Ten years ago the first thing a public relations professional would do to get the word out about a story was distribute a press release. Today that is one of the last things that we do. Like never before, pitching reporters is done underground as long as possible to preserve the exclusivity of the information. Once it hits the wires, it’s a commodity.
When it’s finally time to pull the trigger on the press release, the burning question is which wire to use, the PR professional’s great enigma. Which service I choose depends on the type of content I have to work with, the longevity of the campaign and the client’s goals and budget.
Here is how I think about it. PR Newswire has a storied history with the traditional media. In contrast, PRWeb is a much newer online press release service that focuses more on digital vehicles. PRWeb is inexpensive and its press releases live online for eternity. PR Newswire is more expensive and its press releases have a shorter online shelf life. Marketwire is a hybrid between the two. Marketwire reaches mainstream media outlets and press releases appear on Factiva as well as surface online for five years. And, its system is user-friendly and its staff is helpful.
I weigh the brand attributes and product features of all three distribution services against my media strategy to make my decision. For example, before I launched a media campaign for “The Real Guitar Hero,” Ronald Bienstock, who won a six-year trademark dual with Fender over global domination of the guitar industry, misinformation about the facts of the story had already appeared online, but the mainstream media wasn’t aware of the ruling. I wanted a wire service that was sure to reach traditional media, but it was also important to breakthrough to bloggers as well to clear up the facts of the case.
In this particular situation, I chose Marketwire, but if this had been a keyword focused campaign with less news value and urgency, I would have picked PRWeb.
What’s your decision process for selecting a wire service?
The difference between popularity and influence is a hot topic in public relations circles right now. It was Fast Company’s foray into measuring social media influence based on retweets as one of the key criteria that ignited a firestorm of discussion on the issue. What does the ability to garner a retweet say about a person? That he or she is popular, influential or automatically both? Can someone be popular without being influential and vice versa?
One needs to look no farther than the history of why our presidents have been elected and how they have fared in office for an explanation. To make my point, I’m going to analogize votes to retweets. I know. It sounds blasphemous. How can something as sacred and powerful as a vote be taken down to the level of a retweet? It’s easy. Two words and one letter: George W. Bush.
When he was running for office, President Bush was popular. Remember, he was the guy people wanted to have a beer with and people voted him into office for that reason.
I think back in the day Bush would have gotten his fair share of retweets if Twitter would have been around over a decade ago. He reminds me of the most popular kid in school who was always the one getting elected class President.
When viewed this way, votes or retweets doesn’t mean that someone is automatically going to make a sustainable impact on the future of the country or school, but it certainly puts him or her in the position to significantly shape the lives of many.
Once in office, Bush couldn’t have made the impact he did on his own. I think most of us can agree that it was Dick Cheney who was the influential one, the official ghost tweeter putting the words into Bush’s mouth. Without Cheney, Bush was a guy with the ability to generate a lot of retweets, but no skill to change how people thought and acted. He would have been a president more like Warren Harding who was elected based on his stellar looks and undeniable charm, as Malcolm Gladwell explains in Blink. But, absent his Dick Cheney, Harding was another pretty face relegated to the footnotes of history.
On the flipside, Jimmy Carter is considered to be one of the most unpopular presidents in history. I don’t think Carter would have been racking up the retweets in his day after he gave his speech on how Americans need to reduce their energy consumption or reap the consequences. In fact, he wasn’t reelected and remains a symbol of failure in the eyes of many. But, what most people don’t realize is that Carter passed more legislation that every other president in recent history with the exception of Johnson. That makes him officially influential, but wildly unpopular.
As we enter the midterm elections, President Barack Obama is viewed as a once popular president who never rose to his full potential of influence because he was blinded by his brand of peace maker. It remains to be seen if he will leave the office a popular influencer or something else.
The very executives with the most power and influence to drive adoption of Twitter in the enterprise–CIOs–are reveling in Twitter’s business benefits, according to a survey of 75 tweeting CIOs that was spearheaded by Chris Curran, the CTO of Diamond Management & Technology Consultants.
