Posts tagged agency/client

Measurement matters to Third Tuesday Toronto – Twitter notes

October 4, 2010 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , ,

What’s the ROI? That ubiquitous question is on the minds of brand managers, PR folks, marketers and business people everywhere. Of course, it comes up a lot in social media where we still haven’t stumbled on that one surefire way to measure our programs’ success.

Last week, Third Tuesday Toronto held a full-day session on social media measurement featuring panel discussions with industry thought-leaders, supplier presentations and an insightful opening keynote by KD Paine.  (She also wrote a great post about the panel she moderated on future trends.)

There was much discussion, both in the room and online. Here’s a snapshot of my twitter notes from the event:

#ttmm @KDPaine Most trad ad measurement models were flawed because they didn’t measure earned media

#ttmm @KDpaine you need 3 tools for measurement: listening tool, research to find out what they’re thinking, web analytics

#ttmm @igrigorik @postrank 80 pct of engagement w/ content happens off a content generator’s site; 50 pct happens within 1st half-hr

#ttmm @igrigorik to spread an idea, you need to look beyond highly connected networks and find people at the edges for cross-communication

#ttmm @dbarefoot – influencers often don’t usually start innovations online, they amplify them

#ttmm @pierreloic-5 Rules to measure online influence: frame problem, be multidimensional, complexity as needed, be flexible, share insights

#ttmm @pierreloic ‘land grab’ between mkt & PR for soc media; each could emerge as leader as a driving force

#ttmm @davidalston when do you snap the ROI in soc media? Relationships are an asset that you can continue to build on

As you might imagine, there were more questions than answers. But there were actionable takeaways for communicators, too. Now it’s up to us to encourage our clients to look beyond impressions and those big shiny numbers we all love and start thinking about how we can engage people, entertain, inform and help them in a way that’s meaningful and encourages them to help us.  Measurement through reciprocal behaviours.

Given that the session was so relevant to PR folks, I was surprised how few agencies sent representatives.  I hope this isn’t another example of PR being slow to react and missing out on an opportunity to help lead the conversation.

As an industry, we need to stop thinking about who we were and focus on who we want to be. For me that’s content creators/producers, curators, community-builders.  And, of course strategic thinkers focused on value and measurable results.

Will we get there?  Right now I believe some of us will.

Special thanks to Joe Thornley, Canada’s social media community-builder for putting it all together (and for asking me to moderate a panel).

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A brand new PR energi…

June 2, 2010 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Are you ready? I’ve got some really exciting Palette news.

On July 1 Palette PR, the agency I co-founded with Louise Armstrong, is merging with Communications MECA to form a brand new agency – energi PR – we’re calling it Canada’s PR and digital/social media powerhouse.

And we are jumping up and down thrilled!

Today we told staff and clients. We’re posting a news release on our respective sites and on our new site – which really is ‘under construction’ till early July.  And tomorrow morning, we’re live on the wire.

So what does this mean?  All Palette and MECA staff is coming to the new company and everyone will have more opportunities to work on new projects and take on fresh challenges.  We’ll be an independent, national and bilingual agency with offices in Toronto and Montreal.  Palette will be move into MECA’s Toronto office. And I’m really looking forward to getting to know and working with all my new colleagues.

We’re specializing in PR, social media/digital and corporate communications and building traditional and new PR/social media into our agency right from the start so we’ll be able to seamlessly integrate the two.  I’m going to be the Toronto managing partner and will lead the firm’s digital practice.

I’ve known my other two managing partners, Esther Buchsbaum and Carol Levine, a long time through Counselors Academy, CCPRF and from working together on projects.  I have long admired Communications MECA, the firm they created, their approach and industry leadership. They’re smart, talented and have a lot of business savvy and most important, the fit is right!

I have one other piece of news and that is Louise is stepping away from the business to spend more time with her kids and on her writing. This is something Louise has been thinking about for a long time. We built Palette together and I want to wish her all the best. I’m going to miss working with her! And, if she wants, there will always be a place for Louise at energi.

To everyone who helped and supported Palette over the years, including staff, all our wonderful clients, our industry partners and friends I want to thank you! I hope you’ll all come along for our energi-filled ride (OK, I’ll try to keep the puns to a minimum).  We’ve got lots of amazing plans!

