Danny Brown

podcaster - author - creator

pr

You Know What’s Wrong With The PR Industry?

You suck

Nothing. Squat. Zilch. Nada. No, seriously – there is absolutely nothing wrong with the PR industry.

There’s plenty wrong with some of the people in it, but is that the industry’s fault? No – it’s the person’s fault for being an asshat.

An industry, by definition, is either a collection of businesses, or the building of an idea around something or someone. Not a living, breathing person – but a collective of many things.

So blaming a whole industry for crappy practices is like blaming the complete city garbage removal system because one of your bags got left behind. Shit happens – but it’s people that cause shit, not industries.

Yes, there are craptastic shysters in the PR industry. But that can be said about pretty much every single industry full stop.

Social media (though I’m not sold on tools being classed as an industry) has idiots.

Marketing has idiots.

Advertising has idiots.

My local pool has an idiot for a lifeguard.

Industries don’t create bad results; or shameful practices; or questionable ethics. People do.

Something to keep in mind when you decry a whole industry and take down the good people that are doing all they can to counter the clueless ones.

image: JKonig

Kenneth Cole Is Just The Latest in a Long Line of Bad PR Decisions

Kenneth Cole cairo tweet

There?s an old saying that any publicity is good publicity ? but is it?

Kenneth Cole might be questioning it, after the tweet in the image above – that tied his retail chain’s sale into the devastating events currently happening in Egypt – was picked up and discussed on various PR and marketing blogs and news sites.

I’ve also written on here before about examples of bad PR and PR that takes advantage of tragic or upsetting situations, and questioned the sense behind it.

True, a discussion about your company or business means that at least people are talking about you – but is there a limit as to how far this should go and be accepted as a good thing?

A client approached a well-known agency in New York to run a campaign about that client?s new start-up business. The business was technology-led, and the idea behind the campaign was to run a number of press releases and forum posts that implied the current technology on the market was doomed.

This was where the PR agency?s client would step in ? by providing the new technology that would replace the ?outdated? one, they would become the de facto standard for this piece of software.

Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons, this backfired spectacularly.

  • First, the software wasn?t actually ready ? it was still buggy and users kept having their systems frozen.
  • Second, the target audience the client was going for were already fiercely loyal to the older technology. They came out fighting when the suggestion was made that they were the equivalent to schoolchildren if they didn?t upgrade to the new software, whose users would be the advanced students of that niche.

Cue forums and tech blogs lighting up with inflammatory statements and posts about this new upstart who was saying all these bad things about the user community. The PR agency swiftly put a damage limitation exercise into place, but it looks like it?s too little, too late.

Now it looks likely that when the software is ready, it?s going to have too much baggage attached to make any headway ? which is a shame, as the technology in question is an excellent idea.

So who?s to blame ? the client or the PR agency? It?s a little bit of both.

For a business that wanted to be the standard in its field, releasing a buggy product and not classifying it as a beta is one of the worst things it could have done.

For the agency?s part, they should have had more balls and advised their client that pissing off your target audience is not good PR. The client hired the agency for their expertise at getting the right media attention ? so they should have enforced that and made the client realize the mistake they were about to make. After all, their reputation would be at stake as well.

In fairness to the PR agency in question, it seems that in this case the client wanted to drum up controversy to get people talking about their product. That certainly happened ? but was the (potentially) final result worth it?

Maybe Kenneth Cole and the tech company can tell us in a few months time…

When PR Has Its Head Up Its Ass

pr talking out its assI read a post over at Mom Blog Magazine that left me shaking my head the further I read, and reinforced why so many bloggers don’t like PR agencies.

Entitled Why PR People Get Paid And You Don’t, it was a post by an anonymous PR professional (“Sarah”) who, in her own words, is “an actual employee at an actual PR company; one you?ve heard of if you?ve heard of any.”

Basically, the post was an “explanation” of why bloggers shouldn’t get too full of themselves and expect cushy blog promotions with companies that are represented by PR agencies.

Some of the gems of wisdom from Sarah include:

But you also aren?t getting hired. You?re writing a blog post. Let?s stop pretending your blog is a world-changing event and recognize it for what it is?something transient that may be gone tomorrow if you flake out or change your mind or your Uncle Vinny finds your blog and you realize you don?t really want him to know where you live because you still owe him money.

You don?t promise to say nice things about the company. The PR person does. They have to sell a product no matter what that product is, and they sell it with a smile even if it kicks puppies and makes babies cry. You don?t have this obligation. You have the freedom that comes with NOT having a paycheck to answer to.

You are not expected to show up at 8 a.m. dressed business casual and go to countless meetings.? You get to do and say whatever you want as long as you plop a disclaimer at the end.

