Murphy's Law

Forget all the magazine stories and the pontificating blog entries you’ve read about blogging.  The real measure of the success, growth and adoption of blogs is revenue.

Blogs are already a useful tool – of that there is no doubt.  But if you want a real tangible measurement on whether blogs are “mainstream” then look at the advertising dollars they attract.

I think blog advertising is great, particularly if it allows blogs to continue to deliver great content.  Of course there’s probably only 1-3% of blogs that will ever make significant cash – and obviously this isn’t one of those!

As all marketers know, effective programs are tightly targeted and use a variety of tools from PR to advertising and direct marketing. Although it’s still very small, there are signs that advertisers are beginning to take notice and that’s a great development.

Of course while I believe blog advertising is something that should be welcomed, “blogvetorials” or the payment of cash in return for specific content is not something I agree with – or believe has a long-term future.

Kevin Dugan points to a story in the New York Daily News on the growth of advertising revenue targeted at blogs.

“In Blogads’ network of 500 sites, an ad costs as little as $25 a week on marginal blogs, to $300 on Sullivan’s site, to as much as $2,250 on DailyKos – all relatively inexpensive compared to a national magazine or network televison.”

 

 In the UK, PR firm Weber Shandwick and Media Trust, an organization that helps charities communicate with the media more effectively, have launched a competition for UK charities with a turnover of less than �2 million.  Charities are invited to submit entries with the three chosen charities being given three months worth of free PR support. A very worthwhile initiaitive and credit where it’s due.

 Neville Hobson has a great post on “podcasting” and it’s potential for employee communications.  In effect, “podcasting” is the delivery of speeches or talks or any audio content in mp3 format hosted on an Intranet or website.  Staff can then download the mp3 file and listen to it on their desktop or mp3 player. It sounds like an idea with a lot of applications inside and outside the organization.

 Richard Bailey explains the subtleties of press release writing.

 Colin McKay posts on the snafu surrounding the Toronto Film Festival, the attending “celebrities” or lack of them and the newspaper correction.  Interestingly, the New York Times picked up on the story..

 PR blogging veteran Phil Gomes is giving a talk on PR and Blogging to the Silicon Valley chapter of the PRSA later this month.

 Steve Rubel asks what happens when the mainstream media move 24/7, how will PR people cope?

 Inc. magazine covers business blogging.

 The New Zealand Herald has carried an article by Tim Marshall, president of the New Zealand Public Relations Institute, in response to a story the paper ran on how government PR spending was out of control…

“The figures in the article showed the number of people designated as public relations staff in Government departments and that the spending had increased by about 50 per cent over the past four years.

Is that out of control? How are we to judge? Are these Government PR people delivering value for money or not? How much should the Government be spending on PR? What are these PR people doing or trying to achieve?

Unfortunately, the article did not answer those questions or give evidence to support the allegation that extra PR resources are promoting the Government’s interests. The story took an apparently pre-determined view that increased PR spending was a bad thing.”

If ever there was a book about real-life Public Relations that I’d love to read, it would be an account of the PR efforts on both sides of the Peoplesoft-Oracle merger battle.

It has been a titantic struggle with a lot of memorable skirmishes in the media – a struggle Oracle look as though they’re winning. 

In yet another twist, Peoplesoft have just announced that the company’s CEO, Craig Conway has been removed and replaced by company founder David Duffield.

The Peoplesoft-Oracle snafu delivered many entertaining media battles including:

First, Craig Conway, CEO at Peoplesoft came out with this gem about the proposed takeover:

“It’s like me asking if I could buy your dog so I can go out back and shoot it.” [Bloomberg]

To which the ever-quotable Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison responded in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News:

“I think at one point, `Craigey’ thought I was going to shoot his dog,” Ellison said. “If Craigey and Bear were standing next to each other and I had one bullet, trust me, it wouldn’t be for the dog.”

Previous posts:

• PR Firefight – the enterprise software soap opera..
• The dog, the bullet and the media interview….

Colin McKay provides some pointers to when you should resign the account….

A 60 Minutes crew is sitting in their office – and you didn’t invite them.

You just can’t get over the internal motivational video – the CFO and CMO covering Whitesnake’s “Here I go again.”

Whenever you use the word “media,” the aged founder starts chattering about Marshall McLuhan and acid.

The client asks “Can you get us PR but also keep us way under the radar? Thanks.”

A new Internet research report contradicts a popular Internet theory that the media is becoming less influential. According to the report the media remains one of the most reliable sources of online information for consumers everywhere.

That’s one finding in a fantastic new report from the University of Southern California:

 “The Digital Future Report: Surveying the Digital Future” (PDF)

Its the fourth year the report, which includes interviews with 2,000 households on their use of the Internet, has been published and it makes for fascinating reading.

They found that 74.4% of respondents say that information on established media Web sites is reliable and accurate.

Interestingly, the survey also found that the number of users who believe that overall information on the Internet is reliable and accurate has declined. 40% of users believe that only half the information on the Internet is reliable.

The report includes a wealth of relevant statistics on Internet usage and behavior. It estimates that 70.2% of Americans now use e-mail and 62.3% of those users check e-mail at least twice a day.