The vast majority of CIOs–92%–said that Twitter is an effective business tool. Most of them are tweeting more this year than last year and 70% of them have forged new business relationships via Twitter. To top it off, they are applying what they learn about technology, strategy and innovation from the fast-flying stream of missives directly to their work. With all this learning and networking going on you would think that CIOs would have an easy time selling Twitter company wide, but that’s not the case.
Twitter Perceived as Waste of Time
More than half of CIOs–49%–said that Twitter’s reputation as being a waste of time is a barrier to its enterprise uptake. Thirty percent blamed the difficulty of measuring ROI.
Is it the silly name, the cute blue bird or the question, “What are you doing?,” that is stunting Twitter’s growth in the eyes of executives? Maybe if Twitter asked the question, “What are you working on?” it would be taken more seriously.
CIOs Sharing the Wealth and Championing the Cause
Since Twitter is unlikely to change its branding anytime soon, it’s up to CIOs to correct misperceptions about Twitter if they want to see their companies leverage the real-time platform.
Avid tweeters and Twitter advocates, David Buckholtz, a divisional CIO from Sony Pictures and Ralph Loura, the CIO of the Clorox Company, did their part during last week’s webcast, “CIOs Reveal Why They Tweet.” Both of them recognize that tapping employees tweets could be a potent way to boost the bottomline.
If more CIOs had the foresight to see what David and Ralph see, enterprises across the country would be adding Twitter to their IT toolboxes.
In this dried up traditional media market, the most seasoned media relations professionals are sweating their skills. If you’re finding that pitching the media is harder than it used to be, try the following tips to help keep the ink flowing.
1. Ditch the Mile-long Media Lists
Nothing will prompt a reporter to open an email faster than the word “exclusive” in the subject line. Reporters are fighting for their jobs. Without sources, a reporter is just a writer. An exclusive gives them an edge over the other guy. But, bear in mind that your boss and/or clients might cringe at the notion of limiting outreach. When shrinking your list, be sure to manage expectations.
2. Conduct Real-time Research
Even the best media database services are having a hard time keeping up with who is covering what. As the number of staff at media outlets shrinks, the number of beats per reporter expands. That is why I find the natural language processing search embedded in the Meltwater Press database so intriguing. Within the system, you can use keywords related to the list that you are building to search the topics that reporters are actually writing about, rather than relying on fixed profiles that become outdated faster than ever.
3. Make your Pitch Seasonal
Mainstream media outlets are trying to appeal to the widest audience possible. For the most part, holidays unite us all. Look at the calendar and tie your expertise or product to a timely celebration. Get creative. For example, if you’re promoting a labor and employment law firm, and Father’s Day is around the corner, distribute a media pitch about whether or not employers understand the importance of offering paternity leave.
4. Help Bear the Burden with a Byline
Media outlets are stretched to the max. Many are operating with skeleton crews. Offering to write a byline on a topic that is important, but is not being covered because there’s not enough man power, is a surefire way to get ink.
5. Break-in with Breaking News
It’s not as easy as it used to be to ride the wave of breaking news to position your client as an expert. When there’s less space to be had, stories often run without any third-party experts quoted at all. And, before the story has time to gain momentum, the media is on to something else. But, the bigger the story, and the harder it is for the general public to understand, the more space outlets are willing to allot for experts. If you have an expert who can speak to the next big news story, hit it hard and fast.
6. Follow Reporters on Twitter
Reporters are news and information junkies. As such, they flock to Twitter. Increasingly reporters are tweeting requests for sources. If you have a reporter in your sights, set up a Tweetdeck column on their feed and watch for opportunities to serve up your stories and experts.
7. Be a Twitter Wingman
Twitter is providing an unprecedented opportunity for anyone to build meaningful relationships with reporters. To remind the reporters who I target that my sources are available for comment, I like to retweet their tweets, especially ones with links to their stories. I stay top of their mental Rolodex while helping them drive traffic to their content. Much better than an annoying phone call during deadline hours any day.
