Pitching Business Media Is Getting Tougher and Tougher

Posted on June 29, 2009 by jongreer

One of the untold stories of PR over the last quarter century has been the great rise in business journalism, from a media backwater to a front-and-center element of the media. It just so happens that I had a front-row seat for this transformation, as I entered business journalism in 1981 as part of the first wave of expansion. Back then, for perspective, the Wall Street Journal was only one section, and the New York Times’ business section was behind the sports section. There was no CNBC.

This has been a boon for PR — the more business media, the more PR people and resources needed to deal with them and pitch them.

It has never been easy to get coverage from the business media, but this year, it has gotten much tougher. Buyouts and closures are sweeping the media, taking out scores of talented and experienced business journalists.

Talking Biz News, a very good blog that follows the business media, reported today that 250 business media jobs were eliminated just during the first six months of 2009. That included the entire staff of Portfolio, the ill-timed new business mag from Conde Nast, and 100 positions throughout Bloomberg Media, which is heavily dependent on sales of its information to the financial services sector. But there have been scores of other jobs lost at national newspapers, regionals, magazines and business journals.

What does this mean for us in PR? It means we have to work ever harder to get stories placed. It means we can’t waste precious time pitching non-stories to over-worked journalists. It means that when we do pitch a story, we need to be ready to provide facts and figures, human interest, quotable quotes, photos, graphics and other sources for the story.

I know it’s hard to do. But that’s reality. So get back to work, people. Break’s over.

Filed under: Mainstream Media, Media Evolution, Media Relations, PR Evolution, Public Relations, Wall Street Journal | Leave a Comment »

Storytelling Gets the Harvard Business School Seal of Approval

Posted on June 26, 2009 by jongreer

Anyone making a living in PR ought to know this, but it always bears repeating: a good story is the best way to convey information. Dry facts = boring. Good story = interesting. And interested people are much more valuable than bored ones.

But if you’re the type who needs academic facts to back up your business theories, then here’s an article from Harvard Business Review: “To Boost Knowledge Transfer, Tell Me a Story.”

Here’s the summary of the article:

We studied a particularly successful program of the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation called SmartLessons. Started in 2005 in response to a push from managers in the field, the voluntary program teaches employees how to deliver information through human stories that people can connect with. It offers a simple guide for writing narratives to post online, as well as the services of an editor, who ensures that the articles and multimedia presentations posted on the SmartLessons site really are in story form. We found that storytelling dramatically increased IFC employees’ ability to absorb information.

Filed under: PR Writing, Public Relations | Leave a Comment »

Ticketmaster Tries to Solve a Big Problem With a Little PR Push

Posted on June 25, 2009 by jongreer

One of the most important lessons of crisis communications is that most crises are not communications problems, they’re operational problems. Communications can help in many ways to diffuse a crisis and calm people down, but if the operational issue at the heart of the problem isn’t addressed, no amount of PR spin is going to distract interested parties from that fact.

This, is a nutshell, is my fan-level reaction to Ticketmaster’s new PR ploy involving its captive reseller program, TicketsNow. Ticketmaster had a big problem earlier this year when it was caught transferring ticket seekers from the original ticket onsale screen to the TicketsNow resale screen, where the same tickets that had just gone on sale were now supposedly only available for huge markups on TicketsNow.

Last week, Ticketmaster announced a so-called “Fans Up Front” program that claims to address the concerns of ticket buyers who believe that Ticketmaster holds back tickets from the original ticket distribution and then makes them available via TicketsNow at a markup. The program includes a side-by-side comparison of the original price and the scalper/TicketsNow price, and will tell prospective TicketsNow buyers whether there are still original price tickets available via Ticketmaster.

Here’s why it’s an attempt to use PR to solve an operational problem: both of these initiatives are lame-ass smokescreens. Two of the easiest pieces of information for a concertgoer to figure out are a) the list price of the ticket and b) whether Ticketmaster has any more original tickets for sale when you go online to get them.

