By Danny Sullivan
This weekend, everyone’s favourite search engine turns 10. And what a decade it has been for Google – a rise to end all rises, “meteoric” doesn’t even do it justice.
One of the things that strikes me about Google is that its success is one of those increasingly rare occasions where the technology itself was the key. Those of us in technology marketing circles are only too aware that having the best technology by no means guarantees pride of place at today’s marketshare table.
I recall when Google first started to appear in the workplace – a colleague recommended I “give it a shot”, and from that day forward I never looked back. Up till then I had been a user of the “others” (Lycos, Alta Vista etc.) and, as I recall, there was nothing much to choose between them. But on that day, I was immediately staggered by the relevance of Google’s results and the speed with which they were delivered.
This was not part of some slick marketing campaign, designed to seduce me into believing that Google was the best new thing around. No, it simply blew everything else out of the water. Of course, Google has gone on to capitalize on its initial success, and marketing has been a huge part of its continued rise, but without that initial triumph at the technology level, none of this would have happened.
But those companies looking to emulate Google’s route to success should beware. Tech startup founders will often rail against marketing and PR – “We know our market, our technology is the best and will sell itself” they cry. Invariably, this is not the case, so unless you are supremely confident that your product has Google-like appeal, don’t forget to market the hell out of it.
By Danny Sullivan
The majority of smaller tech companies approach dealing with technology analysts in much the same way. That is, brief them on key milestones such as new products, major customer wins and so on, and hope to eventually make the breakthrough into one of the industry reports covering your sector.
This is still a valid approach to dealing with analysts, but there are other ways of addressing them. Beyond being advocates of technologies and observers of trends, analysts are recognised thought leaders in the sectors that they cover. As such, they are always interested in new perspectives and visionary approaches to addressing the challenges in their markets.
Tackling this does not necessarily mean using a briefing to explain in depth how your latest product addresses these challenges – you may be better served by organising a briefing where your company’s top thought leader will simply raise the concept and discuss it in detail in a non-commercial conversation.
Why do this? Well, analysts have to sit through countless briefings and often are rarely engaged more than to silently take in the information being fed to them. By hopefully engaging them in more of a discussion of a concept than a barely altered sales pitch, you may raise your company’s estimation in their eyes, but more importantly, you may bring some influence to the perspective of a key thought leader in your market. Even if you don’t receive direct coverage, your reward may be that your vision sparks debate and commentary at the analyst level… Not a bad return on a conversation.
For more on working with analysts, check out my previous posts titled Analyze This and Analyze This (continued).
By Danny Sullivan
Working at an agency, it is always interesting when you first sit down with a prospective client to find out more about them and determine what their requirement for PR might be. Often, companies have not given much thought to what it is they are hoping to achieve through media relations, but simply feel that they need to be doing some of that “PR stuff.” While it may well become clear that such companies can probably benefit from doing such stuff, it’s probably not a bad idea to have some idea of what story you want to convey before pulling the trigger.
An effective PR program does not simply operate as a standalone function, and should be a natural extension of an organization’s marketing operations, seeking to help achieve the same goals. It is not uncommon for early stage meetings, originally intended to lay out the scope of the PR program, to turn into extensive internal and external messaging sessions. And while it’s certainly better for this to happen at the outset of program than at a later stage, I often can’t help but wonder why such a session had not already taken place long before the prospect of using PR was ever raised.
We of course expect, and encourage, fullsome discussion around the focus and objectives of a PR program, but companies can benefit from having a clear idea of the basics before calling in an agency. Questions like: Who are we targeting? In what sectors? Where are they located? Who are our competitors? How are we different? and so on.
It may seem obvious, but having such information clearly established before engaging a PR firm will ensure a smooth, swift start to your media relations program.
By Danny Sullivan
Summer is great – the sun is out (even here in Glasgow), the barbecues are sizzling and the holiday feeling is everywhere. We might be facing an economic downturn, but the people will be damned if they’ll let it prevent them taking their summer break!
Of course, the holiday vibe can make things a bit challenging for those back in the office, especially for PR folk, who depend so much on stakeholder responses to help move projects forward. July and August can be a time when the best laid PR plans can end up being thrown out the window as a key spokesperson, reporter or analyst zooms off for a well-earned break, leaving a germinating news release or story pitch floating in limbo until their return.
But just because your most pressing work item has stalled, there must be other things that you can turn your attention to this summer. Here are a few that spring to mind:
– Look beyond the current stage in the process, is there work that can be addressed that is not dependent on your stalled step? Dealing with future items now will help things breeze through when things get moving again.
– Water the plants. Summer isn’t fun for everyone.
– Start looking towards the inevitably manic period that will occur in the September/October timeframe. Whatever preparations you make now will help you cope with the whirlwind that is to come.
– Buy ice cream for your colleagues and bring a bit of summer into the office.
– Use the time to get in touch with some of your key media contacts that you haven’t had time to chat with for a while. While they may also be away, there’s a good chance you’ll catch a few of them in the office, and these conversations can often yield some interesting opportunities.
– If you’re having meetings, why not try and arrange to have them at an outside location? Seems a shame to be stuck in meeting rooms when the sun is beating down outside.
– Develop some kick-ass pitches. Revisiting messaging and coming up with some new story ideas is always a good thing to do, especially if you have a little extra time on your hands.
– Write a blog post about it. Nuff said, really!
By Danny Sullivan
Media monitoring is a function of every PR firm, but how comprehensive a service are you getting? There are a hundred and one services and solutions out there, but each comes at a cost and, for the average PR firm, there isn’t an unlimited budget for such things.
We use a few tools that, when combined, provide a fairly comprehensive report on clients’ coverage. However, there are still some pieces of coverage that aren’t always picked up on, typically in niche publications without much web content.
The best form of media monitoring is knowing where your coverage is likely to appear and keeping an eye open for it – although this is admittedly less practical for coverage of news announcements, where monitoring tools really come into their own.
Ensuring you are subscribed to the more niche publications on your target list should cover the possibility that your tools and services miss something. Of course, this becomes less practical if you are monitoring coverage that is occurring all across the globe.
Ultimately, you have to achieve a level of media monitoring accuracy that is acceptable to you and your clients, at a reasonable budget, while understanding that there may be some pieces that will slip through untracked.
If anyone has any particular tools and services or combinations that they have found to work particularly well in terms of effective monitoring, I’d be interested to hear from you.
