Shape of Things

I know I promised a “PR in Practice” posting on press releases this week.  But, just thinking about it put me off into some dangerous and angry mind currents. 

You’ve probably experienced this before: You’re at a party and someone you don’t know all that well (maybe a soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend or -boyfriend or a casual friend) says, “Well, the thing about Bob…” and proceeds to characterize you in a way that is unfathomable to you.  You’re angry, but your protests are too late – you’ve been third-party characterized.

In a bigger way, that’s what a lot of companies are doing – letting others tell their stories for them.  In the process, one of the most precious commodities of the company – its identity – is lost, misrepresented or compromised.  How basic  of a sin is that?  Yet, companies let it happen all the time.

They let poorly written press releases  and poorly informed PR people deliver watered-down, clichéd versions of their story.

They copy the stories of other, bigger companies, completely undermining the advantages of their uniqueness.

They tarnish their stories with hype and puffery.

They communicate with benign dishonesty, but dishonesty just the same.

They believe their own myths and foist them on the public.

They put all information dissemination in the hands of the media, even though they could likely tell the story better and more accurately if they spoke directly to their communities.

They don’t talk with their customers or use customers’ stories to help define the company and engender trust.

They never taint their company’s steeliness with an ounce of warmth or personality.

They concentrate on product positioning, engineering and false branding while kicking their central story to the curb.

O.K., I feel a bit better.  The end-of-the-week martini is about an hour away.  If you engage in the above practices, I hope you’re slightly uncomfortable.  But, probably not: Your story most likely left the building a long time ago.

“More is better” might hold true for money, but not for press releases.

Many companies and PR agencies think that volume wins the day. But in a time when there are multiple outlets for news and announcements – blogs, twitter, social media, internal enewsletters – PR professionals and the companies that employ them should think of press releases as a limited and perishable resource.

So if your CEO’s every move isn’t worthy of a press release, what is? That’s a matter of perspective, and you are best served if you don’t over-inflate your company’s or client’s impact on the industry or world at large.

Releases come in all sizes

All news is not created equally, and shouldn’t be given the same treatment. Company news with a significant business or industry impact usually deserves a press release with widespread distribution through services such as Business Wire or PR Newswire. Other news, such as a minor revision of a product, should be distributed in a press release to a more specialized list of relevant trade publications and web sites. Special interest news, such as a trade show appearance or minor product update, should be reserved for the company web site or e-newsletter.

Those who think that cramming an editor’s mailbox with press releases is going to generate more coverage are sadly mistaken. It’s more likely that an editor will think of you in the same vein as the weekend guest who overstayed his welcome and drank all the beer in the fridge.

No announcement before its time

Timing, especially for new product releases, is also important. There are some companies that think the more times they announce the product – one-year out, six months out, one-month out, when it’s really out three months after it was supposed to be – the more coverage they’ll receive. Maybe in the short run this will work. But anticipation can quickly turn to frustration, lack of trust, and a bad reputation.

Microsoft might be able to get away with this, but chances are your company can’t.

Don’t spoil the appetite

Some general guidelines for the new product announcement: It’s OK to announce in advance at a trade show or event if you specify the delivery date, if that date is no more than two or three months away and you know you can meet it, and if you are confident that the features will not change from what you have announced.

If you cannot meet any one of the above, hold off with the release until the product is available. In fact, this is normally the best way to do it. You have a tangible product (and perhaps review software or hardware for editors) that is readily available, and you might even have some beta testers outside the company who are willing to say good things about it.

Think of press release management like a dinner party: Don’t promise a menu you cannot deliver and don’t spoil your guest’s appetite for the main course.

Next week: The elements of a good press release.

Last week I wrote about the benefits of self-publishing, especially in an environment where there are fewer trade publications and everybody is shouting into the press release cacaphony.

Many organizations don’t think they have the content to publish their own e-newsletters, community sites or print publications, but there are many sources of information under their own roofs (or extended roofs).  The best sources are often your own engineers and developers, who with good editing can communicate directly and effectively as peers to your customers.

