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Strategic Public Relations To Make Your Business Bloom
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If You're Going to Sell Your Principles, at Least Demand a Fair Price
Blogs are by nature personal. Therein lies the beauty -- as well as the danger -- of company-sponsored blogs.
When most people write about the pitfalls of corporate blogging, they touch on issues such as libel, the risk of public companies releasing material information improperly, and so on. Indeed, those are real risks -- for corporations and their shareholders.
But the biggest risk in corporate blogging isn't to the company at all. It's to the individuals who blog in the name of the company they work for.
What's the risk? Put plainly: To lose your soul. To lose your sense of who you are, and what you believe, by presenting your company's viewpoints as your own -- by substituting your company's profit-based objectives for your own moral compass.
I'll give you the example that made me write this post:
A young ad rep for Google, three years out of college, writes for the Google Health Advertising blog. The blog is meant to spur healthcare companies to use Google advertising to get their message out at a time when they are taking a whole lot of grief.
As this young rep puts it in a post she calls, "Does negative press make you Sicko?":
Whatever the problem, Google can act as a platform for educating the public and promoting your message. We help you connect your company's assets while helping users find the information they seek. Nothing wrong with that. This is America, and everyone deserves a fair trial. More power to Google -- and to the ad rep. If she'd only left it at that. Unfortunately, because we're in the world of blogs and not of brochures and press releases, the ad rep didn't leave it at that. She felt compelled to include her own personal critique of Michael Moore's "Sicko": Moore attacks health insurers, health providers, and pharmaceutical companies by connecting them to isolated and emotional stories of the system at its worst. Moore's film portrays the industry as money and marketing driven, and fails to show healthcare's interest in patient well-being and care. OK, do you see where a line was crossed here? It's the line between representing a company or client's interests -- and telling the world that you personally share those interests. Of course, it's possible that this young ad rep has always been a big fan of the U.S. healthcare system. Perhaps she was so enthusiastic in her personal convictions that she asked to be assigned to Google Health Advertising so she could do her part to help insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers fight baddies like Moore. But it makes you wonder: If the same ad rep were assigned to build a Google ad campaign for Moore's movie distributor instead U.S. healthcare companies, would she be writing the same post? Would she refuse the Moore account because of her principled viewpoint that his film is unfair? I won't answer for her, and I feel a little bad for singling her out in this way. But I think the lesson is a critical one -- particularly for young people just starting out in their careers. Let me break it down into the following words of wisdom for early-career marketers and communicators: 1. Being in PR and advertising does not mean you have to personally agree with your employer or client on every issue. 2. If you don't agree with your employer or client, don't say you do.3. Even if you don't have a strong opinion on an issue, don't personally take your employer or client's side simply because it's convenient or in your financial interests to do so. That way, you retain who you are -- your personal moral autonomy. You don't have to sell your principles to anyone to succeed in your career; don't listen to anybody who tells you that you do. I touched on the difference between representing your personal views and your client's views sometime back, when I complained about a former reporter friend who "called me out" in the following manner: I was working in corporate communications, she was still a journalist, and she was writing a story about a controversy involving my company.
The conversation went like this: She asked me a question, and I told her my company's point of view on the issue. She didn't agree with this viewpoint; furthermore, she didn't believe that I agreed with it, and blurted out the following:
"Scott, you've sold your soul!"
