Push on!

May 29th, 2009

Push/pull communication is a subject of regular debate amongst my CIPR students, but a blog post by Jeremy Porter in Journalistic about this subject and ‘interruption marketing’ set me thinking about a current strategy I’m using with a client which combines both push and pull.

Porter’s premise is that push and pull, when used strategically, can both work, although pull is preferable.  But, most of all, that content is king - a point I made in a recent post and have been banging on about in our business for some time.

But Porter also raises the issue of interruptions and how this form of push can be offputting unless used strategically.  My recent experience would also suggest that a combination of the two can work powerfully.

Experts in their field of online learning, Akamas have recently started to address social media and web 2.0 for their own marketing communication.  Helped by the fact that they have in-house, recognised experts who are also excellent writers, blogging is likely to become a positive aspect of their communication.

However, as we all know, there are millions of individuals and organisations already out there and cutting through the noise to get noticed can’t just rely on Pull.  A strategy of writing for their own blog or business articles, but then notifying key online media editors seems to be paying off.   The push approach is interruptive, but only as far as saying - “we’ve written something that’s interesting and relevant to you, it’s posted on our blog or an in-house article, but please feel free to use it as an article or blog post yourself.”

The response, on the whole, has been very positive so far.  Let’s face it, an editor isn’t going to turn away relevant, well written content that may in itself create more traffic for a site that already has pulling power.

Eventually, any well written, relevant and engaging blogs should have enough of their own pull to make it onto the RSS readers or blogrolls of their key target audiences.  But in the meantime, the power of push and pull in two-way communication clearly has its benefits.

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Posted in Content, Marketing, Web content, blogging, communication | No Comments »

Cat crisis creates comms catharsis

May 19th, 2009

Mark Borkowski (@markborkowski) posted an interesting tweet on a bit of a PR crisis for the Aussie Ogilvy team.  Now is not the time to gloat because there but for the grace of divinty goes any number of over-enthusiastic PR trainees desperate to gain coverage for their client.  We’ve all been there (don’t lie, you know you have!) and I just hope that Lucy keeps her job and gets some positive support from her team.

Yes, the story itself is funny in a kind of I’m-really-glad-it-wasn’t-me sort of way,  but what’s more interesting is the comment section underneath where the classic blog communication takes place combining a mixture of criticism and support and, halfway through, the inevitable corporate defence by the organisation concerned.   It seems strange that a PR agency which clearly has an understanding of,  and desire to engage with, blogs and bloggers is still unable to understand the implications of posting a line of corporate defence in the middle of a discussion.

Smanatha, one of the Ogilvy managers, had already put up  a very apologetic and clear defence of the situation which was well reported in the blog.  Good for her and fair balance by Eleri Harris.  Why did she then feel the need to dive into the ensuing discussion using a corporate tone to once again re-state her case?  The result was more brickbats to tell her to stop digging!  It seems bizzarre, but when will organisations learn that the best way to be a part of the dialogue is either to step back and observe, or talk using a tone that matches the spirit of the conversation?  Taking the corporate line is like watching your Old Man trying to break dance at a wedding!

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Let down by the Tweeple

April 27th, 2009

Last week I delivered a Talking Heads workshop on webPR to a group of delegates eager to learn the latest techniques of digital media and PR in the 21st Century.  It’s taken me a week to post this blog, because I needed time to reflect (and because Saturdays aren’t an ideal time to garner responses).

Heather Yaxley, better know to the blogosphere for her Greenbanana blog, was my co-tutor and we spent a stimulating day discussing SEO,  PR techniques and content writing for websites, social media, and creating a blog and podcast to show how easy it all is.

Naturally, throughout the day, we spent time talking about Twitter and its benefits of quick response, fast distribution, trending, citizen journalism, etc.  So what better way, I thought, to demonstrate this than to put a question out there and seek a response from the Tweeple (the people who Twitter). “Anyone got any good examples of webPR best practice?” I asked in wide-eyed anticipation.  I just wanted a couple of external ideas to inform our workshop debate from some other experts.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was where Twitter and its exponents showed its true colours. I #tagged, I @tagged and I sent directs. Heather re-tweeted. The response was fantastic.

NOTHING! Not a sausage, nada, zip, f*(&% all.  Now, I’m not arrogant or self opinionated enough to think that Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross or Richard Branson would sit bolt upright, drop whatever celebrity-dripping activity they were doing at the time and yell “Peter Brill’s asked me a question, I really MUST respond!” I also know that I’m a very long way from hitting my million followers. But some of the people I do follow are self-proclaimed social media ‘gurus’ who spend their entire waking hours, apparently, Tweeting their latest discoveries and words of wisdom to their glorious world of followers.