Here are some outlets for generating content:

• Adapting existing content, especially new product releases and application stories (if these contain puffery, excise it ruthlessly).
• Tailoring other content from the Internet and strategic partners.
• Converting technical material and white papers into articles.
• Presenting profiles of prominent customers and company programmers.
• Writing editorials on themes of interest to customers and potential customers, including your vision for the marketplace, defining company positions, and relating your technology to bigger industry movements.
• Establishing forums for exchanging information and answering questions.
• Providing an outlet for blogs from product managers and technical staff.

This content can be aggregated and presented in many different ways.  It could take the form of monthy or bimonthy e-newsletters linked to a company web site.   It could be part of a community site or a company blog section on your web site.  The best content could be assembled in a 4-color magazine sent quarterly or twice annually to your best customers.

If you don’t think you can generate content yourself or hire an editor to do so, see if there is an existing community site that might be open for purchase.  In this arrangement, you could provide editorial autonomy and funding for the community site to its editors, while generating leads from advertising and promotions running on the site.

There are many possibilities that are cost-effective for generating sales leads and deepening an organization’s relationship with the community.  But to begin exploring them, you have to get past one evil word: “can’t.”

This is the first in a series of postings on best practices and alternative approaches to public relations.

You’ve heard of citizen journalism, but what about self-publishing?  Self publishing presents a huge PR opportunity, but many companies don’t pursue it because they think it is too esoteric, difficult or expensive.  Actually, if done well with the right people and right content, it’s none of those things.  It’s a sterling opportunity to engage directly with an interested audience comprising current and potential buyers of your products or services.

There’s never been a better time to self-publish, as there are a lot of former trade press reporters, editors and/or aspiring journalists who would welcome the opportunity to be an in-house editor of your publication or community site.

Your community site, e-newsletter and/or print publication (yes, there could be a role for good old paper) must adhere to Seth Godin’s permission marketing guidelines.  Most of all, the content has to be engaging to your target audience, provoking a high pass-along rate and subscriber growth.

Consider these reasons for becoming your own publisher:

• The steady decrease in influence of print publications and web sites devoted to niche markets and technologies.
• Not enough reporters/editors dedicated to cover particular technology subjects.
• Very few editors/reporters with knowledge of your technology to write intelligently about subjects that matter to your audience.
• Publishers too ensconced in traditional approaches, both in technology and editorially.
• Big, untapped opportunity if there are no dedicated journals or e-newsletters in your company’s discipline — you can set the agenda and capture an audience.
• Suspicion of general marketing such as advertising, and traditional approaches to PR, such as press releases.
• Directly reach a highly targeted market with customized content.
• Can become the knowledge broker for the industry.
• Move beyond vendor to information provider.
• Provide a new channel for cross-marketing the brand.
• Naturally build a community for your market category.
• Disseminate news, information, features in exactly the way you want to, without having to worry about dilution or screening from editors.
• Establish recognition for your customers and partners doing good work in your field.

Next week:  How to self-publish.

I dressed fairly conservatively up until the 7th or 8th grade, when I saw a picture of John Lennon in a polka-dot shirt.

It was late summer and I wanted that shirt to start the school year, along with a boldly printed paisley and a striped number with white collar and cuffs.

One-hit wonder

I didn’t think about the shirts going rapidly out of style.  I just wanted to make a splash. I don’t remember if I did or not, but I do remember that about a month into the school year I was embarrassed to wear the shirts.  My mother told me that the appeal of the shirts was going to be shortlived, but she let me buy them anyway.  Fortunately, she wasn’t an “I told you so” Mom and allowed me to get new shirts for Christmas.

I thought of this as I read an interview with Dan Nunan on the Business of Software blog.  Dan’s company, Scene Systems, produced the animation of the U.S. Air Hudson River landing.  The animation had an audience of nearly 2 million on YouTube and was featured on network television and in national newspapers. 

Dan was happy to get this exposure, but it wasn’t his initial goal: He just wanted to do something to make a low-cost impact at a trade show.  He did everything right in feeding the momentum of the story, but it wasn’t a source of pride.  Here’s what he said about it in an email to me:

“I admit to being slightly uncomfortable about the whole thing — partly because it was unplanned, and I’m not really convinced that it brings in much of the right kind of attention.”

Big splash vs. sustainable

Dan is even more suspicious than me of what he calls the “big-splash school of PR.”  Like the polka-dot shirt, this type of PR might cause an initial stir, but it’s not likely to have legs, especially when dealing with a specialized B2B audience (in Dan’s case, lawyers).

