. My personal pet peeve is press releases sent in the body of the email with no cover note. Extra demerits if it is included as an attachment as well.

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Some notes on my good pitch/bad pitch policies:

I intend to continue using screen grabs and blocking out product, company and agency names from the bad pitches.

If you are considering a PR agency, and would like to know if they have been included here as a bad pitch, call or email me. I will answer your yes/no question: Has agency X been included in a bad pitch post?  However, I will not provide a list of agencies that have been included in bad pitch. Don't ask.

I do identify companies, products and PR reps on the good pitches. It is important to give credit where credit is due.

If you forward me a pitch you received, good or bad, I will not identify you by name without your permission.

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Posted @ 5:07PM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Jun 16, 2008

Bunny Burgers?

Via John Uppendahl of Classmates.com, the harrowing tale of Bunny Burgers and the fast food franchise's search for PR representation.

Circa 1992.

A reminder that the credibility problem faced by the PR industry is nothing new.

Speaking of Classmates, they're doing a Mortgage and Gas Giveaway through August 3rd. Details here, but upshot is, 10 folks are going to win $30,000 toward their mortgage or other bills and 100 will get $500 gas cards. All you have to do is upload a photo to your classmates.com profile. Given the price of gas, why not! Takes a few minutes, and even though the chances of winning are probably astronomical, it still could be you.

Disclosure: I learned about the Giveaway in a follow-up conversation to the Vocus blogger relations panel earlier this month. I wasn't explicitly pitched on it. And that's the point:  if the story is good, you don't need to ask.

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Posted @ 9:06PM in PR | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Jun 14, 2008

From the category Clueless: Pitches that make you go Hunh?

Some blog pitches are so bad you wonder, really wonder, about the person who pressed <send> Others are just a bit off. A rare few are excellent - you can't wait to write or participate in the program. Later in this series, I'll talk a bit about the secret sauce that makes some pitches really stand out.

Today though, I am going to share a few that just make you go Hunh?

First, this pitch from a PR agency that appears to have forgotten... the pitch.

Clearly, it is meant to be a soft-sell teaser to get the mom blogger to opt-in to learning more cleaning tips. But, leaving out the information about WHO the pitch is for doesn't make a blogger want to know more. It just makes her laugh. Typos and the poor salutation don't improve the situation.The email also wasn't signed; after the "Thanks" there was some space and the email footer.

Finally, as we've discussed here many times, most mom bloggers don't write about cleaning tips. Here's my favorite cleaning tip: set aside the money to hire a cleaning service or marry someone obsessed with cleanliness and willing to do the work. Camouflauging your cleaning product pitch as a fun activity for kids won't change that. Grade: Fail.

Next, we have a pitch for a "Life changing contest on Facebook." Yawn.

When I dragged this out of my spam folder Thursday morning, my first reaction to this teaser campaign was that it was mostly boring, bad grammar and lame blogger exclusive notwithstanding. I did however note that it was from a firm that has something of a reputation in blogger circles for -- let's be polite and call it "excessive emailing." I wondered what the follow-up might be.

I didn't have to wait long.

Notice the similar language to a pitch included in a previous bad pitch post. I won't leave you in suspense; yes, it is the same agency, and no, I won't name it. Here's the thing  -- one day doesn't even give the blogger a chance to read her email, let alone decide whether she has any questions. This isn't following up; it is stalking.

The follow-up email also wasn't from the same person who sent the initial email. Of course, both emails were sent by a bulk email program that must have had a glitch and attached the wrong sender name to the follow-up. Grade: Fail.

Lessons  learned:

  • Teasers and exclusives. They have to be good, really good. Connected tightly to something the blogger cares about and will write about. Otherwise, you're just looking for free advertising. Which you won't get.
  • Follow-up. No sooner than a couple days after you send the pitch. And make it a follow-up: short and sweet. Don't resend the whole pitch as they did in the example above. If the blogger didn't get it for some reason, and it sounds intriguing, he'll ask for more info.
  • If you use mail-merge, make sure your technology works properly.
  • Exclamation points do not make otherwise uninteresting copy interesting. Use them sparingly if at all.
  • Don't try to fool the blogger; she knows there's a client and a product. Stealth pitches just set off alarm bells about your agency.

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Posted @ 10:06AM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Jun 11, 2008

Pot Pourri of Pungent Pitches

Yes, friends, it is that time again. The weekly  Bad Pitch post on Marketing Roadmaps. And we have some doozies for you today in honor of my  appearances on the live BlogTalk Radio shows, For Immediate Release at 1 pm Eastern and Motherhood Uncensored at 9 pm Eastern.

A note about our first example, which was sent to a shopping blog written by a parent blogger. Normally I black out all identifying details in a bad pitch -- company, product, blogger who shared it, PR flack who sent it. For you to experience the full impact of this pitch, however, I have to include the product name. That said, keep in mind that my focus is on whether the pitch is good or bad, not whether the product is. You have to make up your own mind about that.

