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I can't imagine that many PR Squared readers are frequent visitors to Saks 5th Avenue --- the one that is actually on 5th Avenue, in NYC --- but if you are, or were ever there in the last 50-odd years, you just might recall the odd sight of a little old lady working behind the counter. She was about 5 feet tall with a big sweet smile and a lightning-blonde pouf of wispy hair. That was my great-aunt, Miriam. She worked at Saks for forever, but after she turned 80-something someone gently suggested she might want to take an extended break. She retired with little fanfare.

And unfortunately she passed away last week, not much more than a year later. Rest in peace, Aunt Miriam.

My lesson? Find work you enjoy, and then don't stop working.

But do take breaks. That's what I'll be doing after today. Taking the family to D.C. to see some monuments and visit old friends. I hate to disappoint the new RSS subscribers with a note like this, but I won't be posting again until after the 4th of July holiday. Enjoy the fireworks!

Posted by Todd Defren at 04:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Not sure exactly what this will mean, or if it means anything, but PR Squared is now a member of the Newstex "Blogs on Demand" network. 

I am going to steal some "what this means" language from David Meerman Scott of the WebInkNow blog:

"Unlike other Web-based blog aggregation services, Newstex actually licenses influential blog content directly from bloggers and then takes in each carefully selected blog feed in text format and uses its proprietary NewsRouter technology to scan it in real-time. Each blog post delivered as part of Newstex Blogs On Demand is treated as a news story. Blog content is easily integrated into the applications that people use everyday, including content aggregator services, financial trading environments and customer relationship management systems.

"A few weeks ago Newstex signed LexisNexis as one of the first customers for the Newstex Blogs On Demand product. Clients of the LexisNexis online service will be able to track and segment what key influencers in the blogosphere are saying about them. The voice and opinions of bloggers will be available to corporate customers integrated into the LexisNexis news and business information products.

"Newstex also delivers blogs from Gawker Media, an independent media company with a stable of titles in over a dozen categories including the flagship Gawker, plus Gizmodo, Wonkette, (etc.)"

Sounds pretty cool --- good company to be in, anyway!

Tags: newstex, blogs, blogging, PR, public+relations, marketing

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The webmaster for a major pharmaceutical company contacted me this week re: the Social Media Press Release (SMPR). One point that came up quite a bit, not surprisingly, was how the SMPR might fit (or not) within the stringent legal guidelines that guide the daily operations at pharma companies. "The lawyers look at everything," he noted.

I'd argue that the SMPR is a boon to the legal eagles. Let's look at Pfizer (which is not the pharma that contacted me). Pfizer makes a new drug (announced mid-May) called Chantix, for smoking cessation. Cool! A quick Google Blogsearch reveals appx. 2,000 blog posts about Chantix. A Google Image Search reveals 25 image results for Chantix.

How many of those blog posts and images are irregular, illegal, misrepresentative, ugly or just plain wrong? A dark edge of Consumer Generated Media is that the editorial standards for accuracy fly out the window.

And is it any wonder? If you take the time to dig deep, you'll see that Pfizer made many of the elements of the SMPR available when it announced Chantix. There's a list of basic news facts up-front. There is a full suite of Chantix-related pics (like the docs pictured here) & videos at a site called "The NewsMarket." There are in-depth pdf fact sheets on the drug and the market demand. Bravo!

But it is more telling to consider what Pfizer did not include in the announcement.

What if you are a blogger or even a traditional reporter, and you want to use a photo of the new pill for your post or article? I couldn't find one, not even on the official Chantix site. OK, no biggie, let's use the Chantix logo. Whoops: can't get a workable Chantix logo off the Pfizer site, nor the Chantix site. Hmm. How about the official Pfizer logo, then?

Photo: A free corporate logo to accompany this story is available immediately via Wieck Photo Database to any media with telephoto receiver or electronic darkroom, PC or Macintosh, that can accept overhead transmissions. To retrieve a logo, please call 972-392-0888.

