Sliced Bread

What We Can Do is About What We Care to Know

In talking to a friend and former colleague just today, he was sharing details about his new gig and considering it an opportunity to better shape PR for clients. "Press releases were the default and we all know that isn't the answer." He was excited about the opportunity to really make out-of-the-box ideas happen to get results...outside of the 'here's a new story idea for you to consider.'

Don't we all.

But when we're in the PR house - we're most often forced to play by the house rules - driving coverage. It's a struggle to get out from under it but depending on the end goal, many times, it's so much more effective to go with the alternative (albeit uncomfortable) option.

Sometimes what we need, or need to share, is a swift kick to get us in gear. Like this deck Mashable just (re)released - What the F**k is Social Media: One Year Later.

Especially in light of news today of ESPN limiting the use of social media. -- For which the list of criticisms continues to grow. -- As well as the U.S. Marine Corps' similar, newly adopted restriction. (The information exposure part I get, but for letting loved ones reach out and simply for recruiting policies - maybe they ought to develop a usage policy instead of banning all use.) This ought to be seen by all companies with sense to evolve in changing times* to continue growing business.

What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later

View more documents from Marta Kagan.

Fact that stands out most because it's true to me: Visiting social sites is now the 4th most popular online activity -- ahead of personal e-mail.

*As in, how all business is and always has been an adaptation of a company's environment - 'changing times' can and should not be exclusive to what is proving-to-no-longer-be-contained-by-the-definition-of-phenomenon of social media.

E-mail Recall? You Mean, "I just realized my pitch sucks"

Hey PR folks!

How many times have you wondered whether or not that media contact is even glancing at your pitch before hitting 'DELETE' ?

I'd like to believe the e-mails I construct shape a well-thought-out story idea that's actually useful to those I'm reaching but for those times in which my attempts fall short, I'd like to think that either:

a) No one ever prints out my message to do this to it.

OR

b) They do, and I unknowingly serve to provide some comic relief as people mock my #pitchfail.

-

Thanks for sharing, CrunchGear.

Online Consumption Must Change Measurement

Reading an article from the NYT, I'm fascinated by how much I don't know about Web ad strategies and what works versus what doesn't.

"Although the recession has slowed its growth, nearly $25 billion will be spent on Web advertising this year." Quite a chunk of change.

As media consuming habits continue to shift, so does the impact certain ad models have on those supposedly watching. Recognizing the potential damage of an ineffective strategy, Walt Disney Company now is placing a heavy new emphasis on advertising research. While focus groups allow us to understand consumer preferences based on what subjects tell us, this approach examines the scientific evidence behind receptiveness to various ad models.

Can't say what my heart rate was, or my skin temperature, but will say one example from Sprint struck out in my book, despite the suck-me-in 60 sec. regular spots. (At any given moment, are 2 billion people really texting about diapers during a business meeting?)

Though just last week, while catching a missed fav summer program episode online, I was put off by the Sprint ad that occupied the preroll space during each break - encouraging me to 'click here' to return to my programming. I think we all know better.

Also fascinating, a recent AdAge piece begging the question, 'how do we right the wrongs of measurement and still figure ROI?' Clicks don't necessarily measure effeciveness of an online ad. Of course they don't! Because a click through doesn't directly point to consumer buys. Same goes for PR - number of impressions was long the easiest way to measure to show value.

While most, if not all PR prof's, have realized that changed some time ago, too many are still applying the same theory to the evolving strategies for clients through digital communications. 'If my client is on Twitter, how do I show return on the initiative? How do I link my client's comments to their e-commerce site so blog readers will buy the product.' You're missing it folks. Clients want to drive sales but while it's the ultimate business goal we need to consider while forming our strategies, we can't structure them in a way for sales to be the immediate result and still expect consumer take-up. It's the conversations that matter.

Compare it to the concern of, 'if I don't see what I get out of corporate social responsibility, how is it worth my time.' It's feel-good relationship-building with your target consumer base - those people who care about the company getting behind the greater good.

