It’s very very quiet in the PR-blogosphere today…very quiet. Anyone have anything interesting to tell us?
Entrepreneur magazine gives some PR advice..
Well you have to give him bonus points for pure perseverance. Dave is still banging on about how blogs will replace journalism… oh not they won’t <awaiting response>. Just to recap: rebuttal one, rebuttal two.
Articulate Communications made an announcement yesterday, but more interestingly they’ve been added to the Flash Hall of Shame.
One of the major challenges the Internet poses for PR practitioners is that it removes many of the barriers that traditionally protected information. Protected it, that is, until you were ready to release it. But now information has a life of it’s own and your ability to control it is much reduced. Look at this story in Wired about how this Wall St. Journal conference issued embargoes to all attending journalists, but forget about the bloggers in the audience, who reported on the event in real-time.
“We’re trying to figure out what to do next year,” he said. “It’s an interesting issue. You just have to have a better definition next time. Maybe we’ll change the rules. We don’t know.”
One of the issues for everyone in PR moving forward is identifying how stories and information move around the weblog community. The folks at Microdoc news have researched how a number of stories propogated around webogs and the web.
The New York Times isn’t the only newspaper with some reporter-related issues. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a sports writer and movie reviewer for the Sedalia Democrat has been fired for plagiarism.
Spam isn’t killing e-mail. If you target the right people, with the right information at the right time, e-mail is still very effective.
Mandy Grunwald examines why the media has such a hard time handling PR in the wake of the New York Times debacle.
Media Life has an interesting analysis of how trade magazines are faring and it doesn’t make for pleasant reading. While consumer magazines are finding the Internet is a useful companion to print editions, it seems the Internet is eating into trade magazine advertising and readership thanks to the faster delivery of news online.
PR around the year’s most awaited book launch is gathering momentum.
Darren Barefoot has kicked off a blog for professional communicators. The blog plans to cover PR and more general communications topics.
Pam Stein from Clientize.com dropped me a line to tell me about a website her firm is hosting. The PR Survey Observer is a “free survey resource center designed to help PR pros and communications managers identify newsworthy survey techniques.” You can search under a variety of topics for different surveys. Clientize create and host surveys online.
Indianapolis’ Mayor has decided to hire a New York firm to bolster the city’s image and the locals are getting restless.
With a combination of good timing, great preparation and a little luck, certain PR tactics will exceed your greatest expectations. Human nature tells us to repeat these tactics again and again, but most times the law of diminishing returns kicks in swiftly and the return from those tactics lessens. When that happens it might be worthwhile to re-evaluate how your tactics are working and look for some new tactics.
Microsoft is a case in point.
Microsoft is an amazing company. A company that has been built with clever engineering, a little luck and fantastic marketing. If any company provides a template for how Public Relations can successfully support commercial growth, Microsoft is it. Sure from time-to-time mishaps like the iLoo slip out, but they just serve to underline how effective the Microsoft PR machine is.
However, I think it’s time Microsoft revisited some of it’s tried and tested techniques. Their CEO memo, which is “leaked” to every major news organization on the face of the planet, used to provide Microsoft staff and the market – customers, partners, competitors and media – with a clear roadmap of where Microsoft was going to put focus – and thereby win. These memos have in the past helped to turn the market to Microsoft’s advantage. A perfect example of this power was Bill Gates’ memo in 1995 that concerned Netscape. The market took notice and Microsoft took market share.
However in recent times these memos have had a reduced affect on the market. The latest CEO memo from Steve Ballmer, which hit last week, targeted Linux – “Linux in particular, present a competitive challenge for us and for our entire industry” . But this message jars with earlier messages about Linux.
In April, according to Ballmer, Microsoft wasn’t losing any sleep over Linux. And last November, internal research (leaked) showed that Microsoft’s negatice stance on Linux was backfiring.
I am not a believer in mentioning your competition, particularly when you are a leader. Where in the past these proclamations have helped to destabilize competitors, it would appear that certainly in the case of Linux, it is unsuccessful.
