PR Squared

About

Blogroll

PR 2.0 Tactics

PR Squared

One of the benefits of living in a Boston suburb is that you meet smart people wherever you go.  Even on the neighborhood soccer field – where I share cheering duties with Frank Cutitta, the General Manager of IDG Connect.  Our talented daughters are on the same team.

IDG Connect is an “information technology resource for the latest research and product information in the IT Industry. The library includes technical white papers, webcasts, podcasts, case studies and product information.”  And more to the point, Frank is always smiling.  Yes, even nowadays, through the gyrations of the stock market and all that. 

According to Frank, what IDG figured out is how to help marketers meet the expectations of prospects who are seeking various levels and types of information, about industries and products.

“You need to understand the buyer’s precise knowledge needs.  What does your buyer expect at each stage of the purchase process?” Frank explains.  “Once you know that, you can optimize content in the best format to match the buyer’s learning style.”

In other words, you may need to create a white paper and/or a podcast and/or a videoblog and/or a webcast of the same content because different types of prospects will have different engagement preferences.

Let’s get tactical.

Say you head up marketing for a CAD/CAM software maker.  Various types of buyer types (and purchase influencers) come to mind: design engineers, CTOs, CEOs, pencil-pushers from purchasing, etc. 

What content marketing strategy can you employ to meet the highly variable information needs of these audiences, across different stages of the purchase process?

Well, design engineers and CTOs are a technical audience, right? They are likely going to want to see white papers and demo-style webcasts.  But, these folks are also on-the-go and of many different industries, so you might also want to develop a podcast series that literally talks them through your product demo, in chapters that synch-up to the prospects’ needs.  You can also “verticalize” the content, by making tweaks that speak to specific industries.  Spice it all up by asking a couple of customers to submit to interviews that you can splice into the dry stuff.

Now, you’ve got those customer interviews on-hand, and you realize that CEOs and Purchasing execs who don’t understand what your product does will still appreciate assurances of your product quality, viability and customer support!  If you’ve got those customer interviews on video, these snippets can become part of a vlog; they can be emailed by salespeople during the courtship; etc.

And if part of your strategy does include white papers and other text-based content, be sure to offer both prettified PDFs as well as “atomized” HTML versions.  The former can be printed or forwarded to old-school executives, whereas the “atomized” version ensures that bloggers and/or prospects can point their readers and colleagues to specific datapoints that help them make the case for your CAD/CAM solution.

The right content delivered to the right people, at the right spot in the sales cycle.  Sounds so simple, right?

Posted by Todd Defren at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Throughout my travels in Google Reader, I often “favorite” a post – which is as much about reminding me to really, really read something as it is about simply finding a new favorite.  I promise myself that a “deep ponder” is due, and that these starred posts will guide my thinking when I find the time.

I’m not one to use tools like Google Shared Items.  Blogging on a regular basis is commitment enough for Yours Truly.  But, I do like to share.  It’s not all about me.

Here are some of the posts that I’ve starred for future ponders…

Starting with today’s entry, I want to dive deep into the 2008 Forrester Groundswell Award winners.  If these are the current best-of-show in Social Media and Marketing, they deserve our admiration and analysis.

From “first to worst,” I want to think some more about B.L. Ochman’s disgusted analysis of my PR industry competitors’ thinking.  Here’s a choice nugget: “PR people are still woefully behind the sea change that has taken place since the dawn of new media.”  What does this mean for SHIFT? For the industry? When and where and how will change happen?  (I sometimes wish Shel Holtz would make “defending and improving the PR industry” his full-time gig.  There’s probably no money in it, though.)

Jason Falls is one of the most under-appreciated Social Media Marketing bloggers out there. Among the many posts that I’ve “favorited” from Social Media Explorer is this one about Measurement.  “The problem with trying to determine ROI for social media is you are trying to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations, which are not quantifiable.”

Then again, Chris Brogan makes a good case in his brief but compelling Measurement How-To.  He makes everything seem so simple.