Watch for more news leading up to July 1 and beyond.

I’d love to hear from you, but may be a bit difficult to reach on Wed and Thu – I’m teaching a two-day social media for business course at McMaster from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

And please bear with me as I update all my social network profiles. That may take a little time…

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After listening…

February 19, 2010 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , , ,

Listening.

Virtually all communications strategists agree that this is the first step an organization (or individual) interested in social media should take.

And that makes a lot of sense. You don’t just barge into a room and loudly take over every conversation (well, some Grand Boors do).

If you’re interested in any sort of relationship, you need to get a lay of the land, pay attention to what’s being talked about, watch what’s going on, understand who’s who… In other words, do some basic research.

So what’s the second step an organization can take? Should the CEO blog? Should they start a podcast? What about a Facebook fan page, Twitter feed, videos?

Those are all good considerations that depend on a company’s objectives.  But while you’re honing your strategy, there is one easy thing to do as a second step: set up a social media or online newsroom.

It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since Todd Defren first presented the concept of a social media newsroom; in the process transforming the staid news section of an organization’s website into a dynamic searchable platform.

Many companies jumped on board.  Some are still reticent. Perhaps that’s because they don’t understand how easy it is to share your stories and visuals with media and bloggers.  An online newsroom is a fast and effective way to go from read-only to two-way interactive.

And you can get started by following these steps:

  • Use a blogging platform like WordPress that’s hosted on your site
  • Customize the design and functions so it looks integrated and has the features you want
  • Add sections  for news (releases, bylined articles), bios, company backgrounders, videos, easily downloadable visuals of principals and products (hi and low-res), quotes,  links to relevant sites and contact info
  • Make the content sharable. Add your Twitter feed (if you have one) and other social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook).
  • Develop a strategy to tag your entries in order to help boost your search engine relevance
  • Contact media and bloggers you want to develop a relationship with and politely let them know that they can subscribe to your news and find and easily access resources whenever they need them, right on your site

Sure you may have to ‘surrender control’, but as many have already said, that’s something organizations no longer have. And if a journalist or blogger wants to write about your business, wouldn’t you rather be the primary source for accurate information and good quality visuals?  Wouldn’t you rather they came to you than someone else?

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Do you complify instead of simplify?

November 22, 2009 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , ,

At Palette we have a promise (to our clients and ourselves) that our relationships and work will be based on three pillars: simplicity, energy and integrity.

It’s at the heart of everything we do.

But lately I’ve noticed that for some people and organizations simplicity has (simply) gone awry.

And instead of making life easier, we make things more complex: we complify.

Here’s what I mean. In the course of a workday, you notice something you’re doing is cumbersome and has too many pointless steps. You think, we should come up with a way to fix this.

But instead of cutting through the crap, egos get involved. And then an old process is replaced by a newer process, a few extra levels are added (in the spirit of collaboration, of course) and all of a sudden something that wasn’t working very well to begin with (the devil you know) has been transformed into something that doesn’t work at all.

Congratulations. You’ve just been complifed.

So how can we avoid getting into this trap?

Here are three (simple) steps:
1. Ask yourself if an improvement is truly needed and if so, will people buy in.
2. Strip down the activity to its base elements, assume nothing is sacred and cut, cut, cut. (Pretend CTL-V does not exist.)
3. If your solution involves more than a couple of moving parts…abort! Remember what you’re goal is.

Sounds simple? Sure. But I can tell you in no time, it wouldn’t be hard to add a few more steps to this plan and complify.

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Fixing what’s broken between journalism and PR

October 13, 2009 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , ,

On Inside PR #173, my ‘-30-’ comment, the short POV remarks we’re using to end the show, dealt with a few of the things we need to do to start fixing the pretty much broken relationship between journalism and PR.

This is something that must be done. And I think it’s up to our industry to take the lead and try improve the way we interact with each other; build trust, credibility and respect on both sides. I think the same applies to bloggers and other influencers, as well.

Part of the problem lies with the way our profession functions: trying to place stories, traditionally in MSM, for clients or organizations. We often feel under a lot of pressure to deliver results for which we have virtually no control.

Fine. That’s our reality and no one forced us into it. I’m proud to be a PR practitioner and this uncertainty is one of the things we just accept.

