INK PUBLIC RELATIONS

Dear Coverage Reports,

Why must our relationship be so complicated? While I appreciate and respect all that you stand for and represent, I can’t help but squirm every time I hear your name in our weekly meetings. Is it because you constantly test my ability to master an Excel document? Or is it because our visits have become more frequent and your constant presence on my to-do list refuses to remove itself. Whatever the reason, please forgive me when I say – I think we should see other people.

It’s not that I don’t value what you bring to our client deliverables; trust me, I know. Every client loves to see their name in print, online or broadcast segments. Even more so when there are duplicates of the same article in triple digits. Nothing makes them happier than to open a document and see pages of articles all about them. But I must honestly say, your intrigue to me is no longer appealing. I once felt a tingle of excitement compiling media reports, hoping I could find one more mention to include. But those days have sadly passed.

With the change of seasons, come new faces to our INK offices: INTERNS. That one simple word will soon wipe away all of the hours of copy/paste redundancy you have bestowed upon me over the years. It is time you make a new friend. Whoever they are (interviews are still pending), I know the two of you will get along just fine. I will always remember the pleasure you have given to our clients, especially when your length is in excess of 5 pages of grid beauty, but please consider this our final communication for a while.

Until we meet again,
Allison

We were recently asked to talk to a local Austin company about their PR program and some project work they were hoping to get some help on. Going into the meeting, we were thinking the project work would, of course, involve media relations (as did the company we were talking to). After really listening to their situation, their goals and what they hoped for as an end result, it became pretty clear to us that media relations would be a roundabout way to meet their needs. We drafted our proposal accordingly – focusing on improving internal communications, providing better content to their sales staff, and improving the feedback loop to ensure they were listening to their team.

We submitted our project proposal and waited with baited breath to hear back. The thing is, it is nerve-racking to submit a proposal that DOESN’T focus intently on media relations. After all, we are a PR firm and therefore we specialize in media relations. And we do. But at the same time, we don’t. We focus on communications. We do a ton of different work for our clients (believe me, it isn’t all media all the time here, at all), but if asked what my job entails by an outsider, I would say, almost immediately, media relations – meaning I support the media in their effort to report the news and I work with my clients to make sure their news gets to interested media. Media relations is the presumed activity of choice.

So we just heard back from the client (oh yeah, we got that business) that our approach was really appreciated – that we looked at their needs and based our recommendations off of what would most benefit them rather than just sending the same ol’ same ol’ media relations campaign.

It, of course, makes sense to do the above. But I don’t think it always happens. Just like it makes sense to tailor a pitch to the media, but clearly that doesn’t always happen. It is nice to be at firm that appreciates the right answer – not just the expected answer or the easiest answer.

I saw this article by @suzannechoney and my mouth dropped open – how wildly inappropriate! But after the initial freak out, I thought to myself “Why would I be okay reading this in a newspaper and not on Twitter?” It’s news either way. Twitter – in my head up until this point – has been a place for sharing links to news stories, not where the story itself is written. Yes, there have been books written 100% from tweets and yes, of course, reporters and writers use it every day to share their thoughts. But “I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution.” That’s 100% news happening at that moment. Self-publishing at its core. Hardcore.

Long-time INK client Mike Foley of Bluetooth fame was a guest on Larry King Live last night.

I’m not sure who was more nervous of the two of us, but if it was him, he sure didn’t show it. In the last Fresh INK post, Kari mentioned Wilson Rothman as an excellent interviewee, doing all of the things we recommend to our clients re sound bites, staying on message, etc. Well this time, the shining example is our client – and we are so impressed and proud (though we certainly don’t claim his success, minus all of the practice he’s had over the years through the interviews we’ve set up for him ).

What did he do right? He smiled (engaging), he spoke in real language (sometimes hard for a tech guy – again, engaging), he spoke to what he knows and deferred topics on which he’s not an expert to someone else (staying on message), he shared information that was of interest to the audience, of interest to the reporter, and in his best interest (staying on message), and lastly he had a pretty memorable sound bite (Bluetooth headsets transmit 1/1000th of the power of a cell phone – go figure!). He was also extremely quick on his feet on this live show, which is hard for even the most seasoned spokespeople to do and he did it well.

Kudos to you Mike! You know me, I don’t mind giving the critiques when needed, but this time – not a critique to be had in the house. Check it out:

MICHAEL FOLEY, BLUETOOTH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP: Sure, these are two examples of wireless headsets that you wear in your ear to take phone calls. So then your phone can remain in your pocket, in your purse, in your briefcase, and then you don’t have to hold it to your head. Many new cars now have Bluetooth built in as well, where it uses your speakers for basically a hands-free kit in the car. Of course, everyone is not going to go out and buy a new car, so you can get aftermarket Bluetooth speaker phones as well to use in the car. These you can clip these on the dash right above your head. You can make the call and not, again, have to hold the mobile phone to your head while you’re driving. Of course, while you’re driving, that’s the law in many states and many countries around the world as well.