What none of us understand is the answer to the question that Ticketmaster continues to evade: how is it that tickets are “sold out” minutes after they go on sale, only to be available for huge markups on the TicketsNow site and elsewhere, such as eBay? The answer, I and many others suspect, is that in the byzantine world of ticket sales, lots and lots of people have their hands in the proverbial cookie jar, skimming off the best tickets for themselves, for friends, for ticket brokers and for scalpers. What’s left for the average fan is the crumbs.

Until Ticketmaster addresses its operational problem — that far fewer than 100% of the available tickets are made available to the general public — then lame PR programs like “Fans Up Front” will continue to be seen for what they are: ineffective spin.

Filed under: Crisis PR, Management, Marketing, Public Relations, Spin | Leave a Comment »

dna13’s new Enterprise edition is the next generation of reputation monitoring

Posted on June 21, 2009 by jongreer

We’re now far enough along in the development of the Internet and desktop software that corporations can now access very sophisticated tools to monitor the messages flowing out there in the world about them. I recently had a chance to demo dna13’s new Enterprise software and it looked to me like the future of reputation management.

First, let me say that I do not ordinarily tout PR tools and technologies, and this is not an endorsement per se. But I was sufficiently impressed by the depth and breadth of dna13’s software that I wanted to write about. If you want to stop reading my drivel and go straight to their site for more information, here’s the link.

dna13’s Enterprise software does the following things:

  • It allows you to post and share audience-specific messages across the enterprise (e.g., messages for consumers, investors and government affairs)
  • It allows you to set access controls so that only the proper people within the organization can drill all the way into the information
  • It allows different communications functions across the enterprise to see what the others are doing — who media contacts are, what has been said in various outlets, the tone of the coverage, etc.
  • It gives top-level marketing and communications executives (e.g., the CMO), a comprehensive dashboard to see what’s being said and done throughout the organization in real time.

It of course also includes a media database (provided by PR Newswire) as well as access to media monitoring services (those are table stakes). And it’s a SaaS (software-as-a-service) offering, so it’s hosted by dna13 and doesn’t need to be installed on enterprise servers.

My fascination with this product is that is seems to provide everything the modern Fortune 500 level CMO would need to leverage network computing power to stay on top of communications trends affecting their company.

I’ve known the dna13 folks for awhile but finally got the demo at the recent Media Relations Summit, which draws largely a mid-level PR audience. I don’t think this service is going to sell through this group, though. I think dna13 must pitch this service higher up the communications ladder, to CMOs, CFOs, VPs of governmental relations, and the like.

Filed under: Digital Marketing, Management, Marketing, PR Evolution, Technology | 2 Comments »

Even White House Reporters Don’t Like Interviews “On Background”

Posted on June 19, 2009 by jongreer

One of the most important techniques every spokesperson should master is negotiating the “terms of the interview.” All too often, spokespeople go into interviews assuming one thing, while the journalist assumes another. Later, after the spokesperson has blabbed about your their product, bad-mouthed the competition and otherwise made a fool of himself, he blurts out, “this is all off the record, right?” Oy.

Repeat after me: agree on the terms of the interview before you start talking, not after. If you’re unsure of the terms, ask the reporter what their understanding is. And don’t say anything until you’re satisfied. That’s because you have leverage before you start talking — you have something the other person wants. Afterward, the power is reversed.

One of the fuzziest interview terms is “on background.” This term got started in Washington, and still has the most currency there. It means that someone is speaking not for attribution, and that the information can be used for background only, not reported directly. Presidents and their staffs love this technique, because it allows them more freedom to explain complex decisions without having to worry about making a “gotcha” goof.

Traditionally, the DC media has gone along with this, and I’m sure they will continue to in the future. After all, how many people can resist an invitation to sit down with a general or a cabinet secretary in a historic office building and be told important secrets?

