Strategic Public Relations

Slow News Day & Blog/Media Relations

The AP just ran a story noting “World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee started a blog just in time for the 15th anniversary of his invention.” As many AP stories go, it got plenty of pickup. The fact that this was deemed news in the first place tells us that:

• it was a slow news day
• holidays are a great time to pitch soft news.

ProfNet will be pretty light through end of year as even The Fourth Estate celebrates the holiday of their choice. But clearly blog adoption is not as far along as everyone wants/thinks/touts if the old “look who has a blog” story is still news.

Most of us are old enough to remember the news releases announcing that "Company X has launched a Web site." We also remember when this was considered news. Launching a blog is NOT news. It is a point of conversation. If you are launching a blog you have:

• been online for awhile
• defined your industry landscape
• been monitoring it religiously and participating in it as warranted.

This translates into engaging in industry conversations online. A new blog is another item to discuss and another place to hold these conversations. There are plenty of ways to let this audience know about your blog…a news release (while a proven-effective tool I still defend, write and disseminate) is NOT one of them.

tags: Tim Berners-Lee, public relations, PR, media relations, blog

Smithsonian Blogs and Podcasts

Site seeing in Washington, DC usually includes one of the 16 Smithsonian museums. A favorite of mine is The American Art Museum, so I was pleased to learn about its group blog, Eye Level. It should make some of its exhibits even more interesting and accessible.

But what about podcasts? The Smithsonian has an army of web sites, (more than 100), but I can find only two Smithsonian-branded podcasts focusing on science and Asian art, respectively. This is more than a request for "technology for technology's sake" (otherwise I would be asking about vidcasting).

Podcasting: Sound Advice for Museums
Just look at the math. In 2004, the Smithsonian saw 1.8 million visitors pass through its many doors. Online it saw 18.5 million unique web visitors—more than 10 times the traffic. Yes, it’s easier to surf the Smithsonian than visit in person. But I’ll argue that it would be easier to visit if you had an easier way to navigate the 16 museums and hundreds of exhibits offered. From travel tips to exhibit overviews and interviews, podcasts will greatly enhance any museum experience.

From museums to theme parks, Disney is podcasting. It’s launching a weekly podcast to commemorate their 50th anniversary. Some of the same benefits apply and Disney provides a great example for museums to follow. More museum podcasts might even serve as examples of non-profits moving through the last 25 percent? Thus far we have primarily seen agencies engaged in the conversation. More on this topic later.

Online Field Trip
Stop by the National Museum of American History for an interesting, visual review of advertising history. Even a tchotchke from the tech industry made it into the museum. I found this now awkward Time magazine cover story at the National Portrait Gallery. Bill Gates has come a very long way from the floppy disk to sharing the cover with Bono (and his wife).

tags: Smithsonian, Disney, Bill Gates, Time magazine, blog, podcast public relations, PR, marketing, advertising

MTV getting Web 2.0 with Microsoft, AOL

MTV and Microsoft have created URGE, an online music service, in response to iTunes and (perhaps) MySpace. This news reads like a me-too offering. It is…until you consider that MTV:

• is pushing video search to AOL
• recently purchased IFILM
• launched mtvU with its own consumer-generated media component. Who decides which letters are cap and lower case at MTV anyway?

MTV provides us an example of old media that is trying to stay relevant.

Many are rightly concerned about the future of television in light of the rapid evolution of the video iPod and other video-friendly developments like on-demand cable/satellite. But the theory goes that new technology does not kill the old, it just forces the old to change (hopefully for the better). Back in October, I noted that MTV could become the first media outlet to do more than simply play with CGM but really wrap it into its offering. Read: make money off it.

AOL, Microsoft and MTV trying to get Web 2.0 might seem like the ill-fitting equivalent of your parents trying to talk street. But they are late to the game and cannot afford to grow things organically. Besides, their strengths are their distribution channels/content. URGE “will be integrated into the next version of the software maker's Windows Media Player and offer more than 2 million tracks for sale individually or as part of a subscription package. The service will also offer music over online radio.”

Not to mention, let's remember what the "Garage Set’s" ultimate goals are. Whether they’re trying to be the next Bill Gates or the next Bono, I *guarantee* you that they’ll have no problems moving from MySpace to MTV.

I’m hoping MTV continues to stay relevant and serves as an example to other mainstream media outlets on how to do so.

tags: URGE, MTV, mtvU, AOL, Microsoft, music news, consumer generated media

Feedster Helps Biz360 Beef up Monitoring Capabilties

PR Week points us to a deal between Feedster and Biz360. They've unveiled BlogView which will "automate tracking of sentiment ratings and surface topics and influencers related to specific companies, products and trends." If my Buzz to English translation filter is correct, this means that Feedster is helping extend Biz360's hella cool analytics to the blogosphere.

I've used Biz360 in the past and love it. It's good to see the online monitoring services beefing up their capabilities to address blogs, but they're more than a couple of steps behind.

If only some of our favorite Web 2.0 companies wanted to do more than flip themselves to Yahoo! or Google. Someone like BuzzMetrics or Intelliseek could snap up Biz360 and provide the ultimate killer app for public relations monitoring. Now that Vocus is public, perhaps it will have some extra IPO dough to enhance its services in response to this competitor news?

tags: Feedster, public relations, media relations, Vocus, blog, Biz360, PR

Christmas...and other four-letter words

A slow news day brings us a USA Today report on how some retailers are/are not referencing Christmas. I’ll leave my take on this can of worms to this editorial cartoon.**  What really interests me about this story is the media relations effort behind it.