So where were you when you had the opportunity to demonstrate to sceptical PR practioners who are earning a living from the daily grind of messages delivery that social media really works? What happened that you missed an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise in a truly didactic context?

Don’t bother trying to tell me that you happened to be out at that moment, because if you haven’t already worked this out for yourselves, I could see you Twittering plenty at the same time - one of you even twittered a link about how Twitter is all about listening!!

I enjoy Twitter, it’s quick, it’s mobile and it’s easy to use.  But I’m also of the opinion that everyone is on ‘transmit’ and no-one has yet worked out what Twitter is really trying to achieve. Everybody is so busy demonstrating how busy they are being a  busy and important part of everybody else’s business, that they’ve completely lost sight of the basic principles of dialogue.

So when an opportunity presents itself to demonstrate just how positive a role Twitter can play in communications dialogue and education, it’s biggest exponents weren’t receiving.  They were too busy telling us how they’d just got out of bed, farted and brushed their teeth.

I’m sure there will be plenty of comments (one would be nice) about how I could have done this, that or the other to have changed the outcome.  Too late!  Apparently, the thing about Twitter is it’s incredible immediacy.  The moment is past. 

So our delegates left with their scepticism about Twitter intact, and I’m just carrying on transmitting tweets along with the rest of the tworld in the  hope that someone, somewhere might actually explain why they hell we’re all bothering.

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Posted in General, Social Media, blogging, podcasting | 2 Comments »

PR in a recession podcast

April 21st, 2009

The Net.Mentor Podcast

Simply click the play button to hear the podcast  

The Net.Mentor Podcast

Simply click the play button to hear the podcast  

Today was spent training a group of PR professionals on behalf of Talking Heads in the South West.

The theme is “PR in a Recession” and as the delegates learnt the art of podcasting, we also gained some insight on how the consultancy, commercial and public sectors are viewing public relations in times of credit crunch.    The delegates also created blogs to match!

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Posted in General, communication, podcasting, public relations | 3 Comments »

Everybody’s doing it…should I be scared?

April 18th, 2009

It seems like everybody’s ‘doing’ the social media and content writing thing in one way or another.  Should I feel threatened or scared?  Or should I just feel happy to be part of the whole process and comfortable (smug) about the fact that I’m far enough along the curve to have clients who are willing to pay me to help them write web content or advise them on social media activity?  

In fact, it’s a bit of both.  Chris Brogan is right when he says it’s not easy.  Tom Barnes gives me a hard time for not writing enough - and I’m still trying to work out how he has time to add so many articles to his website and still manage his clients.  And all of this angst is prompted by visting Brendan Cooper’s blog to find that he’s now officially writing content for a living. 

But the very fact that I feel comfortable in introducing possible ‘competitors’, is a kind of celebration of the fact that the whole content element of communication is really alive and kicking - perhaps more than ever. Yes, the developing communication strategies is challenging and great fun, but my writing (whether it’s blogs or media releases) and multimedia production work takes me back to the roots of what I do best - after all I started my working life as a broadcast journalist.

So, in answer to my own question: is it scary?  Yes, knowing that there are so many of us generating so much content as part of the ‘conversation’.  Is it threatening?  Possibly - I’ll soon find out if the three people I mentioned above are suddenly swamped with business generated by this blog post!  But in reality, it’s fulfilling to be able to use my creative talents on a regular basis - enough to make a living from something I really enjoy.  

Smug?  Maybe, but sometimes one needs to recognise that years of graft have led to a modicum of expertise.

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Posted in copywriting | 2 Comments »

“Sorry” still seems to be the hardest word

April 17th, 2009

Interesting article in Advertising Age by Abbey Klaassen about weathering a Twitterstorm.  She uses the recent Amazon cataloging crisis as yet another example of poor response to a crisis.   Much closer to home, Gordon Brown has finally decided to use the “S” word to make amends for yet another internal e-mail debacle.  Despite the fact he’s said “sorry” (he may even have meant it), it all seems to little too late and he’s now accused of spin.

Whenever we undertake crisis management training, there are two messages we try to get across to people at the very start.

1.  There is nothing wrong and everything right with saying “sorry”.  It doesn’t mean you’re liable, it doesn’t even mean you did it, it just means that you are capable of showing some humanity about a bad situation.

2.  Perception is reality.  It doesn’t matter that right is on your side (or not), what matters is what your publics believe is right and how you address their perceptions. But as Klaassen points out, you need to be sure that the crisis commentary is coming from your publics and not a group of people who have little or no impact upon your business, its status and reputation.