Notwithstanding the utter lack of comprehension of what PR people do -- i.e., we represent our employers or clients, not ourselves -- this former colleague's comment goes to the heart of what bothers me about some journalists. Put simply, they think they are better -- that their jobs have a higher moral and ethical purpose than that of the lowly PR practitioner. In that situation, I felt completely justified in being pissed off. But you know what? If I had just stepped over that little line and said "I" held a certain position, rather than that "my company" held that position, that former colleague would have been right. I should add that you don't always get off the hook simply by hiding behind a client's position. Personally, for example, I could never work for a tobacco company, or most big energy companies, or most fast-food companies, or most big pharmaceutical companies. Most choices in life are not black and white. Which leads me to this: I want to say something specifically to the ad rep who wrote the Moore post, should she happen to read this. When I was younger and feeling my way in my career, I made plenty of mistakes -- including many worse than the one I suspect you might have made here. It's only by screwing up again and again that I've come to be able to offer whatever insight I have. And if in your heart of hearts you truly believe that Michael Moore is being unfair to U.S healthcare companies, and that your advertising clients have the moral high ground, I'm sorry I used your post in my example. (Source: ZDNet)
Pick of the Thicket 6.29.07
Visitors to Media Orchard Who Are Under 17 Must Be Accompanied By an Adult
The Difference Between a "Nice" Blog and a Necessary One
More and more companies are looking at blogs and trying to figure out where they might fit into their marketing program. We think that for most companies, blogs can be a nice addition to the mix. For some, however, they're absolutely essential.
We explain the difference between "nice" blogs and necessary ones in our post today at MarketingProfs. Check it out.
Five Ways to Integrate Social Media Into Your Communications Plan -- Without Scaring the CEO
I was honored to be a featured speaker and panel facilitator on Wednesday at the Oklahoma City PRSA's 2007 Professional Development Day. Seems lots of folks -- even in conservative industries like oil and gas -- are beginning to gravitate toward new media.
My presentation focused on case studies of some of my clients, including Black Star and eDrugSearch.com.
I concluded with five quick tips for communicators who'd like to get the social media ball rolling, but aren't sure where to start.
They are:
1. Monitor blog mentions with Technorati and Google Alerts.
2. Sprinkle social media "fairy dust" on your news release distributions.
3. Make company news releases available by RSS.
4. Begin distributing and pitching to blogs (but carefully!)
5. Begin blogging internally to communicate to employees.
These steps amount to little more than putting a toe in the water -- but there's no reason why any communications department can't begin doing them today.
Pick of the Thicket Bonus: Video Fun
Pick of the Thicket 6.23.07
If a Blog Makes You Think, It Was Probably an Accident
Blogs aren't generally designed to make you think -- at least not in the "self-actualization" sense in Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
No, they usually aim lower -- peaking at "esteem," "recognition" and "sense of belonging."
Usually, they're about people showing how smart they are, or sharing inside jokes with people who already think exactly like they do, or selling their wares on the Interwebs -- which is a little different from actually trying to reach out intellectually to people who have different perspectives.
Very few people are good at that. And frankly, it doesn't serve those lower needs as well as being a grandstanding blowhard like this person or that person or these people.
So when we got tagged by Copywriting Maven and ChaosScenario in the latest meme, we decided to take the opportunity to plug a few blogs that might actually help you self-actualize, in some form or fashion.
Then again, we might have just oversold them a little bit.
In any case, they are:
Check 'em out. (The image we defaced came from here.)
One of the Funniest Stories We've Read in a Long Time
Image of two golddigging hoochie-mamas is your incentive to click here.
Marketing Blog Anagram Machine
Inspired by our friend Ike Pigott, the former dog-blog conspirator whose Occam's Razr has quickly risen to a Technorati authority ranking of 3 (OK -- he changed URLs), we decided to apply our Anagram Machine to a variety of marketing blogs in hopes they might gratuitously link to us -- and perhaps, if they're feeling particularly charitable, to Ike as well.
So here they are, our favorite anagrams for some of our favorite marketing blogs:
Seth's Blog: Begs Sloth
Neville Hobson: Bovines? Hell No!
Media Orchard: Admired Roach
The Flack: Lack Heft
Adrants: Sand Rat
What's Next Blog: Hag-Blown Texts
Strive Notes: Tries Vest On
Chaos Scenario: Cocaine Rash, So?
Copyblogger: Pec-Orgy Blog
Bad Language: Nude Gab Gala
Brand Sizzle: Razzes Blind
Copywrite, Ink.: Nice Pity Work
Into PR: Nip Rot
Presto Vivace: A Viper Covets
Brand Noise: Bad Sore Inn
adgoodness: Gonad Doses
Common Sense PR: Censor Pen, Moms!