What's the secret to getting clients to start actually trusting their agencies, (at least those that get it) that these online activities spark conversation that does eventually leads to action.  While not necessarily immediate, or direct, it is effective if it's done right. Sure it's hard to trust without the numbers to show return. So hasn't it got to be about a change in measurement model - showing the big picture over the long-term to demonstrate real results?

Only Focused on Chapter One

In following the GM bankruptcy matter very closely, the company's Reinvention ad absolutely caught my eye this morning while heading in to work. With the decision taking place just yesterday a.m., I was impressed at how 'together' GM's agencies were in not only recognizing the need for timely action but in implementing.

With pretty compelling, not to mention clever, messages no less.

Not just stating the need for reinvention but actually explaining what that would mean to consumers.

Flutter is Faster

I bet Project Underwear is an interesting place to work...

Tweet It Like You Mean It

After recently reading Mullen head creative honcho @edwardboches' post about why CEOs should get on Twitter, this morning I spotted an @link plug in a company's executive announcement and upon checking it out, I started thinking even more than I have been about Twitter as a 'tool.'

Conflict.

My daytime-description requires me to consider how it and other online applications can serve as 'tools' while my non-9-to-5 mind sees it simply as an activity to connect.

Merge. It's both.

True - there are marketing folks out there tweeting for their clients...the must-jump-on-the-bandwagon-regardless-of-how-it's-accomplished method versus the do-it-because-it-fits method. Hint: the second will, (and has proven to) be more valuable in the long run, which seems to be something most of us in the industry have realized by now. For some though, it's not so black and white. There are many, in this case, several of those we counsel, who are still trying to find their online comfort level so we in turn find ourselves on a sliding scale of how to help them be there and feel OK about it.

Getting executives online is smart, but the answer for we whose job it is to encourage is not in how to fake it. If you, Mr. CEO, are thinking about starting a personal Twitter account, use it to be yourself. No one minds a little brand building - it's necessary - but we like it better if it's honest. Reminder, that the first rule in having an online presence is transparency. If it's a clearly corporate account, personalize it, it's more genuine when you do. But so long as your actual face has replaced the o_O standard, and your actual name, (or a version of it) has been @-ified, please, just be real.

It isn't something that should be forced, yet we're starting to see an attempt to do so. The case of the scripted 140 characters. The line here has been blurred for a long time. If ghost writing isn't on the up-and-up, why does PR draft contributed content and simply place an executive's name on the author line? Definitely not a rare occurrence, so technically, isn't 'ghost-tweeting' the same idea? -- Let's recall for a moment, the upset caused by the blogging fiasco involving a well-known PR firm and its giant retail client...

Perhaps here lays the line with companies -- in traditional methods, it didn't much matter who the content was coming from, so long as it appeared credible. Readers only wanted the information. Now, online, they want the information and a touch point, and many cases the relevancy of the information doesn't matter as much as what it means to them. Being able to connect directly to that other person in a real way - be it a friend, colleague or corporate executive.

We've learned it's necessary to understand how best to speak/write in our executive's voice in traditional practices - in theory, one could modify this to blog or microblog using another's voice...except it's so much easier to see through. When an executive has recently appeared on Twitter, does anyone actually believe they immediately understand the jargon, have 100 followers, host Tweetups, etc.? It's a learning experience. Any true #newbie I know is still learning after only 5 updates, despite how much they've heard or read about the Twitter culture - they've got to feel it out for awhile.

Reiterate. Use Twitter because you want to, and then tweet it like you mean it. Don't worry if you look or feel a little silly at first, lost even, it comes with the territory of trying something new.

Digg, Hobos and Jimmy Fallon

Twitter is some kind of wonderful - it surprises me a little every day.

Maybe not through Twitter, more than a few have likely experienced some form of Social Media Wow! (Sort of like ShamWow but a lot less water-friendly.) Good or bad. Be it in the form of a heavy sigh - like when that random person finds you on Facebook and you realize it isn’t a stranger but that kid from back in high school who had the locker next to yours and would listen in on your conversations with friends between classes but would always avoid eye contact, (go figure they now want to see where you live, look at your pictures and watch for your status updates to feel a part of your life without actually being in it…at least beyond the quick click of the +Add as a Friend button.)