There are many media with whom I feel I have a good professional relationship. I define that as being able to approach a journalist/blogger with an idea they might be interested in, showing them why/how it works in a quick, efficient manner and having them say either say yes or no (or sometimes saving it for a future story).

However, I think that over the years we have made many repeated mis-steps that hurt the industry and our collective reputation.

And now, with social media and two-way conversations being embraced by both sides, this seems like a perfect time to make the change.

Here are 10 steps the PR profession can take right now:

  1. Always read a journalists or blogger’s past stories (and not just from last week). We need to do our research and know who’s covering or interested in which subjects.
  2. Know the difference between hard and soft news and position a story accordingly. It may seem big to us (or our client), but we have to step back and realize where our news fits into the grand scheme of things. I mean really fits.
  3. Be transparent and tell the truth.
  4. Stop writing in corporate-speak
  5. Strive to be helpful, not a pest.
  6. Understand that while our clients are a top priority for us, the reporter has many other priorities and we need to empathize more with them.
  7. Stop making media lists from databases. Go to the source: newspapers, broadcast outlets, blogs, online publications. See who’s writing about what. If we’re not passionate about media, why are we in PR?
  8. Never blast out an email to a large (or small) bcc list. We’ve all done that in the past. And some are still doing it. Really, this was a bad idea from the start. It turned us into broadcasters, something we’re not.
  9. Leave our PR egos at the door. It’s up to us to reach journalists. Stop griping if they don’t always call back when we want them to.
  10. Help journalists and bloggers understand the new FTC rules/principles so that we can continue to work together in a mutually beneficial way.

It sounds simple but we’ve got to make the first move.

What do you think?

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Is follow the opposite of lead?

July 9, 2009 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , ,

I don’t think so. Actually, it seems that Twitter may have a better handle on this notion. You follow / are followed back. There are no sections on the microblog about leading (thought leadership aside, of course).

Too often we equate strong leaders with how many so-called disciples they have. People who are willing to blindly jump off (or blow up) a bridge. Now while that might work in banana republics and assorted dictatorships, it doesn’t seem like a smart model for business or the arts, where you’d hope the emphasis would be on looking for new ideas and insights; reflection that sparks imagination and provokes debate.

I got to thinking about this when I read what I’d call a truly inspirational blog post by Randy Hall on ‘Self leadership’. In it, he contends that great leaders must first learn how lead themselves. And by that that he means going outside your comfort zone, not being afraid to dream big, try something new, fail and then try again; keep learning, have passion and truly believe in the vision you are trying to achieve.

I couldn’t agree more. And, from a PR agency perspective, now seems like a great time for us to ‘follow’-OK embrace-these principles so we can provide real leadership and guidance to our clients, encourage them to get beyond the tried and true practices and see the communications light at the end of a social tunnel.

And while we’re on the subject, you may want to check out this post on ‘How to be an effective CEO’.

Special thanks to my friend and agency-owner Gini Dietrich for being a such a superb RSS feed and pointing to so much relevant and worthwhile content.

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Time flies and other cliches

May 7, 2009 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , , , ,

It certainly does zip by. Which is my way of saying that it’s been far too long since my last post. But absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder. Sometimes, it becomes a self-fulfilling habit that’s not so easy to break.

Anyway, I am back now. And don’t worry, you won’t hear a litany of excuses.

Just a couple.

1. It’s been… let’s say a bit of a roller coaster at the office (and I’m more of a bumper car guy myself).

And 2… I’ve been working days and nights. Ahh, entertainment PR. We just finished another hilarious Yuk Yuk’s Laugh Off, a contest where all the comics pull their punches – er punchlines in an attempt to win the $25,000 grand prize. (Second prize? Mac and cheese.) Halifax sketch comic, Mark Little, won with an act that could best be described as wit in geek’s clothing.

This year, in addition to traditional media relations, we added a social media newsroom, Twitter feed and YouTube channel. So that meant we were not only spectators, we were reporting live from the joke-stained trenches. It was a lot of fun. And comedy, with its bite-sized, sharable content seems to be a natural social media fit.

Have a look and let me know what you think.

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The RfP speed-date

April 4, 2009 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , ,

If you work in PR or communications (or any agency, for that matter), you’ve probably done lots of RfPs. In the current economy, it seems like there are more of these every day.

