'Tis the time for lists

I realize I’m probably coming to this late but PR Week has published its Book of Lists for 2007.

You can read it online here or download a PDF version here.

 

5 corporate blogs that built buzz

1 http://direct2dell.com/one2one/default.aspx
Dell continues its return from online comms purgatory in the second year of its Direct2Dell blog. The posts are a mix of promotional and troubleshooting advice, perfect for the customers who love the products, but hated their customer service for so long.

2 http://www.jnjbtw.com/
J&J’s blog reached a high point when Ray Jordan, VP of public affairs and corporate communications, honestly explained why the company was engaging in a reputation-threatening lawsuit against the American Red Cross.

3 http://stonyfield.typepad.com/babybabble/
The StonyField Farm Baby Babble blog is a perfect example of company as content producer. This blog is solely dedicated to providing information about rearing children. As such, visitors will instinctively think of the company as an expert on child health.

4 http://1000words.kodak.com/
Yes, yes – a picture is worth a thousand words. And a blog that ties closely to Kodak’s goals is worth a million. Giving staffers a photo blog – even if they’re not the greatest snapshots in the world – is a simple way to boost employee passion and humanize the company.

5 http://www.zillowblog.com/
Zillow’s blog manages to accomplish great synchronicity between promoting the Zillow product and providing valuable information. The service that Zillow, a provider of online real-estate services, can provide through its blog is very important, considering the uncertainty and lack of sensible information in today’s real-estate market.

PR for Chicken Fighting Treasure – Profnet

In what’s becoming an annual event, Morris + King have released their top ten Profnet enquiries for 2007.  I think these do a great job of showcasing the wild diversity PR professionals (bravely) face on a daily basis 🙂

Thanks to Justin Kazmark for sending it along…

10.  BEHAVIOR/TODAY: People’s Busy Lives and the Bad Things that May Happen as a Result—The Cincinnati Post

I’m looking for a sociologist/psychologist to talk about people’s busy lives and bad things that may happen as a result, i.e., leaving the car on in the garage, going to bed and dying of carbon monoxide poisoning because they were so busy they forgot.

9.  SPORTS/TODAY: Transitioning from Cheerleader to Coach/Gym Owner—Freelancer

I’m working on an article for Cheer Biz magazine about transitioning from cheerleader to coach. If you’ve ever been a cheerleader who transitioned into coaching either a school squad or an all-star cheer team, please answer these questions: 1. What has been the hardest part about transitioning from cheerleader to coach/gym owner? 2. How long have you been coaching? Also, how long did you cheer? 3. When you were cheering, did you ever anticipate becoming a coach? Did you consciously prepare to do that? 4. What would have helped you make the transition easier? 5. What would you say to young cheerleaders coming up in the cheer system with the goal of becoming a coach/gym owner? 6. Any advice on making rules and running practices and gaining respect of other coaches, cheerleaders, parents, etc.? Many cheer coaches and owners are so young, they have a hard time with the respect part. How do you handle it? (By the way, how old are you?) 7. For coaches who are not married, barely 21, how do you suggest they separate themselves from the cheerleaders? 8. Is the pressure too much sometimes? Is it all worth it in the end? 9. What characteristics do you think a person needs to have in order to be a good coach/gym owner? Please feel free to add any other info you think might be beneficial to this piece.

8.  PARENTING: Purity Balls—WOSU-AM (OH)

I’m looking for someone who can speak about purity balls, either for or against. I need someone who can say why father-daughter purity balls are good, or why they are bad.

7.  BEHAVIOR: Lion/Tiger Tamer—Parenting Magazine

No, this isn’t a joke. I am seeking a circus lion/tiger tamer for a short, humorous piece on how to get small children to behave. I would vastly prefer that the tamer have children of his/her own and speak English. Please forward me your candidate’s credentials and availability, as well as the name of a contact person I can reach for further information or to schedule an interview.

6.  BEHAVIOR: Vampires—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

I’m out to prove we still love vampires. I need some folks familiar with creatures of darkness to help me give evidence of this passion and/or tell me why we still love them.

5.  BOOSTER/TODAY: Bible Verses for Daters—Love.MSN.com

Many daters look for inspiration from the Good Book. So I’m compiling a list of the best Bible verses for daters. Please e-mail your most inspirational verse, a 100-word explanation of what it means to you and why you chose it, and your name, title and location with "Bible Verses" in the subject line.

4.  NON-EXPERT: Taser Parties—Cloaked

A national women’s magazine is looking for women who’ve hosted taser parties. Please respond ASAP with your info, and I’ll provide details about the article.

3. BEHAVIOR/TODAY: Effects of Drugs and Alcohol—Star Magazine

I need someone to explain to me the effects drugs and alcohol can play on a 25-year-old’s mind. How might their behavior change? Will they do irrational things?

