It would seem that the Summer silly season is upon us once more.

 

It�s very quiet in PR land, so it�s probably a good time to take a look at some software productivity tools.

 

Although we hear a lot about the changing nature of online communication and how it impacts our profession, one of the most immediate challenges of the information age is information overload.

 

As part of our daily routine, PR people have to track, read, store and recall vast volumes of information and data. Every day we add another couple of hundred e-mails, word documents, spreadsheets, facts, snippets, news stories, contacts and meetings.

 

I think its safe to say that we�ve all wasted time browsing folders, opening e-mails and scanning folders, looking for that elusive piece of information, before often giving up without unearthing it.

 

Unfortunately I haven�t found one great solution that solves this problem, but I have come across a number of tools that can help.

 

(Note: As I primarily use Windows, the products reviewed here are Windows-based however in most categories there are alternatives for the Mac and Linux.)

 

Managing news stories and blogs

Trying to keep on top of the latest news and views can be challenging.  The arrival of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) provides a fantastic solution.  Not only does it provide all the latest news in an easy to navigate format, but it alerts you to newly published content. A trusty RSS reader is invaluable.

 

(Note: If you�re new to RSS and are interested in getting up and running there�s a brief tutorial here.)

 

The choice of an RSS reader is very subjective.  I advise you to try a few out and see which best fits your needs.

 

There are a huge number of RSS Readers available.  Here are some I�ve taken a look at:

• FeedDemon ($29.95)
  FeedDemon is a fantastic newsreader, very slick and usable.

 

• FeedReader (Free)
  FeedReader is worth every penny 🙂 It�s a little more basic than FeedDemon, but then again that�s its strength.  It�s easy to set up and use and a great choice to get up and running with.

 

• NewsGator (Outlook plug-in) ($29.00)
  If you like the idea of reading your RSS feeds inside Microsoft Outlook, then NewsGator is for you.  Personally I much prefer a standalone reader as Outlook is busy enough as it is thanks very much!

 

Other notables include:

Rocket RSS Reader (an online RSS reader – they�ve just been acquired), Awasu, Novobot and SharpReader.

 

 

Finding Information

Every day we receive, edit, create, save and file hundreds of E-mail messages and documents.  At the time our filing system makes perfect sense.  It�s only when you try and find that information a couple of months later that you realize your filing system isn�t quite as good as you thought it was.

 

Just as Internet search engines have become an essential part of the Web, useful desktop search engines are finally emerging.

 

Microsoft and Google are both rumored to be entering the market this year � Google on your computer � sounds like heaven � in the meantime there are a number of alternatives:

 

• X1 ($74.95)
  X1 have just released an updated version of its search product.  It�s certainly easier to use than DTSearch (see below) and is very fast.  They’ve just release a new version that has cured one of my gripes with the earlier version which was a lack of support for Boolean searches, i.e. using terms like �AND� �OR� to narrow your search and the ability to look for exact matches.  Thankfully that�s been added. � this product is worth a very close look

 

• DTSearch ($199)
  This is a long-established product, designed for the more experienced user and a little pricey but if you invest the time it�s lightning fast and delivers comprehensive results.  You can also extend it to search the web and the corporate network.

 

• Bloomba ($89.99)
  Bloomba promises a Google type search interface for your e-mail. The downside is that it offers limited search capabilities of the thousands of documents on your hard drive and you have to change from your existing e-mail client. No thanks.

 

• Blinkx (Free)
  Blinkx is a new kid on the block, which has received some rave reviews among the blog community. It couples hard drive searches with web and blog searches.  However, my tests have found that its hard drive results are very poor. Wait for version three�.

 

• Microsoft Lookout (Free)
  While Microsoft haven�t formally entered the market (yet) they have bought Lookout which offers lightning fast searches in Microsoft Outlook and your hard drive. Worth a look.

 

Managing Information

An alternative to search engines is a database. For instance rather than putting a factoid in a Word file, why not use a database?

 

AskSAM ($149.95) is a product I use every day.  It looks like a Word Processor but in fact it�s a database.  Each record in AskSAM is a document that you can search at lightning speed.  It has the added benefit that it enables you to import e-mail messages, Word files, Excel files and PDFs.

 

It provides a fantastic way of managing information.

 

There are two downsides.

 

Firstly, the import function only brings in the most basic version of a document.  In other words, if your Word document has complex graphs, tables and formatting, AskSAM will dump them in without all the bells and whistles � likewise the PDF import capability has limited use.

