I have been a little slow posting over the past week as the day job has taken precedence – c’est la guerre….
Anyhow, there�s lots to catch up on with Microsoft showcasing the very best and worst of online communications, a new online piece on ‘PR and the Internet’ and a newly discovered UK blog and Mediamap’s great communications practices….
Well all that good news about PR spending increasing and clients loving their agencies – it was a little too good to be true, wasn’t it?
These days we all expect the worst. Hot on the heels of the demise of the Hurwitz Group, Upside magazine has closed it’s doors (Thanks to Phil Gomes for the link) as has Mutual Funds magazine.
Mutual Funds magazine isn’t a shock to anyone, I mean it might as well have been titled “Setting up your dot com business monthly”, but Upside had been through some bad times and seemed to have managed to come out the far side. It’ll be missed. The website’s still online, visit while you can.
If you look at any group of children, for the most part, they are happy in each other’s company. They play, they chase and they will generally amuse themselves happily. However, once they become intimidated, worried or frightened, things change. Once they’re uncomfortable they try to put things right by deflecting their fear onto someone else and before you know it they are accusing someone that “my daddy is bigger than yours“.
Now you might be wondering why someone so absolutely unqualified and inexperienced as I in matters of child affairs is attempting to unravel the mystery of childhood, but there is a lesson for all PR practitioners in there. Bear with me!
Companies who aggressively target their competitors through their marketing are letting themselves down. They are saying to the world, “all is not well here”, worse they are telling the world they are afraid of their competitors – and they are taking the time (and money) to point those competitors out to their potential customers.
That’s not to say it’s always the wrong strategy. In carefully planned circumstances a smaller player can get excellent mileage from some well aimed arrows at a larger, incumbent vendor. But on the whole, IMHO it’s a strategy to be avoided.
Of course scaremongering is not a tactic exclusively reserved for client companies. I am often amazed at the number of PR agencies who openly diss their competition in pitches and even in social settings.
The first thing I do following one of these outbursts is go and talk to the other agencies, because they are obviously doing something right to draw such vitriol!
So here’s the message: Focus on what you and your firm or client do well. Deliver on that and you’ll be closer to succeeding. [Comments]
Following the Thomas L. Harris study that found PR budgets climbing again, the Patrick Marketing Group have also released favorable research. According to their survey on marketing budgets (which interviewed 250 executives) the number one sales & marketing action to be implemented in the next twelve months is PR, followed by direct mail, e-marketing, tradeshows and advertising. 71 percent of those surveyed quoted PR. In other findings, 49 percent of respondents expected their marketing budgets to be bigger in 2003. So it’s not all bad news 🙂
Over the past couple of days there have been interviews published with two of the PR industry’s luminaries. First last Monday, the Chicago Sun-Times talks with Dan Edelman about the changing face of Public Relations and then today Harold Burson talks to The Commercial Appeal in Memphis about the need for corporate conscience.
So you have embraced the brave new world of the Internet. You think it provides a real medium for communicating and influencing audiences and maybe even fostering new one-to-one relationships with journalists, customers, partners and other relevant publics.
So, what’s the first step? Lie. Yep, grab yourself an ‘alias’ and post untruths about competitors or unsubstantiated boasts about your firm or its clients.
At least that seems to be the growing trend amongst many of our brethern. The race to create ‘online buzz’ – the supposed nirvana for all communication programs – has continued unabated regardless of the economic conditions. But they mostly fail. Why? Well they are obvious, biased and are patently flogging a specific agenda.
I highlighted some examples of this online espionage here previously, most notable the Bivings Groups’ efforts for Monsanto. But there are even more ridiculous examples out there.
The Movie producers (who claim to be the most righteous when it comes to protecting THEIR rights online) are one of the most common offenders. From hiring actors to talk about films in bars and restaurants (pleeze) to posting false film reviews (Sony) and posting ‘excited’ messages to notice boards on the more popular Film websites.
It’s a great case study on how not to spread buzz. The website owners have traced all the posters’ IP addresses back to the movie studios – who claim they don’t sanction it – and they post the SAME message to different websites – DOH!
On top of all that, the movie studio flacks (and I use that term most advisedly) seem to think that the essence of ‘buzz posting’ is bad grammer, bad spelling, lower case and URL’s for film trailers. It really beggars belief.
So let’s all be realisitic. Good communications begins with an understanding of what your audience is looking for. Not lies but information, not subterfuge but value. It’s too easy to expose the liars online, if you’re going to try it, make sure you have a clear response for the angry ‘consumers’ when you’re found out. And here’s the LA Times story that inspired this Tuesday morning rant… [Comments]
According to a story in Information Week, the tech analyst firm, Hurwitz Group has closed due to overwhelming debt. Seemingly analysts were told on Monday that it would be their last day, and clients have not been informed. The website is inaccessible.
The Boston Globe reviews the “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR”….. Twenty years on, the Chicago Sun-Times revisits the Tylenol scandal and includes an interesting sidebar on the “brilliant PR response”….. Here’s something to give you indigestion MediaChannel.org’s “PR UnSpun”….. Reuters report that the European Commission (EC) has suspended a five year, twenty two million Euro contract with a French PR firm, Ascii. The steps were taken to avoid any suggestions of impropriety as it was discovered the firm employs three former Commission spokespeople [Reuters]….. AT&T has named Constance Weaver to the company’s Board of Directors as Executive VP of PR….. Fleishman-Hillard is the only PR firm named among the top 100 companies for working mothers….. And, finally the Toronto Globe and Mail has a story on how PR can help keep employees loyal…
PR Industry…errr…enjoys robust growth?
Amidst the doom and gloom surrounding the PR business in the current downturn, here’s some research that bucks the trends.
The tenth annual Thomas L. Harris/Impulse Research PR Client Survey which surveyed 1,540 participants across twenty four industries found internal PR budgets up twenty four percent, whilst budget for external agencies grew nineteen percent.
Other good news is that internal PR owners satisfaction with their agency is up five percent.
A very interesting and IMHO worrying statistic is that spending on Internet communications is down from thirteen percent in 2000 to five percent.
Finally the top read industry publications are PRWeek, Advertising Age, ADWEEK, O’Dwyer’s Newsletter and PR Strategist. [Comments]
The ultimate press release…..
Now there are some basic requirements from a press release. I’m sure you know them. The “When, Who, How, What and Where’ yardstick is always a useful place to start. But not everyone follows these guidelines. Oh no. For some people keeping the news a mystery is what’s important.
On Friday I happened upon one of the best examples of “confusion” as news. The press release in question was issued by Corum Group and it’s definetely worth a read, in the same way you are tempted to glance at the wreckage of an accident on the other side of the road…and don’t forget to check the quote…it’s a masterpiece.
Murphy's Law 