Posts Tagged ‘blogs’

Let’s hear it for the humans!

September 28th, 2017 | No Comments

Isn’t it time that we celebrate the people behind the technological success stories?

If you’ve been a part of a marketing, PR or news organization involved with technology, you’ve dealt with press releases, case studies, technical articles and white papers that purport to show how a product makes a breakthrough in solving a vexing problem.

I’ve been on both sides of the desk, as a journalist and a content provider for technology companies. Beyond the task of convincing marketing managers that superlatives and hyperbole  simply don’t work for jaded engineers, developers, researchers and others on the front lines, there’s the challenge of injecting the human element into corporate content.


We get it that technology is the great enabler, but sometimes technology stories are the equivalent of giving credit to Aaron Judge’s bat, Serena Williams’ racket, Jimi Hendrix’s guitar or J.K. Rowling’s word processor. 


I’m not talking about praise for the achievements of the CEO, but recognition for how people are applying technology to solve day-to-day problems: The people who are discovering new ways to adapt technology-driven processes to make their organizations more creative, productive and cost-effective.

For some reason, the victories of these people — the unsung heroes of technological revolution — are largely missing from case studies, blogs, websites and other corporate communication channels.  We get it that technology is the great enabler, but sometimes technology stories are the equivalent of giving credit to Aaron Judge’s bat, Serena Williams’ racket, Jimi Hendrix’s guitar or J.K. Rowling’s word processor.

The logical question, of course, is this: What’s in it for the organization to shine a light on its innovative users or best technological minds? There are many benefits, but here are a few:

  • It creates a story-line for which everyone can identify, but especially your current and potential customers.
  • It positions your company as an organization that has a culture of sharing credit for achievements.
  • It brings the rare element of emotion into the story; something sorely lacking in most technology company content.
  • It allows the story recipient to share his or her achievements with families, friends and others who might not understand what she or he does.
  • At the most commercially crass level, it makes your organization stand out from your competitors.

So, hooray for technologically innovative humans. Now give them their due.

PR in practice: Beyond slinging

July 27th, 2009 | 1 Comment

PR 101 goes like this: write the release, get the approval, send it out over Business Wire or PR Newswire, and start on the next one. It’s not communicating, it’s press release slinging.

 

This might be fine if you are Microsoft.  But, if you are the rest of us, you should care who’s getting your release and what they are doing with it.  That requires having specially tailored press lists for each of your clients, and finding ways to engage key media people and market influencers.

 

Preparing press lists is not hard, but it’s time-consuming, tedious and continuous.  It’s also worth it: Addressing your press release to a specific person at a specific publication could mean the difference between editorial consideration and getting lost in the wire service avalanche.  Here are the basic steps:

 

·         Find out from your clients which publications, online magazines, bloggers and groups are most important to their business.  Add to the list by researching competitors to those publications and searching media directories using key words that are important to your client’s business.  Search your client’s competitors’ sites to see if you can find out which media outlets they might be targeting.

 

·         Identify the appropriate people to receive your news.  You typically send a product announcement or other news-related item to a new products editor, editor or managing editor.  If you’re sending a customer application story, you will usually send it to a features editor or the editor. 

 

·         Decide if the release needs to go out via both a wire service and your in-house list or just to the in-house list.  Many new product releases and minor business announcements only need to go to the trade media, saving your client a few hundred bucks.

 

·         Determine the handful of editors, writers and bloggers who are most important to your client, and make sure they receive a personalized note geared to their areas of interest. If you don’t yet know these people, get to know them by reading their work, commenting on it, and sharing information.

 

·         Follow-up with key editors, writers and bloggers by offering something extra – a one-on-one interview with the product manager, an exclusive image, a personalized demo, or a conversation with a product user. Never, never utter these words: “Did you get my press release”? Bring something to the table in every transaction or don’t come to the table.

 

·         Bring social media into the mix by posting a low-key announcements tagged to a free offer on LinkedIn groups, Twitter and other outlets.

 

·         Once you have compiled your initial press list, update, update and update some more to keep your list current and ensure that your news is going to the most appropriate person.