Some of my favorite posts are very tactical, like this post on Video SEO by Kyle Flaherty.   Lee Odden also offers great tips on the interplay of PR and SEO.  Practical advice which comes in handy as we think about the rise of Content Marketing (and the continued importance of “findability.”)

And then there are brain-sizzling posts like Jeremiah Owyang’s take on “The Many Challenges of the Social Media Industry.”  Any single one of the 14 challenges listed by Jeremiah are enough to make you want to crawl back under the covers.  But then again, most all of these issues can and will be solved by a cadre of smart entrepreneurs.

Speaking of smart people (and only coincidentally another Forrester analyst), Josh Bernoff’s recent updates to the Social Technographics data is a must-read.  If you think Jason Calacanis is full of hot-air when he talks about “the coming boom,” Bernoff provides some actual proof: 

“Looking at the U.S. data, the big news in 2008 is that … social technology participation has grown rapidly. (P)eople untouched by social technologies have shriveled … to 25% of the online population (while) those who read, watch, or consume social content have ballooned … to 69%. If you think social technology is about to become a universal phenomenon, we just handed you a nice little bundle of evidence.”    

Last but not least: I’ve read this Seth Godin post on “Avoiding the Passion Pop Gulf” about 50 times, and I’ve promised myself that I must figure out how this type of thinking should guide our li’l agency’s own future.

What posts or articles are you “saving for a rainy day??”

Posted by Todd Defren at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Some good news from ReadWriteWeb, which is launching a new channel called the ReadWriteWeb Jobwire, with reporting on hires in the tech and new media industries. According to Marshall Kirkpatrick, who is leading the charge, they expect to make 10-30 posts per day, one of which will be featured and analyzed as the "hire of the day."

Interestingly, some of those featured hires will be written up by special guest editors, including former Financial Times reporter Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher and Sam Whitmore, tech media analyst at Sam Whitmore's Media Survey.  Now that’s a quality effort.

I am most especially psyched about the plan to “make 10 – 30 posts per day.”  They wouldn’t make such a commitment without having taken a look at current trends.  In other words, yea, times are tough, but investments in people are still being made at a decent clip.

With all the current news about lay-offs, this new RWW Jobwire channel will be a refreshing read.

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Entrepreneur and serial scallywag Jason Calacanis sent out his latest email today, and while I won’t “pull an Arrington” and republish the entire thing, there were some choice bits that I hope Jason won’t mind me sharing.

As part of a longer treatise on how the recession will affect us all, Jason points to some potential good news (he has plenty of gloomy thoughts, too).  He predicts “a boom in traffic, engagement and participation.”

“ … People will have time on their hands and the desire to socialize. Group behavior makes people feel better…

 

“Blogging became a phenomenon not because of some technological advance, but because between 2002 and 2005 there were a lot of unemployed--and underemployed--individuals with a lot to say and a lot of free time. Bloggers like Peter Rojas, Michael Arrington, Nick Denton, Rafat Ali, Xeni Jardin and Om Malik broke out in the down market--not the upmarket.

 

“Social networking and podcasting were born and boomed during the last internet winter.

 

“Bottom line: Folks with time on their hands--and anxiety in their hearts--will be drawn to communications, content, and community offerings.”

This concept harks back to recent rantings about Marketing through a Downturn. 

If you look at these tough times as an opportunity to gain marketshare while the competition is weak, and combine that posture with the understanding that your prospects will be “more online than ever,” then dropping-off on digital marketing (in the form of PR, social media engagement, etc.) makes little sense.

In a related note, if you are interested in more recession-proofing advice, ProBlogger Darren Rowse shares thirteen terrific tips.

Posted by Todd Defren at 05:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Canadian Club Whisky is an iconic brand, the favorite of MAD MEN’s Don Draper, but perhaps best known to you through their brilliant “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It” ad campaign. 

And damn right, they’re a SHIFT client.

Our upcoming project for CC is in support of Movember.  “Mo” is slang for moustache, and Movember is a moustache-growing contest that takes place next month, to raise money and awareness for men’s health.

As part of the promotional efforts, SHIFT created a Movember Facebook application, with which you can graffiti your friends’ Profile pics with an assortment of moustaches... 