Or something more along the lines of, ‘is this really happening!?’ - being when a colleague of mine lost his mobile on the train only to find it online...via the girl who found it at the stop after his and thought to find him on Facebook to return it.

David Prager has a story about it today too. He woke up yesterday morning and absolutely felt the power his @ identity had, like never before. Earlier this week, the Revision3 co-founder and Diggnation contributor was working into the early hours of the morning when he was interrupted by a homeless man entering his San Francisco apartment. @dlprager’s reaction? - Tweet about it. Line by line, he shared the thoroughly odd encounter with his thousands of Twitter followers. Some of those still awake expressed confusion and concern about David using Twitter instead of contacting the police – he responded not by calling for help but instead, by turning on his Webcam to live-stream the action.

Some argue that his encounter was just a viral stunt to plug Diggnation’s Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose (Digg founder)’s appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon that next day. Either way – millions are now talking about it - who before today, probably didn’t know David Prager, or much about Revision3, not to mention @jimmyfallon’s nerdy, beer-spilling sit down with Albrecht and Rose.

A legitimate #hobobreakin or not, it’s a prime example of the digital media phenomenon, and the way it’s redefining the flow of information: 1) the lifecycle of ‘news’ is dramatically shorter - from introduction, to buzz, to saturation and quickly, exhaustion; and 2) the reach is exponentially broader and deeper in the spread of any message, from simple and insignificant to actionable and meaningful.

So we see that while uncomfortable and awkward, not all break-ins are necessarily bad – sometimes a person just needs a toilet and a bed. (Although David is likely the only person who’d condone not calling the cops regardless.) Or perhaps we see a lesson in viral marketing – dos and don’ts and maybe how far is too far?

Got To See a Man About a Pool

"We've got to go see a man about a pool." A wonderfully funny inside joke between me and the brother, which ironically sums up our conversation this morning very well.

During a Sunday morning check in, we got on the topic of a new entrepreneurial venture he has in mind - well formulated in fact. The question was, which I believe to be on the minds of a number of savvy self-starters lately, "how do I get this concept off and running while keeping my day-job."

The threat is very much there, and while we've been convinced that a turn-around is soon to come, hence feeling as though the cliff is a bit further off than it was just months ago, it's still just as likely that any professional can begin tomorrow's 9 to 5 only to find that their desk has been sealed off before the first cup of coffee. Which has the tendency to separate people into two divisions, those who will fight to maintain, and those who will develop a plan of attack in preparation for the worst case scenario while fighting to maintain.

Which takes us to a tangent and not the purpose of this post. Instead, back to the potential side business. Selling pools.

Seems easy enough, although only practical given the right conditions, (Boston weather excluded, of course.) The brother, however, happens to be located in Houston, so a bit more logical a location. The question at hand over coffee this morning was: to hang a banner or post a sign in the neighborhood to attract the primary customer base, and what would be the language? My answer was instead another question - having identified the initial target audience, what is their main objective in choosing to buy a pool? And what will best speak to them based on that desire? More than simply, what will catch their attention while driving down the street. The conclusion we came to was - best to market to these folks in a way that wasn't so in their face. Who wants to see a bright blue banner on the nice new home in the cul-de-sac telling them to buy a pool? More of a disturbance to the neighborhood feel if you ask me... Amidst an overall strategy, what about instead starting by inviting the block over for a family-friendly pool party? Don't just give a testimonial - show one and talk around it. They feel and experience how great it is to have one, and it just so happens the one who can make it happen is the guy down the street they toss a casual 'hello' to every morning while stepping out to grab the paper.

The challenge is to get to the heart of what's behind purchasing decisions when faced with the demands of growing the customer base from zero, especially when taking into consideration an already saturated market, pun intended.

A Brilliant Find

Stop motion and lyrical genius.

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie. Remarkable and magical.

Measure v. Do

As it becomes even more apparent in these budget-cutting times that PR firms must invest the time necessary to demonstrate actual value, how do we also balance that with out-of-the-box, forward-thinking, brand-building strategies to stay ahead of the curve?

Perhaps invest in (or develop) tools to help measure and report - to leave room for the creative minds to do what they do best.