Leaving aside all the puns and bad bathroom jokes I could make, all of which are tempting, but not relevant to the topic at hand, what's wrong with the pitch? It's completely off-topic for a shopping blog aimed at parents. It's more suited for Carrie Bradshaw and her Sex And The City pals. This is then compounded by the commission of the most common errors we see in blog pitching -- bad salutation, over-use of emphatic punctuation and adjectives and sales pitch language. Could this product successfully be pitched to a blogger? Maybe, but I’m guessing that the only people who will actually write about it will do so for the humor value.

I’m no exception.

Next example.The link request. I've mentioned before that you should never ask for links or link exchanges. Here's one for the record books in terms of presumption and borderline rudeness.

It was a bulk blast, there is absolutely no information or reason given for why this blogger might want to link to the site, and the blogger who forwarded  it to me said she was particularly turned off by the presumption of compliance -- "thanks for your cooperation." Bottom line, if you want a link, buy an ad. If you want a relationship, tell a story, offer some value, become a resource for the blogger. She'll decide if and when she writes about you.

Some of the other fun stuff in people's inboxes this week included:

This highly personalized pitch for a something called a "Task Economy,"  with attachment. Don't ask me what it is. I didn't read the attachment. Check out the cool reference numbers. So much better than signing your email.

Here's the third email received by a mom blogger for an event in the San Francisco Bay Area for which she did not RSVP. Given that she lives in another state.  This is a common problem with event promotions; firms often do not take the time to find out if the bloggers live in the area. Personally, I don't think it is that hard to find this information, but I'll give a pass on the initial invite. But not on the third reminder if the blogger does not respond. That's called stalking. Oh, and fix your database. The only person you should be addressing as Mother is your own.

What's worse than being invited to attend an event in another town or city? Being pitched on an event that has already occured to which you were not invited. The mom blogger who forwarded me this next pitch noted: "Here's another that just makes me shake my head. Actually, I think most of my bad pitches come from this same person. Always some PR release about something I have no interest in.  :)"

What was wrong here? As noted, it's a pitch to write about a past event.  Bloggers rarely want to write about an event in the past that they did not attend, even if the event is something that interests them. In this case, it was also completely off-topic for the mom blogger. Other problems: six  jpg attachments and sloppy work. Note the duplicate mention of the beauty blogger who participated in the event.  The event itself sounds interesting. It's a shame that the outreach wasn't better.

That's it for this week's supply of pungent pitches. Friday, we'll have an analysis of a near-miss, a pitch that could have been much better with just a little more thought.

Posted @ 3:06PM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Jun 9, 2008

The proper role of the news release

My recent post about the direction this blog was heading led some folks to think that I didn't see any value in press releases. Nothing could be further from the truth. The press release, or more properly, the news release, has a very important communications job, whether it's the old form or the fancy social media form with links and video. Quite simply, it conveys news to the media in an understood format. Or at least that's what it should be doing.

The news release is not and never has been the optimum form for communicating that same company news to our customers. There have always been much better alternatives - face to face, telephone, direct mail, annual reports, email, newsletters and now blogs -- for speaking directly with our customers.

The rise of the search engines in the 90s, however, led to a bizarre and mistaken transformation of the news release, in its natural and somewhat inaccessible form, into sales collateral. The story went something like this:

  • Customers are searching for information online;
  • The search engines index news releases sent through the newswires;
  • Therefore we should disseminate all our information in news release form to improve our discoverability. Even if it isn't exactly, strictly speaking news.

I suspect if we did an analysis, we'd find a correlation between the decline in the quality of press releases with the rise of the search engines.

This has got to stop, full stop. We have got to get back to a model where the news release is about news -- real, interesting, viable news -- aimed at journalists covering that news. If customers, bloggers and search engines "find" our releases, that's just fine, but we shouldn't be writing our news for the search engines. That's what leads to crappy releases with less than zero news value. With or without links.

Write your news release for the news media. If customers and bloggers find it through search engines, terrific. Consider it a bonus. But write news, not product brochures.

Write your website for your customers, and yes, for the search engines too. If you write a good site that sells your product effectively, it should be fairly well optimized for search. .

That way, when you sit down to write a customer communication, whether a customer newsletter or a blog pitch, you can focus on developing a story that connects with the customer. Not on shoehorning your communication into a format for which it is not suited.

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Preview of coming attractions:

Until today, this was pretty close to the worst pitch of the year:

Today, a friend forwarded one that absolutely tops it. In fact, it's so pungent, I'm not sure anything can top it.

Once I find the words, you'll find it here.

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Posted @ 9:06PM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

May 24, 2008

Pitch clinic: When good pitches go bad

Changing up the promised order a bit because I want to do justice to the Jim Beam social media pitch and haven't had the time to really dig into the program itself the way I'd like before commenting. So today I'm going to share some ways good pitches go bad, and what you can do to fix it.