8. Check-in with Reporters Without an Agenda
The amount of information flying around the internet is dizzying. When I run across a story that I know one of the reporters who I target will be interested in, I send it to them. They are grateful to get the information they might have missed and appreciate there was no strings attached to it. They will remember you fondly the next time you want something.
9. Intersect Business and Consumer Angles
If you’re promoting a business to business company, approach the media with an angle that has a consumer bent. Media outlets are casting as wide a net as possible to boost readership and increase advertising dollars. Getting a straight b2b story in a mainstream business publication is harder than it used to be. Cherry-pick the b2b topics that will also interest consumers to increase your hit rate.
10. Write a Blog
A blog is a great way to showcase your client’s expertise and/or story ideas to traditional media. If your client has launched a blog, let reporters know that a new resource is available to them. If you’re lucky, they will subscribe and reference the content in their articles.
What have I forgotten? Please feel free to add your suggestions to this list.
Hundreds of discussion topics are proposed via LinkedIn groups every day. In the public relations industry and well beyond, the vast majority of them fail to generate any responses. The ones that do succeed in getting a conversation started stand out like bright flowers in a field of forgotten links.
What makes these select few so irresistible that people can’t help but comment? Following are six ways to spark a discussion on Linkedin.
1. Ask for Real Help
People who are genuine in their request for help typically get it. For instance, one user posted a question asking if she should fork over a media list to a client or protect it like precious intellectual property. LinkedIn users are happy to share their experiences and show off what they know and believe, but they can also tell if someone is asking for help simply to promote themselves.
2. Dish Dirt
If you can tie your intellectual capital to the Tiger Woods scandal or whatever story is dominating the headlines, you have a hole in one. In this instance, you can provide your point of view and ask people to agree or disagree with how you would handle the situation if you were in the newsmaker’s shoes.
3. Invite Plugs
Inviting people to pitch their products or their skills is popular for obvious reasons. Who can resist a free plug?
4. Request Inspiring Quotes
One of the most outrageously popular discussion starters on LinkedIn simply asks people to share their favorite quote. People seem to relish the opportunity to inspire others.
5. Tap Industry Controversy
Right now there’s a debate raging (137 comments) in the “Public Relations Professionals” group about the misperception in and out of the industry that public relations and media relations are synonymous. At the same time, in a Business Intelligence group, the fact that BI has fallen down the priority list of senior executives is gaining stream.
6. Request Twitter accounts
Asking members of a group to post their Twitter addresses generates hundreds of replies, which is understandable. It’s easy to do and many people want more followers.
Just as we consider what makes a tweet retweetable and what makes a blog engaging, we should consider how to successfully ignite a LinkedIn discussion. What has worked for you?
As a social networking consultant, I find Alexa.com, one of the top rankers of traffic to web sites, to be a valuable source of information. Knowing which sites are most influential and how my customers compare shapes my outreach strategy on their behalf. That’s why I found it ironic that a lack of information is what led to a missed public relations opportunity for Alexa.
On Twitter last Friday, the technology reporter for USA Today, Jon Swartz (@jswartz652), was on the hunt for someone from Alexa. He didn’t say whether or not he was working on a story, but that his antivirus software was blocking his access to Alexa.com. He sent a tweet requesting that someone from Alexa contact him. As Swartz pointed out, typically when he throws a request like that out into the Twittersphere, there is fast and furious response. This time, there was nothing but crickets.
Out of curiosity and a drive from my inner reporter, I wanted to see how easy it would be to track down someone from Alexa to alert he or she what was unfolding on Twitter. A major national reporter, probably in the midst of working on a story about their industry, was under the impression that their web site might be dangerous.
I found a page on the web site listing the founders, but there were no Twitter or email addresses to be found. I found their LinkedIn pages by searching Google, but I would have had to upgrade my LinkedIn account to send them “InMail” and who knows when they would have read it anyway.
