Category: General

 A quick rant to begin the day.  I recently bought my first (and last) electronic book… just to clarify this, it is an electronic version of a widely published book, not to be confused with an e-book from an online publisher, I’ve actually bought a few of those books in the past and will again in the future.

I finally bought one of these damned books because I needed it fairly quickly.  I will never do it again. It’s a great example of how traditional industries (publishers, music etc.) are completely missing the point.  Their only reaction to the digital era is to sell products that are more inaccessible than their analog counterparts. The book in question could only be read using the very latest (and most bloated) version of Adobe Reader – which by the way includes loads of really useful nagware features.  The book’s copyright protection allows you to print 12 pages in any given week…. You can’t transfer it onto you PDA… Instead you’re forced to read it on your laptop and when the battery dies… Well so does your reading. 

Call me old fashioned but I personally prefer physical books and this experience has just re-affirmed my preferences. Publishers can clearly save money in distribution and production by selling electronic versions but instead they worry about pirates. They are flattering themselves.

 

 Jim Horton, lest we forget the grand daddy of all PR bloggers, continues to provide readers with fantastic, honest insights into the real world of PR.  He’s just published an article on writing for CEO’s and shock horror you can read it online with any copy of Adobe Reader, you can print it and you can even put it on your PDA.

Richard Bailey has some brief comments.

 

 Edelman and Intelliseek have published a fairly interesting whitepaper [Registration Required] on blogging. The report has been released in conjunction with a new blog directory for Edelman’s clients which details the most popular and influential bloggers in particular segments – I wonder how long before that gets posted on the InterWeb?

Interestingly their top three PR bloggers (as listed in the whitepaper) are Steve Rubel, Elizabeth Albrycht and Jeremy Pepper.  Neville Hobson is also profiled, but in the “General B2B” category.  Thanks to Kevin Dugan for the link.

 

 Funniest PR blog post of the week so far goes to Steve Phenix on that bloody Power Girls program.

(As an aside, my blog numbers are doubling with Lizzie Grubman traffic from Google, so someone is clearly watching/enjoying it. If it get’s a second run I may even make the Edelman pitch list)

 

 While we’re on the subject of Edelman, the boss has a post entitled “Where have are all the cowboys gone” in which he bemoans the fact that Public Relations is being defined by the lowest common denominator, namely the UK’s Max Clifford or in the US Lizzie Grubman. I agree wholeheartedly with his sentiment, however there’s a interesting cultural nuance in his title.  In Ireland, “Cowboy” is slang for untrustworthy, incompetent professionals.  E.g. “I know I should have asked for some references but I didn’t expect the plumber to be a cowboy”.  So the European view is that there are too many PR cowboys….

 

 John Wagner takes Ragan to task over the assertion that there’s isn’t much compelling content available on blogs for corporate communicators.  You see I knew this blog stuff would eventually mirror traditional publishers!

 

 Jeremy Pepper has a great post on transparency.

 

 In the latest case of “Poacher turned Gamekeeper”, Mark Jen, the man made famous over getting fired (If you don’t know what I’m talking about a quick “search” is all you need) is now publishing the public Internet communications policy at Plaxo. Thanks to Matthew Podboy for the link.

 

 The latest release of the Hobson and Holtz report, episode 21, is now up and available for your iPod. Topics include some debate on podcasting, a new IABC blog and the Global PR Blog Week 2.0.

Whilst this blog is inherently designed to discuss Public Relations at large, and not specifically blogs and associated technologies such as RSS, the nature of the blog echo chamber is that PR Opinions ends up with a disproportionate amount of content on online technical issues.

That’s the downside of blogging on PR, although I admit many of the hundred PR bloggers do a better job than I of sidestepping the endless chatter about blogs and RSS – a discussion that in many ways is not currently relevant to mainstream practitioners – and before anyone adds a comment I am not opening up that debate once again.

Every so often I feel this distinct need to put forward some themes I believe can help frame these discussions.

The world is a crazy mixed up place

New developments such as blogging are adding further noise to an already busy world. In the past decade the world of papers, magazines, periodicals, radio, twenty-four hour TV, mail, phones and faxes has been further complicated by e-mail, instant messaging, web sites, blogging and RSS.  The noise is getter louder, the ability to get the right information to the right audience in an efficient manner is getting harder.

PR will adapt… eventually

It’s good that so many PR professionals are using blogs to evangelize the benefits of the brave new world of blogs, RSS and online discussion.  Over time (say the next three years) we’ll see the PR profession broadly adopt these technologies.  We’ll expect to see corporate blogs that provide a real insight into a company’s thinking and motivation not just regurgitated press releases.  We’ll see blog relations become a key part of every PR program.  We’ll also see press information being sent over RSS as well as wires, e-mail (and in some cases fax – gasp!).  But there’ll be no Eureka moment folks, just like every other development, it will happen incrementally.