Sheesh! Way too much trouble, especially for a typical blogger. (And I can't help but wonder if a "typical blogger" would have been granted quick access to that logo?) It was also too much trouble, if you ask me, to require the potential storywriter to travel to a separate site to find graphics. The NewsMarket site is clearly designed for use by professional journalists at "official" publications.

While Pfizer is to be lauded for doing a lot of things right, one of the essences of PR 2.0 is to make content readily available & re-mixable by any potential writer --- whether professional or "amateur."

A blogger who wanted to do right by the Chantix announcement would have been forced to do end-runs around the obstacles put in place (purposely or not) by Pfizer's PR team. Wouldn't the Pfizer lawyers and brand-managers rather see lots of OFFICIAL Chantix and Pfizer logos? Wouldn't they want to see jpegs of the ACTUAL pill, instead of lots of cheesy cigarette graphics (like the one pictured here)?

The SMPR is not all things to all people. But it is a step toward offering all potential resources to all potential stakeholders. PR 2.0 is about the democratization of content; corporations must now create content for everybody, not just a journalistic elite.

Tags: marketing, public+relations, social+media, press+release

Posted by Todd Defren at 06:09 PM | Permalink

The July 3 issue of BUSINESSWEEK (on news-stands now) contains an article on the Social Media Press Release template!

If you're visiting this blog for the first time, thanks to the BW article - Welcome! Please subscribe to our RSS feed if you're interested in an ongoing dialogue and ideas about "next generation" PR strategies. (And if you're feeling benevolent, please feel free to also add this blog to your Technorati favorites.)

• If you are interested in downloading the Social Media Press Release template, please visit our Agency's website.
• If you are interested in reading about the blogosphere's reactions to-date, visit our purpose-built del.icio.us page. This page will also give you a sense of where we see the "PR 2.0" trend headed: although it may look pretty straightforward now, in the future, social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us will allow PR pros to become ongoing "stewards of the storyline."
• If you'd like to see how our Social Media Press Release template looks "in real life," you can see the first-ever version, released by SHIFT Communications, here.
• If you'd like to see the first Social Media Press Release to be put out by a corporation, you can view Cymfony's release (as discussed in the BW article) here.

I am afraid I must also use this unique opportunity to remind folks that SHIFT Communications is a kick-ass, for-profit PR agency. (Pure-bred bloggers, shield your eyes!)

• SHIFT is an award-winning, independent, national PR agency with offices in Boston & San Francisco. Both offices have won "Best Places to Work" honors in their respective metros.
• Our 65+ staff work with high-tech and consumer companies such as Oakley Sunglasses, Shimano, UGOBE, Cybertrust, RSA Conference, Quantum, BzzAgent, and many others.
• SHIFT's unique business philosophies have contributed to fast growth, unparalleled client retention and blissfully low employee churn.
• We're hiring!

Welcome to PR Squared. Welcome to "PR 2.0". Most of all, welcome.

Tags: public+relations, marketing, PR, businessweek, press+release+is+dead

Posted by Todd Defren at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

PR people can be such perfectionists. It's our nature; we are service-oriented. And we have a big job: we're the standard-bearers for other people's reputations! When something "breaks" in a PR program, it can mean that our clients get the black-eye.

We've gotta get over our fear of failure. The PR 2.0 age requires it. We can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.

What types of transgressions are "acceptable?" I don't know. The answer is different for everyone. But here are some mistakes that I'd slough off...

• You created a publicly-available del.icio.us page that wrongfully implied that we were working for that company? (Better delete it.)
• You stopped commenting on the site of an influential blogger who started sending you "kinda' weird" personal emails? (Don't blame ya. Ask a colleague to pick up the strand.)
• You elicited a mean-spirited reaction from a blogger? (If your communication was informed, honest & gracious, then that's fixable - or maybe he's just a jerk.)
• You forgot to mention on a user-board or blog that you were representing a client? (Go back and fix it.)
• You recommended that a client get directly involved in a blog discussion that later went awry? (Good! Let's try to make an omelet out of that!)