Occam's RazR: Macro Czars
Technorati tags: Branding Strategy, PR, Blogs, Web 2.0, Public Relations, Marketing, Advertising, Media
Pick of the Thicket 6.13.07
Anagram Spam: You're Going to Do WHAT to Your "Honry Ssiter"?
If you're not already dyslexic, a quick review of your spam folder is sure to make you think you are.
Since spam filters are getting better and better at snagging words and partial words ranging from "cialis" to "n*ked," "win" to "save," "girlfriend" to "pl*asure," spammers have taken to turning e-mails into anagrams to crack the code for landing safely in our inboxes.
So, for this afternoon's entertainment, let's see if you can solve this Anagram Spam:
1. Honry ssiter
2. Shemlae
3. Fere hstoing
4. Amaznig rseluts
5. Esay trmes
6. Rversees agnig
7. Cahs bnuso
8. Pnneies a day
9. Rski fere
10. Scroe with baebs
11. Btse ratse
12. Vagria
13. Whlei you seelp
14. With a didlo
15. No mddileman
16. Ngeriian
17. Refniance your hmoe
18. Wrko at hmoe
19. Onlnei phramcay
20. We htae spam
Oh -- and if you're a would-be spammer yourself, here's a nice little tool you can use in your craft.
Pick of the Thicket 6.11.07
Pick of the Thicket 6.10.07
Pick of the Thicket 6.8.07
New Wolff Olins Tagline: "Our Logos Bring Consumers to Their Knees"
Bad times for brand consultant Wolff Olins. From the U.K.'s Sun:
The controversial 2012 London Olympics logo was rocked by another blow last night -- after it was ruled too dangerous to view on-screen ... An animated version of the symbol used on TV and the internet had to be dropped because it could trigger fits in thousands of people.
The logo, a graffiti-style spelling of 2012 in shades of pink, blue, green and orange, was branded "hideous" when it was launched on Monday.
And Olympics bosses were left squirming with embarrassment after an epilepsy group reported 12 cases of people collapsing through looking at it. Epilepsy Action warned that 23,000 mainly young people in the UK were at risk from the TV and internet version.
Epilepsy Action spokeswoman Ingrid Burns said: "The logo was not safe for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Within hours of it being launched we received 12 reports of people suffering seizures." Leave it to the British tabloids to go with that "squirming with embarrassment" turn of phrase. The Independent chimes in by offering a brief history of failed logos -- just two days after the unveiling on Monday. The "broken swastika," as it has been dubbed, was designed and selected at a cost of about $800,000. (Via Colin McEnroe)
Pick of the Thicket 6.4.07
Guilty as Charged: Seven Marketing Buzzwords I Promise Never to Use Again
Our friend Joy Jennings has penned another post for Media Orchard that might even top her last one. Here it is.
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Who can we blame for all the buzzwords that have crept into our day-to-day speech? We never seem to use these words outside of the office, but boy, do we love 'em in meetings and e-mail. I think some people hear a good one, then can't wait to trot it out in their next conference call.
See if you cringe at these top seven offenders. I confess to having used these, usually against my better judgment. Feel free to send your own least-favorite buzzwords to me.
1. "mission-critical"
I guess this one came around when some management guru told everyone to start writing mission statements, vision statements and elevator pitches. And then like glassy-eyed converts, we all spent 18 months bickering over conference calls about the best wording for such claptrap so that we could print it on the back of our business cards and hide it on a never-visited page of our Web site. Then anything critical became "mission-critical." Well, folks, abort the mission.
2. "key"
This is a synonym for "important" that irks me no end. Primarily because it's uttered throughout organizations on company time, but is never used when you're talking with your friends and family about what's important. Lose your keys. Please.
3. "initiative"
Companies used to have projects or maybe new products. Now any endeavor, particularly a new endeavor, is an "initiative." God help me, I never want to write another press release about an initiative.
4. "strategic"
This is maybe the worst adjective on the list. Companies love to have "strategic" business partners. I suppose this makes the partners feel better. But really, wouldn't you guess that any partner is going to be a business partner? And isn't any business partner part of some kind of strategy? (And isn't "partner" a legal term that we need to stay away from entirely?) The other crap-tastic usage is the strategic business unit. Two of those words are simply unnecessary. It's just a unit, end of story. Basically, if you need to clearly label what you're doing as strategic, you have bigger problems.