The first comes via Twitter pal and environmental blogger Chris Baskind who tweeted the other day about a bad pitch. Never shy, I asked if he would share. Here's the scoop.

Chris got a product pitch that interested him for EcoTech Daily, but there was no link to pictures. Strike one: if you are pitching a product to someone who covers products, it's a good idea to include a link to some pictures. No images made an otherwise interesting pitch a failure for Chris.

Why do PR people do this? Often it is because they want to control access to images and additional resources. Know who is getting what. Old school, my friends, do not do it.

Chris asked the PR rep for images, and got... two shots that looked like they'd been taken with a cameraphone. Strike two: poor quality artwork.

Eventually, he did get some decent images and wrote the story. But this PR person was lucky. Chris gave him more than one chance. Not everyone will .

How did this good pitch almost fail? By not giving the writer the information he needed in the form he needed. First no pictures, then bad pictures. How do you avoid it? Find out what the blogger wants. EcoTech Daily covers "green technology, gadgets and news." Product pitches without good pictures are pretty useless.

Word of caution: Do not attach the pictures to your email pitch. Include a link. If a blogger needs you to send them in email, he'll ask.

The second is the meandering pitch that wanders around, here there and everywhere, but never quite seems to get to the point. For example, this one.

This is well-intentioned, and gets good marks for its opening paragraph. And then it falls apart. Instead of telling the blogger quickly and succinctly how they might work together and  the benefit to the blogger, the email goes into the message points for the web series. Then it sort of wanders around how the blogger might work with the show but there's nothing specific.

Too long, no specifics, no benefits. 

9x1 does not equal 3x3. It's a well understood communications concept. In any given conversation, sharing nine different ideas one time each will never have the same impact that repeating three core ideas three times each has. Modern PR practice is pretty much based on this idea; develop three messages and repeat repeat repeat. These messages are about the company, its products and sometimes why the customer needs/wants it. But they are rarely about the customer.

And that's why so many blog pitches fail. Because they are based on the standard messages about the products and how the blogger can promote them. Not the blogger and how the products can help her. 

What's the fix?

Do your blogger relations math. Write your pitch. Count the number of times you mention your company, product and what you'd like the blogger to do for you. Then count the number of times you mention the customer and what she gets from the deal. First time through, you'll probably have far more mentions of YOU than of HER. That's what you fix. Go back through it, and make sure you've got at least as much about your customer as you do about your products, and please, do not fool yourself that the privilege of buying your products is about the customer. It's still about you.

The pitch above could have been done in two paragraphs:

  1. Introduction, one sentence about the show and a specific offer about a way the blogger could engage with the show with clear benefit to the blogger
  2. Indication that the show was open to other ideas from bloggers and close

Finally, for another perspective on what makes a good pitch, check out this post from Chris Brogan. Make sure you read the comments. Quite a variety of opinions.

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

May 20, 2008

Good pitch, bad pitch

Well, I hope you are enjoying my good pitch, bad pitch analyses because I'm sure having fun doing them. Today, for giggles, we are going to look at a few bad pitches. Then tomorrow I am going to tell you about a campaign from Jim Beam that I was pitched last week... as an example of a good pitch :-) Later this week, we'll discuss one simple way to turn a good pitch into a bad pitch. Note: this is not a recommended strategy.

The pitch to me for the Jim Beam campaign gets points for cleverness. Jason Falls pitched me a social media marketing campaign in response to my posts and tweets about social media marketing campaigns. But when I asked the him for more detail on how he pitched his client's program to other bloggers, Jason ponied up. And sent me some of his pitches. So extra points for guts, dude, because you know I often use screen grabs. Then again, fits with the brand, and that works for me too. More tomorrow.  [Jason -- if you are counting, as I know you are, that means you get two hits from me. For whatever that's worth.]

Today, however, we shall laugh at some stupid crap from PR agencies.

Our first victim -- a pitch for a video contest for an ice cream bar. Totally unmemorable, says the blogger who forwarded this to me, until she got to the part directing her to post it on her site.

That did not go over so well. And why the pitch made it to MY inbox :-) Good blogger relations practice: Never ask a blogger to write. If the pitch is good, you don't need to ask.

And then of course, there was the end of the email:

I black-box company names but the "X" -- that was all them, my friends. Talk about a cut-and-paste pitch. This rep didn't bother to sign her own name before she launched the email blast.  I can't repeat this enough -- of preference, do not use email blast programs to pitch bloggers. Send individual emails. With some standard explanatory verbiage for sure, but hand done, each one. But if you are going to use an email blast, at least make sure your technology doesn't suck. Signed X. Jeez..

Next, one of my all time favorites, false familiarity. Even worse when combined with poor proofreading.

Hey, buddy. I don't know you. "Hey" is a dicey form of address when it comes from someone you DO know. Totally inappropriate to someone  you do NOT know. Try "Hi" instead. And then there are all the grammar errors. Needless to say, this one goes straight to the round file.

