Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
eriksr on November 15th, 2008
I wrote this well over a year ago, but it’s just as valid today as it was then. Don’t ever forget to maintain your professionalism when dealing with bloggers, and treat them like royalty. I do have one new golden rule to add to this list:
Thou shalt not make enormous list of bloggers and spam them. Make short lists and customize content instead.
Yes, that’s the trick everyone. Take your list of hundreds and boil it down to the top ten most important, then write them individually. You’ll increase your chances of coverage and build a great relationship at the same time. But now, on with the original post.
The original
We get knocked off course sometimes, in the course of our outreach, and it’s good to have a reminder about how best to do things. So, since I don’t harp on this topic enough, here are three reminders to keep in mind next time you speak with bloggers:
- Never, ever, EVER corrupt your influencers! Don’t bribe them, and don’t pay them to write about you. If your little transaction ever becomes public, here’s what happens:
- Your influencer’s reputation will be destroyed, making them worthless in supporting your company or client
- You will be recognized as the cheating scum your customers fear/suspect you may be
- Other bloggers may shun you and your client/firm, further reducing the pool of influencers you have access to
- Don’t be an ass. I’ve seen pitches to bloggers, from some PR practitioners, that make me cringe because they are, sometimes, cajoling, demanding, aggressive, rude, etc. Folks, most bloggers aren’t businesspeople and they don’t consider themselves that way. When you approach a blogger it has to be at a one-to-one level — personal, friendly, and not expecting anything. Not even coverage.
- If you want them to write about you, you have to be ready to offer them something. Newsworthiness probably won’t cut it. And, see point number one, cash isn’t good enough. Sponsoring their site publicly
eriksr on October 22nd, 2008
Oh the annual reports I’ve seen. Long ones, short ones, colorful ones and more — not the kind of thing you’d want to read in the bathroom, savvy? Well, Stardock, purveyors of fine Windows operating system visual tweaking tools and video games, have seriously made the right moves. They created an annual report for their customers. OH MY GOD! RUN FOR THE HILLS! SOMEONE HAD A GREAT IDEA!
Yes, Stardock is privately owned. They don’t tell anyone how much money they make or have — they don’t have to. So they created a document that talks about their products. It gives everyone a rundown of what the product does, how well it has done…and what’s wrong with it, what’s being done to fix it or improve upon it, and so on.
Brad Wardell, man of steel
Brad Wardell is Stardock’s founder, president, CEO, caesar, etc. I’ve lusted after his products since I flipped through a magazine dedicated to IBM’s OS/2 operating system and saw his first (or one of his first, I’m not THAT much of a fanboy) product, an application that sexied up IBM’s drab interface. AND I DIDN’T EVEN USE OS/2!
Because of my lust, I’ve followed him and the growth of his company for years. Through his blog, in his interviews, he’s always told it like it is. If I was his PR person I’d simultaneously have fits and drop to the floor in ecstasy. And in this report to his customers, he’s just extending that attitude and personability. It’s gelling with his customers, me among them. Stardock’s games are awfully successful and generating more and more buzz as the years go by. Stardock is very much in touch with what its customers (who, according to the report, are almost all adult males and dedicated to PCs) are looking for.
My takeaway
I’m not too proud to steal a great idea when I see one. You can bet I’m going to be looking for opportunities to use this kind of document with the companies I work with. In the meantime — Brad, if you’re reading this, I salute you.
And thanks to Spencer Scott for posting a link to the document on Twitter.
eriksr on September 18th, 2008
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia recently cut 25 jobs. The San Francisco Chronicle is doing yet another round of lay offs; 125 employees this time. The LA Times, no, don’t get me started on the wave after crashing wave of lay offs there.
And, of course, circulations figures almost across the board are slipping, slipping, and slipping yet again.
So what is a journalist to do? If they are anything like me (I wrote about technology for the likes of CNET and Fortune and so on), they will jump ship and run, run I tell you, to the nearest port. Which, for journalists, has always been public relations.
WELCOME TO THE “DARK SIDE”
Journalists moving into PR is not a new thing. PR, after all, is where the money is, at least once you get past the account coordinator level. But, as of late, that trickle has grown into a tidal wave, with journalists jumping ship either of their own accord or with a mighty push from mother publisher.