See ya in the kitchen.

Tags: blogs, blogger+relations, marketing, pr, public+relations

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:10 PM | Permalink

This is a perfect example of the Influence 2.0 trends that Cymfony's e-book describes.

As a PR person, how would you counsel Comcast to respond to this Consumer-Generated Media?

You can't deny the event. You can't deny the customer service atrocities. You certainly can't retaliate against the consumer.

The only thing to do is to get better.

Or, watch this video ignite a firememe.

Burn, baby, burn.

UPDATE: I thought about this last night. Here's what I'd counsel Comcast to do, if I were their PR guy...

• Buy the rights to this video (and song).
• Promote the sleepy technician in the video to a "Special Ops" team that digs deep into Comcast's Customer Service issues, with a report due in 6 months on How to Make Things Better. (He should not necessarily lead the team, but, he'd be its public spokesperson. Why? Because he's the poor bastard who had to wait on-hold with his own company! And he'll always be The Guy From That YouTube Video.)
• Turn this YouTube video into a "Comcastic" commercial that airs in all major metros served by the cable operator. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts should walk on-set (with this video still frozen in the background), apologize, and commit to do better. "To be 'Comcastic' for every user."

You could argue that this video is a tempest in a teapot, but every Comcast user (myself included) knows that their Service really does suck.

In the Influence 2.0 world, it's incumbent on consumer-centric companies like Comcast to get ahead of their challenges before they become a meme.

(Here's another such nightmare.)

Tags: comcast, youtube, influence+2.0, cgm, customer+service, pr, public+relations, pr+2.0

Posted by Todd Defren at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I know, I know: the whole "2.0" thing is so frothy and silly. Listen to folks like Jeremy Pepper, Stuart Bruce, and Susan Getgood (which you should --- they're brilliant), among others, and you'll soon find yourself nodding in agreement that the so-called "new PR" is mostly about adapting new tools to rejuvenate our tactical approaches to the "old PR."

From Jeremy Pepper's Blog Run:

It’s always embarassing when PR people fall for the hype machine. We aren’t in PR 1.0 anymore, it’s PR 2.0. Um, rubbish as they would say over the pond. PR is PR, and it’s just the adjusting to new media. You do outreach to blogs the same way you would do outreach to media --- if you did outreach the right way...

From Stuart Bruce:

This whole PR 2.0 or 'New PR' is such a pile of garbage. What I'm doing is simply an evolution of what I've always done.

From Tom Murphy of PR Opinions:

(PR 2.0) equates PR with the technology. This is, in my opinion, incorrect. This isn't about technology, this is about how people are/will use the technology. It's about how these technologies change how people communicate. But it is NOT about technology per se.

From Susan Getgood:

The term "PR 2.0" must go... The fundamental practice of PR is still the same as it ever was -- it's all about connections and information and relationships. The tools are just how we accomplish the work. They are NOT the work.

Yes, yes, yes. But I'm still riding this pony. Why?

I truly believe that the PR profession is on the cusp of fundamental change. It took 50+ years for us to reach an inflection point worthy of substantive head-scratching. The 2.0 moniker is merely a "short-hand" way to acknowledge these coming changes. The 2.0 device will go away, when, to paraphrase Dan Greenfield, "PR 2.0 becomes PR 1.0;" i.e., when the PR industry has fully embraced and adapted to the Social Media phenomenon.

In scoffing at the 2.0 theme, the critics themselves (whom I deeply admire, most days) use language that begs for new terminology: "Adjusting to new media" ... "Adapting new tools" ... "These technologies change how people communicate" ... etc. If we are adjusting, adapting, and observing changes to core communications approaches --- geez, it seems to me an implication that an "upgrade" is a-comin'.

Some people might call that "2.0." (For now.) I will, anyway.