The above report shows how a small sample landed one “expert source” a big story in USA Today. Small sample sizes are usually a red flag for bad research. But in this case a small sample is warranted; there are only a small handful of national retailers. Conducting observational research on their holiday marketing is a simple and smart idea.

Smaller sample sizes can be appropriate depending on how the results are promoted. Consider an opinion poll at a trade show. Trade shows bring the bulk of an industry under one roof for a few days. An industry opinion poll is a great gauge of which trends and topics attendees find most interesting. And post-show round up stories are always looking for an angle beyond the laundry list of new products.

At my last job, we promoted opinion poll results gathered at my client's largest annual show. PDA-carrying pollsters roamed the show. Attendees were incentivized to take the poll with an entry into a drawing for one of several iPods. When promoting poll results, we were clear on sample size. The timely hook garnered the client great exposure and we also published the results in a follow-up mailing sent to customers and leads generated at the show.

** With a hat tip to Canuckflack, I suspect Tyson will ruffle more, er, feathers over their blatant display of Christianity than Macy’s will over keeping Christmas in its marketing. After all, they were the department store featured in Miracle on 34th Street. OK, maybe I'm wrong and just overdue for a Festivus Airing of Grievances.

UPDATE: Ed Nicholson from Tyson Foods rightly points out that the Tyson's "Giving Thanks" booklet is inclusive of several religions and provides meal time prayers from Jewish, Muslim and Native American traditions.

UPDATE #2: Adrants reports that the American Family Association pressured a few retailers into changing their approach. Oy.

tags: Christmas, public relations, media relations, Tyson Foods, Macy’s, Miracle on 34th Street, PR, Festivus

MySpace Helps Band Make Music History

The BusinessWeek article on the MySpace generation left out a very important example of how online communities and mp3 downloads are changing the face of music. The band Arctic Monkeys quietly made history when, without an album release, their debut single hit number one on the UK charts.

Downloads and a presence on MySpace helped fuel this rapid success. Mainstream US media has not picked up on this story yet, but this is an accomplishment that even uber groups like the Beatles or U2 cannot claim.

From Artic Thrilling:

The press, radio and television were almost circumvented entirely in the group's audience-building process. MuchMusic recently declined an offer to interview the band. The Arctic Monkeys are the first real breakthrough act of the download era.

All this while Sony pisses off their customer base with their CD rootkit issue. This is a bad time for Sony to pull a Dell (not that there would be a good time).

From How Musicians Have Harnessed the Internet:

As a musician, it is already possible to write, record, and distribute music without signing a record deal at all. Now bands can connect with their potential fans, too. The proliferation of widely available high-speed internet access coupled with the current crop of creative young people in British music has heralded a new era of low-cost, mass-market, musical fandom.

And to think, well before Sean Fanning was in college, it all really started with the Grateful Dead. “What a long, strange trip it's been.”

Hat tip to PSFK.

tags: MySpace, BusinessWeek, Arctic Monkeys, Sony rootkit, word of mouth

This Headline is Too Long

This evening I’m presenting to a communications class at Xavier University. My presentation, “This Headline is Too Long,” discusses online writing. In addition to a quick review of the basics that apply to all types of writing, we’ll discuss the organization and construction of online content and how it needs to go well beyond words to be effective in this medium. Images are key for creating/keeping interest and for quickly explaining a topic.

This post serves as my online portion of the presentation. We’ll visit a student blog, at least one news site and some creative approaches to organizing and serving up large amounts of content visually.

I’ll also revisit an earlier post on public relations writing that links to some online tools that can help folks keep their writing skills sharp.

A recent Bulldog Reporter opinion piece calls for more PR people with journalism experience. While this can certainly help a PR person, I’ll argue that both professions share a more pressing need for superior writing skills.

tags: public relations, blog, PR, Xavier University

Donald Trump & Bill Gates (Live) Meeting?

This evening, Microsoft joined a short list of brands that are harnessing the Apprentice buzz machine to help drive awareness efforts. Microsoft is supporting the episode with advertising (TV and online), a web site and several follow-up events. The entire, pricey campaign is promoting the Microsoft Office Live Meeting software.

According to Microsoft recruiter Heather Hamilton, Microsoft is holding two Live Meetings with Donald Trump in December.

If only Bill Gates were a participant in these online pow wows. Gates can advise Trump to cut his furry, tidal wave of a hairdo and The Donald might persuade The Bill to start blogging. OK, I'm dreaming. But Robert Scoble should be there. He can give us the download on his shiny, new Wordpress blog. If Scoble does attend, and decides to blog the experience, it will ensure the dialogue around Live Meeting continues.

Quick Segue: Bloglines surely felt a tectonic shift as Scobleizer's 9,000+ readers updated their RSS feed subscriptions. If you read the comments on the last Radio Userland-based post, you'll see that NewsGator subscriptions to Scobleizer's old feed are estimated to have been twice that amount.

tags: Microsoft, Live Meeting, The Apprentice, CEO blog, marketing