Incredibly silly, but incredibly fun.  Throughout this post, you can see the fun I had messing with Steve Rubel, Aaron Strout and even B.L. Ochman (sorry, B.L.!).

(To be clear, once you’ve done your dirty work, you can send the “defaced” pic to your victim, or post it to your own Profile: you can’t make a change to your friend’s actual Profile picture.)

Creating Facebook applications is not the type of service you’d normally expect from a PR agency.  Yet as our industry evolves, small-scale application development projects like this one may become one of a host of advanced services that we’d never expected to tackle.

Imagine if this cute little Facebook app creates thousands upon thousands of moustachioed Movember supporters?  Imagine if such a grassroots groundswell caught the attention of USA Today, leading to even more mainstream pick-up.  Imagine if one of Perez Hilton’s friends stuck a ‘stache on the gossip king’s pic – leading him to blast the word out to his legion of followers? 

Would such results (from such humble seeds) count as a PR victory or as an application development victory?  Will such distinctions exist?

Evolution can be fun. 

Posted by Todd Defren at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Despite the experienced advice of top business gurus to invest in Marketing during economic downturns, such cuts are going to happen – either as a true necessity, or, due to the skittishness of inexperienced corporate decision makers.

This time around, though, maybe we can identify some correlation between Marketing Cuts and Market Share?

That is PR industry watcher Paul Holmes’s interesting idea.  Paul writes:

“So, we all agree, I think, that companies should not slash their public relations budgets in a crisis. And we can all present logical, well thought-out arguments to support our belief. But what we lack – what we nearly always lack, as an industry – is hard empirical evidence.

“But now we have a chance to gather some. Over the next few weeks, some clients are going to either fire their agencies or scale back dramatically. Wouldn't it be interesting to gather a list of those clients somewhere and compare their performance--stock price is probably the easiest measure--relative to industry averages.

“If we are right, those companies should underperform the market. We probably can't prove causation, but we can perhaps establish a compelling correlation.”

I told Paul that I’d help out with this experiment, on the condition that the data is kept confidential and that results are only shared on an aggregate basis (i.e., neither agencies nor clients can be called-out).

If you’re an agency principal, join me in this effort by e-mailing Paul Holmes.  … And may you need to do so very rarely, if at all!!

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My buddy Geoff Livingston clued me in to this cool event:

Network Solutions is producing the Solutions Stars Video Conference on October 29 at 1 p.m. This free video conference aims to provide insights and online marketing tips to small businesses.

It will be of great service to small businesses, particularly now that the economy has gotten tough, and it’s not as easy to attend a conference in person.

And did I mention that it is FREE?  Seriously, to get all of these folks to consult with your company would cost a zillion dollars per hour.  Smart marketers will jump at the chance to take advantage of their generosity and knowledge.

The conference features stars such as:

It should be well worth your while, with lots of great insights.  And yea, like I said, it’s FREE.  Talk about “lethal generosity.”  Can’t beat that.

Posted by Todd Defren at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Of course you would.  If you did a li’l bitty favor for Mr. Godin, at the very most, you’d hope that The Guru Himself would stop by your blog …

Maybe he’d take the time to scroll through a couple of your recent posts, or even check out your Best-Of stuff… 

Maybe he’d think, “Hmm, this dude seems pretty smart.”  Maybe he’d even say as much in his own blog, someday…

Maybe not, though.  The Guru is a busy dude.  Still, it seems like a low-risk proposition.  Especially since all Mr. Godin wants is for you to do your own readers a favor, by offering them an audio book download of his new book, TRIBES, for FREE.

All you’d need to do is post a li’l something like:

Get a FREE download of Seth Godin’s new audio book, “Tribes,” for a limited time.  NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED. 

Audible is the leading provider of audio books and spoken word content on the internet.  Audible content can be downloaded to your Apple iPod and hundreds of MP3 devices.

After all Seth Godin has given you, in terms of “thoughtful stuff to chew on,” you’d do him that little favor, wouldn’t you? 

Yea, you would.  I would, too. 

(I even ordered some hardcopies from Amazon.com!)