 

Secondly, while it is very easy to get up and running with AskSAM, delving into the more powerful features takes a lot of timeand effort.

 

More Productive Surfing

As I�ve said a number of times before, Internet Explorer�s prime has passed.  While I still keep it for the small number of websites that need it, 99.8% of my browsing is with Mozilla�s Firefox.  It�s fast, and you�ll soon get addicted to tabbed browsing � believe me, not to mention built-in pop-up blockers and a wide range of popular add-ins including an RSS Reader.

 

It�s a free download.

 

 

Anyone want to share some other time savers?

The latest issue (Summer 2004) of the PRSA’s Strategist magazine has an interesting roundtable with six senior PR pros from the New York area representing Fleishman-Hillard, Hill & Knowlton, IBM Global Services, Novartis, Porter Novelli and Weber Shandwick.

It’s a good read that covers the importance of measurement, the growth of procurement, careers, the healthcare market and the importance of credibility.

“The word “spin” came to corporate America from the political realm. We’ve created a monster. There are those in the profession who like the idea that they can control things. Maybe in politics that’s OK, if you get down to one day where one person votes in one voting booth and that’s the end. But we have relationships with our audiences, and this question of credibility versus control isn’t a moral question, it’s a factual question of what works. If you spin, you don’t win. We have to untrain a generation of management who didn’t think about public relations, then learned to think about it the wrong way. Now we’re on the quest to get people to think about it the right way. Some of our colleagues still feel the glee of getting the right quote and the right story even if it isn’t true. In a crisis is there a temptation to present things in a different light so that a bad thing doesn’t appear on the news? Everybody’s tempted to get away from the negative.”

The Summer issue also includes an interview with Wall St. Journal Editor Ronald J. Alsop on corporate reputation:

“In the book, I write that [Martha Stewart] handled this whole thing terribly given the damage it did to her company. Her sale of that stock is a personal issue, but because she is the company, she should have tried to get it behind them quickly and settle it somehow. I find it amazing that somebody who could so brilliantly create a business and an image – her whole company is image – could let her image be shattered like that. Now she has apologized on her Web site to her employees, but it’s still one of the worst examples of crisis management in recent times.”

 Interesting story in the UK Guardian on how large companies are embracing blogs:

“The sites that started as observational home pages for enthusiasts have become so powerful that they are starting a new industry of blog monitoring in which media companies scour the net to advise brands on how their name is being talked about online, away from the traditional newspaper and broadcast media sites.”

 Fast Company’s blog is celebrating it’s first birthday and long-time PR blogger Kevin Dugan is one of 25 contributors selected as guest bloggers on August 11 and 12.

 Elizabeth Albrycht takes a look at the single most challenging element of media relations – the elusive customer testimonial – with a blogging angle

 Don Crowther provides an entertaining look at how preparation can help effective media interviews.

 Pierce Mattie Inc. a PR firm in the the business of “Lifestyle and Wellness Publicity for Luxury Brands” has a blog.

 The beauty of brevity:

Phil Gomes believes

Understand the good pitch

Use the Haiku…

The UK’s tech zine The Inquirer often spends a disprorportionate amount of time slagging off the PR people (or in their terminology ‘PR Bunnies’) it interacts with on a daily basis.  However, their latest installment struck a chord with me. 

They examined the usability of PR firm websites.

Now regular readers will know my concerns with PR websites.  In fact, I have pinned my colors to the mast with my own little campaign around the Flash Hall of Fame which showcases some of the worst Flash excesses.

Why is it that so many (not all) PR firms have so little knowledge about web design? Here’s a very brief crash course:

1) *Standard* Internet navigation is standard because people expect to use it. (You see this isn’t rocket science) While veering away from standard navigation (think top toolbar for sections and left-hand column for information in a given section) may be ‘cool’ it reduces the effectiveness of your website. People don’t have the time or the inclination to search around your site for the right click

2) Search Engines and people both prefer plain HTML text on a webpage.  While images are lovely, they stop people cutting-and-pasting text. If you don’t want people to cut-and-paste from your site, don’t put the information there in the first place.

3) What is it with Flash? The people who designed and built Flash warn against Flash intros AND Flash navigation on websites, yet a ridiculously high proportion of PR firms insist on using it. Why?

4) Understand how websites and search engine optimization work.  While PR firms should be able to consult with clients about effective web design, it seems to me that many of them need to learn the basics from their clients.