So “welcome to the dark side” as one PR person said to me when I made my jump.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
For the journalists who can adapt (“What, you mean PR writes those quotes and not the people being quoted?”), this can be the start of an exciting new career. And for the PR firm, this can be an influx of journalistic research and analytical skills, resourcefulness, an insider knowledge of how a newsroom works, contacts, and perhaps best of all, a clear and succinct writing style.
AND WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
PR firms are growing and fees are going up, up, up. So it looks like PR is will be a friendly haven for journalists for some time.
So welcome to the dark side, one and all. Welcome.
eriksr on September 15th, 2008
BusinessWeek wrote a fascinating article on gender and the Internet. Now, you can slog your way through the whole thing here or, for the time-pressed, you can read my one sentence overview, below.
I see you have decided to read me. Wise move, grasshopper.
Okay. For the really time-pressed, here is the one sentence overview: “. . . if you’re going to create the next hot Web 2.0 site and you want it to go viral, you’ll target women.”
Want an explanation? Okay. Here we go.
WOMEN ARE AT THE FOREFRONT OF WEB 2.0
Sure, men tend to be the early adopters of new technologies, but social media is about, well, being social. And women are nothing, if not social. So, women rule online far more than men.
We know this by looking at social networks, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Flixster. Not only are women much more active, but older men, above 30 and especially those that are married, aren’t even joining. (What are the guys doing? Can you say World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto, online poker, and so on?)
WHEN THE MEN ARE ON SOCIAL NETWORKS, WHAT ARE THEY DOING?
According to the article, “Sex, of course, has long been one of the strongest drivers of online usage.” So they flock to social networks to fulfill this need. But put a ring on their finger and social networks tend to become a thing of the past.
WHAT’S THE KEY TAKE-AWAY HERE?
That “. . . a dollar spent marketing to acquire a female user goes a lot further than on a male user.” So, hello ladies!
eriksr on August 13th, 2008
I’m not gonna pull any punches today: Communicators fail at technology. Hard.
Whether you’re an account manager who desperately needs to email a large file or a senior partner who doesn’t know how to post to their blog, just face facts: You’re doing a crappy job of taking advantage of all that computing power.
I bring this up because, without fail, I regularly found myself to be the one person in firm after firm that knows technology best. I was the one who knew how to edit a PowerPoint presentation in just such a way as to achieve a desired result. I was the one who knew how to quickly and easily find information on the labyrinthine network storage space, or find a specific email lost in a sea of tens of thousands. I built impressive looking blogs within the space of a couple of hours — complete with digital images I made by hand. And of course I know a lot about all the wonderful social media technology out there, too.
I shudder to think what marketing and public relations professionals could do if they had all this knowledge and experience. Yes, I’m certainly an exception — I was raised by a Commodore 64 (suckah!) and am self-taught until I reach proficient or expert status on anything technology related — but I really shouldn’t be.
The secret to getting to my level
If you cannot muster the enthusiasm for learning about some new piece of software, or how to operate some new gadget, don’t fret — you don’t need that, though it certainly helps.
What you need to do is to take thirty minutes alone in a quiet room away from everything else, and you need to start fiddling. Whenever you don’t understand something, Google it. Look around in the options settings of your application or gadget, see what else the technology is capable of.
There’s no need to overextend yourself — there’s no need to learn how something works in great detail, try to focus on learning only what something is capable of. When the time comes, you’ll know exactly what tool you’ll need for the job and you can learn as you go thanks to the power of Google.
eriksr on July 16th, 2008
Note to RSS readers: There’s a web-based widget on this page you may only be able to see on the Web site.
I’m in love. Erik and Sprout, sitting in a tree, C-U-S-T-O-M-I-Z-I-N-G.
For years I’ve desperately wanted to make my own widgets but, truth be told, I’ve never quite had it in me to learn things like XML and JavaScript. That’s changing these days since I’m on something of a personal education kick, but Sprout has given me a good reason not to bother. See, Sprout is a Web service that lets you build a Web-based widget using a drag and drop interface. You can incorporate pictures, video, music, RSS feeds — tons of great stuff.
You can see my own personal work of art after the jump — and yes, I couldn’t resist adding music, so lower the volume on your speakers!
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