Now, I’m happy to jump through all the hoops necessary to win a good piece of business, especially if it’s a brand I admire.

However, think how much time we spend creating standout strategies and creative ideas that never see the light of day. Because when you get right down to it, there’s a lot of agency talent out there and the final decision is usually based on chemistry or fit.

And that’s OK. It’s a big part of what relationships are all about.

Which is why I’d like to propose a new 10-step agency selection model:

The PR RfP speed-date

Here’s how it works:
Step 1: Client does online research to determine which agencies look the most promising.

Step 2: Client rents a neutral venue, buys a bell, selects a date and invites said agencies (no more than six) to an hour-long event. Client provides agency with a one-pager on the organization listing business challenge, goals, objectives, culture and budget.

Step 3: Agencies arrive and the venue and are each seated at a table. Client welcomes everyone and makes introductions (we probably all know each other anyway).

Step 4: Client then moves to table one, spending up to 10 minutes meeting with agency, asking questions, listening to agency’s response.

Step 5: Bell rings. Client moves to next agency.

Step 6: Repeat step 5 until process is over.

Step 7: At the end of the hour, agencies leave and client selects the top two.

Step 8: Based on what my friend Julie Rusciolelli suggests with potential new hires, client invites two agencies out to dinner (separate nights) to get to know them better and talk strategy and ideas. No presentations, everything off the cuff.

Step 9: Client makes selection and informs both agencies.

Step 10: Client and agency begin working together – (i.e. formal engagement).

Done right, the entire process should take no more than two weeks, and, while I can’t offer guarantees, my gut tells me everyone will be happy with the results. (And, if not, it’s easy to start over or to try number two.)

OK, for those who don’t know my sense of humour, yes, I’m joking (but only half). It makes you wonder if there isn’t a better process for clients and agencies to successfully pair up.

And if any clients want to try an experiment, Palette is in. Meanwhile, bring on the next RfP.

What do you think?

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Survey sez

November 20, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , ,

Lately, I’ve begun to feel like one of those anonymous but oft-referred to people ‘behind the board’ on Family Feud. You know ones responsible for answering the questions the panelists try to guess.

By that I mean I’ve been getting more and more requests to complete surveys. It could be from a hotel (on a scale of one to five, did I find the pillows comfortable…); a professional organization (I get these a lot); a conference I attended; a store I shopped at; an online destination… The list goes on and on.

And they’re all looking for …what?
A. Demographics
B. Knowledge
C. My POV
D. Some of the above
E. All of the above
F. None of the above
G. There is no above

I’m beginning to wonder what everyone is doing with the mountains of data being gathered. Is there a meaningful analysis going on? Learning? Is there a market trading used demographic nuggets?

There’s so much noise out there. And so much useless minutiae being collected – information pollution.

Now, I’m not saying we should stop doing research. Far from it. Comprehensive, well thought out research is one of the keys to successfully practicing our profession. I just feel there should be more to it than qualitative results.

Many of us in PR have used surveys to come up with potential news hooks. Perhaps, as a first step to reduce the info junk pile, this is something our industry should stop (or at least greatly curtail).

Maybe instead of all the multiple-choices, we should spend more time talking to the right people, thinking and listening.

And go back to creating meaningful – and sustainable – stories.

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So you wanna work in PR – in an economic downturn

November 17, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , , , ,

This is the third installment in an unplanned series of posts about getting a job in PR. I’m writing it following a panel I was on at Talk is Cheap 2.0 with Joe Thornley and Trevor Campbell*.

So… here we are in the midst of an economic meltdown. It’s hard to read the papers without feeling jittery and depressed. And I think it’s safe to say that the market for new PR hires is tighter than it was six months ago. Not only that there are fewer opportunities, hiring freezes and potential layoffs.

So what can a job-seeker do?

I still believe you should still follow the advice I offered here and here.

But I would like to add a few more thoughts to the mix:

1. Be curious. Find out about the world around you; experience it. In Toronto, the AGO has just reopened, so pay a visit; watch the latest films (indie and mass); wander along Bloor Street during Nuit Blanche; volunteer for a not-for-profit you believe in; read a book by Malcolm Gladwell (or anyone for that matter)… Becoming a business/pop culture/political/ economics/tech/entertainment/food/fashion/beauty/etc. expert is an essential when you’re in PR. Make yourself stand out.