2.  FITNESS: Exercising While Drinking—Freelancer

I am writing an article on how barflies can stay in shape. I am looking for experts who can suggest exercises that can be done at a bar. I am open to anything—low-impact aerobics, barstool dips, beer curls, etc. I am looking for detailed descriptions on how to correctly do the exercise. This is for UrbanTailgate.com, a social networking site for sports fans.

1.  LIVING/TODAY: Finding Treasure/Thwarting Mosquitoes/Chicken Fights—Freelancer

I’m writing some how-to pieces for WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) magazine, and am looking for advice on three rather unique topics: find buried treasure, thwarting mosquitoes, and winning a chicken fight. If you are, or work with, an expert treasure hunter, insect killer, or chicken fighter, please let me know, or simply pass along your top tips. My deadline’s Tuesday, so I’m looking for great info in a hurry.

New PR – another failed New Year resolution?

 

“Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”

Oscar Wilde

 

This is typically the time of the year when people start of making predictions or begin to consider some ill fated New Year resolutions.

I thought for a change this year, in the spirit of the season, and to avoid the inevitable resolution failure, I’d try and help others to keep their resolutions.

Whenever I chat with PR students or practitioners on “New PR” or PR 2.0 or whatever, the most common question I get in all these sessions is “how can I get started?”.

It’s a great question.

So I thought that I’d provide some entry-level advice on how to get started.

I’m very confident that I’ll miss something so feel free to add more in the comments.

Here’s my attempt at providing some common sense advice to those PR brethren who wish to get more involved.

The 8 Steps

1) Invest

To paraphrase my late grandmother: “you don’t lick knowledge off a stone”.

If you want to find out and understand “New PR”, you will need to commit some time.

Obviously you’re busy, we are all busy, nevertheless this is the time to invest.

2) Explore

Fire up your web browser.

Use your favourite search engine and search for PR, blogs, blogging, social media etc.

Start with some of the links on the left hand side of this page – sorry that’s my left and your right. 🙂

Browse the PR blog indices, for example Todd Andrlik’s (and Ad Age’s) Power 150 (#237 and still sinking) or Brendan Cooper’s PowerPR index.

3) Learn

image There are some new things to understand and learn, but there is nothing a four year old can’t master so don’t worry.

Learn how to use RSS and see how it can boost your productivity.  Learn how to keep track of the blogosphere or mainstream breaking news without losing your sanity.

Learn what social networking is about.

Understand why people blog and how consumers are using these tools.

Listen to podcasts.

4) Participate

The fastest way to understand this stuff is to get involved.

Set up a page on Facebook, start a blog – if you’re nervous about blogging about your practice or your business, blog about a hobby or something you’re interested or passionate about.

Read RSS feeds

Post a video

Comment on a podcast

5) Research

Good communications is all about the audience.

That doesn’t change from traditional to online Public Relations.

Want to understand how new media will impact your clients?

Talk to their customers.

Find out how they are using social media – you might be surprised and at the very least you’ll be better educated.

6) Experiment

Want to know if these new tools can help you do a better job reaching and communicating with your audience?

Try them.

Try a controlled experiment.

Start small… but start.

7) Measure

The beauty of online communications is the opportunity to measure the impact of your activity. 

Measure visitors, incoming links, subscribers, members….

Measure the impact of your experiment and let those results drive its direction.

8) Breathe

There’s a lot of hype about the changing world of communications.

Don’t panic.

Communications is changing, but not as fast as many of the online digerati will have you believe.

Traditional media and traditional Public Relations will remain the centre of your business for the foreseeable future, but the online element is growing and more importantly might help you communicate more effectively today.

Try it. Jump in.

Waking up to find your career is gone…

I’ve been a little busy recently, which has meant that poor FeedDemon is bursting at the seams [and causing me "Unread RSS-feed stress disorder" or UNRED].

However, far more distressing than unread RSS feeds, it appears that in the couple of weeks I have been less than attentive to the blogosphere, my career has disappeared.

Apparently PR is dead or dying.

Gasp.

Hold on… something about that theme is familiar. 

Oh yes, now I know. People have been saying it over and over and over again for years and years and years. [Here’s a post from three years ago.]

You know what though?

To everyone’s disgust, we’re still here.

Hello world. 

I work in Public Relations and myself and my colleagues aren’t dead.  In fact I don’t think we’re even feeling unwell.

I think I will write a press release, print it off, put it in an envelope and send it by post.  Then to round off the day I’ll go and talk to someone in person. I am so old-worlde…

New meme

I’ve tried to avoid the dead word but it simply won’t die, so in the interest of going with the flow, my new meme is:

"Bloggers talking off the top of their heads are Dead"

Unfortunately life is never that simple (or enjoyable) but one must fight fire with fire.

Anyhow hopefully I’ll have a job until Christmas, but if the bloggers are right it’ll be touch and go. [Apologies to my family in advance]

Some links to "PR is Dead" meme:

 

My favourite:

 

Now that’s the Christmas spirit….

