November 8, 2010 in Brand Strategy, Content Marketing, Public Relations by Orchardo
HEADS UP: Reinvention Virtual Storytelling Summit, Nov. 11-22

As I’m finishing up a book on storytelling, I thought I’d pass along a virtual conference that you may find of interest. It’s called the Reinvention Summit, and it starts this Thursday. Registration starts at just $11.11. The event has a solid lineup of speakers, covering a wide range of topics that public relations practitioners should find of interest.

Remember: bad PR people pitch products; good PR people pitch stories. It’s important to understand the difference.

Here’s Michael Margolis, president of Get Storied, discussing the event:

People who know me know that I hate traveling to conferences. But this one is virtual — so wherever I am, I’ll plan to be there. Check it out.

 
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November 3, 2010 in Brand Strategy, Content Marketing, Media Orchard, Public Relations, Social Media Marketing by Orchardo
RANT: On Thought Leaders, Market Followers and Stories That Stick

I’ve finally cleared off my desk (that’s the loud crash you heard earlier this morning) and have begun to focus on getting my book finished so we can roll the presses and start trying to sell the darn thing. We’ll begin running excerpts here sometime soon, so you can decide for yourself whether it’s worth the 20 bucks on Amazon.

People familiar with Media Orchard — generally, if you were blogging about PR in the 2005-2007 timeframe, you know about us — understand that I’ve always seen social media and online marketing through an old-school lens.

While some have attempted to come up with shiny new names for what we do, cool-looking press release templates and so forth, and others have hit the speaking circuit to pronounce press releases dead or PR fundamentally, like, changed, like, forever, I’ve always pinned my sails to the truism that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I know, it’s not sexy. But it does have the virtue of being true.

Calling BS

PR, and marketing communications generally, have always been about telling stories. Stories still need a beginning, a middle and an end. They still need a purpose and a message. All that’s really changed is the variety of media we use, the complexities in identifying our audiences, and the tools at our disposal to measure success or failure.

I won’t name names, but back in 2006, many of the so-called top influencers in social media were spouting a lot of nonsense about how PR would be rocked to its core. For example, most declared that CEOs who weren’t good writers shouldn’t have blogs — because ghost-blogging was verboten as “inauthentic.”

I always knew this to be BS. It was inevitable how things would evolve — our economy dictates it, not the so-called “thought leaders.”

As I told my friend Geoff Livingston when he interviewed me back in March 2007:

When you think about it, Web 2.0 started the way Web 1.0 started. That is, you had a bunch of techies and academics and anti-corporate types running everything and thinking they could make the rules for everybody else. But guess what? They can’t. We live in a deregulated market economy, and ultimately, where there is money to be made, the market will make the rules.

I’m not saying that this is a good thing or a bad thing; I’m just saying it’s inevitable. It’s inevitable in the same way that cable news stations will cover Anna Nicole Smith 24/7, no matter what is going on in Africa. All this social media stuff is going mainstream; it’s all going to be owned and operated by companies that are trying to wring every dollar they can out of it.

And, of course, that’s exactly what happened. Look around.

Stories That Stick

Meanwhile, a lot of gurus who are making big bucks from the speaking circuit today are saying very different things from what they said in 2006. Truth is, they’re not “thought leaders” — they’re “market followers.” They come up with new “leading thoughts” based on realities that are very different from what they previously projected.

It’s like listening to sports talk, where the radio host says the team sucks and the coach should be fired the day after a loss — but that the coach is a genius after the team wins the following week.

Guess what: the coach didn’t get better. The radio host’s job is to come up with something to say every day, to get people to pay attention and respond. No one pays much attention to what he said the day before.

And so it is with too many of the social media gurus.

There’s only one problem: while this “guru” model works for self-promotion, it doesn’t work as well for brands. In fact, the techniques that get some gurus attention are often the very same techniques that companies should avoid like the plague in their own communications plans.

You see, companies aren’t like sports radio hosts. And they aren’t like speaking-circuit gurus. Companies can’t hold their finger in the air every day to decide which way the wind’s blowing, and then sell something different, the way a guru can spout new opinions.

The best companies invest in their products, services and brand identity for the long term. This requires a consistency in storytelling — across all media, and to all relevant audiences. It requires creating stories with staying power.

Or as I put it in my book’s title, “Stories That Stick.”

More later…

 
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September 27, 2010 in Public Relations by Orchardo
ADVICE: 25 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a PR Firm

Red check mark.Before I started the Idea Grove, I was a senior corporate communications executive for billion-dollar companies. I’ve led public relations campaigns of all sizes and budgets, and I know how important it is to select the right PR firm during the agency review process.

That’s why I’ve created a simple assessment tool to help companies make the right decision — and avoid common mistakes.

From my experience, the most common mistake is to fall for a slick agency presentation without fully understanding one or more of the following: (1) the agency’s specific qualifications; (2) how the agency will prioritize the company relative to other clients; (3) how the agency will charge for its services; (4) whether the agency will be a good personality fit.