This is a strongly recommended download!

Footnote:

• Thanks to MarketingSherpa for the link.
• The report was supported by the foundation and corporate partners of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future. They deserve a mention! Accenture, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, National Cancer Institute, SBC, Sony, Time Warner Companies and Verizon.

 

Business 2.0’s Thomas Mucha has a good article on blogs and their marketing implications.

“But in time, and as this latest Web phenomenon becomes more established, blogs will likely become just another standard marketing channel for most companies. “People are only just beginning to figure this out,” Ordahl says. “In many ways corporate blogging issues are just old questions in a new context. I suspect blogs will become less distinguishable from traditional websites and it will all just be — again — about publishing on the Web.”

I think that paragraph sums it up.  In time, blogs will become a standard piece of kit for every organization.  This will be accelerated as companies understand the need to establish dialogue with their audiences. Some blog initiatives will be successful, some will fail, but they will be commonplace and increasingly important for PR.

You’ll notice that the previous paragraph uses the future tense.  Right now blogs are very useful in most technology markets and are an effective tool for communicating with tech-savvy consumers, but I don’t believe they’re mainstream. It seems to me that although blogs are spreading, the biggest concentration remains in the technology sector (as you would expect).

Here’s my prediction: Blogs will become a mainstream component of the majority of web sites and will become a standard communications tactic.  However, until that occurs we can expect loads of people promoting the view that they are “mainstream” – and they are not (yet).

Footnote:

Drew takes a view on Blogs in Europe.

Philip Young has written an article on blogging for the UK’s Institue of Public Relations.

“When web logs first appeared a couple of years ago, they were often dismissed as online diaries – egocentric ramblings from lonely bedroom philosophers – but now many forward-thinking PR practitioners believe �blogging� may have profound implications for their profession.”

“In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.” Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes before posting a story here I spend some time thinking it over for a couple of days and often in the intervening period a related topic will be covered elswhere.

In this case I was thinking over the “Sharpen the Saw” theme that runs through most of Franklin Covey’s time management theories. Although it is a cliche at this point, the thinking behind it is good common sense.

Today, most of us are over worked and under resourced.  We jump from one deadline to the next, frantically trying to complete as many activities as possible. 

However, it is often worthwhile to stop, push away from your desk and think about what you are trying to achieve, how can you do it more productively and at the same time deliver great results.

Now I realize I am in danger of sounding like some sort of self-styled management guru here – I’m not. But how often do you actually stop and think?

While I was thinking about this, Neville Hobson posted his thoughts on how there is less time for planning and strategizing in marketing:

“The reason why time is a delusional luxury is because by the time you’ve strategized, formulated and executed, you’re too late – other, more nimble, people will have got the news or information you’re carefully controlling already out there, free and uncontrolled.”

There’s two elements to this argument.

One the one hand, deadlines are shortening all the time. The fact that we are more productive today, than in the past, hasn’t created more personal time, it’s simply condensed the number of activities you’re juggling at any one time. In most cases it’s all about quantity not quality.

One the other hand, there’s no question that PR and marketing folks can by guilty of overdosing on strategy, messaging and positioning. If you’ve ever sat for hours in a featureless, airless, grey room “strategizing” you’ll know the hell that planning can become.  But that doesn’t mean its unnecessary. 

I firmly believe that you still need to focus on effective planning, messaging and strategy.  To ignore it and jump straight into tactics creates a whole range of issues.

There is less time, planning should be focused and efficient, but in my opinion the current myth around speed is over stated.  The simple fact is that effective programs begin with effective planning.  “Less speed, more haste” is a cliche because it is true.

If your tactics aren’t helping achieve an agreed objective then how valuable are they? Will your program fail because it’s kicked off next week or month rather than today? In most cases no.

The danger with focusing solely on activities is that you may miss opportunities, you may ignore better approaches and most importantly of all, your efforts might not be completely in tune with your client’s or your employer’s overall objectives.

The challenge is to find a happy medium.

Effective planning is essential for success. Effective execution is also essential. Marrying the two is the challenge.

In the meantime, push back from your desk, close your eyes for a moment and think about what you have to achieve, what you need to do and how you can do it more effectively.  You might be surprised with the results….

Footnote:

Elizabeth Albrycht also has some excellent thoughts on this particular subject.

 

Just found a new PR blog called LibTalk, which deals with PR and communications for library communicators.

It’s fantastic that we’re beginning to see PR blogs catering for different markets.

Hot on the news that Silicon Valley PR firms are scrabbling for bodies to meet a strong growth in demand, another indication of recovery in the technology market comes from a research report on technology marketing from IDC.

The report finds that technology marketing spend grew 6% this year and now accounts for 3.2% of revenues, though while everyone’s talking about “branding” marketing is still measured on hard leads….

“The report reveals an interesting conundrum for technology marketing professionals. Although brand building is their top priority, it is not the most common metric measuring their performance. Lead generation statistics are most frequently reported to the CEO, with brand awareness ranking just fourth.”

The recovery continues (hopefully)…