Strategic Public Relations

The Media Snack Meme

Kami Huyse tagged me to join the Media Snackers meme.

My desire to play in memes goes back and forth, but Kami rocks so I'm more than happy to jump in. Kami just blogged the annual PRSA Conference and it turns out she also has an amazing singing voice.

The meme question is “how do I respect media snackers?”

I’m paid to write and I even do it for fun. So when words like respect and snackers bob to the surface in the same sentence, my instinct is to flush. There I said it. Don't even ask me about life streaming.

At Connect 07 I put media snacking to the test and served up the video above to kick off my presentation. That video also fuels this discussion. Marketers need to broaden their definition of content. PR people in particular need to expand beyond the written word in this regard.

Snack Attack
But while folks are snacking on things like Slideshare, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr, are they digesting? David Armano was way ahead of me on this one.

So another Midwestern pragmatist is suggesting that a balance is needed. If we’re all striving for a higher level of engagement with our target audiences…I’m told this is called a conversation…we’re going to have to go beyond the t-shirt and bumper sticker platitudes and serve up some depth.

In some cases, serving up a buffet instead of snack can even be a point of differentiation. The For Immediate Release podcast is an example. Shel and Neville get grief for not having a shorter podcast. Instead of putting their podcast on a time constraint, they're going even longer and have started posting the content they edit out separately. Yet For Immediate Release has a healthy listener base as demonstrated in part by its sponsors.

So I guess I‘m tagging Shel and Neville by default. I’ll ask Scott Baradell, Karen Russell and Colin McKay to join the fray as well.

tags | public relations | PR | social media | marketing

Friday Flickr Fix – 10.26.07 – Go Outside and Play

Have a great weekend.

Fall uploaded by prblog

Best Buy’s PR Smarts and ChargeCarte’s Customer Disservice

It’s been so long since I’ve done a Goofus and Gallant post that I’ll remind everyone we point to marketing and PR stories that demonstrate how to and how not to.

Best Buy’s High-Definition PR
Best Buy starts us out with some smart public relations. A few people have listened to me talk about Best Buy’s HD strategy – from creating HD awareness to ceasing analog TV sales across the chain.

Consider how many customers will call foul over the retailer that sold them an analog set a few months before the switch to HD.

Now we quickly digress from taking something away from customers (and getting high marks) to offering a new service to customers (and getting points off).

ChargeCarte’s Nickel and Dime Strategy
The concept sounds good...get your phone or iPod charged at the airport twice as fast as your own charger can do it.

But charging me for electricity seems more opportunistic than helpful – especially at $3 for 30 minutes for only a 50 percent charge.

This ChargeCarte is located in baggage claim – where all you want to do is exit the airport.

There’s also only one small bench located next to it. If more than one or two people use this at a time, you'll have to hover and make sure no one walks off with your phone/iPod.

ChargeCarte should have taken this technology upstream. How much would you pay for an adapter that allows you to charge your phone faster?

Something tells me I’m not the target customer.

Charge Carte?! uploaded by prblog
tags | public relations | PR | media relations | Best Buy | Goofus and Gallant | marketing | design

Friday Flickr Fix – 10.18.07 – Connect

Headed to The University of Georgia in Athens to speak at Connect. At some point I may post my presentation here.

Karen Russell with the Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication has put together a great agenda.

You can follow the conference any number of ways if you’re so inclined.

I’m looking forward to connecting with some old friends in person for the first time, reconnecting with other colleagues and meeting the professionals, students and educators attending the event.

IMG_2357 uploaded by press_eject
tags | public relations | PR | social media | marketing | UGAConnect07

Oskope Visual Search – Seeing is Believing

Anyone looking for items on Amazon, eBay, Flickr or YouTube should try Oskope. The slick interface eliminates the need to page/scroll through results, much like Flickr Leech.

As I finalize my Connect presentation, I’m using it to see how many results "press release" pulls on YouTube and Flickr.

The results bring up a few videos about the social media press release. The videos are a tad over produced, with seizure-inducing graphics. But it’s great to see PR folk applying a broader definition to content. Stay tuned for more on that thought.

Via Brandflakes for Breakfast
tags | public relations | PR | Oskope | ugaconnect07

Social Media? PR Folks Just Doing It

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Being willing is not enough, we must do.” -- Leonardo DaVinci

PR/Marketing folks have been busy doing more than playing with social media. Here's a quick, incomplete and unofficial list of pointers.

Chris Thilk’s passion for film has landed him a semi-regular column at BrandWeek.

David Armano is redefining conference attendance with his Always in Beta site. Armano is attending Forrester’s Consumer Forum where they announced their Groundswell Awards. Plenty of award-winning projects to check out.

Jeremy Pepper and Luke Armour have left agency life and now work at social media startups.

Geoff Livingston and Rohit Bhargava are writing books on social media.

