Strategic Public Relations

"...kind of a big deal" | Friday Flickr Fix/Four Links | 01.02.09

When Ron Burgundy said “I don't know how to put this, but I'm kind of a big deal,” he believed it. I on the other hand refuse to believe my own press. But there have been a few self-serving links of note recently that I shamelessly humbly offer up below.

1) The Single Best PR Advice for 2009 – Think Like a News Organization | Marketing Edge Podcast
Albert Maruggi invited me to join him for an episode of the Marketing Edge podcast. We focused on media relations, social media and the Bad Pitch blog.

2) Plugging into social media across Cincinnati | Soapbox Cincinnati
In this article about a recent social media event, Jackie Reau refers to me as the "Godfather of social media in Cincinnati." Despite my urge to segue way into quotes from the Godfather trilogy, I’ll simply note that I appreciate her saying it and I appreciate Soapbox Cincinnati publishing it.

3) Cincinnati Social Media Breakfast 4 - It’s All About Sharing | Kribaby
Bryan Person’s Social Media Breakfast has been a hit in Cincinnati. Krista Neher gives us an overview of the latest event and I also created a quick video recap.

4) Werner-VonderHaar-Bogart Award | PR Visions
This news merits its own post, but I’m trying to downplay my pride in winning it. The Werner-VonderHaar-Bogart Award is the highest honor the Cincinnati PRSA chapter bestows upon a public relations professional. It’s named after three Cincinnati chapter presidents who advanced to national PRSA president. It is a genuine honor and surprise to learn I am this year’s recipient.

i don't know how to put this, but i'm kind of a big deal. uploaded by sevenworlds16
tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | marketing | Kevin Dugan | Cincinnati

Back to School | Marketing’s a Journey vs. a Destination | Social Media is Organic | Four Links | 08.27.08

1) Pros, Profs, Students – Join PR OpenMic | PR Open Mic
With more than 2,000 members, PR Open Mic is focused on “preparing the next generation of PR practitioners by enabling interaction with people from around the world in this community network.” They already have members from 140+ colleges & universities from over 40 countries. Regardless of where you’re at in your career, you should head back to school.

2) How long will it take my marketing to work? | Duct Tape Marketing
”I know you need customers, I know you need more business, but marketing is not an event, it’s a business long practice. >snip< Done properly, it is likely going to take six months to a year for you to see the kind of long term momentum that you want.”

3) Are you expecting too much from your marketing? | Drew’s Marketing Minute
Drew builds on John Jantsch’s riff and adds: “If you're not in it for the long haul, you probably shouldn't do it at all.”

4) Social Media is Organic | The Daily Lark
Dell’s Andy Lark on launching a blog: “success correlates closely with the willingness of the communicators to take risk and embrace the spirit of the medium. And that means letting go.”

Like a motorway. uploaded by CMP73
tags | PR OpenMic | social media | marketing

Nike | Social Media Strategy | Flickr | User-Generated Context | Four Links | 07.17.08

1) Nike 100 – Beijing, China | The Cool Hunter
Nike turns its 100 innovations from the last 50 years into a museum and creates a shock and awe brand experience in the process.

2) Are You Developing a Social Media Monitoring & Engagement Strategy? | Voce Nation
Mike Manuel’s been busy at Voce. This post shows his comprehensive approach to the much sought after conversation.

3) Blow Up Your Flickr | Cool Hunting
Watch you favorite Flickr pics...full-screen. Beautiful.

4) Havas Media Lab on User-Generated Context | Influx Insights
User-generated content can make magic for brands. Just ask Jeep.

But if you’re trying to incentivize users to generate the content (instead of just facilitating their efforts), the incentives should not suck.

More subtleties from Havas Media Lab: “People are using professional media as a springboard to create context. The value of this context lies (at) the mass network level.” Instead of trying to buy the content, Havas encourages brands to “find a way to open up and play with the crowd.”

tags | public relations | PR | advertising | marketing

Seeing is Understanding | Eternal Branding | YouTube Timeline | Self-Defense for the Online Brand | Four Links | 05.12.08

1) NewsWare | msnbc
“NewsWare is msnbc.com’s laboratory for news-infused games, tools and other experimentation.”

The games and graphic news visualizers are fun while informing. Game on.

2) Brands on Tombstones | Ad Lab
From the “ads on every inch of humanity” department, it looks like Mercedes is the car of choice amongst the Russian mafia.