There are many clients and companies out there that want the big splash — for them, that’s what PR is all about.  If you are a PR or marketing person in a B2B market, you have to explain that the real rewards are elsewhere.

What is much more likely to succeed is a sustained program in community building; a program that could include articles and forum participation on popular web sites, positive blog postings from prominent people in the field, strong word of mouth from influencers, and perhaps an intensely read permission-based e-newsletter that your target audience welcomes and finds valuable.  This type of program doesn’t have to be bland or conservative, but it should be something that gains momentum over the long haul.

The community-building approach is decidedly unsexy and probably won’t get you on the cover of any PR or marketing journal.  But, that slow-building approach — the equivalent of a crisp black shirt that never goes out of style — will deliver the one precious commodity that we all seek: long-lasting, measurable results with the people you really want to engage.

If you have even a passing familiarity with advertising, you know David Ogilvy.  His ads for Hathaway shirts, Schweppes, Rolls Royce and other clients are legendary.  But, as a recent biography illustrates, Ogilvy’s biggest legacy is not clever headlines and ad campaigns (much of which are dated today), but how he built a brand inside his own organization, then spread it to the world.

As head of his own agency, Ogilvy spent most of his time building and refining the internal story. This wasn’t the yawn-inducing stuff of values, mission statements and goals, but an ever-evolving manifesto that united and excited Ogilvy and Mather employees across the globe.

After inculcating his agency’s story internally, Ogilvy shared much of his content with the world in the best-selling book, Confessions of an Advertising Man.  The book made him a household name and had clients beating a path to his door.

Few companies, of course, have a story (or a writer to document it) that will become a best seller.  But, every company has a story waiting to be told and spread – a story that uniquely identifies who they are and why they matter.

How the story is told doesn’t matter much: It can be a printed document, an online illustrated narration, a comic-book serial, a series of presentations or videos. Whatever the media, it should resonate with employees.

Your internal story should be perpetually alive, continually evolving with the company.  Get employees involved in contributing their insights and anecdotes.  Make the story an essential tool for orienting new employees and making sure established employees keep up-to-date.

Once you’ve established the story internally, push select portions out to the world at large.

Many companies work on their outside branding without having established a story within their organizations. That seems backward.  Think like Ogilvy and do it the inside-out way.

The jury has reached its verdict on Simon Galbraith’s bold experiment to prove the superiority of professional photography for marketing.

Who’s hot and who’s not? See the results in Simon’s second guest spot on the Business of Software blog.

My attitude about PR has often been like Groucho’s about clubs: ” I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”  More to the point, who’d want to be a member of the PR club, especially the way its members have handled their duties?

I answer to PR like I do a childhood nickname I don’t want to carry into adulthood.  Although I still do a good bit of traditional PR and more than my share of press releases, I’m always aware of the audience and what I’m saying to them. That’s telling a story, and it’s the real business I’m in.

I’m writing about it today as a shameless piggyback to an excellent posting by Seth Godin.  There’s also a much longer (probably too long) posting I did for the Business of Software blog.

Most of the great leaders I know are self-effacing.  They’ll open themselves to ridicule if it makes a point.

A good example: Simon Galbraith, joint CEO of Red Gate. In this post on the Business of Software blog, he literally puts his face on the line to prove his theory of professional vs. amateur photography in marketing.

You decide. Is Simon is hot or not?

Everyone should have a manifesto.  Here’s mine, directly from my myspace page:

I’m a writer and marketing/communications consultant for high-tech companies. My current quest is to change the way companies conduct public relations, evolving it from a predominately outgoing, frequently self-aggrandizing activity to one that emphasizes ongoing dialogue with customers and a relationship that goes beyond products and services.

The best companies don’t need to proselytize; their messaging comes from their customers and the way their stories are told. PR needs to shift from a hype machine to a means of building community and keeping the lines of communication open. We should be helping people, not trying to coerce them.

I’m also working to bring some literacy to the pedestrian “success story” or “case study,” turning it into the kind of feature story that people actually want to read. Finally, I’d like to eradicate all the robust, intuitive, user-friendly, world-leading new paradigms that plague technology communication.