2. Add social media to your skill set. Get to know the latest developments and offerings. Learn how to use RSS in media searches. Participate in industry communities. Set up a profile on Linkedin. Sign up for Twitter. Blog. Read PR blogs, post smart comments and build relationships with people you respect and admire. Listen to podcasts. Watch videos. And be critical. Understand that social media isn’t the cure-all to every PR challenge. And when you start working, maintain the self-study and share your findings with colleagues. Every office needs a few social media gurus – who also grasp the intricacies of traditional PR.

3. Above all, don’t get discouraged. The soft economy is NOT your fault. It’s affecting all of us and is out of our control. There is a great job out there for you. Don’t beat yourself up if it takes a little longer than you’d planned to find it.

*BTW, Trevor is president of Porter Novelli Canada and has just started his blog; I’m looking forward to reading it.

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Introducing social media

November 16, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , , ,

In a few weeks I’m going to be giving a presentation introducing social media to neophytes.

And, in addition to offering practical how-to’s and definitions, I’d like to include a couple of slides with tips or advice from practitioners (with full credit for any suggestions I use).

If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Thanks.

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I’m starting to really appreciate Twitter

November 12, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , ,

I checked my BB, as I always do when I get up in the morning, and was surprised to discover that I didn’t have a single new email. When I got to work shortly thereafter and logged into my computer, I found the same thing.

Nothing new. I had that sinking feeling we’ve all experienced when you realize you’re in the middle of a tech ‘failure to communicate’.

We had recently made some changes to our server (and everything seemed to be going fine), but today we had a glitch that made inbound and outgoing emails come to an abrupt halt.

And while the situation is being repaired (though being in the middle of it, it sure feels endless), I do feel lost without the action of my email fix.

Fortunately, we still have Internet and I was able to Twitter the fact that ‘we’re experiencing technical difficulties – please stand by’ to all and sundry who may be trying to contact us. And I felt somewhat empowered by that.

The challenge is to get the people you’re trying to reach to tune in.

Of course, we do have another old school option: pick up the phone.

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Spammers one, believers zero*

August 16, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , ,

When people from my agency go on vacation, we try to give them an email holiday, too.

We stop cc’ing them and prepare an update that they receive just before they get back with a summary of what happened, the most recent drafts of documents and so on.

Of course, that doesn’t mean emails shut down entirely. There are still times when you need to be copied or sent a note. But it sure cuts down on the clutter.

So when I returned from my time in NYC (nearly a week), I was pleased to find only about 250 emails in my inbox (very manageable and totally non-stress-inducing).

However, when I checked my spam filter, I noticed it also contained about 250 messages (many about debt control – is spam a barometer of the environment or are they trying to tell me something?).

This reinforced the fact that spam isn’t something we can turn off or even control. We can redirect it, try to ignore it, but it bombards us; like cheap verbal junk food, clogging up our online arteries.

And it made me realize how careful we, as PR people, have to be when we’re distributing a news release or other information on behalf of our clients. In the olden days (say three or four years ago), we used the bcc function and blasted emails out to an unspecified, but often long list of media.

Thinking back, I’m sure these lists contained a fair number of journalists who viewed PR missives in much the same way that I view spam. Unsolicited, untargeted and unwanted. This probably came to a public head with the Chris Anderson affair.

I say it’s time to leave our subscription-based media databases behind and put an end to PRspam. Our industry needs to be smarter, learn more about the influencers we’re trying to reach and offer them something of value. Let’s get back and do what Giovanni Rodriguez describes as the essence of our profession’s name.

Building relationships with our publics. You know, the kind where we talk to (as opposed to pitch) each other.

*Thanks to my friend Joey Ax for inspiring the title when he reminded me of the country hit: Liars 1 Believer’s 0 (sorry I couldn’t find the song).

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Speed trap

August 14, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , , ,

Our 24/7 communications world sometimes seems a lot like the Autobahn: no limits to speed.

But I think we’d be a whole lot smarter if we if we took our foot off the accelerator and paid more attention to the road ahead. (Watch our for that pothole!) We could even enjoy some of the picturesque scenery along the way.