Tags: pr+2.0, pr, public+relations, marketing, web+2.0

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

NOTES! Apparently, the "Comments" function on this new site has been kinda' broken. Sorry! Should be fixed now. Also, the automatic re-direct from ye olde Blogger site seems to be working (slowly), but, if you were responsible for one of the 400+ links to the old site, please be advised that your readers may be re-directed to the most recent posts of the new site (this one), without linking to the actual post you had in mind.

Nothing's easy, eh? Feel free to re-craft all of your pr-squared.blogspot.com links to reflect the new, www.pr-squared.com url!

And, while I am asking for outrageous favors...

VOTES! I was honored (and shocked) to see that PR Squared had been nominated among 9 other PR blogs at MarketingSherpa for "Best PR Blog" honors. I swear ta God I didn't know anything about this 'til just now. Totally cool to be listed among blogs like Media Guerilla, Son of a Pitch, B.L. Ochman's What's Next Blog, etc. I am not so bashful nor falsely modest to not want your vote. Vote early, vote often, vote for PR Squared. Pretty please?

Tags: pr+squared, marketingsherpa

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

One of the oft-discussed challenges of PR 2.0 is determining WHO to talk to, and HOW to approach them. Most folks call this "Blogger Relations." It's an emerging field, which means it's wild-n-woolly; too new for rules. And thanks to that "newness," thus far we've been spared from asking, "HOW LONG should a 'conversation' last?"

We PR types talk enthusiastically about being part of an on-line discussion, for ourselves and our clients. But this dialogue is not easy to create or sustain.

“Instant pundits” --- bloggers who labor in obscurity until one of their ideas unexpectedly light up the mediasphere --– don’t appear on any MediaMap database. So it's sometimes hard to find them, in order to listen and engage 'em, prior to their notoriety.

But let's say that you do successfully engage them --- "mission accomplished." Whereas after "the hit" appears a professional journalist doesn't expect to hear from the PR pro again for a while, you can't assume as much when you're in a "conversation" with a blogger.

Let's say their hot streak ends within a few months, and that their notoriety is unlikely to ever again achieve "influencer" levels... The PR pro must ultimately decide whether to use precious time & energy to continue a dialogue that may never yield further fruit for their clients.

It’s a judgment call: allow a "pregnant pause" to enter the conversation and you risk the wrath of a blogger scorned... or, continue the dialogue forever (with 101 bloggers) and risk losing your sanity due to continuous bandwidth pressures.

One of my personal fear factors in this 2.0 age is how PR practitioners can possibly find the time & energy to create, monitor, nurture and/or sever the hundreds of relationships that might (or might not) aid their clients.

Hat-tip to Kami Huyse, who once blogged about "The Rule of 150" (i.e., social networks break down at about 150 connections). I couldn't find your original post, Kami, but thought you'd want to know that you inspired me, those many moons ago.

Tags: blogger+relations, blogs, marketing, public+relations, social+networking

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

As much as it pains me to admit it, there's more to the emerging communications landscape than the "PR 2.0" principles I espouse here. Public Relations is just one of many marketing elements being forced to evolve by the rise of Social Media.

One company that "gets it" more so than most is new SHIFT client, Jim Nail. Jim is a former Forrester analyst who now serves as Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at Cymfony, a market influence analytics company. I've been privileged to be able to contribute to Cymfony's new thought leadership initiative, "Influence 2.0."

The first iteration of this exciting attempt to help define and shape our brave new world can be found at Cymfony's re-branded blog, "Influence 2.0." From there you'll be guided to the first of several upcoming chapters of an Influence 2.0 e-book. Cymfony has a few more chapters in the works, but we're going to need your help to really make this puppy bark. If you are a fellow 2.0 geek, please visit the newly-launched Influence 2.0 wiki. We need your input!