Just as I gave up, Swartz tweeted that he was moving on to Quantcast and Compete. “Major fail on their part,” he tweeted.
For fun, I plugged Alexa.com into the search box at Alexa.com. How does the ranker, rank? Funny enough, no traffic ranking exists for Alexa.com. But, what it did say about how fast the site loads in comparison to others….”very slow (5.219 Seconds), 83% of sites are faster.” Fitting.
What’s scarier for C-level executives than talking to employees, letting them talk back and addressing their concerns? Unionization.
Senior executives have kept employees at arm’s length over fears about what they might say about the company inside and outside of the firewall. But, now that Congress is on the brink of passing legislation that would embolden unions–the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)–labor lawyers have joined public relations and human resources in counseling companies to engage, embrace and empower employees. While C-level executives might choose to ignore the advice of HR and PR, they are more likely to listen to their lawyers.
Pundits predict that union leaders will succeed in convincing legislators to compress the amount of time that companies have to respond to a union push to organize employees. Currently, after employees express their interest in unionizing, which most do when presented with the opportunity, companies have over a month to make their case for a union-free environment. That could shrink to five or 10 days. Since companies can’t change the culture on the fly, labor law firms are advising companies that the most powerful preemptive strike against unions post-EFCA is an unbreakable bond with employees.
Give employees the information they want about the business, create an atmosphere of openness and make employees feel like they don’t need a union because they are already being heard and helped is what labor lawyers are saying. Internal communications departments are positioned to help C-level executives heed the call.
The impending strength of unions is building the strongest business case for internal communications the public relations industry has ever seen. Executives and employees who are united cannot be divided and authentic communications is the bridge that will bring them together.
A pen can be used to write someone a love letter or to stab them in the eye. Like most tools, “Twitter lists” can be used for good or evil.
Twitter’s new feature enables users to group and label other tweeters for public display or private use. Whether it’s “the most influential” or “the least interesting,” lists have the potential to land companies on the list of “Top PR Gaffes.” Before companies get lost in list bliss, they should think about the following 5 ways lists can lead to trouble.
1. Private Lists are Revealed for All to See
Twitter’s list technology, like Twitter itself, is in its infancy. Evil doers are constantly devising ways to take advantage of Twitter’s technological weaknesses. In fact, we recently learned that hackers have found a way to access private direct messages. It’s only a matter of time before these trouble makers can make private lists public. Be careful not to create a “most annoying customers” list that could be exposed.
2. Private Purchases are Made Public
A Mashable blogger recently suggested that companies create a public list of their customers as a way to reward them through recognition. This reminded me of the time that Facebook was sued for listing the purchases of friends for others to see. If you’re considering publicizing your customer list, make sure you have the expressed permission from the customer to do so, especially if you’re selling sex toys. You could also end up making your customers vulnerable to cyber-stalking. Besides, who wants to list their customers for all their competitors to see?
3. Your Customers Consider you Catty
When I was in the eighth grade, a group of boys created a list of all the girls in the most popular clique and ranked them from 1-10 based on how pretty they were. For many people, the simple idea of these lists is distasteful and potentially hurtful. In fact, many people are choosing to shun the feature all together. If you create lists of the most influential people in your industry, for example, and leave someone off, he or she might hold it against you.
4. You Give Someone’s Location Away
Another suggestion from the Mashable blogger was that conferences create lists of their attendees. There are a host of reasons why someone might not want to be included on such a list. Maybe you’re attending the competitor’s conference or you’re a reporter who doesn’t want to be overwhelmed with requests for meetings. If it’s a conference that’s not work related, such as a yoga conference, your boss could find out why you really skipped work. Again, if you’re a conference organizer, make sure to get permission to post attendees on a public list.
5. Your Company Makes One of the Worst Lists
Companies don’t have to create lists for lists to become a public relations nightmare. What happens if your company makes the “worst customer service” list? Do you sue the list creator for slander? Companies will have to think of creative ways outside of court to appease negative list creators so their names are erased.