Many PR firms are downright spectacular during the agency review process, but just mediocre once they’re a few months into the engagement. This is because large firms, in particular, win new clients through the sales efforts of senior executives — but then make a junior staffer the primary contact on the account.

With that in mind, I recommend that corporate communicators conducting agency reviews ask themselves the following 25 questions –- comparing PR firms across the categories of Qualifications, Prioritization, Cost-Efficiency, and Compatibility — before making a decision:

Qualifications: Can the Agency Do the Work?

1. During our discussions, has the agency demonstrated a good general understanding of my industry?
2. During our discussions, have agency representatives listened well and done their homework to gain a grasp of my company’s specific goals and challenges?
3. Does the agency seem to have sufficient personnel and breadth of expertise to meet my needs?
4. Does the agency have case studies that demonstrate success with similar clients and/or projects of similar scope?
5. Has the agency provided enthusiastic client references?
6. Do representatives of the agency seem intelligent and creative?
7. Have representatives of the agency suggested good ideas that I had not previously considered?
8. Do representatives of the agency seem passionate about what they do?

Prioritization: Will I Be Valued as a Client?

9. During the review process, has the agency been prompt in returning my phone calls and responding specifically to my information requests?
10. Has the agency been straightforward in identifying the individual who will be my primary, day-to-day contact person?
11. Does my primary contact have a sufficient level of relevant experience?
12. Has my primary contact taken a prominent role in meetings during the review process?
13. Has my primary contact personally serviced some of the client accounts cited by the agency in case studies and client references?
14. Does my primary contact have the authority to offer advice and make decisions when I need them quickly?

Cost-Efficiency: Will I Get My Money’s Worth?

15. In creating a proposal, do agency representatives focus on meeting my needs – or do they ask, “What’s your budget?” and deliver a plan that absorbs all available dollars?
16. Is the agency straightforward in discussing how it bills for its work?
17. If the agency bills by the hour, does it openly share the specific billing rates of its individual employees?
18. Do the agency’s billing rates seem reasonable compared to other firms?
19. Do the agency’s client references vouch for the agency’s flexibility and fairness in billing?

Compatibility: Will the Agency Be a Good Partner?

20. Is the personality of my primary, day-to-day contact a good fit with mine?
21. Do agency representatives communicate freely and easily with my company’s employees in meetings?
22. When asked their opinion, do representatives of the agency say what they think – not just what I want to hear?
23. Do the agency’s recommended tactics seem honest and ethical?
24. If the firm serves other companies in my industry, are agency representatives forthcoming in discussing any possible conflicts of interest?
25. Does my gut tell me the agency is promising what it can actually deliver — and not exaggerating simply to get my business?

I’ve organized this assessment tool as a printable PDF score sheet, designed for easy comparison of competing agencies. Download it here.

 
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May 7, 2010 in Media Orchard, PR Agencies by Orchardo
IDEA GROVE NEWS: Big Doings at the Idea Grove Hometree

Ah, Media Orchard. It’s idyllic here — green, lush, fun-loving, carefree.

It is all those things, that is, until those pesky Idea Grove clients of ours swoop in like the Valkyrie pilots in Avatar and blow up our hometree with their incessant demands for this Unobtanium they call “work.”

And so Media Orchard goes barren for months (and sometimes longer) at a time.

That’s OK; we love our clients. They are more important than our little tree in the blogosphere. In fact, one of the things that makes me proudest about the Idea Grove is that we keep our clients — they rarely leave our PR Pandora after they arrive.

The average tenure of Idea Grove clients since my wife and I founded the company in 2005 is almost three years. That’s pretty good, I think, considering we never demand more than a month-to-month commitment.

But the downside of having a small business where your existing clients stick around is that I have often had to turn away client work — and I certainly haven’t done much new business development work. I’ve been too busy to do it.

Recently I decided that, while this was a nice formula for working around the clock, it wasn’t the best strategy for growing a business.

And so I’ve decided to grow the Idea Grove.

I’m bringing on a partner, Rob Huckels, whom I’ve known for nearly a decade. When I was vice president of corporate communications at Belo Corp., Rob led operations for our design firm, Eisenberg and Associates. And when I left Belo to form the Idea Grove, Rob, who had moved on to become vice president of marketing at a medical equipment firm, was one of our first clients.

Rob is helping me expand the Idea Grove to become an integrated communications firm with services encompassing PR, Web design, print design, social media and SEO. I already do all these jobs for my clients (although this isn’t adequately reflected in our current Web site) — but with Rob’s help we’re going to blow the sucker out.

You’ll learn more when the new hometree — that is, our new Web site — goes up in the next few weeks.

Oh, and since we’ll also be building a staff, with other folks to help with the client work, I’m hopeful that I’ll have time to blog again in this space soon.

Stay tuned.