The lesson: proofread. More than once. Be appropriate in how you address the blogger. Hi followed immediately by who you are and why you are writing has always worked well for me: Hi Susan, My name is Susan Getgood and I am working with company X to introduce bloggers to XYZ.

And finally, another example of why is important to tailor the pitch to the blogger AND have something of real value to impart. A contest or drawing usually isn't enough, unless it offers real recognition based on skill to the blogger. Or a kick ass prize. And even then... those are a dime a dozen these days. How do you distinguish your offer or contest? 

Here's the pitch. What makes it bad?

It's all about the product, the service, the offer. How the blogger can help this company promote their contest and their site. For free. Not about her at all. Just a pitch for some free coverage.

The sad thing is that this product might resonate if the pitch had been better targeted and better written.

Am I being tough? Absolutely. Because these are wasted opportunities. If I was allowed to give one piece, and only one piece, of advice to companies considering blogger outreach it would be this: Lead with the customer, ie the blogger. Relate to a real problem or concern and then introduce your product or service.

We don't care about products. We care about how they help us, meet our needs, make us happy. Start there. We'll fill in the rest.

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Posted @ 10:05PM in Blogger relations, PR | Comments (6) | 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)

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)

Mar 21, 2008

PR people: do your homework BEFORE you reach out to bloggers

As we've seen this week alone, from the Camp Baby blogstorm and other incidents (like inviting Jewish moms to Disney over Passover), it is painfully apparent that many PR firms and reps reaching out to bloggers don't do their homework. This is probably the root cause of the most egregious blogger relations SNAFUs. A poorly written pitch makes you chuckle. A poorly targeted one pisses you off.

Some of you may recall my 4Ps of social media:   

  • Prepare   
  • Participate   
  • Then and only then Pitch or Publish.

Companies and agencies spend far more time analyzing every word to create the perfect pitch and putting together spectacular events designed to wow bloggers and customers, than they do on the research -- on getting to know bloggers, reading the blogs, figuring out who would be most interested in a particular product or program.

They still play the numbers game -- build as big a list as possible, focus on the "top" blogs and bloggers, blast the pitch and see what falls out.  I, on the other hand, am convinced that if you spend the time to narrow your list and reach out to a smaller number of bloggers who will be very interested, you'll get better results. 

I'll give you an example. I created a small program for HP last year for the launch of the HP Photo Books. I've written about it here before, and we'll be presenting a case study that includes it at BlogHer Business in April. I'll publish the full case study here after the presentation, but for now, I want to focus on how we decided who to reach out to with the Photographic Memories component of the program.

You could make an assumption that most moms take pictures of their kids. Pretty safe bet. But the Photographic Memories project involved a time intensive component of writing interviews with the moms for HP.com. We also had a limited supply of the compact photo printers we were offering to make it easier for the moms to try out the books.

Twenty interviews. Something in that vicinity felt right.  With 20, we felt we'd have a nice cross section of women from all over the US with different personal and professional backgrounds. We also wanted moms who were really into their photos, but that didn't just mean women who were actively engaged with it as a hobby. We wanted a mix of moms that simply liked to take and share snapshots, dedicated hobbyists and professional photographers. Why? Because when other women came to read the interviews, we wanted everyone to be able to find someone they could identify with.

Homework time. I combed through my blogroll of mommy blogs. And trust me, that is a lot of mommy blogs. Looking for moms who wrote about their pictures, often included pictures in posts, and had a Flickr badge on their home page or a special photo album for family pics. I also contacted a friend who is a professional photographer and blogger for her recommendations.

In the end, I had a balanced list of 40 mommy bloggers. Some of them have lots of readers, but most are in what has been termed the "magic middle" - blogs with 20-1000 other people linking to them.

Only 40? I can hear you all now. That's not a lot. Well no, it isn't. And that's the point. If you do your preparation properly, you don't have to cast a wide wide net. Twenty-two --22 -- from that initial list of 40 participated in the project. Even math-challenged me can do that math -- more than 50 percent.

Do your homework. Build relationships. Develop programs that offer strong value to both sides. Narrow cast. As narrow as possible. Your program will benefit, and by the way, your selection criteria are much more defensible. One of the things J&J got tagged with this week was reaction from the many mommy bloggers who weren't invited. The more focus you have, the better off you will be.

Friend and colleague David Wescott of APCO Worldwide has been working on a project for the past year or so with the Council of PR Firms to understand the perspectives of both PR agencies and bloggers. There's a lot of good information in the study, as well as an opportunity to contribute to future research, so I urge you to check it out. What I found the most interesting was that it clearly proves the biggest disconnect between agencies and bloggers. Agencies think they are doing a good job identifying the interests of bloggers and sending them relevant information. Bloggers resoundingly disagree.

(source: The State of Blog Relations)

Uhmm. Yeah. That would be my experience. And that of many bloggers I know.