Nevertheless, the DC media corps occasionally rouses itself to complain about this technique, basically for the purpose of trying to change the power dynamic, if only for a brief time. Last month, the press briefly fulminated about it and the story was reported on Politico.com:

After a “senior administration official” briefed reporters on a conference call about Chrysler last week, the Associated Press’s Jennifer Loven circulated an e-mail among her colleagues suggesting some kind of joint action to protest the use of not-for-attribution sessions.

“We’ve been concerned about the needless use of ‘on-background’ briefings when it comes to sharing straightforward information,” AP spokesman Paul Colford told POLITICO, adding that the AP had “relayed” its views “to other news organizations in Washington” and is “eager to work with them in addressing the issue.”

But when the White House held two more background briefings this week — one on the president’s budget, the other on Pakistan and Afghanistan — AP’s reporters and all the other usual suspects were there.

Filed under: Being a Spokesperson, Media Relations, Media Relations Tips, Media Training | Leave a Comment »

An Olympian Effort: Media-Training Streetwalkers

Posted on June 15, 2009 by jongreer

Cities go to extraordinary lengths to beautify themselves to be in the international spotlight during the Olympics, but Vancouver has taken it to new levels. Reuters reports that a Vancouver non-profit has been handing out “media-training” brochures to prostitutes in the beautiful British Columbia city in advance of the Olympics being held there next winter.

“It is a supportive tool that we are offering,” said Natasia Wright, of the Prostitution Alternatives Counselling and Education Society (PACE). “What we are doing is putting together a brochure for our members on their rights to do with the media in general in preparation for the Olympics,” she added in a telephone interview.

The brochure will contain information and guidelines about how to handle requests for photographs and interviews. It will also be accompanied by a discussion session, according to PACE, which is located in Vancouver’s poor Downtown Eastside area. It will inform sex workers about where they can be photographed, how to handle media aggressiveness, and that they can refuse to do an interview and can ask for questions in advance if they do, according to Wright.

File this in the following category: one more reason that your boss’ excuses for not being media trained are lame. Tell him/her: Vancouver prostitutes are being media-trained. What’s your excuse?

Filed under: Media Training | Leave a Comment »

Get Ready for the Facebook Vanity URL Mad Rush

Posted on June 10, 2009 by jongreer

The countdown has begun (and you can watch it here): at 12:01 am ET on Saturday morning June 13, Facebook users will be able to create usernames (aka “vanity URLs) for their profiles using real words rather than just the numbers that now represent each user.

In other words: currently I am user #748461753 on Facebook, but come Friday night West Coast time, I will jump on Facebook and try to grab my vanity URL, so that my listing on Facebook (and hence the web) will be something like www.facebook.com/myvanityurl.

Why?

Because this will make my Facebook profile easier to search for on the web, and is part of the move toward the “semantic web” that is coming down the pike. The “semantic” web is all about getting richer and more useful information when you look for something on the web. For instance, in my case, I want people to find all my writing and services in one place when they search for me. That’s not what you get when you Google me — you get a page that has lots of my stuff, but a) not all of it and b) it’s interspersed with other results.

Anyway, back to Facebook. If you are a Facebook user, you should definitely plan on getting a vanity URL at your earliest convenience. One can assume that it will be pretty tough to get through to the FB servers in the minutes and hours immediately after 12:01 am ET, so plan on trying some time this weekend. You can read more about it on Facebook’s blog here or on these many news and blog posts.

Here’s a timely resource that may come in handy, especially if you use Facebook for your product or services: Adam Metz has posted a Facebook Vanity URL Action Plan.

Filed under: Facebook, Social Media | Leave a Comment »

Long Live New Media

Posted on June 8, 2009 by jongreer

With all the hand-wringing about the decline of metropolitan newspapers and other print media, you’d think that the traditional media was simply drying up and blowing away and leaving us in a media-free society. But that’s hardly the case.

For one thing, traditional print and electronic media are far from dead and buried. They may be on the decline, but they’re not gone yet and may still survive in some viable form or another.

For another, new media models are popping up all over the place, and while none has been a stratospheric business success yet, they are surviving and growing and figuring out how to make money.

