I'm a web strategist and PR guy exploring the changing face of communications. More →
Ham-handed PR approaches
I wrote a few days ago about how companies who are not ready to lose control should stay out of the whole realm of social media. I will add quickly to this that not only should they not try to add social media public relations to their marketing mix, but they should stay away from [...]
Read more →Rent this space
I was perusing messages on a public relations message board that I frequent this morning, and someone had asked about "PayPerPost" and whether they should sell their clients on the service to create online buzz. My answer, and the answer of everyone else who responded was a resounding "NO." PayPerPost is a service that allows [...]
Read more →Two-point-oh
Never has a version number incited such an emotional response from both extremes. We began to see this with the popularization of "web 2.0," people embracing it wholly and without thought, and others denouncing it for being pure hype. Now that the 2.0 suffix has been applied to PR, the praise and vitriol begin flowing [...]
Read more →Pitching bloggers
I’ve seen it happen. PR people or clients start believing in the power of the blogosphere, and want their next communications plan to involve "blog pitching." The PR firm agrees, not really knowing anything about it or really, even where to start. They figure that it must pretty much be like pitching reporters. Pitching bloggers [...]
Read more →How to generate word of mouth
Olivier Blanchard at the Brand Builder Blog posts what is possibly the truest thing I’ve heard all week. To paraphrase his post, the steps to creating great word of mouth are as follows: Create something that amazes, delights and excites your customers. There is no step 2. Check out the original post, bookmark it, and [...]
Read more →Open source branding
This week’s BrandWeek has a thought-provoking feature on what they refer to as “open source branding.” The basis of the article is on empowering brand advocates by putting the brand in their hands – through consumer-generated media and generally taking marketing advice from your own consumers. Of course, they mention the first failures of CGM [...]
Read more →Revelation #1
Being heavily involved in the arts for most of my career, I always enjoy going to the theatre. I find that sometimes I can be watching a play and glean something from one of the lines that, while totally unrelated to what’s going on on stage, makes something I’ve been thinking about make perfect sense. [...]
Read more →Highly Effective Blogs
Steve Rubel points to a study by UMass identifying the traits of successful business blogs. Anyone starting a business blog should read this before even registering their domain name. (Via: Micropersuasion)
Read more →Losing Control
In an article on vnunet.com about YouTube, I came across an excellent quote from Mark Tutssel, the worldwide chief creative officer at Leo Burnett. Marketers must learn to let go of the control they think they have over their brand," he said. "Once consumers have interacted with brands, they will not go back to being [...]
Read more →Brands on MySpace
Three Minds @ Organic has compiled a List of Brands on MySpace. In a world where you’re only as important as the number of friends you have, it’s interesting to see how many major brands have thousands of “friends” listed on the site. I’m not sure about the PR value of MySpace for anything other [...]
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