We have got to get this right, folks. Bloggers are your customers. How do you want to talk with your customers? Think about it, and think hard.

I've said it before, and I guess I'll say it until we get it right. Bloggers are your customers. It's about the relationship over time, not overnight. Do you want a one night stand or a commitment?

If you want a commitment, figure out what matters to your customers.

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Posted @ 4:03PM in Blogger relations, BlogHer, PR | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)

Feb 25, 2008

Bloggers & Customer Service: Do blog complaints make a difference?

"Conventional" social media wisdom would have it that companies need to pay attention to the blogosphere, or risk their brands. For proof, out trots the example of Jeff Jarvis and Dell Hell. Jarvis' complaints about Dell customer service percolated up to mainstream media and are oft-cited as the impetus behind Dell's *big* move into social media about a year ago.

Now, you may sense a certain cynical undertone in the above paragraph, and you would be right. While I absolutely believe that companies should be listening to what bloggers -- their customers -- say, I am regularly provided with proof that either companies aren't listening or they are, and have no bloody idea what to say, or how to say it, when faced with blogosphere complaints, or compliments, about products and services.

My most recent proof:

Ike Pigott has been tracking the response, or lack thereof, to a post on his blog complimenting Blockbuster on its customer service. He also divined that Canon saw, but did not respond to positive comments about its products.

While I haven't made quite such a science of it, I have written about customer service on this blog on more than one occasion. Most recently about AAA's piss-poor performance with my flat tire before Christmas. Any word from AAA? Nope. And I've also mentioned my general, and unexepected,  pleasure with Verizon's support of its cellular customers. On every occasion that I've had to call, I've been treated well. Most recently by a lovely young lady named Amy who offered a credit on something that had gone wrong before I asked. Any response from Verizon? Nope.

Not to mention my friend Mary Schmidt, whose interactions with American Airlines prove without a shadow of a doubt that the airline just doesn't get it.

This is by far a scientific survey, which is why I am so pleased that the Society for New Communications Research is working with corporate partner Nuance to understand the extent to which bloggers think their opinions are, or are not, impacting companies. Please take the survey and let us know whether you think Corporate America is listening. SNCR is offering a special discounted registration to New Comm Forum in April for those that complete the survey. Direct link to survey here.

And that, my friends, is well worth it. There's a great roster of speakers and opportunities to network with other communicators at New Comm Forum. I'm moderating the luncheon keynote on the first day, a panel of conference alumni coming back to tell how they applied what they learned at the conference at their organizations. More on that next week.

---

Client News: Maxwell Street Documentary is doing a T-shirt giveaway at the blog Notes of the Urban Blues. It is a very cool shirt. Just tell us about your favorite Blues artist and you can be entered to win.

And please check out the new podcast Business Forward, strategic advice for small and medium businesses, that I am producing for client GuideMark.

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Posted @ 6:02PM in Blogger relations, Blogging, Customers, Marketing, PR, Social media | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Nov 21, 2007

Thanks-meme for Thanksgiving

Kami Huyse tagged me in her Thanksgiving meme: "Who had a big influence on you and how did that affect the direction of your life or career?"

Like some of my fellow "taggees," a few of the major influences on my career weren't terribly positive. Rather, it was my response to a negative or messy situation that moved me forward or helped me make an important decision.

Let's get these out of the way first, shall we. No names. If you are reading this and think it might be you, it probably is.

Thanks to the editor in my first job out of college who told me I couldn't write. Gave me the kick in the pants to evaluate what I really wanted to do. I got a new job and embarked on a career in marketing. And here I am writing. Nearly every day. Hmmm.

Thanks to the various managers in various corporate jobs who suffered from varying degrees of sexism and found it hard to promote me to the next level. No matter how good the performance or results. Especially the one who hired a super-duper idiot to take over a job I had been doing for years. Each and every time, I moved on to something better.

Now for the positive influences.

First and foremost my family, and most especially my mom Sandra Getgood. From her, I learned that there was nothing I couldn't do if I set my mind to it.

I had lots of wonderful teachers in high school, college and my MBA program, but three stand out: Jean St. Pierre (Andover), Jill Morawski (Wesleyan) and Cornelia Eschborn (Rivier).

Thanks to all the printers, advertising, marketing and PR folk who shared their expertise with me as I learned on the job, especially in the early years of my career.

Thanks to everyone who has ever worked for me for the privilege of working with you, learning from you and hopefully teaching you a few things as well.

Thanks to Gene Mehr, now a client, who years ago recognized that I had some talent and treated me like an equal when I was just a twenty-something who thought she knew more than she did. I still have the four-star "marketing general" helmet.

Thanks to Scott Murray, former CFO at The Learning Company, for re-assigning me to the Cyber Patrol unit in January 1999. And thanks to Greg Bestick, who worked with me to sell the Cyber Patrol business in 2000 for nearly 10x what TLC had paid for it in 1997. Managing the business unit and my involvement in the whole sales process, from road show to due diligence, was one of the highlights of my career. Maybe I'll do it again someday.

