Month: April 2004

Keith O’Brien, Editor at PR Week has written an excellent story on the rising influence of blogs, particularly in specific markets – in this case the gadget market.

“My advice for PR people is that you ignore Engadget and other blogs at your own peril. It doesn’t mean that [PR people] should instantaneously start soliciting a new blog. It doesn’t mean that you have to try to pitch 5,000 blogs; it just behooves you to pay attention to the ones that have an effect,” said Peter Rojas, editor of Engadget (and the former editor of Gizmodo).

I think Peter hits the nail on the head.  Be aware of the blogs that matter to your client and employer.  Just as you read the trades, read the blogs.  If you think a blog can help move the needle for your client, then contact them carefully.  When I say carefully I mean that you need to understand the nature of blogs.

These websites do not subscribe to the usual media-PR relationship.  Some bloggers will welcome an opportunity to talk with you – some will not. Don’t just whack a press release to them, don’t misrepresent yourself.

Blog relations is different to media relations, to succeed you must understand those differences.

Computerworld has an interesting feature on the tools available for measuring online reputation.

“Reputation management is one of the most important components of a successful PR department, but it is also one of our greatest challenges,” says Dan Miller, public relations manager at PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., a health care provider in Cypress, Calif. Miller says his five-person department has struggled to find the time to adequately assess what’s going on in the industry and has relied on an outside consulting firm to perform a manual analysis of what’s being said about PacifiCare in print and on the Web.

Microsoft has unveiled a new online resource for developers called Channel 9.  It combines blogs and discussion forums and aims to promote better interaction between Microsoft and third party software developers.

According to the site’s rules:

“Channel 9 is all about the conversation,” according to the posted rules. “Channel 9 should inspire Microsoft and our customers to talk in an honest and human voice. Channel 9 is not a marketing tool, not a PR tool, not a lead-generation tool.”

I wonder if that was written by a Microsoft PR person?

So Microsoft’s Channel 9 is all about conversations, all about interaction and better communication with customers, but it’s not about Public Relations.

Ahem. Indeed.

So would anyone there like to explain what PR is? In this case the author obviously views PR as a euphenism for some dark, hidden and nefarious practice. To me Channel 9 is all about Public Relations.

The news that subpoenas have been served on Fleishman-Hillard by the Los Angeles attorney’s office has been widely covered in the media.

According to one of the stories:
“a source with knowledge of them said the subpoenas are very “broad,” and give the appearance of being a “fishing expedition.”

Richard S. Kline, Fleishman-Hillard’s regional president and senior partner commented that:

“We’re cooperating fully with them,” Kline said. “From our standpoint, to the best of our knowledge, we’ve performed our business for the city of Los Angeles in a totally appropriate manner.”

There’s little actual fact in any of the stories and we should remember that one is innocent until proven guilty.

You may (or you may not) have noticed that postings have
been quite sporadic recently.  Well there’s good reason with
the arrival of our first baby, a boy called Cillian, born last
Thursday. Mother and son are both doing well. 

Postings will continue to be irregular for the next while
until normal service is resumed… on the blog anyway!

 

As we feared, the CAN-SPAM Act, has been a useless ploy to stem the tide of spam.  From Friday evening to Monday morning this week, I recieved 1,200 spam messages. Of the few I opened, not one conformed to the Act.

As I posted back in January, the only organizations affected by the Act are legitimate businesses, who were never really part of the problem in the first place.

It seems to me that the only way to address this issue is to attack the spammers (regardless of their location) at source. One of the other alternatives is charging for e-mail  – though that obviously has it’s drawbacks – and would be nigh impossible to administer.

Apologies to anyone whose e-mail has been deleted by error.

 

So here’s a riddle for you.

What do “Stalking”, “Public Relations” and “TV Anchors” have in common?

Confused?  So am I?

Here’s the link.

If you’re interested in reading more on the Medicare VNR episode, there’s a lot of interesting comments covering all the angles over at Press Think.

 

Colin McKay points to two recent pieces on Search Engine Optimization.  As I’ve pointed out before, I believe that SEO is an increasingly important discipline for PR folks. A little background research and some hands on experimenting will deliver surprising results.

• How to Prosper on Google – WebProNews
• Casing the Competition – Catalog Age

Footnote:

Some other SEO resources:

• Google on SEO
• SEO Chat
• Search Enging Watch
• SEO Today
• SEO PR

Time Warner marketer Josh Greene has some excellent tips for advertising agencies pitching for his business – they’re just as applicable to the PR business.

“Don’t give us “leave behinds” with PowerPoint printouts at the start of the meeting.  They’re called leave behinds for a reason.  We’re like children.  If you give them to us, we’ll flip through them, depriving us of the surprise at discovering the brilliance of your thoughts.”

Footnote:

Thanks to Greg Brooks for the link.