For the record, The Inquirer highlight the following UK firms:

• Red Consultancy
• Bite
• Cohn & Wolfe (New entry in the Flash Hall of Shame)
• Text 100
• AugustOne
• Henman Communications

You can read my tirade against Flash here and view a full listing of the Flash Hall of Shame here.

For the love of all things holy, please do some research on good web development practice and/or send your web staff on a course. Flash, bad navigation and poor design reflect badly on your business and your understanding of online communication – not to mention the industry as a whole. It’s all about communication… seriously.

Update: Bad to Worse

I just noticed that the Red Consultancy has taken their website down (the holding page is a Flash file) – I’m not sure if this is because of The Inquirer story or otherwise, but once again a PR firm is demonstrating a complete lack of understanding on the web. You don’t take down your website during a re-design…. well not since 1996…. oh dear… next they’ll have the construction workers online…

 A short article from the Pharmaceutical Business Review on the PR challenges facing AstraZeneca and its drug Crestor which reduces high cholesterol:

“Analysis of Crestor prescription trends in the US shows that each Public Citizen statement causes a slight drop in the number of weekly prescriptions. However, once the publicity recedes, prescription growth continues. It seems unlikely that Public Citizen will stop its attacks, but AstraZeneca’s PR machine seems to be overcoming these difficulties as growth of Crestor continues.”

AstraZeneca have released a public rebuttal of Public Citizen’s claims.

 Interesting story from New York Lawyer on the growing demands on legal firms to provide PR advice:

“Every once in a while, when a client doesn’t have any PR staff or when they are unavailable, I’ve thrown something up on the PR newswire for them, or when they were in a pinch, I’d give them some starting advice on crisis management. My first advice is to get a good PR firm,” says Petri Darby, public relations and marketing manager for Dallas-based Jenkens & Gilchrist.”

Time for PR firms to start offering legal services perhaps?

 Nothing illustrates the diversity of this “profession” better than the inside track on how some practitioners work in high profile fields such as sport or entertainment. 

In the UK at the moment there’s a feeding frenzy around the sexual high jinks in the headquarters of the governing body of English football – the Football Association (FA).  It turns out the national coach and the head of the FA were having an affair with the same employee. The FA’s PR man offered one of the tabloids the dirt on the coach if they held back on the story about the FA’s CEO. Unfortunately for the PR guy, the journalist taped the conversation and ran with both stories…

“The transcript of what the News of theWorld called the “tape of shame” detailed Gibson’s attempt to trade information about the England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson’s relationship with an FA secretary, Faria Alam, in return for the paper’s silence about her affair with Mark Palios, the association’s chief executive…. Still, it is no revelation that PRs try to stop stories appearing by offering others – or the prospect of others – instead. Such horsetrading may not be the norm in mainstream public relations but killing a story is a key service offered by the small number of “independent media brokers” (as one of them calls their trade) who try to massage press coverage of the various celebrities they represent.”

 

I just came across Klaus Eck’s German language blog “PR Blogger”. Klaus is based in Munich.

 

If you ever needed to understand the changing nature of communications then the current melee around Jonathan Schwartz�s blog is as good a place to start as any.

 

Jonathan is the number two at Sun Microsystems and a good example of a corporate blogger.  He�s opinionated, well spoken and not afraid to share those opinions.

 

In case you missed it, an entry Schwartz made on his blog over the weekend, coupled with some remarks to the media managed to move the stock markets.  On his blog he was propagating some FUD (Fear, uncertainty and doubt) around IBM�s ability to deal with the growing popularity of Linux. It�s not the most insightful, nor sustainable competitive argument I�ve read, however at the end of his post he wrote:

�Me, I’d keep a close eye on the Novell/SuSe conversation. If IBM acquires them, the community outrage and customer disaffection is going to be epic… but where else does IBM go?�

People drew the conclusion that Schwartz was hinting that Sun may be looking at Novell as a potential target.  Both companies stock rose on the entry and it�s been widely covered.

 

An illustration of the power of voice.

 

Just like the Wizard of Oz, the executive blog provides visitors with a glimpse of the human behind the machinery.  Of course this is a double edge sword.

 

Properly implemented it can open your organization to new audiences and make compelling arguments in favor of your products and services.

 

However it also creates risk.

 

Following Schwartz�s blog entry, which I believe is innocuous to say the least, Matthew Podboy raises the issue of how closely should PR people be involved with the blogger.