As a media relations pro (and I assume you are), you need to stay on top of the media’s evolution and be able to talk and think knowledgeably about it. So, here’s a link to a Neiman Journalism Lab article called “Five newsrooms H.L. Mencken wouldn’t recognize.”

It’s a behind-the-scenes tour of the news operations of Talking Points Memo, Gawker Media, Daily Telegraph, Valley Independent Sentinel and the Seattle Spokesman-Review.

BTW, who was H.L. Mencken? Good question — here’s your answer.

And while we’re on the subject of media evolution, here’s an interview with the newly named “social media editor” of the NY Times, Jennifer Preston.

Filed under: Mainstream Media, Media Evolution, Online Media, Social Media, Traditional Media | Leave a Comment »

How to Keep Your Spirits Up and Boost Your Success in PR

Posted on June 2, 2009 by jongreer

Doing PR can be a pretty frustrating job, with endless client/boss demands, temperamental reporters and editors (and bloggers), pitching difficulties and the like. It’s a wonder any of us enjoy making a living at this at all!

Over the years, I’ve found that working in teams, brainstorming with colleagues and having the occasional bitch session with my peers makes this challenging profession a little more bearable.

Unfortunately for many of us, we don’t work in large enough teams to make such collaborative moments possible. PR is often one of the smaller functions in a business. It’s not uncommon for PR to be handled internally at a company by one or two people, and even in agencies, most client teams have only a handful of people.

As a result, our thinking can get stale, leading to more frustration and potentially less PR success. That’s why I’m very happy to let you know that I’m launching a new webinar series, PR Power Boost. The first one will take place Monday, June 22 at 1pm ET/10am PT.

PR Power Boost is a 60-minute webinar to recharge your batteries and send you off with a raft of new ideas to accomplish your PR goals.

Here’s how it will work:

  • A small group will meet on a conference call to get the latest PR tips and share ideas. To make it as high-value as possible, there will be no more than 20 participants per call.
  • Everyone’s line will be live, so you can ask questions, get answers and offer ideas all throughout the call.
  • I’ll facilitate and make sure everyone gets the answers they need.

I’m really excited to offer this new service to the PR community and I think it’s going to be a great success. I’m pricing it at a very reasonable $75 per session, and offering at introductory price for this first webinar of $60 (use the discount code BOOST).

I hope you will join us, and feel free to pass this post and the discount code around to your colleagues!

Filed under: PR Agencies, PR Power Boost, PR Skills, PR Tips, PR Writing, Public Relations | Leave a Comment »

Yahoo’s CEO Shows the Big Boys How It’s Done

Posted on May 28, 2009 by jongreer

Nice to see some refreshing candor from Yahoo’s newish CEO, Carol Bartz.

At the hipper-than-thou D Conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, Bartz stage-whispered the f-bomb at media high priestess Kara Swisher, not a direct shot but definitely a signal that she was to be taken seriously.

Then, at the same conference, she interrupted an interview with CNBC’s Jim Goldman, who was midway through a statement/question that Yahoo seemed to be “contenting itself” with offering services that Google didn’t. First Bartz cut him off with a terse “excuse me” and then took over the question by asserting that Yahoo played second fiddle to no one and that Yahoo is “very different, and just as special as they are.”

Why do I like these exchanges? In the case of the Swisher interview, she sends the signal that she is strong and in control, a critical message for anyone with an interest in Yahoo (i.e., investors, employees, users, competitors). With Goldman, she was even stronger: cutting him off wasn’t that big a deal, but it did show her confidence as a spokesperson. But then, she went on to assert the strength of Yahoo in the strongest terms, and even if your first reaction is “yeah, right,” the overall impression is one of some who is not going to back down until her words are indeed 100% true.

The Goldman interview is prime example of the confidence CEOs ought to exude when they are speaking as representatives of their companies.

The easiest way to watch these videos is at Valleywag right here.

Filed under: Being a Spokesperson, Mainstream Media, Media Relations, Media Training, Technology, Wall Street Journal | Leave a Comment »

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