Speaking of mafia, I’ll bet a horse head wake up call you’ll find examples of “eternal branding”(tm) here in the United States. Based on this anecdotal evidence, I’m willing to bet the Scarface character is one of those brands.

3) Timetube: The YouTube Video Timeline | Information Aesthetics
Anything you can do to make information easier to understand and digest is a good thing. This YouTube mash up seems to fit in that category. It looks cool too, which doesn’t hurt either. Bonus link: The Top 10 Brands That Own YouTube

4) Manage Your Online Reputation | Lifehacker
Great article that gives hope to every college kid freaked out that a recruiter might Google them and find “those pics.” Also helpful for us whiny, older folk annoyed that someone found and posted “those pics.”

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | advertising | marketing | YouTube | brand

GO. PLAY. | Friday Fun/Flickr Fix | 04.25.08

I’m headed to Keeneland with my firm for our annual employee celebration. So I thought it only fair to send you some Friday Fun/Time-Wasting Links. giddyup

1) Beat Boxing Basset Hound | Too much fun. Via The Lab.

2) Get Out And Play | Creative marketing entertainment. Via n-gage

3) TypeRacer | The most productive of the lot. Via @MattStaggs

Horse Racing #2 uploaded by brianpoulsen

Marketing Turns Me On | LinkedIn Gains Steam | Shankman Helps Out Everyone But Profnet | Print Stays Alive | Four Links | 03.22.08

1) Simple is Good | Pitbulls & Labradors
Dan Lally brings us this Viagra ad via his shiny new blog. If this ad isn’t real, Viagra should steal the idea.

2) LinkedIn Unveils Company Profiles | LinkedIn Blog
Facebook is the best thing to happen to LinkedIn as healthy competition helps push LinkedIn’s evolution.

LinkedIn’s added everything from swag to company profiles lately.

Jeremiah Owyang is already comparing the profiles of Apple, Hitachi, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo.

3) In Helping Journalists, a Publicist Helps Himself | The New York Times’ Shifting Careers Blog
Profnet is not happy with Peter Shankman, the creator of Help a Reporter Out.

By creating a free, e-mail-based service connecting journalists to sources, he’s disrupting Profnet’s business model. It’s also getting industry folks to ask interesting questions. Not surprisingly, the pitches still suck.

4) How All Magazines Should Be Released | Brandflakes for Breakfast
Magazines are getting more creative in general. Consider Bones Magazine. It starts online, but each issue is offered up as a pdf, podcast and video as well. Rohit points us to Everywhere Magazine which looks like a cross between consumer-generated media and democratized publishing.

And if we’re playing buzzword bingo? You just got pwned.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | LinkedIn | advertising | marketing | Profnet | consumer-generated media | Viagra

Fun with RSS | Less is More | Career Advice from a Comic Book | Twitter for President | Four Links | 02.28.08

1) Fun with RSS | Multiple Sources
Playing around with Aide RSS which instantly tells you the most popular posts on a blog and Friend Feed which looks like it builds on the Tumblr concept. If that made sense, you’ll know I’m oversimplifying. If you still think WTF when you see RSS, click here.

2) Less is More | Murketing
More proof that more bodies calling more reporters at more media outlets is NOT the answer comes to us from Murketing.

Yesterday three publicists at the same PR firm pitched me three different stories in the space of less than four hours. All three were on the same basic theme…it doesn’t suggest a great deal of internal efficiency and coordination, does it?

As I noted at The Bad Pitch Blog, we’re pissing off the media more than we realize.

3) Career Advice from a Comic Book | BusinessWeek
The first business comic book is on its way. In Japan, no subject is too serious or too pedestrian for manga. The >book< arrives at a time when business-book publishers, like many others, are contending with readers who have less time to gather information from the printed page. Already, business books have become smaller, designed to fit in a coat pocket and be read completely during a two-hour plane ride.

4) Twitter for President | TweetVolume
TweetVolume quickly tells you which presidential candidate is generating the most discussion on the trendy little microblogging platform we all I know and love. TweetVolume has interesting potential IF your target audience is using Twitter.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | bad pitch blog | RSS | manga | Twitter

Social Media Outreach, RSS Feed Speed Reading, Office Politics and Marketing Life Lessons | Four Links | 12.24.07

This Christmas Eve round-up brings us advice based on several bloggers’ hard-earned experiences. Enjoy and add your own opinions in the comments…if only because it’s better to give than receive.