 

�The question I ask you – the PR community – is how involved should PR be in the maintenance of what I call “executive blogs” – they aren’t a corporate blog but they aren’t a personal blog either – especially if that person is an officer of the company.�

 

Here�s my take.

 

For an executive blog to be authentic and by inference useful, it must be written in the first person.  It must be honest, it must be relevant and it must be regular.

 

When you think about an executive in your organization as a potential blogger you must be sure that they have something interesting to say, they can provide readers with value, they are committed to regularly writing and they are cognizant of what they can and cannot disclose in terms of company secrets, legal disclosures etc.  Should a candidate not meet these criteria, then they aren�t suitable.

 

I firmly believe the most important part of executive blogging is the preparation. 

 

When the blog is up an running, let it ride.  Over-cautious PR intervention will remove the authenticity. 

 

It�s fine to meet with the executive bloggers and discuss discussion areas, but ad hoc editing and approval is simply counter-productive. 

 Heather Lindemann writes for the Advertising and Marketing Review on the new role for PR in B2B Marketing:

“Public relations is far more than writing and pitching press releases. PR builds trusted relationships, educates, and wins credibility.”

 Sharon Haley Linhart, writing for the same site offers ten consumer PR tips that always work (ahem). This PR stuff is so easy….

 Finally, Pete Webb warns that you shouldn’t rely on charisma in a crisis:

“Many organizations plan for crises; others do not, or expect that they will never have to deal with a crisis. Companies in the first category obviously are better prepared, but unless they�ve actually rehearsed their crisis plans, they will also falter until they can get their act together.”

  Over at Entreworld.org, Bruce Kepper writes that Public Relations offers marketing leverage for entrepreneurial companies:

“In the service business, I�ve learned that credibility trumps creativity, that a writer’s recommendation carries more weight than a copywriter’s unique selling proposition, and that a third party endorsement is more meaningful than a primary participant’s pronouncement.”

 After yesterday’s news that Robb Hecht is going to broaden the scope of his PR Machine blog, Jeremy Pepper has been following up on a story that MediaBistro is looking for a PR blogger. Now there’s no excuse folks you don’t even have to set up your own blog 🙂

 PR Lesson #3,455: You can’t choose your family, or your fellow professionals.

 Well I’m covering this particular item not because it’ll brighten your day with laughs, pearls of wisdom or the secret to PR success. Nope. For those elements you’ll have to click elsewhere, but at least it’s a different form of online promotion for a PR firm.  Shift Communications, which if my memory serves me correctly, emerged from the ashes of Sterling Hager PR, has created a Flash promo themed around superheros called, surprisingly enough: The Shift Squad.

 Finally, here’s a link to that Chime Communications story in the UK Edition of PR Week that I mentioned last week. They undertook a survey of 100 PR executives on the challenges presented by the information age.

Dan Gillmor was one of the earliest members of the mainstream media to embrace blogs and do some serious thinking on how they intersect with our traditional media.

Part of this thinking is now available in Dan’s book – “We the Media – Grassroots Journalism by the people, for the people.”

Dan has a blog accompanying the book, and the San Jose Mercury News carried an edited version of the book’s introduction over the weekend.

“But newsmakers also have new ways to get out their message, using the same technologies the grassroots adopts. Howard Dean’s presidential campaign failed, but his methods will be studied and emulated because of the way his campaign used new tools to engage his supporters in a conversation. The people at the edges of the communications and social networks can be a newsmaker’s harshest, most effective critics. But they can also be the most fervent and valuable allies, offering ideas to each other and to the newsmaker as well.”

 Robb Hecht is planning to expand his PR blog and is looking for contributors to PR Machine. You can contact Robb directly via e-mail.

 Richard Bailey has reviewed a new book “Hitting the Headlines in Europe” which takes a country-by-country look at the differences in PR practice in different countries around Europe.

 Steve Rubel has an interesting post on how Mozilla is kicking off an “old” style evangelism campaign for its free web browser Firefox. If you’re not aware of Firefox you should take a look –  it’s generations ahead of Internet Explorer and definetely worth the download.

 BL Ochman profiles ten companies who have missed out by ignoring the use of blogs as a tactic in recent campaigns.

 Jim Horton points to another example of sloppy PR practice highlighted on the TechDirt site:

“Just two weeks after we wrote about idiotic PR people submitting press releases to us when we clearly ask them not to, one company has sunk to a new low — and it’s making me wonder if PR pitches are officially spam under the law.”