Once you slap a label on someone, you’re stuck with a great responsibility. I’m sure we’ll see a plethora of ways that lists can be used to damage reputations. What have I left out?
Avid sports cards collectors, like Chris Curran, the CTO of Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, take great pains to cherry pick the finest players to add to their collections. In fact, you can visit YouTube and enter the keywords, “baseball card break” to watch eager fans culling their cards.
When Curran isn’t cracking open a fresh deck, he employs his collecting prowess to help John Sviokla, Managing Director of Innovation and Research for Diamond, select who becomes a member of the “Diamond Fellows,” an eye-popping list of 10 intellectual powerhouses that Diamond keeps on contract like Gordon Bell and Alan Kay. To gain a competitive edge, the firm hosts cozy events for clients with the Diamond Fellows through the program, DiamondExchange.
“Through Diamond Exchange small groups of clients come to interact with the greatest business and technology minds in the world,” said Sviokla. “It’s like intellectual fantasy camp.”
And, when there is a special client problem that calls for a paradigm shift in thinking, Diamond hand selects the perfect player from its star lineup.
“While one client’s challenge might be better suited for Chunka Mui, a former Diamond consultant and co-author of ‘Unleashing the Killer App,’ another client could thrive in a brainstorming session with the inventor of the spreadsheet, Dan Bricklin,” said Sviokla.
In this viral economy, delicately arranging partnerships with high profile personal brands with people power can be potent PR for brands that want to expand their online presence. Innovative media outlets understand this. To move beyond its print magazine, Harvard Business Press is selecting big brains like Sviokla to blog, so now Sviokla, the collector, has become the collected.
Recently a business-to-business client hired me to develop and execute a public relations strategy a month after they engaged a Search Engine Optimization firm. I made a beeline to the Internet. I wanted to see how often their name surfaced and where. In doing my due diligence, I discovered something shocking.
I ran across an Ezine article that was supposedly written by one of my client’s employees. Not only was the article poorly penned, the firm’s name was spelled wrong. To top it off, it was so basic that it brought the firm down to the level of a kindergartner. In reality, the firm had won award after award for industry innovation.
The SEO Firm Didn’t Bother to Get Client Approval!
I brought the article to the attention of my client. He admitted that it was the first time he had seen it. He guessed his SEO firm must have been responsible and said that he would put a stop to it immediately. Unfortunately, another article reared its ugly head not too long after he confronted them. So, for the second time, the SEO firm hadn’t even bothered to get the client’s approval before they published a piece that would forever linger on the web!
Spraying the Web with Keywords without a Strategy
What was abundantly clear was that the SEO firm didn’t care about the firm’s strategic positioning. They didn’t take the time to learn the client’s industry, how the client differed from its competitors and how best to showcase the brand in a thoughtfully crafted article. All that mattered to them was spraying the web with the client’s keywords and propelling them to the top of search engines at a break neck pace, even if it broke the client’s brand in the process.
It was this experience that inspired me to create Keyword Communication, the strategic process of developing and distributing compelling keyword-driven content consistently across an array of communication channels, using SEO as the driving force to deliver measurable results.
PR and SEO: The Art and Science of 21st Century Communications
The best SEO firms will admit that they are not PR experts. In fact, the smart ones, like Pete Hollier, President of SEO Wizardry, strike strategic partnerships with PR firms to deliver both the art and science of communications in the 21st Century. He understands that it’s not enough to simply drive traffic to a client’s site. You have to keep potential customers engaged with compelling content that positions the company in a positive light. In turn, I understand that tapping the power of SEO is a golden opportunity for public relations to make a deep impact on the bottomline like never before.
In my experience, SEO firms are not communicators and PR people are not techies. In this new media environment where people use keywords like smoke signals to connect in this ocean of information and interactivity, PR and SEO are destined to merge. We need each other in the worst way. I’m thankful that SEO experts like Pete get it.
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