5. "going forward"
In the future, we're all going to live our lives going forward. From now on, we're going forward with a new plan. And we'll continue our business careers, eschewing buzzwords like "going forward."
6. "functionality"
Engineers and other product designers love to list the functionalities of their beloved products. I'm here to point out that "function" is a very useful noun that means the same thing. "Feature" is also an oldie but a goodie. "Capability" can also serve your needs quite well. Let's all agree to do our very best to find other words instead of this grating buzzword.
7. "solution"
I feel guilty about this one because it is in the name of the last company I worked for. I couldn't avoid it. But any business journalist will tell you that they particularly dislike this buzzword. Lots of technology companies can't bring themselves to say that they have products, systems or even services -- no, they must have solutions. But never to problems. Nuh-uh, that's a bad word that is rarely uttered. No, they have solutions to "challenges."
You probably have other buzzword examples. I do too. "Value-added," "heads-up," "learnings" and "think outside the box" can all drop out of the lexicon yesterday if it was up to me.
Buzzwords are bad because they get in the way of clear communication. Our colleagues think they make them sound smart -- or they're so immersed in corporate-speak that they truly can't think of a better alternative. As communicators, it's up to us to show them the way.
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Joy Jennings is a freelance writer who helps organizations with marketing and public relations projects. Labels: buzzwords
Pick of the Thicket 6.3.07
Forget Stoli Hotel; How About Stoli Gulag Archipelago?
Vodka's our favorite hooch, and Stoli's our favorite vodka -- but when it comes to promoting the brand in the United States, the Russians have been about as effective as their little Communist experiment back in the day.
In fact, here's the story of their latest marketing Five Year Plan: They've had five unrelated ad campaigns over the past five years -- and none of them bear repeating.
Brand Manager Adam Rosen explains: "We have to have an answer to the question, 'Russian vodka. So what?'"
And their multimillion dollar answer to that question? This thing.
Don't bother looking around the "Stoli Hotel" to find any content of interest; there's nothing there, unless you don't know how to make a vodka tonic. And the flirty virtual receptionists and bartenders don't even strip to their undies -- as you would expect from a site like this.
The Web site is actually tied to an event marketing campaign -- a series of "pop-up" hotels in a small number of major cities, open for a month at a time.
The first was in L.A. in May; the other cities on the tour are New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami. If folks in the other four cities are curious what to look forward to, here's a description from the LA Daily News:
Have you heard about the Stoli Hotel? The latest temporary hot spot to hit Hollywood (on Ivar between Sunset and Hollywood boulevards) is a faux hotel, complete with doorman and check-in babes, VIP bedrooms and even a spa offering free services, all sponsored by Stolichnaya Vodka, promoting their new flavored spirits.
All during May, the parties are raging, from a GQ bash early on to Wednesday night's Playboy party, a surreal blend of sultry centerfolds, burly bodyguards and even a tiny midget (who was not Verne Troyer) who spent most of the evening riding through the crush on the shoulders of his very large male companion...
...One bright-eyed male was overheard to comment, "There's more silicone on display here than I've ever seen in my life!" And he wasn't kidding.
Sounds OK, we guess. We like silicone as much as the next guy, after all. Until you realize that Stoli has confessed it's blown its "entire internet advertising budget" on this "traveling hotel" with lame Web sidekick. So ... let's see. If all goes well, you boost Stoli sales in five cities with a total population of, say, 20 million -- out of a total U.S. population of 300 million. The rest of us get to look at this. If Stalin were still around, he'd send you dummies to a gulag somewhere.
Know the Difference Between PHP and PCP? The Idea Grove Needs You
The Idea Grove has two immediate needs that require a freelancer/consultant:
- PHP programming
- SEO expertise
Initially, we need both of these skills for an internal project, but hope to expand this relationship to include client projects. E-mail me if you're interested.
Pick of the Thicket 6.1.07
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