Now I’m not referring to a bucolic, Green Acres type of existence. Far from it: As they sing so eloquently in the show: ‘New York is where I’d rather stay.’

However, I am talking about situations where we, as communicators, feel that high sense of urgency (anxiety?) and instantly react.

It happens most often in emails. We press send and there’s a typo, a missed word, an undeveloped idea or – a mistake. We’re all guilty of this. But it’s an easy fix.

Instead of speeding through your to-do list, take an extra few moments – that all – to reflect, consider, think.

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Of Youtube and corporate blogs

June 16, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , ,

In a couple of recent entries, Joel Postman offers communicators a strategic perspective on two social media fronts:

1. He analyses the types of posts you most often find on business/marketing blogs and then breaks them into useful categories. I was struck by the fact that so many of my own posts fit into his model and that he was able to group them so succinctly. This one falls into the ‘TOH’ or ‘Tip-of the-Hat’ type (and you’ll notice I am trying to add a bit of value, as Joel suggests). I also realized I do my share of ‘Trivial’ posts, but hey, I like writing (and reading) quirky personal observations. To me, it humanizes a business.

2. How many times have you heard someone say, just upload a video on Youtube and people will flock to it? Sure, it’s a great distribution channel, but before you blindly jump on the bandwagon, you need to ask some tough questions and especially: is this the best place to be to deliver my message? I think that’s a good lesson for anything we do in social media or in PR for that matter. We need to stand back, consider all the options and make an informed choice. It’s too easy to get dazzled by the cool gadgets tech toys.

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Don’t take it out so much in public

May 18, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , ,

By it, I’m referring to cell phones, Blackberries and other personal communication devices (yes, walkie talkies count).

I realize I’m not the first to say this, and yes, I am guilty of the habit, but I noticed a scenario yesterday that helped me see things under a new LCD light.

A ’40-something daughter was eating dinner with her elderly parents. It appeared as if she hadn’t seen them in a while; they were snapping photos, having the waiter take a few shots, chatting, etc. Then, mid-conversation, the daughter took out her BB and began reading it and sending messages. It was as if her parents were no longer there.

Yes, I was eavesdropping – or should I say observing – but this struck me as just plain rude behaviour (and also struck an embarrassing chord). And I had to restrain myself from taking my own BB out and looking at it (knowing full-well that it was a Saturday evening and there was nothing of import).

Which made me wonder: do we have to be that connected every moment of the day? Have we all become like on-call doctors, waiting to be summoned to ER? Our public device-scanning obsession is a lot like talking to someone at a party but constantly looking over their shoulder to see if someone better is coming by.

And I know smoking is no longer acceptable, but picture this: after a nice dinner and some great conversation, two people have a coffee and light up a cigarette. Yes, it’s bad for you (disclaimer inserted to avoid politically correct comments). But what a way to share a moment (and in old movies it sure looked great).

Now, imagine the situation except replace cigarette with Blackberry. It just isn’t the same.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been trying not to read emails when I walk on the street and I think I’m successful almost 70 per cent of the time. Occasionally, I’ll pull it out (habit) and pretend I’m just looking at the time, but all the while scanning to see how many new messages I received in the last 10 minutes.

I guess what I’m trying to say, is I’m going to attempt to be more discreet about my BB use and urge you to do the same (and by discreet, I don’t mean holding it under a table at a meeting and thumbing away).

My goal is to not look at it so incessantly; to shut it off more at home; to pay more attention to the people actually around me.

Sure, there will always be reasonable exceptions; times when you need to send an email or take the call. But maybe, like being more eco-friendly, we should all conserve a little bit.

Filed from the 2008 Counselors Academy conference.

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To blog or not to blog…

April 20, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , ,

That is the question… a client asked a couple of weeks ago. Here’s what I suggested.

Before you get started

Figure out your objective. The blogosphere can be a good way to build awareness for you and your brand, but that doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow burn, like media relations, and requires your full attention. In addition, you have to be passionate about writing (hopefully good writing).