P.S. – On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to say “thanks!” to the many kind folks who contacted me after yesterday’s New Marketing Summit, with requests for my slides.  I plan to post them later today or tomorrow, so please hang tight.

Posted by Todd Defren at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (2)

It happened today.  The economic angst whacked our agency upside the head.  We now have our first example of a client who’s asked to terminate our contract “strictly as a precaution driven by economic uncertainty.”

It seems Sequoia Capital’s “Mandatory All-Hands CEO Meeting” last week, with its gloomy slide deck, has tech CEOs skittering for cover.  But folks who rely solely on the VCs’ slideshow to make crucial decisions do their companies a disservice: it seems there was a lot of other valuable conversation happening throughout the Sequoia event.

For example, Georgia Tech’s attendee, Lance Weatherby, has a good round-up that includes this gem from Sequoia’s own Doug Leone:

• Nail your Sales and Marketing message.
• Pound your competitors shortcomings. They’re hurting and they will be quiet. Take the offensive.
• In a downturn, aggressive PR and Communications strategy is key.

You didn’t see that in the slide-deck; and you didn’t hear any of the bloggers who weren’t at the Sequoia event note this all-important point.  Leone’s advice echoes the quote I recently reprinted from a Spring article in the Harvard Business Review: 

“It is well documented that brands that increase (marketing) during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”

I acknowledge some bias here, and I also roundly applaud any company that’s focused on profit.  If you need to choose between “making payroll” and “getting PR,” the former wins, hand’s-down. 

But cutting marketing dollars (in general) and PR (specifically) out of blind anxiety is both arbitrary and foolish.

Let’s count the ways in which Agency PR should be the LAST thing you cut…

1.  Agency PR is more cost-effective than in-house PR.  The VP of Marketing is not going to create and manage databases, craft pitches, write press releases, and, spend hours each day reaching out to 50 reporters (and another 150 bloggers).  They’ll need a senior PR pro to handle those sundry duties – and, with salary and benefits included – that senior PR pro will cost about $150,000. 

A good PR agency will do “all of the above” and will spread the work across FIVE people, including a senior strategist who can offer experienced counsel; two or more media bulldogs; and, a dedicated industry researcher – for about $150,000.

2.  A further virtue of an Agency’s distribution of talent?  The PR firm is always listening and responding.  When a blogger posts about your brand, a speedy response is critical.  If you place all your bets on in-house personnel – who are often distracted with myriad corp comms duties – you could miss an important meme. 

3.  A PR agency also grants access to the wickedly expensive media databases (Cision, Profnet, etc.).  These resources help ensure your company does not miss out on those all-important industry round-ups. (As Leone noted, staying visible is even more important when your industry is shedding weak competitors in a downturn – you don’t want to be “noticeable by your absence.”)

4.  PR “feeds the beast” of SEO by ensuring your company’s content shows up in both Social Media and Mainstream Media channels.  Most PR agencies have been whipped into shape on the SEO front by their Google-hungry clients, offering googly expertise that’s always being honed by industry dynamics.

5.  PR provides air-cover for the Sales team.  The big benefactor when Marketing is cut is the Sales group.  But what’s the Sales department’s #1 gripe?  “Not enough people know about us!  The sales cycle is too long because I need to spend too much time educating prospects about our product and our viability.”  Paging the PR firm!

Today, the stock market rallied, posting its biggest one-day advance ever.  Strong and concerted measures are being taken to loosen the banking industry’s credit clamp-down.  Let’s not panic, folks. 

Prudent cost-cutting? Sure, that’s a great idea.  But freaking out?  Cutting the single most beneficial and cost-effective means for keeping your company front-and-center in the marketplace?  Cutting-off the conversations you’ve started in the Social Media sphere? 

That’s no way to save a company.

Posted by Todd Defren at 04:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (23) | TrackBacks (1)

Thank you all for your great suggestions re: a topic for my speech next week at the New Marketing Summit. 

Judging by the comments on my last post, and on Twitter, many of us are feeling pretty lousy about the doom&gloom in the financial markets, and so I got an outsized number of requests to discuss “Marketing in a downturn.”