Inspiring stuff, huh? It doesn’t stop there – in the comments, Sarah continues to dismiss a lot of valid responses that question her logic (she does also answer politely as well, to keep the balance). She also implies that the post was humorous in some of her comment replies, but I’m not too convinced.

But humour aside, Sarah does absolutely nothing for the case of PR understanding the importance of bloggers, and a lot for the mindset that PR sees bloggers as second-class media.

Bloggers Are Your Marketers

In Sarah’s post, she’s specifically writing about mommy bloggers, but it could be about any blogger from any niche. And Sarah’s implication – which, by default, is indicative of he employer – is that bloggers aren’t really meant to be taken seriously when it comes to PR needs.

So bloggers don’t have to say nice things about a client or their products? Bloggers are fairweather transients? Bloggers get to say and do whatever they want as long as they plop a disclaimer at the end?

Bullcrap.

It’s exactly because bloggers don’t have to be all fairy dust that they’re so valuable to brands (and the PR agencies that represent these brands). The problem with too many businesses is that they have PR Yes people crawling up their butt saying everything’s great, when it so clearly isn’t. And then they wonder why new Product A failed so miserably on launch.

Getting feedback – honest feedback – from bloggers and their readers is the best focus group a company can ever have, because it is so honest. Want to improve your product? Listen to the folks that matter – the people that use it.

leaving pr industryAs for being transient? It’s a well-known fact that the PR industry is one of those that has a particularly high turnover rate when it comes to jobs.

One-off projects and cutthroat practices mean a lot of people are left high and dry at the end of a project. Or burned out, from demands of the industry itself.

The saving grace for PR professionals is that this leads to a lot of job hopping, with agencies looking to fill spaces left by previous owners. Bloggers, on the other hand, don’t have the luxury of being able to job hop. The closest they come is getting a new Mac or PC, and possibly a new chair.

And Sarah’s point about not having to go to countless meetings? Perhaps not physically, but that view discounts all the Skype meetings, conference calls, email exchanges and IM chats that regularly happen as part of a blogger outreach program. And I guarantee you that many bloggers would LOVE to be able to sit in on client meetings to offer some more insights and gain a better understanding.

If you don’t like going to meetings, don’t work in a service-related industry.

Open Up and Smell the Bloggers

I look at the whole blogger and PR relationship from both sides. I have a PR background, and Bonsai Interactive offers PR services. Part of that is blogger relations and who should be used for individual campaigns.

I’m also a blogger, and I work with PR agencies now and again to promote their clients (always disclosed) so I get to see firsthand how bloggers are viewed by PR people.

Sarah’s viewpoint is disappointing. In one blog post, she’s basically implying that bloggers should be grateful for anything PR throws their way and that they should also know their place in the pecking order (again, Sarah’s words).

I don’t know if this is just her personal viewpoint, or reflective of the agency she works at, but either way it’s disheartening to see. I know a ton of amazing PR folks that truly value all that a blogger – any blogger – can bring to the promotional table.

People like Gini Dietrich, Shonali Burke, Dave Fleet, Rachel Kay, Arik Hanson and many more. These guys are bringing great successes for both their agencies and clients – all because they treat bloggers with respect and as a key part of any communications strategy.

Perhaps Sarah’s post was meant to be humorous. If so, she missed the funny boat. She also didn’t paint her employers in a great light, as the readers of Mom Blog Magazine made clear in a lot of their replies.

Perhaps bloggers don’t get paid the same way PR professionals do. But the minute a blogger is contracted to write a review of a product, or promote a new book for a PR agency’s client, that’s being hired. As such, you should extend the professional courtesy and dealings you give clients to the blogger.

After all, they’re the ones making you look sexy to the client when they get the jump in brand awareness or sales that a respected blogger can offer.

And that’s got to be worth more than some outdated PR view that “it’s not a proper job”, no?

image: Whyatt
image: Zen Optic

Alexandra Kirsch and the Perfect Blogger Pitch

Alexandra Kirsch of Planned Televison ArtsYesterday I shared two posts I thought you should read over at the Spin Sucks blog.

One of them was by Gini Dietrich and looked at how the PR industry is letting itself down when it comes to blogger outreach programs.

This post in particular has sparked a great debate in the comments section on good PR, poor PR and more. It’s a great read and well worth checking out.

Today, I want to share an example of a great blogger outreach program – perhaps one of the best I’ve seen. Why is it so good? Read on.

Knowing the Blogger

Last week I received an email from Alexandra Kirsch, Social Media Coordinator for Planned Television Arts. Alexandra was reaching out to bloggers about the upcoming Greg Verdino book, microMARKETING: Get Big Results by Acting and Thinking Small.