But, before you hit the links --- maybe start here. (Look familiar?) It's a Social Media Press Release that Cymfony used to announce this initiative. It's also a good starting point to get a grounding in what Cymfony is espousing:

"Influence 2.0" identifies a shift in influence - the intersection of social and mainstream media - where consumers have increased control of content, breaking current models and forcing marketers to listen and respond to vast consumer audiences, not just talk to a limited set of mainstream media influencers.

Be sure to also check out the customized del.icio.us page that we'll be using to track the progress of the Influence 2.0 theme (RSS feed to the del.icio.us site also available).

Join the meme!

Tags: jim+nail, cymfony, public+relations, marketing, marketing+measurement, influence+2.0

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:17 AM | Permalink

Who needs PubSub when you've got the man behind the PubSub PR rankings, Mr. Constantin "I'm just here to help" Basturea? This is cool, Constantin. Great stuff!

May the best content rise to the top!

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

In an earlier post, I took wire services such as BusinessWire, PR Newswire, PRWeb, etc., to task for their lack of familiarity and competence with Web 2.0 functions such as Technorati tags, del.icio.us, RSS, etc. To be fair, each is making strides in their own right, but no single service is 100% ready for the demands of a PR 2.0 world.

The times they are a-changin'. This morning I met with Steve Messick, the Chief Information Officer of BusinessWire (BW), for the express purpose of walking him through the Social Media Press Release template. Throughout our chat, Steve nodded his head vigorously: he totally "groks" it. He couldn't go too deep into the details, but for now, suffice it to say that we can expect to see BW (at least) take big steps forward in the months ahead.

Steve was particularly intrigued by our recommendations re: Digg, Tailrank, etc. This was one area where he seemed to be in unfamiliar territory. But as I explained how services such as Digg could help elevate the humble press release into a "news story" all its own, I daresay I saw his eyes light up with a new understanding of how the PR 2.0 era could rock the wire services' world. In a good way.

This is important to the PR industry: the wire services will continue to be a primary mechanism for PR agents to distribute news to the rest of the mediasphere. The wire services are well-regarded and have long-standing, embedded, proprietary relationships with the world's traditional and new media outlets. If the wire services don't embrace these new PR 2.0 tools, it would make things tougher for us to make communications innovations.

Meeting with BusinessWire's CIO was confirmation, though, that even the oldest dog of the newswire industry is working hard to learn new tricks.

Tags: social+media, businesswire, public+relations, pr

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I love this story.

In talking about PR 2.0, I've focused on del.icio.us, Technorati, digg, etc. But canny use of Instant Messaging is also part of the new way of doing things. Here's a quick case study...

A few weeks ago, the SHIFT team that handles Kaspersky Lab reached out to Internetnews.com regarding a Kaspersky report on wi-fi and war-driving. The reporter, Andy Patrizio, was intrigued --- but naturally, he wanted more. In addition to interviewing Kaspersky, Patrizio also wanted a wireless security expert to flesh out the article. But his deadline was that day, and he wouldn't file the story without two opinions.

While the Kaspersky team was listening in on the interview, they used IM to contact the SHIFT team on the CipherOptics (wireless security) account. The CipherOptics team got to Patrizio through his own IM account, while he was interviewing Kaspersky. He agreed "instantly" to the new interview opportunity. Thanks to the lickety-split hand-off between the two account teams, Patrizio interviewed CipherOptics execs approximately 5 minutes after he finished with the Kaspersky Lab interview.

The result: Andy posted the Internetnews.com article later that day featuring commentary from executives at both Kaspersky and CipherOptics.

It boggles my mind how much today's media pros need to juggle --- storylines, tools, relationships, challenges. Stories like these are the equivalent of a Cirque du Soleil performance!

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You know you are a CEO who matters when you must give the markets a year's notice of your pending exit.

Bill Gates changed - practically created - the tech industry we know & love today. The articles I've seen so far that discuss his planned 2008 exit from Microsoft have largely been plaudits. He is being lionized for his contributions to industry (and charity). And with good reason. Tough competitor? Hell, yea: Google rings up 5,400 results for the phrase, "Bill Gates is the devil." The guy was simply an unstoppable force; he was unsparingly engaged in the progress of his company.