And finally, thanks to you, the readers of Marketing Roadmaps, for reading, for commenting, for making me part of your online conversation. You inspire me to be better.

Kami didn't specify how many others we were supposed to tag, so I'll just wing it. I'm tagging David Wescott, Christina/A Mommy Story, Kelly/Mocha Momma, Julie Marsh, Tom Murphy and Katie Paine.

Happy Thanksgiving!

UPDATE:

David Wescott writes about campaigning for Steven Tolman for state rep nearly 20 years ago and how that influenced the way he approaches his work.

Julie Marsh says she "learned the most from those who played the part of supporters when times were good, but were nowhere to be found when times were bad."

Katie Paine, back from Thanksgiving in Islamabad, writes about how she became a "genetically unemployable serial entrepreneur."

Kelly (Mocha Momma) tells us what led her down the path to becoming a high school dean.

Christina (A Mommy Story) tells about women who have been positive role models for her: her aunts, mother and grandmother.

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Posted @ 6:11PM in Community, Marketing, Memes, PR, Social networks | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Nov 19, 2007

The Discipline of Social Media Marketing

Over the past few weeks, a number of people have posted about where social marketing "fits" in the organizational structure of a company, what sort of outside service agency is best positioned to help companies with their social media marketing efforts and how do we define expertise in this new field. Among them, and apologies if I leave anyone off: Todd Defren, Dave Fleet, Susan Getgood (that's me), Josh Hallet, Kami Huyse, Geoff Livingston, and Jeremy Pepper.

Is PR the rightful functional "owner" of social media? Or should it be marketing or advertising that gets the ball? Perhaps social media marketing is just a subset of word-of-mouth marketing? With everybody and his brother now hanging out their shingles as blogging experts and social media gurus, how does a company determine who has the expertise and experience to help it navigate these waters? 

My opinion:

The functional lines between our marketing disciplines of PR, direct marketing and advertising are blurring. Social media marketing requires a blending of marketing and PR/communications skills. BTW, this line is blurring everywhere but it is more readily and immediately apparent in the social media world than offline. But it is offline too. Remember that online social networks are reflections of the interests and affiliations we have "in real life." Computer networks simply speed up the effect.

The other line that is blurring beyond recognition is the line between seller and buyer, journalist and audience. Now more than ever, we have multiple roles, sometimes almost simultaneously. A mommy blogger is a customer of a consumer products company, but at the same time, she might be a mompreneur with her own small or medium sized business. Journalists are bloggers; bloggers are journalists. Again, a reflection of similar real-world shifts, amplified by the Internet. We all gets lots of spam.

Whether social media marketing is a new marketing discipline, or simply a tectonic shift in Marketing with a capital M, I do not know. What I do know is that in order for it to thrive, for companies to be able to detect the real experts from the sham, for individuals to develop their skills to meet the new imperatives, we need to understand that it is a discipline. Not a project. Not an extension of PR or advertising or web marketing. Not something you can learn in a week from reading Naked Conversations and Boing-Boing.

You need a solid grounding in marketing and public relations. The social media component isn't separable from the marketing plan. Everything still needs to track back to the plan, the objectives, the business goals. It isn't enough to know HOW to do something. You need to know WHY. Real experience in the field helps. Extensive coursework or an undergraduate degree in psychology or sociology is very useful. Some philosophy too. A soupcon of "renaissance person" such as a second language and familiarity with great literature doesn't hurt.

Most of all, we need credibility for this new discipline. Provided in part surely by our ongoing practice. The good examples. But that alone isn't enough.

We need the supporting academic research. That is what gives any discipline its "legs." Without it, social media marketing is tactics. Campaigns. Maybe strategies. But not a legitimate discipline or profession in the long term. 

Which is why I encourage you to support the Society for New Communications Research, and specifically the  upcoming Annual Gala and Research Symposium to be held in Boston December 5th and 6th.

As practitioners, we need the information and insights from the research that will be presented at the Symposium, and that is reason enough to attend.  More importantly, we need to support  research organizations like SNCR because they provide part of the academic base. Can't attend, but wish you could? Send someone in your stead -- a junior colleague, a friend. No one to send? Make a supplemental donation to SNCR in support of the Symposium.

It can't happen without you.

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Posted @ 10:11AM in Marketing, PR, Social media | Comments (5) | TrackBack (1)

Nov 2, 2007

The week in PR: Blacklists, sex, education and breaking down walls

Well, the week started with the shot heard round the world, 21st century style: Chris Anderson, the editor in chief of Wired, blogged more than 300 email addresses that had spammed him in one form or another -- mistargeted pitches, unsolicited newsletters and so on -- in the past 30 days. And this followed right on the heels of Marshall Kirkpatrick's 5 bad pitches post the previous week.

