Month: October 2004

Back in April, Karen Ryan hit the headlines when she posed as a reporter on a Video News Release (VNR) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on medicare. There was justified uproar when a number of TV stations ran the VNR as a legitimate news story. 

Well it seems that the incident hasn’t affected Karen’s pulling power. 

Alice Marshall reports that Ketchum engaged Ms. Ryan in a VNR for the U.S. Department of Education in a project worth $700,000.

The issue here, in my opinion, is not just Karen Ryan, it’s a larger question regarding the ethical use of VNRs. They are a PR tool but it’s their usage that is in question. I think the PRSA has done a good job providing guidance on the proper use of the tool:

•  A VNR is the television equivalent of a press release and, as such, should always be truthful and represent the highest in ethical standards.
• Producers and distributors of VNRs and the organizations they represent should clearly and plainly identify themselves.
• Television stations airing VNRs should identify sources of the material.

PR people imitating journalists and broadcasters is an unwise approach to communicating with any public – particularly in an age of increased transparency and accountability.

There’s more details on the story in this Associated Press story on the VNR.

Footnote:

• Jay Rosen and Colin McKay have some excellent commentary on the original VNR episode (scuse the pun)

A kind reader was in touch with me to discover if there were any specific investor relations-related weblogs.

I don’t think I know of any.

Anyone out there got any links or suggestions?

Thanks in advance….

I’ve had loads of nominations to add Edelman’s new site to the Flash Hall of Shame, but I’ve held off.

Although the new site does use the dreaded Flash, it also has HTML links and navigation and there’s no Flash Intro so I’m holding off adding them. If anyone has a compelling argument otherwise let me know 🙂

One PR firm that is a sure fire addition is Rowland Communications.

Click and you’ll understand.

If you’re going to the trouble of building a blog then it makes sense to maximize its potential.

Problogger (“Tips and Advice on Blogging for Dollars”) has a whole range of links to advice on promoting your blog from search engine optimization to “viral” promotion.

Footnote:

Thanks to BL Ochman for the link.

Wayne Hulbert has a well written post on Public Relations and blogs which looks at the benefits of blogs and in particular the PR benefits to organizations struggling to get column inches.

“Businesses seeking a public relations vehicle, that provides numerous additional benefits, should consider adding a blog component to their website. The authentic and personalized blog voice is a natural fit for any public relations effort.

A rapidly growing number of journalists and editors are reading blogs on a daily basis. It�s becoming imperative that a company start a blog to keep up with that trend. Thanks to the addition of an RSS feed, a blog�s updated post can be on a journalist�s computer in seconds.”

There is now a huge number of these well written articles online and if you’re interested in blogging there is now no excuse.

If you’re a regular reader of this old blog then you’ll have seen these articles posted regularly. You’ll also be aware that while I’m a passionate advocate of blogging and a believer that blogs help corporate communications, I am also a pragmatist.

Blogs don’t turn poor communications, business models or products into winners. Blogs offer an alternative means of reaching out to your audience. They are useful for promoting conversations and showing a different side to your firm.  They do not, however, signal the end of Public Relations as we know it.

You see the emperor actually has no clothes. He just thinks he has 🙂

Footnote:

Thanks to Steve Rubel for the link and congratulations to Steve who got married yesterday to Lisa.

Trevor Cook, our most pre-eminent antipodean PR blogger and one of the brains behind the Global PR Blog Week, has written a great, common sense article, which was published in AFR’s Boss magazine, on corporate blogging.

It’s available as a PDF here.

“Corporate blogging may prove to be too hard for many organizations.  Still, you can’t help thinking that the benefits on offer are large enought to convince some at least to try and relinquish a little control.”

If you’re fairly new to blogs or even if you’re an old hand and you’re looking for a good list of marketing-related blogs then Adland is where you’ll want to go.

They’ve compiled a great list of various marketing blogs. If you haven’t already done so, getting an RSS reader is recommended…

 

Online communication is hard.

Information lives far longer online and it’s far harder to control. The number of distribution outlets is growing every day while time is being condensed.

This creates a far more complex and demanding environment for Public Relations regardless of your particular discipline or industry, but there are some benefits.

For example, while in the past, you might have had to wait decades for the inside track on how events unfolded, now it can be a matter of months or even minutes.

I’ve already covered the Peoplesoft-Oracle spat a few times on this blog.

It’s a facinating public struggle between two major software vendors with a lot of fighting in the court of public opinion.

I’m sure the inside story on both sides will provide interesting reading. (In fact, MarketSherpa already have Peoplesoft’s version of events available for a fee.) But you don’t have to wait for the book or the memoirs.

Just as former Peoplesoft CEO, Craig Conway is clearing out his desk and taking Bear for some extended walks, the saga continues in a Delaware courtroom as the two companies trade punches and internal e-mails.

CNET has an interesting story on the latest developments including Peoplesoft’s claims that Oracle was using the acquisition as FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) tool in sales situations. Meanwhile, Peoplesoft’s legal people are denying they leaked confidential information for “Public Relations” purposes…

“The concept of FUD enjoys a venerable history in the computing field. According to The Jargon File, an online dictionary of hacker slang, Gene Amdahl used the term as an attack on IBM after he left in the early ’70s to found his own company: “FUD is the fear, uncertainty and doubt that IBM salespeople instill in the minds of potential customers who might be considering (Amdahl) products.””

To further illustrate why I don’t think John’s pitch for the Marketing Playbook (see below) was too bad, let me compare it with a pitch I got from the Viral+Buzz Marketing Association.

Now this is an association concerned with VIRAL MARKETING!

Their PR person (I’m not naming and shaming at this point) came up with this fantastic pitch:

Tom:

I just wanted to make you aware of a press release that just came out.
It is a press release that announces the following:

Then they inserted the first paragraph of the press release and….. wait for it… attached the press release as a Word document…

Now does the class remember what Tom wrote about Word documents last week? Hands up…

Yes, Word documents are the spawn of Satan because they contain hidden mark-ups. (See here).

Well the first thing I did with this press release was check the hidden corrections and BINGO! all the revisions are included in the press release.

Just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a screenshot….

I could share more of the changes with you, but I think this illustrates my point.

This is fairly negligent pitching.  Why? Well:

1. The PR person didn’t do ANY research into what I cover here
2. There’s was no personalization except the word “Tom:”
3. There was no pitch…. just the first para of the press release
4. Word attachments…

I could go on but I haven’t enough time, energy or the inclination…. and I’m sure they won’t see it…

John Zagula and Rich Tong are ex-Microsoft marketers behind the Marketing Playbook blog which is a useful resource for anyone with an interest in marketing – which should be everyone in Public Relations :-).

They’re launching a new book this month called, funnily enough The Marketing Playbook. The book offers five marketing “plays” and draws heavily from their experience in Microsoft – no bad thing given Microsoft’s marketing success.

I’ve only read over a draft so I can’t in all honesty give it a glowing review but the pieces I read were interesting and tied back into actual marketing campaign examples – which I’m a big fan of.

John obviously pitched a lot of bloggers with the book and a few bloggers took umbrage with it.

I’m not one of those.  The pitch that I got was relatively personalized and was similar to the majority of pitches I get every day from people looking to promote something. The problem of course is that every blog author is different and to placate the potentially more “sensitive” bloggers it is important that you tie the pitch to something they’ve written about or are passionate about. 

Blog relations really isn’t that different to good media relations.  Know the title, know the journalists, understand their perspective and tailor your pitch to make it appropriate. Anyhow, I think some bloggers were a little harsh on John, but then maybe it’s because as a PR person you can sympathise!