KING: What are your thoughts on the study released tomorrow?

FOLEY: I found it very interesting listening to the experts, and thought it was very confusing. I don’t think they really know right now. And the other thing I didn’t hear any of them talk about all of these were phones from 15 years ago, 10 years ago because they’re 10- year studies. Think of what your phone was like 10 years ago, Larry.

KING: I think I still have the same one.

FOLEY: You’re the exception. Most people in America in a ten-year period would go through four to ten cell phones. And they transmitted with a lot more power back then than they do now. Like everything, the technology changes over time. And how you fit that into the study is very interesting.

KING: What’s the difference in the power transmission between a cell phone and Bluetooth?

FOLEY: A bluetooth headset or speaker phone uses approximately one one thousandth of the power.

KING: One one thousandth?

FOLEY: Exactly. It does depends on your mobile phone and Bluetooth headset. But, give or take, that’s roughly the amount.

KING: I believe Dr. Ottis Brawley is still there. Are you there, Dr. Brawley?

BRAWLEY: Yes, I am.

KING: What do you think of the Bluetooth?

BRAWLEY: I think that for people who are concerned about cell phones concerning brain tumors, using a Bluetooth or a wired device is a very reasonable thing to do. I don’t want people to be panicked and not use their cell phones over all of this, or be confused. If you’re concerned, use a wireless device or a Bluetooth.

KING: Isn’t you safer? Wouldn’t you be safer using a Bluetooth?

FOLEY: It sounds like it. I’ll leave that up to the medical experts. But if you can use something that uses one one thousandth of the power, and it really doesn’t change your use patterns — just put this on and take the call like you normally do — why not do that. It seems prudent to me.

KING: Quickie, where did it get its name?

FOLEY: Bluetooth was a Danish king around the 900s. And he united the Scandinavian countries. The original concept with Bluetooth was it was a technology that would unite the mobile phone and personal computer. And Bluetooth was originally created by people in those countries at Eriksson and Nokia. So that was the code name and it stuck. It’s been the name for over a decade now.

KING: You can buy these anywhere?

FOLEY: Sure. Any electronic store, you mobile phone provider store, they all have headsets, car kits. Of course, as I mentioned, most new cars come with it now.

KING: One one thousandth?

FOLEY: Yes.

KING: Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Dr. Brawley. Thanks to all of our panel. We’re going to do a lot more on this.

This morning, Wilson Rothman, features editor for Gizmodo, was interviewed by NPR’s Renee Montagne about cloud computing and how Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others protect their customers’ online information. Pretty complex stuff, but Wilson nailed it. At INK, we do a lot of spokesperson training and a ton of messaging work to make complex technology easier to understand. We tell clients to know their audience, delete their database of knowledge, use examples, personal stories and numbers to illustrate the point and simplify the message. Wilson did all of this in an impressive interview that I will use as a “what TO DO” example in the future. Here are a few of the highlights. You can listen to the full interview here.

Can we begin with a definition of cloud computing? Cloud computing is the computing that happens on the Internet rather than on your computer.  A good example would be back in the day when we wanted to get on AOL, we had to load a bunch of software onto our computers. Now when we want to get on Facebook, we just open a web browser and Facebook is there. That’s the computer vs. the cloud right there.

With one’s personal data, if it’s not inside your own computer, it seems that you’re somewhat at the mercy of whatever cloud computing service you’re using to safeguard you’re privacy and even the security of that information. Absolutely, but the flip side is they’re better at keeping your data than you are. People at home lose data all the time.  I was shocked the other day, I heard a statistic that 5% of Americans use an extra hard drive to back up their computer. And hard drives die all the time, I had one die last Friday.

Even the best companies can’t stop hackers. The most high profile example that we’ve heard about lately was probably with Google.  It had some of its software code stolen and later said what was stolen was a code to the company’s global password  system. Now. . Doesn’t it suggest what could happen? I think the best analogy to that is that there’s a difference from stealing the blueprints to the castle and stealing the keys to the castle. You can look at a blueprint until your head spins, you still might not be able to figure out a way in.  As far as I know, user passwords were not stolen.  That would be the bad thing.

Since increasingly cloud computing is transforming the way we put data on the computer, whether at work or at home, do you have tips? The key to this whole thing is the password.  I dug up some numbers that are kind of startling. A hacker can use software to decode a four character password in one and a half minutes but if the password is eight characters, it would take two centuries.  Those extra four characters geometrically expand the difficulty of decrypting the password to a degree that the hacker wouldn’t even bother.

Media  (particularly online) heavily rely on visual assets to build out their stories. In fact, outlets such as GigaOm, have made “pretty pictures” the foundation of their story as seen in this infographic about the economy of the Apple App Store. To that end, a multimedia library is an essential part of any online press center. There are vendors out there such as PR Newswire that can create multimedia portals to archive, manage and make content available to journalists. Such services are useful (if not necessary), particularly for companies with a large arsenal of visual content. However, it’s not suitable for everyone and if it’s a manageable volume of assets, a multimedia library is something that can be handled internally. Below are a few guidelines for creating version 1.0 of your online multimedia library:

Images and video should make up the basic building blocks of a multimedia library.