In a crisis,  kneejerk strategic reactions are the worst possible course of action.  However, making a statement quickly is a positive first step.  You don’t actually have to say anything other than “we are very concerned about the situation and are taking action to investigate it”.  Coming over all ‘corporate’, self-righteous and defensive is not the language to use unless it’s in line with every other piece of your external communication (in which case maybe we can give you some advice about your general communication)!

Early communication makes you visible, gives you some breathing space and offers you a chance to direct people to more factual information as soon as you are able to release it.  Hiding isn’t a solution - if you don’t talk, other people will do the talking for you.

One other piece of advice that is emerging from the development of social media and ‘groundswell’,  is to listen carefully to the ‘buzz’ and see just how balanced it is.  As Klaassen points out, it is important to know who is actually doing the talking and just how influencial they actually are as core customers/clients/audience base or brand champions.   It’s human nature to immediately focus on the the negative comments, but if you take a step back you might find that the feedback is self-balancing and that you have allies prepared to jump to your defence without you having to prompt them.

But most of all,  in a true crisis be yourself and be sincere - if you get it wrong,  saying “sorry” might be the hardest word but it’s a good one to start with.

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Posted in Crisis Management, communication | No Comments »

Meerkat magic

March 24th, 2009

I hate spam, and I’m getting increasingly wary of badly written newsletters and e-marketing.  So, my finger was hovering over the delete button when comparethemarket.com sent me an unsolicited e-mail (although I had used the service recently).  But just before hitting the big button, I noticed the e-mail was actually from comparethemeerkat.com and is a brilliant example of viral marketing at its very best.

I’m generally very cynical about advertising (no really), but this one definitely works.  I was up for renewing my car insurance a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve found comparison sites a complete waste of time, but the meerkat thing just nagged away in the back of my mind.  I couldn’t resist.  In fact, I did save money, but more importantly chose that site over the various others simply because of the advert that makes all of our family laugh.

As the meerkat says…”simples”

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Posted in Advertising, General, Marketing, communication | 2 Comments »

Net.Mentor Podcast #1

February 4th, 2009

The Net.Mentor Podcast

Simply click the play button to hear the podcast  

Welcome to the Net Mentor podcast - the first in an occasional series.

In Edition 1,  Peter Brill talks about the launch of our new website and offers some topical tips on writing web content that satisfies both search engines and readers.

The Net.Mentor Podcast

Simply click the play button to hear the podcast  

Credit: Music by Kevin MacLeod

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Posted in General, Social Media, podcasting | No Comments »

Strangely compelling transition

January 15th, 2009

There’s something strangely compelling about Barack Obama’s Change.Gov website which includes video updates of his meetings with various key target audience groups and some fairly democratic posts at the bottom of the page.  We’ve all known for a while that the President elect ‘gets’ new media and web 2.0 - or at least his advisors do - but with just 6 days to go before he gets his feet on the rug in the Oval Office, the administration to be continues to project the image of momentum, dialogue and desire for change, as well as a bit of excited new puppy.

I can’t help but compare this with our own government’s You.Tube site  where the use of technology allows a question from a member of the public followed by an video answer alongside by the PM.  It’s clever, it’s certainly democratic, but sadly I find the compulsion to view less about the PM’s clearly rehearsed and political answers, than waiting to see what’s going to be in the background of the next questioner’s living room.

Yes, No10.gov  does all the right things, it’s easy to navigate and there’s all the right social media bells and whistles…but,  and maybe it’s just my West Wing brainwashing and my rose tinted spectacles getting misted up again, I look at the dynamic energy of the Obama administration’s communication and wish for something a bit more dynamic in my own back yard.  I’m not naive enough to believe the PR or expect any massive, world-shaking changes to occur in 6 days, or even 6 weeks, but looking at Change.Gov, you do get a feeling that there is something that might induce a slight tremor in a few months.

Sad to say, maybe we can still learn something from those damn Yankees!

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Posted in Social Media, communication, public relations | No Comments »

Facebook - it’s business, as usual

January 7th, 2009

 Matt, a regular contributor to the PRBristol site, picked up an interesting Comscore graph about the rise of Facebook against other social media sites.

Although interesting in itself, it also offers a standard business insight into a social media entity that many people are claiming to be “bored” with.  As with so many products and services on and offline, Facebook is showing the traditional curve of business maturity.  As the innovators and early adopters move away to tell everyone about their every move on Twitter,  the early and late majority have moved in to boost Facebook’s growth.

I have to admit to having been a fully signed-up member of the “I really can’t see the point, get out more”  school, but my fascination with Facebook has, like the graph, risen over recent months and find I am using it more and more for business networking, along with LinkedIn, which seems to be going through a dramatic rennaisance.  So I guess I’m just another member of the late majority.

Ho hum, one day maybe I’ll innovate!

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Posted in Media, Social Media, communication, public relations | 1 Comment »

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