Technorati Tags: ,,

Are you a Moofer?

In terms of discussing "Online PR" we often focus on the difference of the delivery mechnism (paper versus bytes) but we’ll also have to build a deeper understanding of how people are using, receiving and sharing those bytes.

We’re all more mobile these days, whether you are tethered to your Blackberry, Windows Mobile device or iPhone, you can read and respond to e-mail, search the web, read RSS and even Instant Message standing in a queue.

How will that impact how people use information?

There was an interesting article in the UK Sunday Times last weekend on the emergence of the Moof’er (Mobile out of office worker).

According to the Sunday Times:

"Welcome to the brave new world of the moofer – or mobile out-of-office worker. Look around: you’ll see them conducting deals, holding meetings or finding inspiration at a coffee shop, hotel lobby, airport lounge or park bench near you. This new generation of young, tech-savvy workers live their business lives in nomadic fashion, wherever they can find a wi-fi connection – and they don’t believe in the traditional nine to five. Many are entrepreneurs running their own internet-based companies, but they could be management types working for big firms and often away from the office, media consultants out and about meeting clients or freelance writers."

It appears that Moofing is the way of the future:

 

"A recent survey commissioned by the Work Foundation and Microsoft found that 78% of people believed working away from the office was the future, with more than half saying they would be happier if there were a greater element of mobile working in their job. Meanwhile, the Future Laboratory, a trend forecaster, predicts that 5.5m people will be using technology to work away from the office by 2012."

 

 

 

It’s certainly something we should be thinking about.  How many press rooms are mobile ready? Is your blog mobile friendly? Mine isn’t….

The Incendiary PR Question…

I have been Blog AWOL for the past few weeks as work and family life have taken precedence.

I see that Mike Butcher over at TechCrunch UK has asked the ultimate "light fuse and stand back" question:

 

"Which firm, or which individual PR person, is the best for tech/mobile startups (either in the UK or Ireland)?"

 

Of course there’s loads of opinions, observations and war stories in the comments. You also see the same old chestnuts and sales pitches, but it’s worth a read while you’re killing time today.

For what it’s worth, from some experience I have in the area of pitching and selecting the right and wrong PR agencies for start-ups, I’d say the following:

  • DIY is over-rated: Unless you’ve just invented the first commercially available time machine, or you’re willing to invest in in-house PR resources, you will probably benefit from external PR support.  The idea that the CEO will have the time, knowledge or inclination to drive PR is a fallacy
  • PR selection is hard: PR is a people business.  Your agency will succeed with good people.  The search, selection and retention of good people is one of the biggest issues facing every company, start-up, small, medium and large. That’s why PR selection is hard – make sure you meet the team…
  • Invest your time: Want success?  Then you need to invest valuable time with your agency.  You need to brief them, support them, respond to them and drive them. Throwing some VC cash at an agency and waiting for the return is a bad use of shareholder funds.
  • Research: Go and talk to your investors, your peers, your family and friends, advisors, media.  Look at companies whose profile you admire. Ask around.
  • Clarity: Be clear on your expectations.  Create a briefing document.  Provide it to your short-listed agencies up front.  Engage with them in the pre-pitch process.  Make sure your own management are engaged and clear in their expectations. Be clear in your mind how you want your agency to spend their time in terms of execution, strategy, messaging etc.
  • Your value: There are a number of elements you can bring to the table: a real business proposition, your passion, your story telling and your time. Bring them.
  • Remember: A PR firm brings your company a range of things: perspective; objectivity; experience; contacts; knowledge and scale – if you don’t value these things, then see point #1.

 

Update: Just added the last point.

Interweb increases crisis management for everyone…

If you are an "oldie" like me, you probably find yourself using the term "young people" more often every day, but you also probably remember crisis communications being an exception rather than an everyday occurrence.

The advent of the Interweb, along with e-mail, blogs and now social networks, has meant that new previously unseen crises (or maybe we should call them issues) emerge on a more regular basis than ever before. A mis-sent e-mail or a rumour on a blog create a growing number of issues or crises every day.

But this isn’t just a corporate issue.  Oh no.  This is a personal issue also.

Valleywag has an interesting story [via Peter Shankman] on how a bank worker told his boss that he wouldn’t be able to come to work because "something came up at home".  The only problem was that the "something" was a party and he posted photos on his social network page, which of course was accessible to everyone…. including his boss.

It’s an interesting development.

A University lecturer told me earlier this year that students often look for deadline extensions on work because they’ve been "sick" only for their social network pages to tell a different story.

There’s no doubt organisations are facing more "issues" thanks to the Interweb, but the issue of "personal branding" should also be a concern for everyone.  What you publish, others can read, whether that’s a blog, a comment or a social network. What do the search engines say about you?

I think we can expect more of this in the future.