The Yahoo! account team over at public relations firm Fleishman Hillard brings us a great example of the impact blogs can have on analyst relations. And since I am no longer at an agency, I have no problems submitting it up for your review.
On April 20, 2005, Forrester’s Charlene Li posted on Google’s personalized search offering. Yahoo! responded and Li blogged their response later that same day.
In the past, Yahoo! would have known Google had plans for this service, but could they confirm WHEN an announcement was being made and be able to respond quickly?
Yahoo! made their response a relevant part of Google's announcement. Then Yahoo! took things one step further. When briefing Charlene Li on their offering, they embargoed her on announcing specifics, but they encouraged her to blog that an announcement is forthcoming.
Yahoo! managed to supplant the Google buzz using three posts on one blog. Before blogs, you hoped you were first to market. Thanks to their immediacy, this example shows us that sometimes you can afford to be second in a three-engine race.
But keep in mind, in addition to quick thinking on Yahoo!'s part, a strong relationship with a wired analyst was required to pull this off. So while we get all starry-eyed over the technology, remember that PR basics still apply.
Great post, Kevin. You're point that PR basics still apply is an important one. Too many PR/marketing consultants are looking to leave the basics behind as they jump aboard the Blog bandwagon. Big mistake. It's a new tool for us to use and only works as part of an integrated program/strategy.
Posted by: matthew podboy | 04/25/2005 at 02:51 PM
Why is it that most of the stuff making it into the news these days is all about blogs concentrated on PR and Marketing junk. I guess I should not be surprised since those PR people have the connections to get their stories published. I'm on the other side of blogging - ideas and innovation. I have a service that I developed using Open Source Software - Ideascape - that is for enterprise blogging but the focus is on ideas, open innovation, and knowledge management. It's got really cool hooks into other services like del.icio.us that takes you on missions of discovery...well beyond the realm of typical business focus. Your readers will want to know that there is more to blogging than PR and Marketing.
Call me naive for thinking that I could get my message out without a PR person. You're so right about having a good PR /Strategist with the right message at the right time in the right place. I am humbled and will continue to learn.
Thank you!
Posted by: jim wilde | 04/25/2005 at 06:10 PM