What I admire most about Bill Gates? He seemed to never, ever get bored.

Tags: bill+gates

Posted by Todd Defren at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

After 2+ years at Blogger, we've moved the PR Squared blog to a Movable Type platform and its own URL. Let me know what you think of the template refresh? Someone at the office called it "heroin chic" --- umm, does that mean, "edgy"?

Thanks for stopping by!

Posted by Todd Defren at 06:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I've also learned through PR Newswire that almost 700 registered journalists took a look at our announcement.

Meanwhile, almost 80 bloggers have made note of the template, in some form or another, and the reception has been overwhelmingly positive.

Pretty cool... but, some folks have raised some legitimate objections, so I want to see what I can do to sway them, a bit.

To do so, we must dig deeper into the features, motivations and opportunities created by the new format. The primary objection is best summed up by Susan Getgood: "The focus needs to be on content. Crappy content in a new form does NOT equal a good press release." ... (Special award for snarkasm goes to Brian Oberkirch of Ketchum, who talked about how we were merely "tarting up message points" --- great line!)

I am in whole-hearted agreement with these objectors. Even though the bullet-point format should minimize a lot of the "superlative" bad writing, the Social Media Press Release must be well-written. And, it does not replace the need to participate in on-going conversations.

With that said, please, explore with me. Let's take the time to examine some of the finer points:

As I mentioned at Susan's site, one benefit to the Social Media Press Release is that it could enable the widescale distribution of multimedia content that will be relevant not just to mainstream journalists but to bloggers, as well. Bloggers like pictures, to "tart-up" their posts (thanks, Brian). But that's one of the simplest of its benefits.

Now, think about the digg button on the Social Media release. Maybe no mainstream journalist covers your release, but, a few bloggers "digg" & comment on it --- and potentially a release that would have died on the vine becomes a full-scale meme ... which in turn leads to mainstream coverage! Such a scenario is possible for the first time, now. The Social Media release facilitates this scenario.

Dig deeper: I am increasingly excited about "Pitching 2.0". PR pros can become "stewards of the storyline" ... Rather than just get journalists to subscribe to our clients' pressroom RSS feeds, we might want them to subscribe to a del.icio.us site where we can "build" a story for them via links and our own notes/opinions. Essentially, the PR pro can become the journalists' and bloggers' Research Assistant, via on-going updates to the del.icio.us site.

And how do you get the original access to the "purpose-built" del.icio.us page & accompanying RSS feed? In part, through the Social Media Press Release!

More to come.

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:00 AM | Permalink

Posted by Todd Defren at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

But there's another form of consumer-created content, freely available to corporations who want to tap into it, which can provide a goldmine of actionable data.

It's e-mail. The e-mail that flows into a company via its customer service channel. Most companies view customer emails as "trouble tickets." Fix the trouble, and the emails stop.

But imagine a company that took the time and expended the resources to data-mine these e-mails for trends. Imagine a day when these email trends could be correlated and cross-checked with the data they're scouting for in blogs and the mainstream media.

Example: On Day #1, a new product debuts: The Widget. The mainstream media gives The Widget a warm reception. The CMO is pleased.

On Day #2, a spike of email & phone traffic flows into Customer Service. The Widget's doohickey breaks after several hours' worth of use. Customer Service reps navigate users to a solution that usually works. The CMO is not notified of any of this. He's thinking about how to launch The Widget, 2.0. (From a beach. In Hawaii.)

On Day #7, a blogger who waited for 45 minutes on the phone for The Widget tech support (only to be disconnected) blogs about how pissed-off he is about the doohickey's failings and cruddy tech support. His network of online friends pick up the strand. Other pissed-off Widget owners find out about this conversation via Google and Technorati searches on "Widget problems." They blog and comment accordingly. A meme develops.