The ole baby and bathwater analogy

While these changes will occur, I firmly believe that the human character will remain constant.  The single most effective form of human communication, always has been and always will be face-to-face.  The phone (I include VOIP in that category) will continue to be important for practitioners who want to nurture relationships.  Effective use of online tools (blogs, RSS, e-mail) will continue to proliferate as an adjunct to our traditional tools. There’s an evolution taking place, don’t expect to see the extinction of traditional practices.

New skills will merge with old skills

Related to the last point, let’s not forget that good Public Relations skills such as oral communication, writing skills, strategic thinking and good organization are every bit as relevant today.  These skills are the basic building blocks and will remain so.  What we will also see is the merger of those capabilities with new online skills such as the ability to reach out to individuals, the increasing importance of conversations etc.

The definition of Public Relations is expanding

PR is about the ability to effectively communicate with an audience.  This is a broad remit, though often in the past it has been defined in a narrow context.  Too often PR becomes synonymous with media relations.  That will become less prevalent as we move forward.  PR in the future will need a whole host of new skills to go with what we already have.  These include our ability to communicate on a one-to-one basis but more importantly it means understanding how people find information online, how people like to recieve information.  As search engines have become the single most popular way to find information across the Internet, new skills such as Search Engine Optimization will become increasingly important for PR people.

The quest for knowledge is divine

No one has all the answers to where we’re headed.  If they did they wouldn’t be sharing them with the likes of us, instead they’d be off rolling around in fresh hundred dollar bills.  There’s a lot of good thinking taking place, there’s loads of experts, there’s loads of advice.  I encourage you to listen, to read, to research but most of all to question.  Understand how new technologies can help or hinder what you do every day.  Experiment with new technologies and techniques.  Most of all embrace change, but only when that change offers you some tangible benefit.

And if you take all my advice above, and you have any sense, you’ll discount this post immediately!

Some additional reading:

• What PR used to do – Jim Horton
• The difference between bloggers and journalists – Topaz Partners
• PRSA Boston meets to navigate the world of blogs – Amanda Watlington
• RSS and media relations: is there a role for the publicist? – BL Ochman
• More on RSS and media relations – Mason Cole
• A CEO blog as direct channel to employees – CommLog

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to complete the second annual PR Opinions survey. Over one hundred people have completed the survey so far. 

I’ll leave it up for another week or so, if you haven’t already participated, why not take a couple of minutes today.

Planning for the second Global PR Blog Week is underway.

It’s still in the early stages so, if you’re interested in getting involved through participating, providing some content or discussing the event’s format, now is the time.

The planning process is public you can find out how to get involved here.

 David Tebbutt has published an interesting list of the “rights” of the journalist and the spokesperson in an interview and is requesting debate on this list. Stuart Bruce has posted some comments.

 

 Colin McKay has a very interesting post from the Managing Editor of ABC News in Canada on why “months” aren’t newsworthy….

 

 Topaz Partners have two interesting posts.  One on the art of the e-mail pitch 2005 style – including the fact that you might (gasp) have to use a telephone .  The second post concerns an interesting PR discussion following the recent IAOC blog event. 

 

 Voce Communications have an interesting interview with Bob Wynne, VP of media relations at Oracle.

“The need for speed in developing messages and communications, the need for integrity in dealing with all audiences and the need for a solid understanding of what impacts the company’s bottom line will remain the same. Everything else will change. That’s just the way it is. Get used to it.”

 Jeremy Pepper has an interview with Chris Shipley organizer of the ever optimistic Demo conferences.

“It’s not difficult – the key thing is that the fundamentals for getting to DEMO are on the Website. The thing that makes a difference in pitching for DEMO is to understand the value for the client at DEMO. Being an advocate for both the client and DEMO, being a bridge. PR people overzealously pitch clients to DEMO, but not DEMO to the clients. Too many times, I have had companies say to me at the pitch – so, what is DEMO. The agency did not explain the value, and the client comes in blind.”

 

Well Yahoo’s new blogging service Yahoo 360 is chugging its way around the viral Interweb taking the Gmail approach to “closed” testing – i.e. you can only be invited by someone already on the system.

PR blogger of the year, Mike Manuel has been working on the launch and Steve Rubel has a brief review of the new blogging service. 

Thanks to Bernie Goldbach I know have some invitations if anyone is interested in trying it out.