So here’s the abstract for my gig:

Social Media Marketing in Tough Times: Who Should Do What and What Should They Do?

Times are tough all over. When marketers are called on to cut budgets, or else, some hard decisions need to be made about how to achieve objectives on a shoestring.  This decision-making process is complicated by the fact that Social Media concepts had most marketers on fire with curiosity and ambition just a few months ago.  So, what are the "bare essentials" of Social Media Marketing?  What's the right mix of internal and external resources?  Is it time for a strategy do-over?  Should marketers re-trench to old-style marketing approaches?  Can marketers still have it all?

You should come!  Say hello.  I really don’t enjoy public speaking all that much, so, all supporters are welcome.  Register here.

Posted by Todd Defren at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Are you a marketer?  Are you a marketer who is based in Boston (or can get here next week)?  Are you keen to learn more about all this Social Media Stuff?  Would you like to learn about all these shiny new objects from some of the brightest & most experienced folks in the field?

Then, you’re already signed up for The New Marketing Summit, right?  (If not, pull out your wallet and register here.)

Just attending the speeches by the inimitable Chris Brogan (the host), the sagacious Paul Gillin and the inspiring David Meerman Scott would be worth the admission price.  But Brogan’s a value-conscious fellow, so he’s also offering a jam-packed agenda. 

Some of my favorite people will be there.  Not just the aforementioned gurus but some additional must-see personalities like C.C. Chapman of The Advance Guard, Twitter-Queen Laura “Pistachio” Fitton, Don Peppers of Peppers & Rogers fame, Aaron Strout of Mzinga, and many others.

So, yea, I’ll be there too.  Chris asked me to show up and when Brogan asks for anything, I just do it, no questions asked.  (Although, I probably should have asked “what do you want me to talk about?”)

I think I am slotted to speak on Wednesday at 3:15pm.  I have a topic in mind but am open to your suggestions!  I need to let the organizers know ASAP so gimme your ideas in the comments?  Thanks! 

Will I see you next week?

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

You can choose to read this post as “shameless self promotion” (you’ve been warned!), or, as a wake-up call to pay closer attention to the inner workings of your agency partner.

A client – we’ll call them SUPERCLIENT – recently launched into a new market.  Afterwards, we checked in to make sure that they were pleased with our team’s performance. 

The note that came back blew me away with its attention to detail regarding every single team member’s contribution. 

Further, this SUPERCLIENT was aware of the limitations of his company’s story.  Despite tour results that were “OK - very respectable – (but) not a home run,” he placed those results in a common-sense perspective – and was able to do so, in part, because he had paid close attention to his team’s efforts all along the way.

I’ll redact the client and team members’ names but otherwise am pasting the note in its entirety below. 

What I’d like you to wonder is whether or not you (or your PR manager) have the same level of familiarity with your own agency program?

Do you have the same calm, rational analysis of your company’s market position? 

Do you know just how hard your team is working (or not)?

If not, consider this email below a kick in the booty.

“Thanks for checking in… Overall - on a true scale - the result of the tour was OK.  It wasn't a home run in terms of coverage, but still very respectable.  I think we got solid set of meetings and had a decent story, as good as it could be.  I think that our reach and results were limited by the inherent ‘attractiveness’ of our story (and the fact that SUPERCLIENT is small and relatively unknown), but not by a level of effort or pitching abilities.

“On the contrary, I was proud of SHIFT's efforts, as a team, and we all did the best we could with (our) ‘new news.’  Over time as SUPERCLIENT gains more wins, we'll continue to build our reputation and get more coverage.  So out of the gate it was great showing for (us); we strongly planted our flag in the space, and the tour was a success.

“Your team performed very well.  I thought ‘Bev,’ ‘Ellie’ and ‘Madge’ were all very professional and assertive getting our story out there and booking meetings.  They did a good job providing insightful feedback, prepping us with very valuable bios, getting everything coordinated well, being punctual, flexible with both our and the reporters’ schedules to make things happen, etc.  I also felt like we got in front of some of the top analysts in particular, which is very good.  That foundation will continue to pay dividends for us.