Colin McKay launched a blog for his employer, Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

C.C. Chapman offers the latest example of the social media news release while Todd Defren’s team continues to do so on behalf of their clients.

Ike Piggot has been quietly working on several initiatives for the American Red Cross.

The above projects follow many others and this list is by no means exhaustive. If you do not see your latest work here, please add it in the comments. I know these are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to social media case studies.

Needless to say there will be plenty of fodder for Constantin Basturea’s recently announced PR Blog Week 3.

So what’s my story? I’ve been working on a few things, but nothing worth linking to just yet. Our team here is small and plenty busy on all things marketing…not just social media. That said my firm does have a blog. I’m pretty proud of it, but I had nothing to do with it. It was created by a passionate co-worker who needed a better way to get product info and inspiration out to her clients. Mission accomplished.

I did uploaded by VonCanon
tags | public relations | PR | social media | marketing | blog

Four Links – 10.11.07 – Vote for Pedro, NIN Goes Free Agent, Brand Monitoring and Free Wi-Fi = World Domination

1) People’s Design Award -- Fast Company
The U.S. may have dropped the ball on that whole metric system thing, but democracy is still alive and well. The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is accepting votes for your favorite design. Be sure to vote before 6:00 p.m. est on October 16, 2007. Winners will be announced at the National Design Awards. Power to the people!

2) First Radiohead, Now NIN -- Influx Insights
This trend will pick up steam as more "record" contracts start to expire. Just ask god money.

3) Brand Monitoring on Twitter -- Being Peter Kim
Forrester Analyst Peter Kim updates us on Twitter monitoring and points to a few other things you should be monitoring.

4) McDonald's Launches Free Wi-Fi in UK Restaurants -- Neville Hobson/Twitter
Super Size jokes aside, McDonald’s makes a big/smart move in the race to create The Third Place by offering free Wi-Fi in its 1,200 UK locations. This impacts the coffee wars too.

tags | public relations | PR | design | brand | free wi-fi | marketing

Wal-Mart's Serious Square Footage

Wal-Mart's big, right?

Well Good Magazine tells us that Wal-Mart’s real estate footprint is now larger than the island of Manhattan.

Kinda brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "clean up in aisle seven," huh?

Via Traffic Court

A BtoB Marketing Checkup – BrandingWire 4

It’s always fun explaining business to business marketing at a cocktail party. The people asking are really just making conversation by asking what you do for a living. So you need an easy-to-understand elevator speech or eyes will glaze over – quickly.

But after 15 years of it, I still love BtoB. So when BrandingWire suggested we help a BtoB marketing firm, I was more than ready.

Our brief notes that the marketing firm is losing contracts to lower pricing and to bigger firms. They don’t know how to differentiate themselves from other firms and have stopped growing. They have little repeat business and focus on clients in the high tech and healthcare sectors with anywhere from $1 million to $25 million in annual revenue.

Here’s my quick take on what they should do.

Study Up: The first instinct is for action, but the firm needs data to make the best decision. An analysis of its competitors, of itself and of its customers is in order. In addition to existing customers, incentivize old customers to give you some honest thoughts on why they went elsewhere. And don’t forget the most overlooked source in this analysis – vendors and ad reps. They get to see several sides of the firm and its competitors in many instances.

Focus: The range of its clients’ annual revenue tells me the marketing firm has little focus. It costs the marketing firm the same amount to deploy themselves regardless of client size. What does the right client look like?

My last place of work created a standard scope of engagement that ensured only certain-sized clients were taken on. It wasn’t always easy news to deliver, but it helped us stay focused.

Now Really Focus: The healthcare and high-tech industries are vast. But I suspect there’s a sweet spot where the two overlap with the marketing firm’s expertise. With a client profile and market in mind, business development should benefit immediately.

Big Secret: The hardest part of this exercise is not deciding what the marketing firm should be, it’s deciding what the marketing firm shouldn’t be. This is partly because it requires a firm to turn away certain clients and possibly even fire some existing ones that don't fall within the firm’s new focus.

The above process should help the marketing firm realize the best point of differentiation. From here a marketing campaign can raise awareness of the firm’s new focus. Existing customers should get special attention as part of this campaign -- showing them that their input was acted upon is important.

Get more high-voltage ideas at BrandingWire. And be sure to check out the BrandingWire team’s individual blogs: Olivier Blanchard, Becky Carroll, Derrick Daye, Lewis Green, Gavin Heaton, Martin Jelsema, Valeria Maltoni, Drew McLellan, Patrick Schaber, and Steve Woodruff.

Check-up time for Prime. Plastic 52 (18/52) uploaded by ELTMAN
tags | marketing | BrandingWire | branding | brand

Hardcore Branding

The use of tissue paper as ad space in a doctor's exam room shouldn't surprise me, but let the record show I am NOT here for a prescription.

------ Kevin Dugan Sent via iPhone