 
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August 19, 2009 in Public Relations by Orchardo
ADVICE: Eight Warning Signs That a Reporter Plans to Flip the Script

I love journalists. Heck, I used to be a pretty good newspaperman myself, and the blogosphere has given me a chance to dabble in the discipline of journalism again here and there. I also work daily to convince CEOs who are suspicious of the media (is there any other kind?) that most journalists do their jobs with integrity. I annoy my corporate clients when I tell them what I believe: that you’ll hear more heartfelt discussion of ethical questions in a newsroom than you’ll ever hear in a boardroom.

Having stipulated all that, let’s be real: Reporters are known to occasionally flip the script on their subjects.

By “flip the script,” I mean they sometimes will give you the distinct impression they are writing something that will flatter you or otherwise serve your interests — when all along they’re planning to eviscerate you with the spiral binding on their reporter’s notebook.

Is this ethical? Let’s just say I’ve known reporters who feel bad about doing it. But frankly, it’s a necessary part of good journalism. A classic example is brilliantly portrayed in the 2005 film Capote. In the movie, author Truman Capote struggles with his deception of killer Perry Smith; the scene where he refuses to admit to Smith that his book is called “In Cold Blood” is painful to watch.

Was Capote’s behavior wrong? You tell me — but it resulted in the greatest nonfiction book of the 20th century.

I’m no saint; I’ve done it myself. In fact, I won an award from the Associated Press Managing Editors of Texas the time I did it to televangelist Robert Tilton. Tilton was riding high and making millions when I talked with him in 1990. He hadn’t done a media interview in years, and he chose me because he was convinced I was a naive kid who would buy the snake oil he was selling. I never lied to him — but I also never said a word to disabuse him of the notion that I was that naive kid. My story was the beginning of the end of his ministry.

Of course, day-to-day examples of flipping the script aren’t always this heroic. Sometimes people just get screwed.

So, as you prepare your CEO for that next big interview with the news media, what are the warning signs that a reporter plans to flip the script on you? Here are eight of them:

1. The journalist is vague about the story angle.

Reporters don’t call you unless they have a pretty good idea what they’re going to write about. For example, they might want to profile you as a fast-growing company in your industry, or they might want your take on a specific trend or controversy. If you ask them their angle and they mumble something that doesn’t sound like a focused story idea, it might be because their real angle is that they think your CEO is a crook.

2. The journalist has a history of hard-hitting reporting or pointed commentary.

After being contacted by a reporter you don’t know, the first thing you should do is Google them to see what kind of stuff they write. If you go through a half-dozen CEO profiles and find one coronation and five eviscerations, those probably approximate your odds.

3. The media outlet typically does not have nice things to say about people like you.

Be mindful of the slant of the publication. For example, alternative weeklies traditionally take an anti-business approach. Unless you’re an upstart entrepreneur who is doing something disruptive to the status quo, this kind of outlet may not be for you. More and more mainstream media outlets are falling into political camps as well; if you’re a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing carbon emissions or saving lab rats, don’t go on Fox News unless you want your cause ridiculed before a national audience.

4. A competing media outlet has just said something nice about you.

Reporters hate getting beat on a story. They also hate doing the same story someone else just did. So if you’ve been the subject of some laudatory coverage, you’re eventually going to meet up with a reporter who wants to knock you off your high horse. Be prepared.

5. The journalist is reluctant to tell you who else has been interviewed for the story.

You can learn a lot by asking a reporter who else he or she has interviewed for the story. For example, if the reporter has prepared for the upcoming meeting with your CEO by talking to a bitter business rival or even-more-bitter ex-wife, you might be in for a bumpy ride. If a reporter hems and haws when you ask the question, that might be all the answer you need.

6. The journalist is uncomfortable when asked his or her point of view.

It’s often useful to ask the reporter his or her point of view on a controversial issue. Many reporters share their perspectives freely when their opinions are neutral or in alignment with yours. When they think you’re full of it, on the other hand, they tend to ramble on about objectivity and how the “story is about you, not me.” If they start talking like that, you’re probably toast.

7. The journalist gives nonverbal clues that suggest deception.

The general clues people use to determine if someone is being deceptive (microexpressions, for example) are helpful in a face-to-face interview. When reporters are distant, make little eye contact, and seem overly protective of what they’ve written in their notebook, you might be in trouble.

8. The journalist makes it apparent that he or she has already done ALL of the reporting for the story — except for talking to your CEO.

You’re dead meat now. The reporter has lined up everything and just wants to fire away at you — “I’ve discovered this document in your trash; I have the chatroom transcript; I talked to your mother-in-law; what’s your response?” Duck and cover.

Even if you strongly suspect a journalist is planning to flip the script on you, that doesn’t mean you should respond with a “no comment.” In fact, you still need to provide the reporter with information and, in many cases, the CEO should go ahead with the interview.

But you’d better go into it ready — focused for battle, talking points down cold, with both guns blazing. And record the conversation.

[This post is also at MarketingProfs.]

[This post is a Media Orchard classic.]

 
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