By Linda Forrest
PR gets a bad rap. Why? Because of bad pitches, misdirected or poorly written announcements being spammed en masse to writers and editors, hyperbolic claims of world-altering developments by companies that lack self-awareness or an understanding of what the media really needs. Experiences like these have soured some decision makers’ thoughts on media relations. Those in our industry who don’t take a best-practices approach have earned this reputation for the rest of us and it can be a challenge for us to have to communicate that we’re different.
That said, we are constantly surprised that our approach is seen as novel, when we feel it is the only effective way to engage with the media based on a process that has been honed over time: An objectives-based program that targets specific results and relies on expert knowledge of what the media need from us in order to derive mutual value from our engagement with them.
We feel that a best practices approach is one that presents information to the media in a definitive, easily understood way that doesn’t include spin or hyperbole. The consistent and sustained effort against the proper targets will deliver the full news value the story deserves. Period. There is no magic bullet, it’s not all about the relationships (Francis will surely address this fiction in a post in the days ahead); it’s just working smart and working hard that gets the results that our clients are looking for.
It’s disheartening to see companies suffering from their PR mistakes or to see the media’s collective eye-roll at the latest outlandish news release that crosses their path. When companies see little or no results from their media relations “programs” – that often consist of nothing more than sending out news releases and not taking an integrated approach – it creates an unfair portrait of the potential of media relations to move their market.
Media relations is not the right tactic for all companies; other marketing activities like advertising or direct mail might make more sense based on your companies’ customers and their buying habits. But it’s such a shame that so many companies are soured on PR because of bad experiences, poor guidance.
By Linda Forrest
I’m working from home today, sniffling, coughing and feeling generally miserable. The culprit? Business travel. Francis and I went to Calgary earlier this week for several meetings and to attend a forum on business and sustainability. Unfortunately, as soon as I got back, I started feeling under the weather. Turns out I’m not the only one that seems to always get a cold after flying, according to this article from the Independent Traveler.
Looking at the author’s suggestions, I did everything short of wearing the face mask and I still got sick! Ugh. For those business people that have to travel frequently as part of their work, I wonder if you have any tips you can share on how you avoid the dreaded airplane cold. It’s too late for me, but maybe others can learn from your suggestions and avoid my fate. That’s all for me for today as tea and a warm blanket are beckoning.
By Linda Forrest
A lot of our clients include conferences and trade shows as part of their market-facing activities. In fact, the last few weeks have been filled with such events for our clients across an array of sectors, including BioPartnering Europe, ECOC, Call Centre Expo, Consumer Healthcare Informatics Summit, the 2007 Financial Services Technology Forum and Fall VON.
These events provide various promotional opportunities that range from hosting a booth on the trade show floor to presenting a case study or participating in a panel discussion. Conferences and trade shows are a good way to collect leads and to gain some competitive intelligence but often vendors are not aware of, and so not taking advantage of, the best opportunities to promote themselves to the media and analysts who are in attendance.
If your company is participating in a conference, it is inferred that you have done the complex cost-benefit analysis and established objectives to allow you to assess your return on investment and return on objectives. Experts like Cummings Mitchell can provide you with the tips and tools to help make the most of your trade show investment. We feel that in order to truly maximize return on your trade show investment, it is important to pursue all promotional opportunities, including PR.
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By Linda Forrest
Both government and enterprise are getting in on the move to an electronic health model. With Microsoft acquiring an enterprise-grade health information software company in the hopes that it “will allow international hospitals to achieve improved workflow and patient safety through information technology” and President George Bush offering incentives to 1,200 doctors to make the move from paper-based systems to electronic health records, e-health is beginning to take hold. Implementation will no doubt take years, but it’s a step in the right direction.
By Linda Forrest
I watched a fascinating documentary last night on the CBC called The Selling Game, which talked about the changes in the marketing and advertising landscape, consumer-created content in advertising and myriad other issues that both marketers and consumers are facing in the digital age. Custom made television advertisements that factor in your preferred hotel chain, credit card, airline, and hobbies are already airing, created by an ad agency called Visible World. This sort of narrowcasting is doubtlessly going to be even more pervasive in the years ahead.
It was interesting that experts in the documentary said that studies have shown that the “big brother” aspects of marketers and advertisers having access to personal information and the inherent privacy ramifications are really only perceived as a problem by those in their 40s and older, whereas the younger generation is used to living their lives online, providing immense detail about their lives to whomever wants to see it, via social networks like Facebook, myspace, twitter, Flickr and so on. The convergence of mobile technologies and social networking certainly change how marketers reach their intended audience. Consumers can expect to be the targets of much more sharply-focused personal campaigns that will reach them where they are with marketing messages tailored to their specific buying habits and personal preferences.