A little side-note here. I used to review books on this blog but I stopped last year, after getting tired of the same old copy/paste press releases and books that weren’t right for this blog’s readers.

Alexandra changed my mind.

Her email was personal and it was clear that she knew each blogger she was reaching out to (Greg’s book is being reviewed by various bloggers, a chapter at a time – you can find out more here).

A couple of examples from Alexandra’s email:

Hi Danny,

I?m working with Aaron Strout and Greg Verdino from Powered, Inc. on Greg?s new book, microMARKETING: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small, and they thought that you would be a perfect fit to do one of the chapter-by-chapter reviews.

Because of your experience using the Internet and new media to raise money, in addition to your work with large companies like IBM, FedEX, and RIM, Chapter 7, ?From Reach to Relationships: Activating the Many by Resonating with the Right Few,? seemed like it would resonate well with your audience.

Why do I like this? Simple.

From the off, it’s personal and a clear explanation of why Alexandra is contacting me. Additionally, whether Alexandra follows my blog or not, she’s taken the time to do the research and find out about me and my readers.

She then ties that into a personalized approach, which is a huge breath of fresh air from the standard mass mailing one.

Connecting the Story

If you look at the opening paragraph of Alexandra’s email above, you’ll see reference to “chapter-by-chapter reviews”. This is a pretty cool approach by Greg and Planned Television Arts.

By reaching out to bloggers who are relevant for the different parts of the book, it offers a far better chance of getting a review from someone who knows what they’re talking about.

Additionally, the readers of that blogger are already interested in the review, since that’s what they’ve been reading about for however long they’ve been reading that blog. In Alexandra’s own words:

In essence, the chapter-by-chapter review process is a way for us to offer experts in each area the opportunity to review chapters that correlate directly with their area(s) of expertise and interest. We?re also taking this approach to avoid having several bloggers reviewing the book in a general way all at once. We know that is no fun for you. Hopefully this approach gives you a little exclusive room to flex your expertise.

So, not only is it a personalized approach, but the blogger outreach team really want to connect with the right audience and make it a win-win for everyone involved.

Continuing the Relationship

A few days after the original email, Alexandra realized that there was an error in the editorial calendar and needed to reach back out to the bloggers to confirm the chapter review dates.

The quickest way to do this was to send a mass email. Which, as we all know, can sometimes be impersonal depending on how it comes across.

Yet again, Alexandra quelled this with her own words:

Hi everyone,

So sorry for the mass e-mail, it?s usually not my mode of operation, but I made a small error on the calendar PDF. Attached, find a corrected calendar. Thanks so much. Hope you enjoy the book.

The first sentence immediately shows Alexandra isn’t a fan of mass emailing either, and the reason for it here is just to update everyone effectively.

Again, it’s a very personalized touch that enhances the relationship that’s been building from the initial contact.

Lessons to Learn

Bloggers are becoming an ever-important part of any promotional campaign, whether it be PR, marketing, advertising, product or book launches and more. Yet for some reason, many PR agencies and professionals don’t see bloggers as anything more than a second-class media outlet.

Alexandra Kirsch and Planned Television Arts know this isn’t the case. Their highly personalized approach has already won them fans (both Lucretia Pruitt and Ari Herzog have already praised them), and shows that, when done well, bloggers and PR folks can be a great team.

If you’re a PR person reading this now, think about how you want to share your client. Think about how the smallest difference in approach can be a huge one. Think about how it’s not all about the influence of the blogger, but the influence of that blogger’s community.

PR gets a hard time from a lot of areas. Sometimes it’s deserved; others not. Sometimes it brings it on itself.

But as Alexandra Kirsch proves, sometimes it can do everything right and more. And that’s all anyone can ask for, isn’t it?

Note: My chapter review will be published next Tuesday, September 28.

Help a PR Pro Out Toronto ? Job Listings #happo #happoTO

Today sees a very cool event called Help a PR Pro Out, or HAPPO. Initiated by Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon, its aim is simple – to connect PR jobseekers with agencies and businesses with PR positions available.

I’m honoured to be part of the “team” that’s bringing HAPPO to Toronto, along with PR guy supreme Dave Fleet, of Thornley Fallis. Below you’ll find some current job listings in the Toronto and GTA area – please retweet on Twitter (there’s a dedicated #happo and #happoTO hashtag), share on Facebook and anywhere else you can (especially if you’re in the Toronto and GTA area), and let’s help connect everyone together!

– Note: If you’re an agency or PR company, or have a PR position open at your business, I have details of some great people for you – please feel free to email me for more information, or leave your details in the comments below. Same if you’re a jobseeker – feel free to leave your details in the comments and let’s see if we can help.

Thanks!

Listings (so far):