On Day #14, a BusinessWeek reporter notices that "Widget problems" is high on the list of searches at Technorati. One user's makeshift "doohickey fix" is among the most commonly saved items on del.icio.us. The BusinessWeek reporter calls The Widget people for comment. The CMO is recalled from the beach. There's no SPF-factor lotion high enough to protect him from the "burn" he's about to feel.

Now imagine if the technologies that marketers now use to track online conversations had also been used to track the emails that flooded into the Customer Service department on Day #2.

The Widget-makers could have blogged about "potential doohickey problems and how to fix them;" and put out a traditional release; and, kept a close look-out for blog postings that they could have reacted to almost instantly, to keep the meme from becoming a "firememe" (like a firestorm, only "meemier").

"Social Media" is about the conversation. If your customers are trying to tell you something, be sure you have the capability to listen --- early & often.

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:05 AM | Permalink

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:30 AM | Permalink

After all, no one takes the time to envision, craft, and post a piece of content --- of any type --- without hoping for an audience to react to it. Even the gazillions of abandoned blogs that you run across were clearly hoping that their small voice would find a receptive ear.

If we are “all” becoming marketers, it follows that we are all also looking for “distribution” outlets. (Blogger is a lemonade stand. MySpace and YouTube are aggregators – shopping malls. Who’s got the best lemonade stand? What’s the coolest store to hang out in? Who’s the coolest kid at the mall?)

That's not to say that the content creator is marketing for a montary gain, necessarily. In the 2.0 world --- in which, let’s not forget, we are increasingly alienated from real-world communities and instead embrace our screens --- “marketing” for an amateur content creator may just mean that they are looking for validation, for authority --- not a pay-out.

By “marketing,” in other words, I am suggesting that a content creator is actively in search of an audience. If they fail, they try again: they make their content better; they post in a different forum. They are making tactical, thoughtful calculations about how to boost traffic/comments/feedback that validate their efforts. They take action in search of reaction.

Look again at the adorable kid in this picture. She probably spent an hour making those Play Doh sculptures. And I'll bet that she subsequently called out to Mommy to check it all out. She is clearly delighted that Mommy was so impressed that she ran to grab the camera! The li'l gal is a content creator who successfully marketed the value of her effort. With a click of the camera shutter, she closed the sale. Validation!

Posted by Todd Defren at 04:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

"Maybe I am inexperienced and naive, but why can’t (your ideas) be implemented? As an undergrad majoring in PR, I am completely terrified that while the school’s reputation might add some attractiveness to my resume, my real-world skills will be terribly lacking. Internships only tend to reinforce the concepts that PR intro classes teach (like how to write a press release), but they fall short in terms of providing a meaningful connection with the professional world as a whole. "So I’m stumped. If I can’t receive much significant in the way of actual, workable knowledge in undergrad, grad school, or internships, then it follows that the people providing the jobs should help cultivate me. "If the PR firms and departments are dissatisfied with the pseudo-educated graduates flocking in for interviews, why don’t they have a right to work closely with colleges and universities? Why is this such a utopian idea, Todd?"

• PR pros at-work in the industry are too dang busy to give the educators any assistance.
• PR educators --- in the past, anyway --- were happy to ensconce themselves in the "ivory tower." They did not bother to reach out to agency employers.
• It was easy for both educator and employer to ignore one another because it was "good enough" for agencies to get raw recruits who had at least demonstrated a legitimate commitment to the trade.

Posted by Todd Defren at 03:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

• The client will never again consider calling that agency.
• The client contacts present during the hand-off meeting won't ever call them into an agency review, when they invariably move on to their next gigs.
• I will never recommend this agency in instances where we might have a newbiz conflict.

• 50-odd PR people in the Boston market now consider this agency to have a "black mark" against it.
• They won't ever interview there as prospective employees.
• They won't ever think to invite that firm to compete for their business, if they ever take an in-house marketing post.

Posted by Todd Defren at 03:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:24 AM | Permalink