Entering the fray

OK, you’ve done your soul searching and decided that blogging is something you want to do. Here’s what comes next:

  1. Select the topic. It should be something you love, intimately know about and where you’re positioned to become a thought-leader.
  2. Linkability builds credibility. Identify the players, the high profile and oft-quoted bloggers in your sector and start reading their blogs. And when you have an insight to share, post a comment. That way the bloggers start to know and build a relationship with you. Again, a slow burn which generally takes three to six months (or more).
  3. Decide on your format, which software works best for your needs and how often you’re going to post. Then stick to it. (Ideally this should be at least a couple of times per week in order to build a following.)
  4. It’s a DIY culture and publishing is as important as writing. I spend about one to two hours per post, researching, checking facts and links, copy editing and proofing. This isn’t something you can pass along to staff.
  5. The blog needs a voice – yours. There’s been negative backlash when people find out a site has been ‘ghost-blogged’. The most successful CEO bloggers write the posts themselves. This authenticity is what makes their blogs so powerful.
  6. You should be transparent, listen, admit any errors quickly and respond to comments in a timely manner.

Will this get you any business? In the long run, maybe. As I said, blogging can build your profile the same as marketing, PR, speaking engagements, etc.

Our advice? Unless you have the drive, energy and hours to spend, blogging may not be the most strategic thing for you to do.

Think of it as a part-time job with a full-time commitment.

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Truly understanding your market

January 20, 2008 · Filed under Posts · Tagged , , , ,

I didn’t realize Winnipeg had earned the dubious distinction of being the ‘car-theft capital of Canada’. (I did know that during especially cold spells, people left their cars running and other people ‘borrowed’ them to avoid freezing.)

But I guess if you were living there, the car-theft moniker is something you would have been all too familiar with. And, if I was planning any sort of car marketing program in Winnipeg, that little detail would have been easy to suss out.

However, in yesterday’s Globe and Mail (subscription required), there was a story about how Ford of Canada had to apologize to Winnipeg for an SUV print ad they ran with the slogan, ‘Drive it like you stole it’. The company has since pulled the campaign.

I suppose the marketing agency thought the concept was creative and edgy. What they didn’t realize was that in addition to calling out the City’s epithet, the ad ran on the same day as a front-page Winnipeg Free Press story about a youth who was being sentenced for killing a cyclist, while driving a stolen car.

So who’s to blame? Ford? The advertising agency? I’d say they’re both responsible.

This type of situation should be fairly easy to avoid if an organization takes the time to get to know its market, build relationships on a grassroots level and not simply apply a one-size-fits-all approach.

Sounds like PR doesn’t it?

We develop an understanding of a community by thoroughly researching and identifying local issues, idiosyncrasies and trends, and conducting in-depth environmental scans that help spot potential hot buttons.

Perhaps companies should look to their PR counsel to provide this type of strategic intelligence at the outset of a marketing program, so they can avoid backing up into a brick wall.

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Whom do you trust

June 30, 2007 · Filed under Posts · Tagged ,

What does it take to go from competent PR person to trusted advisor?

Joel Postman offers some sage advice.

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Of pocket protectors and other little things

February 19, 2007 · Filed under Posts · Tagged ,

This June I’m leading a roundtable discussion at an upcoming PR industry conference. The subject is client relationships. So I’ve been thinking about what I can talk about and something happened last week that felt like a good starting point.

A client gave me a plastic pocket protector.

You know the kind: they fit into your breast pocket with a flap that holds it in place. Very Revenge of the Nerds or ’50s gas station chic.

And that one small act made my day, my week even. Now lest you think I am a total nerd (though I will admit to certain nerd-like tendencies), I’ll tell you why this had such a big impact on me.

A few weeks earlier, I was about to meet with this same client and noticed the pen in my jacket pocket leaked and left a huge blue stain on my shirt. Feeling a bit self-conscious I ran out to the mall across from my office, which, fortuitously was in sidewalk sale mode. And I actually picked up a decent cotton shirt for a good deal. I wore it to the presentation and mentioned my sartorial 911 to the client. He suggested I should wear a pocket protector and we all had a good laugh.

You can imagine my surprise the next time I saw him when he actually presented me with one. This got me thinking about the minutiae of life and how important they can be. They humanize a business relationship and imbue it with personality, wit and style. And we remember.

So that’s one point for my upcoming talk: Little things count big.

Now, I just need eight or nine more. Any suggestions?

Bla-bla-blog…

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