Morgan McLintic on PR

CEO as PR firm?

Jason Calacanis has posted some helpful tips for CEOs of startups about how to maximize PR. Oddly he feels these negate the need for a PR firm. Most of them involve dedicated networking, building personal relationships and, of course, having a newsworthy company to start with.

Many CEOs may struggle to find the time to do this themselves, even if they have the acumen and desire. The CEO-as-brand type of leader is probably in the minority. They make the PR team's job much easier, but most are too humble, team-oriented or focused on building their business to execute this approach themselves, despite the benefits.

If a CEO has an understanding of the media, can describe their company clearly and without hyperbole, and has the time to prioritize this on a consistent basis, then it will certainly be a good asset for any PR program. I wouldn't suggest it be the sole approach, and any effort should be in line with a broader strategy in terms of message, outreach and follow-up. Every team needs to work in concert, even if that team involves the company CEO.

On a related note, I tire a little of the PR (and PR firm) is dead / broken / irrelevant meme. I know it gets a lot of comments (since we read the sites) and wider debate (since PR folk tend to blog), but it's a bit dated. Yes, the low barriers to entry to PR and lack of professional license mean the quality of some practitioners is lacking and they spam reporters and bloggers. But issuing press releases is not the totality of PR. PR does not stand for press release (though i've heard it innumerable times). And not all PR firms are the same.

My recommendation for startups looking to appoint a PR firm is simply to look at the commercial track record of that firm over the last 3-5 years. If they are doing well compared to their peers and growing consistently, then you can deduce they are delivering value. You may feel they are the 'best of a bad bunch', and well, I'm humble enough to admit we've all got room for improvement. But so have the accountancy and law firms I've worked with.

I don't take the criticism personally, and perhaps shouldn't give it airtime, but I'd hate for people to take advice not to appoint professional counsel at face value. If you think PR is bad now handled by firms who do it day in and day out, wait until you see those who go solo. I wouldn't fancy defending myself in the court of the media (see the fates of Arthur Andersen, WMD, Michael Jackson et al), when the firm's reputation is at stake.

agency, PR, PR, Public relations

PR is dead (again)

PR died again today. At best it's broken and at worst irrelevant.

So do tech firms need public relations?
Surely the best technology will rise to the top and gain the attention of key bloggers and the press. Well, yes cream does float (and so does sh*t), but the vast majority of technology is by definition somewhere in the middle. It competes in a crowded space, with narrowly defensible differentiators. Under those conditions, the firm which proactively promotes itself should out-execute its peers.

It's not a strategy to hope that your mousetrap is so good that people will beat a path to your door. Let's hope for that, but let's plan for the opposite. History is littered with better tech which was out-marketed - Palm wasn't a patch on Psion for instance.

So yes, firms do need PR.

Do you need a PR firm though?
You don't need to hire a PR firm, just as you don't need attorneys, accountants, brokers, recruitment firms, lease agents, ad firms, or web design shops. To a greater or lesser degree of success, you can do all these yourself. But it will cost you time and your mistakes will cost you money.

No doubt reporters would much rather talk directly to the CEO of a company than a PR representative. Quite apart from the flattery, they get right to the source of the vision, strategy and planning, which they can directly quote. But the fact is that the CEO needs to do what only he or she alone can do. And while there are times that PR is the most urgent priority, that's not always the case and the CEO must focus elsewhere.

It's best to have some dedicated PR resource. There are many reasons to keep that resource in-house for certain types of firms and at certain stages. And many to outsource to a specialist agency for others. Most firms have a hybrid which works well.

Is PR broken?
Yes - but it has been broken for a long time. My friend Dennis Howlett taught me many of the things which PR firms do wrong in the mid-nineties: not reading the publication; not understanding the reporter's beat; not having a firm grasp of the technology; not having a good story; not following up etc. These things have nothing to do with blogging or new technology.

Fact is, and I'll whisper this, some PR people just aren't that good. And, I'm afraid even good ones make mistakes (yes horrific huh?). And, others frankly are just busy sometimes.

Sure, the technical changes in communications can compound those mistakes and make them more public. And yes, we're all learning how to use each new channel, and write new forms of more and best practice. But there are still low barriers to entry for PR, so there are still poor practitioners out there.

There are also poor reporters and bloggers who fail to understand technologies, miss deadlines, break agreed embargoes, keep review kit, steal ideas, change post timestamps etc. There are low barriers to entry here too - it's just part of the game and in a fair world the best ones survive, and the worst close during a recession. Winter kills a lot of bugs.

