Strategic Public Relations

Strategic Public Relations

Finally decided to make the move from a free blog service to this paid service...mainly for the RSS feed. As you read this, I am in the process of switching. In the meantime, visit Strategic Public Relations (v1.0) here.

New Information

Now that all of the posts have been brought over, they will require some re-formatting. Plus a lot of linking and engine registration is warranted to make sure everyone knows where to point their browsers. In the meantime, I am pleased to be able to post images at whim. Stay tuned.

World-Class Marketing

Ah, there's an oft overused phrase for you--world-class marketing. I'll note that world class' initials also stand for waste can, water closet--you get the idea.

World-class marketing sounds great, but what does it mean?

CNN takes a stab at defining it in their annual Global Influentials special section. Selling to the World covers the obvious need to customize marketing strategies based on local lifestyles, cultural differences and more. One of my favorite passages notes why companies usually fail at doing this:

Arrogance or ignorance can foil a company's bid for global success, especially those who fail to understand what worked in the past, or in its home country, might not work everywhere.

"The issue is knowing what your product stands for, while being flexible in terms of what the local culture can accept," said Peggy Mitchell-King, a senior consultant with Morgan Anderson. "You may have to step back and say, gee, we are not the center of the Earth."

The key is having a well-defined brand and the willingness to customize your marketing strategies, and sometimes even the product, to fit the location. How well defined is your brand?

This reminds me of an idea from veteran marketer Jim Taylor on product positioning: "instead
of a product's differentiation, focus on a product's point of distinction. Customers will make the safest bet and buy the product with the least amount of risk. Rather than make your product appear different (read: an unknown quantity) make it stand out from its field of competitors. Make it the best at what it does."

You might say, make it world-class? Or perhaps industry-leading? Insert your favorite buzzword here.

Blog Police

To help curtail the rampant blogosphere navel-gazing, I offer the following articles.

Bill Thompson brings up some excellent points in Blog eats blog.

"...any group with influence needs people outside that group who will criticise it. In the real world of politics and society, journalists do that - proper journalists who know what having principles means, who aim for objectivity while accepting that it is unattainable, and who are open about who pays them and who they work with. [snip] Yet the blogeoisie and their acolytes dismiss 'journalism' and those who practice it, arguing that the direct reporting of events is the only thing needed. As Dave Winer says: 'The typical news article consists of quotes from interviews and a little bit of connective stuff and some facts, or whatever. Mostly it's quotes from people. If I can get the quotes with no middleman in between - what exactly did CNN add to all the pictures?'

This isn't about not liking blogs. It's about not liking unaccountable concentrations of influence, about believing it is still true that 'the first duty of the press is to obtain the earliest and most correct intelligence of events of the time and instantly, by disclosing them, to make them the common property of the nation' - and about noting that 'most correct' does not mean 'what the blog says'. What is happening in the world of the bloggers, needs to be reported and commented on by those who haven't bought into the worldview. Sadly, this does not seem to be an acceptable activity."

Part of our inflated self-importance comes from the free ride we are taking with Google. The next article, How bloggers game Google, has a conspiracy-theory tone to it, but I guarantee you that my traffic has been boosted by high Google page rankings. This is depressing considering my traffic. However, I do not think this phenomena has anything to do with Google owning Blogger. Google's algorithms were already kind to Weblogs before the purchase.

These articles were written in May and April, respectively, and I just found them. This is noted as more evidence that I too commit blogging sins.

Let's make a New Year's resolution to create content that has substance, structure and meaning.

Celebs, the Web and Public Relations

Marketing Wonk points us to a great article at Online Journalism Review on how Martha, Michael and others are using the Web as a spokesperson. OJR expands on the topic and offers additional insight into how the tactic blends legal and public relations strategies.

Change is Afoot

If you're reading this, Blogger is back up. The service outage is a sure sign that Strategic Public Relations needs to move. So I have signed up with a new blog hosting service to upgrade and offer you an RSS feed.

Once the new house is in order, I will unveil the new address so you can update bookmarks, edit links and subscribe to my feed as you see fit. Until then, keep your browser pointed here.

Strategic Drift Begets a Blog
I'm also creating a sister blog for all of my Martha Stewart public relations content. The Stewart thread was taking on a life of its own and impacting Strategic PR's focus. So I have two new blogs I am working on. Both should debut prior to the Martha Stewart trial beginning on January 12.

There is nothing quite like a deadline to motivate.