“Ellie and Madge both did a very good job of evaluating what messaging was working and feeding that back so we could continue to tighten our message.  I am also aware of a lot of good follow-up with reporters and doing everything possible to find ways to get ink (e.g., I know Madge and I talked about reminding a reporter of our live date later, even though the reporter signaled he may not cover the actual announcement - I like this kind of tenacity and ‘creating your own opportunities’). 

“I also should say that I knew Ellie the least before this process, because I think her personality is slightly more reserved and we often met in groups.  However, working with her one-on-one, I was very impressed with her intelligence; ability to articulate crisp, honest feedback; and I'm not sure how to describe this, but she has a nice style - calm, but respectable, a strong presence.  I guess she is more of a listener.  Do you know what I mean?  She's very good.

“Bev and I had a good collaborative effort on the two releases.  Your team are made up of good writers who care about the language, which I appreciate.  Bev also has a good ‘do whatever it takes’ attitude.  She jammed on revisions of the release until we had it right, and late into the night.  I liked that the team was energized and willing to pull in the release dates to draft off the competitors’ news.  Sometimes you get groans when you change things around, but your team actually leaned into it and stepped up without complaint.  It was appreciated.

“Also, though I realize she is junior, I think ‘Mary’ is doing a great job monitoring and summarizing the news as well as following up unapologetically with me to keep me on track for events and such.  This can be hard for someone earlier in their career, and although I do not bite, I could imagine her wanting to make sure she is sensitive to me as a client.  She is doing great.

“Thanks,

“SUPERCLIENT”

Again, I fully realize and acknowledge that this is practically a love-letter to SHIFT (thank you, SUPERCLIENT!), but luckily I get a fair number of those.  This note impressed me not so much for the praise but for the level of detail; for the visceral sense of partnership between client and agency.  Nothing’s getting past this guy.

Typically, such analytical notes are written when the client programs are going off-course (of course). 

But, when clients take the time to expound upon their agency team’s efforts in a constructive manner, even when things are humming along fine, it energizes the team – while keeping them focused on what could be done better next time. 

It’s the difference between coaching and judging.

It’s worth emulating.

Posted by Todd Defren at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

When I talk to my PR industry colleagues, there’s a fair bit of trepidation about all the economic woes. 

We’ve been here before.  We’ve seen the bloodletting.  We’ve seen corporations slash marketing budgets at the exact moment when they should be pushing more of their chips into outbound efforts.

In fact, the Harvard Business Review noted earlier this year:

“It is well documented that brands that increase (marketing) during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”

Still, sure, we all worry about the headlines.  Even the marketers who know better can’t seem to resist cutting their budgets (as seen in the graphic above).  No one will be immune from a truly vicious economic hit. 

Smart agencies took a hint from the last downturn.  For our part, having been founded in the fiery ashes of the Dot-Com Debacle, much of our own strategic planning has gone into hardening ourselves for the next recession.  And meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder: 

Perhaps Social Media will provide some additional protection for forward-looking PR agencies?

A recent CMO Study by Epsilon (covered in MarketingVox) provided some insights that support this hypothesis.  While 2/3rds of the CMOs acknowledged that the recession will ding their budgets, “digital marketing” was a bright spot:

• Social computing (including word of mouth, social networking sites, viral advertising, etc.) was the most popular emerging channel with 42% of marketing executives expressing interest in adding it to their marketing mix.

When the going gets tough, the tough start talking.  Despite the recessionary climate, most of the marketers surveyed viewed Social Media as a worthwhile addition to the mix.  They know that now is the time to rally and reassure customers and prospects. 

That’s the critical factor to remember about Social Media: it is not only helping brands spread the word; it also helps the brand to shore up support among its current customers. 

The agencies that survive the coming crapfest will be actively helping their own clients realize the benefits of socializing through the recession. 

How about you?  How are YOU feeling about the economic news?  Do you expect it to affect you and/or your agency?

Posted by Todd Defren at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (30) | TrackBacks (4)

It’s no secret that most every consumer fires up their browser and starts off with a Google search.  Heck, even your sainted grandma knows about “the Google.”