Does the debate help?
No-one likes criticism and we can all do better. Some PR folk are thin-skinned and self-important, so get their knickers in a bunch about it. I personally don't think that blogging the problems is the best approach, but if all you have is a hammer, it's the easiest one. And perhaps it's better to say something rather than be silent. I can empathize with the frustrations.

The facts will tell you that PR is not dead or even dying. The industry is growing at double digits and firms are continuing to hire new staff to handle the new clients which approach them. The power of the media is increasing, so firms need resources as both a sword and shield to compensate. There are some seismic changes going through the PR industry as there are in media and advertising. But those changes are not happening as fast as we all might think (or like). It was only in the last year that more than half US households got broadband for instance!

As the blog networks move closer to journalistic norms and look to replace the traditional media, they are learning how to cooperate with the public relations departments of the companies they want to write about. And vice versa -witness the embargo debate for instance. These are industries with a symbiotic relationship. For the most part it's a collaborative and fruitful one, but of course there are pent-up frustrations on both sides. To an extent these periodic outbursts are cathartic, so let's hope it makes us all improve our game.

PR, Public relations, media

Channel hopping

We got a glimpse of how television could be last night. Detective series, CSI: NY broadcast an edition where the criminal was tracked in 3D virtual world, Second Life. About 30% of the program was shot in machinima by The Electric Sheep Company (another client). But the crime hasn't been solved. It continues in Second Life where viewers can now become crime scene investigators themselves. The characters we saw in the program are identical to the ones in the virtual world - down to the pixel, since they were used to shoot the program. It's a great way of extending the CSI experience.

What amazed me though was the level of interaction while the program aired. Of course, we were in-world, trying out Electric Sheep's new OnRez Viewer (which is very slick - love the back button), chatting and IMing with each other. At the same time, the email was flying and AIM popping. There was also a discussion in real time on Twitter and several friends' Facebook statuses declaring they were glued too.

Television isn't normally a communal experience. Too many channels and TIVO mean there's rarely a synchronized time we all watch the same thing (in fact usually only sports). More importantly, there's no channel to interact through. Last night's CSI reversed that in many ways. There were too many channels of communication, but only one thing to watch.

Fans of The Office (US edition) will be pleased to see Second Life appears in that tonight too.

Technorati Tags: CSI: NY, machinima, OnRez, Second Life, The Electric Sheep Company

The Technical Transition

Just a quick pointer to an article I wrote for the International Public Relations Association about the increasingly technical nature of public relations. It seems to me that increasingly your ability to execute as a PR professional is a function of your technical ability. I'm citing the rise of social media, SEO, online video, podcasting and even virtual worlds as examples of that transition. You can read it in full here.

I'm indebted to Robert Gray, editor of FrontLine, the IPRA's magazine, for his kind offer to submit. Let me know if you agree or disagree about this trend.

Technorati Tags: online video, podcast, SEO, social media, virtual worlds

How long until we see Fakebook profiles?

How long will it be until we see fake friends, character profiles and guerilla marketing groups on Facebook? Not long I predict (and maybe I'm missing them already). Remember the character blogs and flogs like Captain Morgan and Lincoln Fry we saw with blogging? A brand could easily create a nominally topical group, say Glasgow Free Forever, get people to join and then use it to create a self-selecting audience - in this case those interested in Glasgow tourism perhaps.

Handled well, this could be great. Handled badly, and people will feel duped and push back against the company.

Ditto with Friends, a tactic long hawked on MySpace. It might even be fun to be updated on the imagined thoughts and happenings of brand mascots or personalities. Perhaps I might want to be associated with that brand in my Friends, and of course there's the chance for direct dialog. If you are promoting a television series, what better way to keep people up to date on the characters between season than via a social network profile?

Sounds like a lot of work though, huh? It's another channel to manage? Well, you might not get the choice. If you as a marketer don't seize the opportunity to create your group or your profile, then others will. They might be your biggest fans, or naysayers or competitors. Take Jack Daniels, a brand I quite favor - there are already 500+ JD groups all using the Jack Daniels brand assets, as well as 158 profiles called Jack Daniels, some of which use the logo too. Your voice might get lost in the crowd, but if you truly are the brand, you presumably have access to the best content, understand the audience better and have the most resources to apply.