I'm sure that a large number of the folks outed in Anderson's email were just in the wrong place (his email box) at the wrong time (October 07). They made a mistake. Do they deserve to be raked over the coals forever? No, and they won't be. They may never get off his list but I doubt it will ruin their reputations or their careers.

And some of them don't have reputations to ruin. Being on the Anderson blacklist won't affect them in the slightest because they will just get another email address and spam away. They don't care, and they never will.

Nevertheless, much online conversation ensued. Most commenters sympatized or empathized with Anderson's plight. Some approved of the tactic. Others understood the motivation but didn't approve of publishing the email addresses. The rant also spawned endless analysis of the state of PR, manifestos for change and the usual apologies for the bad behavior of the profession. [Too many to count, too many to link. To read the many screeds, here's the Google search and here is Technorati for the terms "Chris Anderson PR" ]

Some commentary was good, some less so, but, really, it all felt like more of the same to me. Public outcry over bad PR practice, much gnashing wailing and wringing, promises to do it better, to make it better, god damn it. But it doesn't seem to get better. Not really. This blog is almost three years old, and the more things change... 

The responsible practitioners of PR -- the good guys -- are still faced with unrealistic client expectations, a societal attitude that PR people are guilty until proven innocent and really bad PR practice from some members of the profession. Witness the truly juvenile behavior from two flacks, and I use this term deliberately, who used Anderson's rant as an excuse to engage in some mutual, public mudslinging and attempted client poaching. Perhaps someone told them that any PR is good PR? Umm, no, and if that's the sort of advice they give their clients...

And mixed up in the commentary was a theme started the week before by Jeremy Pepper in  PR will lose Social Media to Advertising Because of Sex, a manifesto of sorts for PR to change its ways or risk losing the "fight" for social media to the dreaded Marketers.

This is a far more interesting topic. No, not because of the sex. The title of the post was just a tease. Good tactic, that. I'll have to use it someday :-)

In my opinion,  we have to look at this conversation, this communication with our customers, with a completely different lens. Keep seeing it as a battle for supremacy, nobody wins. Not PR. Not marketing. Not the companies. And definitely not the customers.

In a post after the Anderson rant, Jeremy calls for better education, and that's a start. But I don't think it's enough.

We have to break down the functional walls between PR and marketing. PR isn't the rightful "master of social media" because of its traditional role as counselor, any more than marketing is because it has been the traditional channel to the customer.  You have to be able to do both, and you have to be willing to give up some of the most deeply held, profound assumptions about the "right" way to do things in the parent disciplines.

For example, press releases. Still useful, whether new or old form, when communicating with journalists, including journalistically inclined bloggers. Usefulness to customers. Not so much. The detached, impersonal format just doesn't tell them everything they need to know. Now, neither does a hyped up direct mail piece. Sure, direct response has its place, but it is generally to encourage action, not to share information.

I firmly believe a blogger wants a meld of both. An honest, open, relevant communication with a clear benefit statement that tells her WIIFM. What's In It For Me. To do this, you have to know, really know, what is in it for her. [Sidebar: I expect journalists would be happy if they got this much honesty too. More on that another time.]

The best social media marketing people won't be PR people. Or marketing people. They will have a skill set that blends both disciplines. Whether you are at an agency or in a company, start developing this -- in yourself, in your teams.

Stop worrying about whether PR or marketing is going to win. The answer is neither. And both.

The only thing that's certain? If you keep thinking of it as a fight, with a winner, you will be the loser.

That, and if you spam Chris Anderson, one strike and you're out.

Time to start breaking down some walls.

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Posted @ 5:11PM in Marketing, PR, Social media | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

Oct 25, 2007

Thirteen to One

In honor of last night's stupendous Red Sox performance in game one of the World Series, here are 13 things that I've been meaning to write about. Mostly social media and marketing related and in no particular order.

1. A new social network The Point  attempts to harness the power of collective action to bring causes to the tipping point. People and organizations post their causes on the site as an if/then. The basic idea is that if enough people do whatever the action is – if the cause tips, then some other thing would happen. Once it emerges from alpha, it could be an interesting vehicle for a company that is supporting a charitable cause. If enough individuals/customers do something (volunteer, quit smoking, whatever) then the company would do something as well -- donate money, sponsor an event, and so on. From Jeremy Pepper, who works for the company, via Twitter.

2. Last week Doug Haslam from Topaz Partners emailed me about a social media survey done by his client, community builder Prospero Technologies. What was most interesting about it, though, wasn't the survey. The sample size of 50 from a population of the company's customers is neither large nor random, and the results were pretty much what I'd expect given that population: generally positive about social media with no clear idea of what is working and what isn't. I do however give the company credit for actually asking its customers, rather than assuming.  What was most interesting was that Doug was pitching other marketing and communications bloggers; both Shel Holtz and BL Ochman wrote about the survey. If you wanted more tangible proof that the media landscape is shifting, this is it. We aren't just the media relations folks. With a nod to Dan Gillmor, we are the media. Ain't that a kick. Doug also blogged about this phenomenon.