Consider audio clips that can be useful for radio or can even be the extra hook to secure coverage. For example, when our client BlueAnt introduced its Q1 voice controlled headset, a broadcast reporter wanted to demonstrate the product on air. When “micing up” the Q1 so that the device’s voice prompts could be heard on camera proved difficult, audio clips were provided to be edited into the story.

This content will be used by a variety of outlets so make sure it’s ready to be multi-purposed. For example, video can be broadcast quality for TV outlets AND available in formats that can be easily embedded online. Images can be hi-res for print outlets AND low res for online.

When possible, make all materials accessible/downloadable via a simple click of the mouse. If B-roll assets are only available to be shipped, simply indicate that and publish the appropriate contact information online.

Finally, organization is key for letting journalists effortlessly navigate your multimedia center to access what they need quickly. Images, video, etc. should be categorized appropriately. Nokia does a great job of that.

Pretty straight-forward stuff but worth noting because companies of all sizes should offer multimedia assets. Doing so certainly isn’t rocket science nor does it require external vendors or even big cost.

I liked this post today from the Bad Pitch Blog re other ways to get your news across besides a press release. At INK, we firmly believe there ARE other alternatives – and sometimes it’s instead of, whereas others it’s in combination with. Either way, the point made at the end of the post conjures up a recurring theme, here on this blog, at INK and in the realm of PR – it’s QUALITY that matters. Go ahead, announce your new product via sky writer, spray paint it on a wall or silk screen it on a t-shirt. At the end of the day though, if it’s not good stuff, it’s just not. No lipsticks on pigs – can’t dress up what’s not able – this is my haiku. (HAHA, I think I’ll stick to press releases! But I told @laermer I’d give it a shot, so there you go.)

In preparation for a client meeting recently, I ran across this article on PR measurement on Metrics Man’s blog. He details five things to forget and five things to learn about PR measurement in 2010. A few things resonated with me on this topic:

What to forget: The PR industry has tried for SO LONG to measure PR in terms of numbers (ad value equivalency, number of hits, number of interviews…) – hell, we still do this at INK primarily because it’s the language our clients speak. But does it really work? Metrics Man says forgeddaboudit. It doesn’t tell you anything. So what if your coverage increased significantly year over year? Did anyone read it? Did anyone ACT on it?

Ah, action – that’s one of the things to remember in 2010. What PR is all about is moving an audience from (Metrics Man here again) exposure to engagement to influence to ACTION. If we’re just measuring exposure – which is what the quantity measurements are all about – then we’re not saying much about the value that PR is bringing to our clients’ business. Now, say we only get one interview – but it’s an interview with the Wall Street Journal and has the potential to influence legislation that affects the industry the client plays in…let’s ask the client what he would prefer – more interviews or the RIGHT interview? I hope we can guess which one he prefers.

I am embarrassed to say it’s been several long months since I’ve contributed to our blog. What holds me back – besides lots of great work, the holidays and a new baby? (Excuses, excuses!) The biggest thing that holds me back is the audience – what if what I have to say is of interest to part of my audience, while perhaps not of interest or even offensive to another? This dilemma freezes my fingers over the keyboard, and then, instead of figuring out a solution, I just give up.

Well, no more. We cannot, as a client service and PR counsel organization, recommend to our clients that they take the time to put their thoughts “out there” when we don’t do the same. Just as I hope to teach my daughters by example (vs. the “do as I say, not as I do” approach my parents took with me ), I feel compelled to do the same with my clients when it comes to social media. So…I’m back!

A common issue arose from the topic covered in yesterday’s post (re Nuventix in Scientific American) – what is the value of print vs. online coverage? Many of our long-standing tech clients still strongly believe that print is where it’s at and while I too have caught myself being a bit “old school” on certain topics, this is not one of them. While print stories make for good wall-mounted displays, online coverage is out there working for you, connecting the dots between PR and its impact on your business. Four reasons why online is king:

1) Online usually gets more eyeballs. In the case of SciAm, over 3x’s as many (2M unique monthly website visitors compared to 607K monthly print subscribers)

2) Online supports a company’s SEO objectives. Yesterday, when the Nuventix SciAm story hit, the company realized its 5th highest website traffic day ever.

3) Online can be “pushed” to more eyeballs than just the base website’s visitors via social media tools. The initial Tweet that went out from @sciam on this story reached 42,229 people, according to TweetReach – and that’s just one tool, one avenue.

4) Online has longevity. Last month’s print issue will be recycled when the new one arrives – online stories live on in databases much longer.

You tell me – still jonesin’ for that framed art for your office wall or are you more interested in marketing that contributes to the bottom line?