Some advice to Microsoft, measure the effectiveness, if it’s not working, change the tactic. Slagging off Linux is playing into your competitiors’ hands. The old tactics that worked in the past are no longer relevant, it’s time to reinvent some new ones. If there’s any PR machine that can do that, it has to be Microsoft.
In a good illustration of positive “Blog Relations” (BR – remember you saw if here first folks!) MediaMap has clarified some elements of it’s plans to include bloggers in its media directory.
Following some constructive criticism from Micheal O’Connor Clarke regarding the fact that not all influential bloggers are card carrying journalists (and therefore wouldn’t be included), Jeff Mooney of MediaMap was in touch with Michael to let him know that this is the first step, the next step will be to add bloggers in specific industry segements. (Read more here.) While bloggers aren’t journalists (period), they are a new constituent audience that we PR pros needs to understand and service, so more kudos to MediaMap!
Well it looks like Martha Stewart may well get her day in court.
The media have begun investigating the implications for “Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia” and its reliance on it’s only image – Martha. Forbes looks at the struggle facing the brand.
Meanwhile, her advisors are turning up the heat with an advertisement in yesterday’s USA Today proclaiming her innocence and her new website “Martha Talks” which includes a statement from her attorney.
Now stop me when you think I’m stating the obvious, but given Martha Stewart’s profile and given the importance of that profile to her organization, don’t you think good PR counsel would be advisable? It seems she’s relying on her attorneys.
“I think Martha’s biggest mistake is that she’s taken all of her advice from her lawyers and not from public relations consultants,” said Tom Bradley, vice president and director of public relations for Mintz & Hoke, an Avon ad and public relations firm. “She hasn’t really said anything at all, and the public takes that as an admission of guilt. Sometimes the worst thing you can say in a situation like this is, `No comment.’ She really should’ve been more forthcoming immediately. I’m not sure what she could’ve said, but nothing at all is not usually a good choice.”
I hope the day never comes when my client or employer asks me to defend them in open court. “Your honor, I’d like to point you to the press release marked exhibit A”.
Now I admit I don’t know for definite that she has or has not retained PR advice, but she should. As you all know the first step in a crisis (after gathering all the facts your can) is to get the bad news out and don’t let the public think you’re hiding. Well guess what, Martha HAS been hiding.
Interestingly none of the two hundred papers carrying her syndicated column have cancelled it since news of the indictment broke – though two newspapers did pull out after the news first emerged.
Kevin Dugan is back blogging and has been tracking it for some time.
RELATED LINKS: |Slate|MSNBC|The Globe and Mail|New York Times|Daily Telegraph|
Jayson Blair’s legacy continues to haunt the New York Times with the news that the executive editor, Howell Raines and the managing editor Gerald Boyd have resigned from the paper. I’ve included some additional links below, though there don’t seem to be any profiles of Mr. Boyd.
Following on from the earlier story on the FCC deregulating media ownership, Karlin Lillington has linked to a story in the New York Times that a Senate committee has indicated that it will overturn some of the media ownership rules adopted by the FCC.
“While Monday’s decision promising further media deregulation may well be celebrated in a few New York and Hollywood boardrooms, it will be remembered as a dark day in thousands of American communities who look to the F.C.C. to ensure that the use of the public airwaves serves the interests of all Americans, not the economic self-interest of a chosen few,” said Senator Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina, the ranking Democrat on the committee
The latest issue of Press Access’ The Scoop newsletter has an article looking at the essential traits of an effective PR practitioner.
As with all these types of tests it is a mixture of the obvious with a some characteristics you won’t agree with.
Have a go with their quiz….
Deborah Branscum is taking an interesting look at the FCC’s moves to relax restrictions on media ownership.
In her post, Deborah references a new book by Ted Nace entitled “Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy” which examines how corporations rose to the top of the ladder at the expense of the individual. It’s out in September, but you can download it free from the website today.
Murphy's Law 