3. "You could be a Durex Condom Tester and Win $1000"  Durex is pimping for recruiting condom testers on-line. Must be that new form of word-of-mouth: virile marketing (seen on Media Buyer Planner).

4. Do It Wrong Quickly: How the Web Changes the Old Marketing Rules by Mike Moran.  Not much news here for anyone already deep into social media marketing and communications, but a good read anyway. I'd recommend this as an intro text for experienced marketers who want to come up to speed quickly and get some practical advice on what they should do next.  Plus Moran is funny and he says lots of things I agree with  :-)  (via pitch from Peter Himler)

5. Society for New Communications Research is holding its annual Research Symposium & Gala in Boston December 5-6.

6. Kudos to Kami Huyse for spearheading liveblogging and twittering at the PRSA Annual Conference last week.

7. Andrea Weckerle has a good post on how social media has been, and will be, used in real-time disaster response. And if you twitter, make Ike Pigott happy and follow the Red Cross. 

8. Congratulations Josh Hallet, on joining Voce Communications and Geoff Livingston, on the publication of Now Is Gone.

9. I've been playing around a bit with Photrade, a new photo sharing site. It's now in closed beta but I have three invites. Email or twitter me if you want one.

10. Courtesy of Scott Baradell, a great example of why we should NOT write blog posts simply for search engine optimization.

11. Papeldance.

12. Thank you to all the PR and marcom students who have been  reading the blog and leaving comments. I love to hear from you, even if I disagree with you.

13. Are the comment spammers getting a little more clever? Check out this one on an old Marketing Roadmaps post, comment left up purely to use as an example. Someone less suspicious might not catch it as spam, as the comment is pretty innocuous. BUT: I almost always follow commenters back to their sites. It's a great way to discover new bloggers and get to know my readers better. AND: I am always a little suspicious when I get comments on really old posts.

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Posted @ 1:10PM in Blogger relations, Blogging, Marketing, Media, PR, Social media, Social networks, Viral Marketing | Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

Oct 17, 2007

The lines they are a-blurring...

Over at Communication Overtones, Kami Huyse has proposed a "drip theory" for social media adoption. No, not that we are all drips, thank you very much. Her thesis is that social media is adopted slowly, by presenting it to clients/bosses in easily digested bits or drips :

"By adding in a few social media tactics at a time, they start to get the power of the medium and they tend to add a second, then a third element.  Soon, they are converts."

She concludes:

"Progress is achieved by the relentless drip of water weakening the established structure. When the dam finally gives way it looks like a revolution, but it really happened just one drip at a time."

A spirited discussion ensued in her comments, and I urge you to check it out.

Even before her post, I was thinking quite a bit about how companies and agencies adopt, or not, social media strategies. And the conclusion I keep coming to is that the traditional lines between the disciplines of public relations and marketing are blurring. Perhaps into a new discipline, but definitely into a new set of requirements.

Here's how it goes. A long time ago, when the earth was green....

Well maybe not that long ago.

It used to be clear. We had public relations and we had marketing. PR reached out to the press, which acted as intermediaries between companies and their customers.  There was a process, and everybody understood the rules of the game. It was all about news.

Marketing, on the other hand, developed programs and campaigns to communicate directly to customers. There was a process and everyone understood the rules. It was all about mutual benefit, mutual value.

Each side had its place, and rarely the twain did meet.

But it isn't that clear anymore.

When we talk to a blogger, we are talking to both an influencer and a customer. We need to bring both the marketing and the PR mindset, and skill set, into the conversation.

And that makes it hard. Because the traditional PR agency trains and reinforces the skill set necessary to reach out to intermediaries, reporters. Talking to customers? Not the strong suit.

And though marketers are often not much better, talking to the customer is a slightly more natural state for them, so it may be easier to make the transition. Once they stop calling them "consumers" that is.

The fact of the matter is that the lines between the two disciplines are blurring as a direct result of social media. You have to bring both sensibilities to the table. That means understanding that bloggers are influencers, often with as much, if not more, power than the mainstream media. It also means talking to them with enthusiasm, commitment, and caring -- just the way you would a valued customer. They don't need, or want, the studious detachment you practice when talking to reporters. They also don't want press releases with no cover note (pet peeve).

Learn how to meld the two skill sets when you reach out. It truly is adapt or die.

Or risk becoming the unicorn (YouTube video)

The Unicorn Song
words and music Shel Silverstein, performed by the Irish Rovers

A long time ago, when the Earth was green
There was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen
They'd run around free while the Earth was being born
And the loveliest of all was the unicorn

There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
The loveliest of all was the unicorn

The Lord seen some sinning and it gave Him pain
And He says, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain"
He says, "Hey Noah, I'll tell you what to do
Build me a floating zoo,
and take some of those...

Green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
Don't you forget My unicorns