As many people know, I’m a vocal advocate for the value of PR. Hell, I wouldn’t be doing my job at PRSA if that weren’t the case, and it’s something I sincerely believe in. Yet from time to time, like most folks, I get down about certain aspects of the business. This is the story of one of those moments.
And it has to do with the growing use of online reputation management firms and the increasing prevalence of spurious tactics some of these firms are using. I point to two recent articles in The Times of London (sub req’d) as exhibits A and B. But you don’t have to look far to find other examples. Continue reading →
Creativity need not be intricate design on the inside of a gum wrapper or hurling a bucket of paint against your ex-girlfriend’s family photos. You don’t have to age bread and – I don’t know – build the Brooklyn Bridge out of it.
The ‘C’ word is about improving an existing process or creating a new, more desirable one altogether. It’s wondering, “Isn’t there a quicker, more efficient way of doing this?” Or, “How can I get people that use X to switch to Y?” Most of have these thoughts pretty regularly, but rarely do we sit down and really try to answer them. Creativity, then, is as much about thinking about the “what” of an idea as it is about the “how,” or how you can take it out of the clouds and turn it into something tangible. Continue reading →
Aside from the hoopla over the Royal Wedding, one thing was pretty evident last week: big international events often bring out the worst in brand marketing.
From silly tie-ins like Royal Wedding sliding doors from Spaceslide.co.uk (Hey, you never know when you need to see Wills and Kate’s smiling faces while walking in and out of a room!) to the utterly ridiculous £500 pizza from Papa John’s made to look like the happy couple to constant debates about whether Kate’s dress would be a boon for fashion PR, marketers were out in full force last week trying to hock just about anything that could possibly … just maybe … be connected to the Royal Wedding.
All of which left many annoyed and ready for the whole show to finally come to an end.
Thus, two recentop-eds in MarketingWeek could not have come at a better time. While neither dealt directly with the marketing/Royal Wedding mashup, each made its point plainly clear: brands need to be especially careful when trying to tap into the cultural zeitgeist of the moment or teaming up with potential partners. Continue reading →
Okay, not really. But even if the Bronx Zoo’s cobra isn’t actually dead, the buzz about her is.
If you work in the NYC area or read the news, chances are you’ve heard about of the escape and capture of the Bronx Zoo’s Cobra. If you have, it’s as likely that you’ve also heard her voice as @BronxZoosCobra when she slithered onto the social networks. Not only did the “snake who tweets” become a hot topic and easy news peg for major news sites such as The Wall Street Journal and NYTimes, but she sparked many a conversation about social media in our own circles, including raising the question of whether the person behind the reptile would make a good communications hire.
But is obtaining 240K Twitter followers in seven days a tell-tale sign of social media prowess? No, it’s not and here’s why: Continue reading →
One of my favorite questions to ask almost anyone I meet is: “Where do you get your news?” As someone who is fascinated by all forms of media and communications, I love hearing about other people’s media habits, what strikes them as newsworthy and perhaps most interesting, where they are finding good info and insight these days.
Thus, The Atlantic’s fantastic “Media Diet” series is a godsend to those of us who are fascinated by media and can’t get enough of it.
But while “Media Diet” gives you the dish on what famous writers, playwrights, pundits and others read each day, I’m much more interested in what industry colleagues are reading. Part of my job at PRSA is to be keenly aware of industry and business news. Continue reading →
Every week it seems like there is a new list coming out listing the top 20, 50, or 100 blogs in a particular industry. These are usually based on available public stats, people submitting themselves or, for some, some nepotism. I often wonder if the list creator reads any of these blogs or simply relies on the numbers and makes the list to build backlinks.
So with that in mind, I chatted with the folks round the PRBC water cooler to compile a list of blogs that we all read and would recommend you checking them out in both social media and PR. Continue reading →
I have to admit, I can be a bit of a crank when it comes to how the mainstream media covers PR. It either verges on a near fascination with celebrity publicists — one minor faction of the broader and fast-growing public relations industry — or the belief that PR can easily be wrapped up into a report on the general advertising industry.
Quick and easy, right?
So I’m always a bit bemused when I read articles with headlines like “When Publicists Say ‘Shh!’,” which ran in the April 18 edition of the Sunday New York Times. What followed was a series of clichéd examples from celebrity publicists of how they either act as mouthpieces for their clients or do everything they can to tell them to “shut up” when thinking about oversharing online. Continue reading →
I don’t think PR professionals give our industry enough credit. And it starts with the fundamentals. As in those of us who are practicing them aren’t claiming them. And that’s our bad, because we should be.
Why should we claim things “everyone” should be doing? Because when we don’t continue to talk about doing the three Rs well – research, relevancy and relationships – bad pitches like this one gobble up all the PR headlines, tweets and Google results. Continue reading →
Much fuss has been made in various marketing, PR and advertising circles about the supposed “death” of traditional media and marketing. They were to have become a sort of vestigal organ of the new-wave social and digital marketing scene.
As reality would have it, things haven’t quite worked out that way. Whether it’s continuing reports of traditional media – such as newspapers and TV – feeding much of the content we consume via social media, or collaborative efforts on behalf of competing marketers to increase their power, today’s marketing scene is more about the vast opportunities now available because of digital opening new doors, rather than who is winning which battles and how.
Ask yourself this: Are you an “expert” at anything? Have you really taken the time necessary to completely master a skill, job or even just a hobby? Think long, hard and be honest.
My guess is no.
We hear the words, “expert,” “guru,” “jedi” and “ninja” thrown around like ego-infused projectiles day in and day out in the PR and marketing sphere. To be completely honest, it drives me nuts.
Here’s why – 99% of the people, who call themselves experts or gurus are just doing it to inflate their own egos and make themselves feel good and sound more important. Continue reading →