Just in case there’s a rush, priority will be given to those who fill out this terrific PR survey

A new spoof PR blog has appeared from the offices of the fictional (I hope!) Herring Waffleman “communications” agency.

A quick search on Whois appears to point to a gentleman in Australia….

Thanks to Steve Rubel for the link.

 The San Jose Mercury News looks at the PR lessons [Free subscription required] from Wendy’s recent crisis.

“The real trick of responding to something like this is to do it in a way that shows you care it happened, that it’s something not in keeping with the way you do business and you feel badly about it,” said Lou Williams, chairman of L.C. Williams & Associates, a Chicago firm that holds the hand of companies trying to navigate their way through corporate crises.

 

 Ken Deutsch gives some interesting feedback to Amy Joyce‘s article last week on how corporate blogs are offering little or no value to their readers:

“Companies that use the traditional command-and-control approach to public relations and brand protection will fail to take advantage of the power of the Internet.”

 

 The Richmond Times Despatch offers some advice for a career in Public Relations from Katherine Woodall:

Public relations has changed in the past 25 years.

“It keeps it interesting,” Woodall said. “You need innate curiosity, superb communication skills and a desire to learn and understand new things. You have to be willing to do a lot of things, make mini-changes.

“If you are open to change,” Woodall said, “opportunities happen.”

 

 Trevor Cook is currently writing a very interesting paper on whether blogging will retain its current revolutionary zeal or will in fact be consumed by corporate interests.  You can download the latest draft here.

 On a related matter, Trevor has some interesting comments on Colin McKay‘s question does the blogging emperor have any clothes on? 

 

 Jim Horton rightly bemoans an awful article that positions PR in the cheap advertising business through an analysis of VNRs.

 

 Kevin Dugan questions the validity of David Daniels assertion that RSS will have a limited impact on e-mail marketing. I tend to agree.  I don’t think RSS means the end of e-mail marketing but over time I’d expect to see a lot of e-mail traffic such as newsletters etc. being available as RSS feeds.  In addition, because RSS is different to e-mail, it will require a different approach.  At the very least it makes common sense for marketers to evaluate RSS. Ignoring it makes no sense at all.

 

 PR firm Shift Communications has been doing a lot of work recently on attempting to build tighter links between the PR function and the sales organization.  Their latest initiative is to support marketing professionals in understanding the origin of in-bound leads.  It’s a noteworthy initiative, however, I can’t help thinking that if marketing staff aren’t already effectively managing this process, what are they doing? and more fundamentally how are they being measured?

 

 Infoworld has a great feature on blogging and wikis in the enterprise.

 

 A lot of PR bloggers are turning up on WebProNews here’s a selection of some of the more recent hits:

• Shel Holtz asks is Disney’s image so bad that even when they’re right, they’re wrong…
• Mike Manuel thinks its a fun time to be in Public Relations…
• Steve Rubel questions the validity of a job listing on Craig’s list for a blog PR specialist in Chicago.

 

 Finally Tom Murphy is conducting a *very* interesting online survey on Public Relations.  You can participate here.

PR Opinions will be fairly quiet over the Easter period.

Thanks to everyone who has already completed the PR Opinions survey, we’ve already passed last year’s number of respondents.

Why not take a couple of minutes to fill it out.  As one of the respondents has commented “it’s simplistic” – come to think it that may have been a criticism 🙂

Amy Joyce at the Washington Post questions the value of corporate blogs.

“Looking back before the dust settles on 2004, it was a great year of building momentum for BCA [Boeing Commercial Airplanes]. Our orders went up, with 272 in ’04 compared to 239 in ’03. It was a super year for widebodies for us,” wrote Randolph S. Baseler, Boeing Co.’s vice president of marketing, on Jan. 17 in his first entry at boeing.com/randy.

“With blogs like that (Boeing’s Randy Baseler), who needs news releases? Some Internet watchers wonder if a blog that sounds like nothing more than a corporate press room is worth the effort.”

I think Amy’s article raises an interesting question.  The point of a corporate blog is to provide a human face on the organization.  If that “face” is mumbling corporate speak then my advice to you is don’t bother.  The corporate blog should provide opinions, observations and color.  If you’re going to use the same formula as a press release then put it out on PR Newswire.

This is why you need to be careful whom you choose to front your corporate blog.  You need an executive with time, opinions and an understanding of one-to-one communication.  If you don’t, then you’re wasting your valuable time. Don’t create a corporate blog just so you can take it off your to-do list.  Create a corporate blog to improve your communications with your audience, to build rapport, create relationships and help your audience get a better insight into your organization.