That’s why so many companies pay so much attention to SEO and SEM.  That’s why Google is minting money.

But don’t forget that there is yet another reason for PR pros to care about Google: journalists use it, too, for their research. 

And that doesn’t just mean, “they’ll Google your client” in researching a story.  It also means that whenever the reporter searches for terms related to your client, you want the client’s name/content to crop up frequently.  

Don’t forget that while you are doing PR for Client X, somebody else is doing PR for Client Z – their competitor.  Every now and then, despite your canny communications skills, Client Z’s agency is going to create an opportunity that you know nothing about.  (We’ve all gotten that call, eh?) … But if you’ve done your job right, every Google search on Client Z (and related terms) will also prominently expose content on good ol’ Client X.

SEO is not necessarily “PR’s job” but the savvy PR pro knows that they ignore basic SEO tenets at their peril.  At the very least, use free tools like PressReleaseGrader to optimize clients’ news releases.

And give strong consideration to Social Media Optimization principles, too.  The more noteworthy, shareable and embeddable content your client is pumping into the web-o-sphere, the more likely they are to be “found” by Google, by journalists, and by random surfers.

Basic stuff?  Maybe for loyal PR-Squared readers.  But, worth a reminder.

Posted by Todd Defren at 02:55 PM | Permalink

As more and more companies come to realize that Social Media will play an important role in their emerging marketing efforts, they often turn to outside agencies (PR, advertising, interactive marketing, SEO, etc.) to play appropriate roles in strategy and execution.

But as noted in my last post, the caliber of these service providers can be “spotty” to say the least.  

Partly that is natural: Social Media is a new field with many best-practices that have yet to be captured, much less created or documented. 

But, there are also firms who are either willing to cynically exploit client ignorance, or, are too lazy to learn the core principles of the blogosphere.

So now we’ve got Ignorant, Evil and/or Lazy agencies to choose from.  But there is yet another type of agency to watch out for, and that’s the Inconsistent vendor. 

The Inconsistent Agency is neither evil nor ignorant but has yet to make an agencywide commitment to understanding the new rules of marketing.  The resulting knowledge gaps could unwittingly derail a client’s PR program.

The Inconsistent Agency has a handful of Social Media savvy practitioners, on whom the majority of the remaining staff rely for all-things-social.  If the client wants to talk to their day-to-day team about blogging approaches, for example, the squad members immediately feel the need to defer that conversation to one of their in-house experts.

That’s not always a bad thing.  When particularly complex issues come up for our own clients, for example, our senior staffers (including Doug Haslam, Robert Collins, and a number of other behind-the-scenes smarties) are frequently called on for advice. 

For Inconsistent Agencies, the trouble occurs when the workaday account team cannot answer BASIC questions about Social Media.

For example, what if the client offhandedly asks their junior Account Executive, “What do you think about the idea of posting anonymous comments on relevant blogs, and then coming back later as someone-else, to point readers to our site?  Is that a cool idea?  Is that kosher?”

If Social Media is baked into the agency’s DNA, even that junior staffer knows instinctively that that is NOT COOL.  And they won’t be shy about suggesting that the principle of authenticity is central to social media.

If you are a PR agency client, this might be a good test.  Ask one of your agency team’s junior staffers the question above.  But, don’t freak out if your junior rep “fails” the exam.  As I noted above, this is a new field.  If your agency has not claimed expertise, it’s not fair to ding ‘em for it.  Yet.

UPDATE: On Twitter, in the comments, and in private emails, I’ve been dinged by “junior” staffers who suggest – with justification – that they are often the agency employees with the most & best credentials in Social Media.  That is an absolutely fair point, especially as I think about SHIFTers like Amanda Gravel, Sandy Kalik, Marie Williams, our UnSpun bloggers, and many others, who are as expert in the field as anyone.  Every good agency can claim similar stars.

My broader point was that a PR agency that professes Social Media credentials will fail if it relegates that expertise into pockets of excellence vs. making a broad commitment to training/education across all levels.

Posted by Todd Defren at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBacks (1)