Whatever your thoughts on Facebook, ffor consumer-facing brands, and even for many business-oriented brands, at the moment, it's part of the communications fabric, whether you embrace it or not.

Technorati Tags: Facebook

SEO PR - missing the target?

The final panel at the recent PRSA T3 conference was about Search Engine Optimization, specifically SEO for press releases. It was a good panel, and I like SEO. I don't see why you would produce content and not want people to find it easily.

But I think, somewhere along the line, some folks have missed the point. We were offered a case study of a firm which had been asked to promote a news story for a publication. It produced a press release highlighting the fact that this particular publication had broken the story, and associating the two. Excellent tips were offered about how to improve the ranking of content in search engines. But the end result was that the press release ranked higher than the publication's story itself. In fact, it took positions one and two in the organic rankings with the publication, and really the topic of the announcement, coming in third.

Full marks for SEO skills, but doesn't this rather defeat the objective? The release was meant to draw attention to the story, not replace it. A press release is a vehicle for the media (and some might argue not a particularly good one for that). What it's not good for is end-users, consumers, prospects or customers. The promotional marketing toolkit has lots of better vehicles for those audiences.

I asked a few people after the session what they thought. Everyone said you want people to find your content online. Agreed. No-one said they'd ever bought anything based on finding a press release. Everyone agreed a PR team should know which media might be interested in a press release, and that they should be approached directly. No-one felt that media would spend much time reading releases they'd stumbled across on the web. Everyone agreed that if you were going to choose content to SEO, a blog post, or areas of the company's website might be better. Several thought that despite that, I'm wrong and resisting the inevitable.

I like SEO. I think it makes sense and appreciate the delicate art of matching word selection, order and repetition to make content rank as highly as possible. But am I alone in thinking the humble press release is a direct vehicle for a specific audience (namely the media)?

PRWEEK US creates Facebook networking group

PRWEEK was a little slow to jump into blogging but Keith O'Brien has been quick to create a networking group on Facebook for PRWEEK readers to interact. I think it'll be interesting to see how a publication uses a tool like Facebook to extend its brand and value to its readers (and potential subscribers).

115 members already. Nice work Keith. Judging from the comments there's a lot of interest to see how it develops.

Technorati Tags: PRWEEK

PRSA T3 Conference in NYC

I'm moderating a panel about PR and virtual worlds this afternoon in New York at the PRSA's T3 Conference. I'll be joined by Giff Constable, general manager of The Electric Sheep Company and Adam Pasick, bureau chief of Reuters' SL office. Looking forward to hearing their insights and to some great discussion with the audience. Giff also has a good 'Intro to Second Life' video we'll be showing, technology permitting.

Technorati Tags: PRSA, Second Life

The New Rules of Marketing & PR

David Meerman Scott has just published his latest book entitled 'The New Rules of Marketing & PR - How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly'. It's published by Wiley, 304 pages and available at Amazon here.

He was kind enough to list me among the roll call in the acknowledgments and offer a free copy, for which I'm very grateful. Congratulations David - looking forward to reading it.

Back

Back in the US after a great trip to the UK. One thing which struck me is that the UK has gone 'carbon footprint' crazy. Companies are all falling over themselves to promote that they are carbon neutral, editorial is jam-packed with features about reducing your personal carbon footprint, articles about geothermal heating, how to survive without a car etc. If you want coverage, think about how to link what you are doing to that megatrend. But it needs to be done carefully since there will be a backlash against firms which just pay lipservice to being greener. Phrase of the day came from Clive Booth, who termed this 'greenwashing', which i love.

Traveling in today i notice Microsoft's Office 2007 ads. Boy do they need a new ad firm. The Vista ones about a 'jolt to the operating system' were dire (didn't even tell you what was new or why - just the logo in an Aero bubble and that odd strap). The Office 2007 ones picture a guy on the way to work: 'Day one - the next 8 hours will be very, very different.' You bet they will since all the menus will be different and you'll spend a whole bunch of extra time learning how to do what you could easily do yesterday. I know companies often advertise their insecurities (Shell being green for example) but this seems like an odd angle to choose.

This was my first trip to the UK with my son, Jake. Traveling with an infant puts a new perspective on traveling woes. My friend Ezra Roizen summed it up well in an email to me - “11 hours on a plane with a baby is one of those special experiences that everyone should enjoy at least once before they die - which will probably be all the sooner because of it.” To his credit, Jake was brilliant but I now sympathize with the poor souls in the bulkhead seats.