By Danny Sullivan
Today, over on SearchEngineWatch, Marty Weintraub posted an interesting comment warning marketing chiefs against creating “an IT marketing fiefdom”.
His point is that just because your IT guys do the techie stuff, doesn’t mean they should be the ones in charge of search engine marketing.
“In too many cases, you’re wasting loads of money on elaborate systems with no vision; well-installed machines absent timeless marketing principles; and fiefdoms of executive elves who need some basic training in SEO 101.”
Marty’s advice can be applied even more broadly in certain cases. I’m thinking of those entrepreneurial gear heads who start technology companies and feel they can do it all themselves, including marketing. In most cases, a very bad idea.
By Francis Moran
A few months ago, Karen Russell of The Teaching Blog made a list of a dozen things she wished PR pros would blog about. Since I am on the receiving end of many, many enquiries from people seeking employment here at inmedia, most of which utterly fail to dazzle me, I thought I’d tackle this one, five ways to dazzle a potential employer.
Truth is, I feel sorry for today’s university grad or early- or mid-career person looking for that first or next position, especially if they’re responding to a job ad or board posting. Information technology has made it easier for resumes and cover letters to be machine-scanned, with only those that meet specific requirements making it through to be read by human eyes. Further, everyone knows that personal networking and connections are extraordinarily powerful tools in any job search and, if you don’t have them, you’re at a terrible disadvantage.
So, I’m not sure I can counsel anyone on how they can break through those barriers when seeking employment at a big company. But here are five things that would certainly put you several steps ahead at a small company like inmedia.
1. Present as though you actually know who I am. I admit I have one of those gender-ambiguous first names, but that’s no excuse for addressing me as Ms. Moran or, even worse, Dear Sir or Madam. A simple phone call is all it takes.
2. Also present as though you actually know what my company does. Telling me all about your political science education, or your years of sales experience, or what an incredible engineer you are means you have done absolutely no research whatsoever into who we are and what we do. We have a web site and, now, a blog, both of which should tell you everything you need to know about us, what we do and a whole lot about our culture and approach. The better an understanding of that you exhibit, the more you’ll dazzle me.
3. If you truly want to dazzle me, draw clear, compelling connections between what you know and what we do. Tell me how your education, experience and interests would make you a superb technology media relations practitioner.
4. Dazzle me with your writing. Writing is what we do, and we set extraordinarily high standards for it. Everyone, from clients to media, consistently comments favourably on our writing. You won’t survive a week here if you’re not a superb writer, and your cover letter won’t survive a first reading if it’s poorly written or contains spelling or grammar errors. As unbelievable as this may be, if everything is spelled correctly and there are no grammar errors, you will be in the top percentile or two of all the enquiries I get. Shocking, but true.
5. Try to rise above the noise. When I was younger and looking for a job, I often used some gimmick to attract attention to my application. I can’t say it ever worked for me, but the very first person I ever hired when I set up my first agency about 15 years ago enlarged his resume and cover letter to poster size and sent them to me in a mailing tube. He got my attention, and the job.
Bottom line — and here’s the real nugget for anyone seeking a job in public relations: These five suggestions just happen to constitute a solid handful of best practices in media relations itself. Know your media targets and why you’re pitching them. Get the story right and write it well. Do what you need to rise above the newsroom noise. If you can apply the fundamentals when you’re applying for a job, you’ll engender a lot of confidence that you’ll be able to apply them if you get the job.
By Linda Forrest
Typically, when we engage with clients, whether they’ve ever done any media and analyst relations in the past or not, we engage in something we call a ramp up and roll out. This media and analyst launch ensures that all the key target media and analysts for a company are made aware of our client and its offerings, and is usually centred around a news release that either has some sort of “today” hook or positions the company in the marketplace as a thought-leader or ground-breaker in its own particular niche.
The main goal of this exercise is to get a lay of the land for what the media and analyst opportunity for the company is over the long term. Any coverage that we get, and inevitably we do get coverage for our clients during the launch, is, in fact, largely a by-product of this investigative and introductory exercise. What we hope to end up with after the roll-out portion of the launch is a clear view of the ongoing opportunity to tell a company’s story and what sorts of methods we can employ in order to harvest that opportunity.
The arrows in our PR quiver extend well beyond hitting send on news release after news release, and methods we employ and to what degree depend on what will best serve the needs and further the sales objectives of the client. Sometimes, especially when a launch has gone particularly well in terms of garnering immediate coverage, companies tend to think, “We’ve done PR now – look at all this coverage. I don’t have to do anymore for a long time as we’ll ride the wave that this initial push has created.”
These companies are doing themselves a great disservice by losing the momentum created by the launch and by not pursuing the worthwhile opportunities unearthed during this process. Our strong counsel to clients is that the best approach to media and analyst relations is a sustained, on-going conversation with the media and analyst targets who have the potential to greatly influence purchasing decision-makers in your market. Through the launch, we have established a “Rolodex factor” that means that when media are writing an article about a topic on which you have a perspective, there is a much greater chance you’ll be included. Likewise, if an analyst is writing a report about your market and the vendors therein, you will be included as a worthy competitor. Although some mindshare is gained during the launch process, the only true way to learn of and take advantage of these appropriate opportunities is to maintain the conversation with media and analysts and the only way you can do that is to engage in an ongoing PR program. The specific dynamics and budget of the program are variable propositions; we map out what we feel is the ideal program and then, if required, augment it based on budget and other considerations.
Whatever your budget, if you’re going to invest in PR – and it is an investment, not a cost centre – it’s best that you have a long-term view and plan to support the program for more than just a launch. If you wait too long to re-engage after a burst of PR activity, the progress that you made can disappear, and disappear quickly.