1) 10 Tips for Reaching out to Social Media Influencers | Communication Overtones
Kami Huyse’s tip list for influencer outreach using social media. I’ll add that outreach takes time and it takes participation vs. logging in and pitching.

2) 10 Steps to Manage Your Feed Reading Time | Social Media Explorer
Jason Falls’ hints on how to make it work when you plug 100 feeds into a feed reader. My favorite rule? Just Let Go -- Click “Mark All Read” and start fresh if you get too far behind.

3) The Lazy Office Worker’s Guide to Office Politics | Servant of Chaos
Gavin Heaton reminds us that even staying out of office politics requires understanding office politics. Don’t forget to steer clear of your workplace’s nattering nabobs of negativism. They’re the co-workers who would be upset if they were happy as they're only happy being upset.

4) Thinking of Going into Marketing? | Drew’s Marketing Minute
Drew McLellan closes out our lists of lists with advice for anyone getting into marketing. I think it's also a friendly reminder for folks who are already in the business.

Cube Farm uploaded by DanielN
tags | public relations | PR | social media | marketing

Brand Clouds, Charmin Hacks, Croc’s Kill Buzz and 3Luxe Bests | Four Links | 11.28.07

1) What Do Your Google Search Results Say About You? | Media Orchard
Scott Baradell uses Tag Cloud to show how Google results look to folks searching online. This is smart as your search results are part of your brand. In fact they can be your customer’s "first moment of truth" with your brand…is this moment a good one?

2) Two Admen Claim Credit for Charmin Slogan | Associated Press
Mr. Whipple passes at age 91. What better way to celebrate his life than a pissing match over who wrote his script!

3) Crocs Kill Buzz | Murketing
The NY Times’ Rob Walker updates us on a Consumed story about a Crocs fan that received a cease and desist letter from his favorite brand. It reminds me of the Fed Ex Furniture story. Brands that let legal drive decisions like this need to consider the long-term implications of turning a vocal passionate customer into a vocal brand hater.

4) Top 3 Choices for Shoppers | Springwise
Springwise details 3LUXE, a site that highlights “just three items in each of its many product categories…saving consumers the hassle of endless research.” Visitors can also post reviews and rate products themselves.

When I found this Springwise review I was glad to see word getting out about 3LUXE. Its CEO also runs a local ad agency where several of my friends work….without shoes even.

tags | public relations | PR | Crocs | 3LUXE | advertising | marketing | Charmin | brand

American Red Cross Plugs Social Media Tools into Disaster Communications Efforts – Four Links (x2) – 11.03.07

Now with twice as much link love!

1) Voce Nation Podcast: Ike Pigott/American Red Cross Interview // VoceNation
Ike Pigott details how the ARC uses social media tools "to convey vital information and help people connect during times of crisis — lessons other companies can apply to their own communications programs." An unrelated question: if steel is galvanized and dry cleaning is martinized does that mean Voce’s blog is Hallettized?

2) Utterz Makes Micropodcasting the Shiny New Tool // Utterz
LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, SlideShare, er, I mean Utterz is changing the way I communicate. OK, maybe not. But it’s an interesting site. Listening to Sarah Wurrey on Utterz, I learned about BeFunky. As you can see in this ice cream stand image, it gives photos a “cartoonish” feel to them.

3) The 'Winners' of the Wired News Saddest-Cubicle Contest // Wired
If you’re having a bad day just remember -- it could be worse.

4) Strictly no Photography // Core77
Core77 points us to this site aggregating photos from places where cameras and photography are off limits.

5) iPod touch Ad is Consumer-Generated // TUAW
This takes Tiny Machine to a whole new level.

6) Will Beat Reporters be Boosted by Social Networking? // PressThink
Jay Rosen is helping push journalism forward with NewAssignment.Net experiments. The latest is testing out a social network’s impact on beat reporting. This all reminds me of Steve Rubel’s blog-only news diet from 2004.

7) Orange’s Never-Ending Web Page // PSFK
Got (more than) a few minutes to spare? Check out Orange’s pretty Web site.

8) Dell’s new Investor Relations blog // Andy Lark
Andy Lark’s got a new blog as does his new employer Dell. While I have no experience with IR, an IR blog is an interesting concept. A key discussion started by Jonathan Schwartz is how it might impact disclosure.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | media | advertising | marketing | consumer-generated media | Ike Piggott | American Red Cross