PR Tools and Bag of Tricks
Okay, a lot of times I get people asking me what are the super-secret tools in my blogging/PR bag of tricks.I usually refuse to tell them, because it is about me and my tools and my skill set. It is not about making the industry better, but about pushing myself forward as the numero uno dude.
Oh, wait, that is not how I work. Damn. Well, if it was, I would totally beat down people. Totally.
Okay, really, I work with the interns here and try to teach them the best tools that I have found on monitoring the blogosphere. Why? So they have the skills here, so I can send them work to begin, and then when they go off to their career, they will be able to use some of the tools I taught them here, and then pass on the knowledge to other PR people. It’s all about learning.
So, what do I use to find appropriate blogs? Easy: Blogpulse, Technorati, PubSub. Those three are great free tools to monitor and find information on blogs. Yes, they are not perfect, but they have been perfectly good tools to do what I need to do when finding and tracking and monitoring - they get the job done, for free.
Build that Network
This is sort of a brief extension of my earlier post about networking. I was thinking about this the other day and I find it so important that I decided that I should write another post about it.
In a bizarre turn of events the very day I was thinking about it, David Jones and Terry Fallis released a podcast about it. Inside PR #8 covers the networking concept very well. This podcast is a great addition to the PR profession and a great listen for incoming PR pros and students.
But I was disappointed when I heard this. “Drat,” I thought, “they beat me to it.” But while they were talking about it, another podcast sprung to my mind: Manager Tools. I thought, “Aha! I’ll take the Inside PR podcast and this other podcast and write a post about networking using both examples.” I was feeling pretty good about myself. Manager Tools is a great podcast. It really doesn’t have much to do with PR, per se, but it’s a great resource for working in the business world and has some really great tips. For instance, I listened - surprisingly - to the entire 45-minute podcast on The Secret to a Great Handshake (4/17/06). Forty-five minutes! It was fascinating! Well, just recently the gentlemen at Manager Tools had a fantastic show on Building a Network (5/9/06), which dovetails into the world of PR so very nicely. Whether you’re looking for a job or developing relationships with members of your key publics, this podcast is a must listen.
Sure, TiVo’s great. But what about commercials?
I know this has been a common topic in the discussion of Digital Video Recorders, but the issue of people skipping over commercials with their DVRs has become more prominent to me as more of my own family have begun using the tools themselves for that same reason.
What is this bit of technology going to do to change the way companies advertise?
Of course there will always be the major TV events, like the American Idol finale or the Super Bowl which people will want to watch on live TV and will not be able to fly through the very expensive commercials. But what about the other times?
One thing to consider right now is that not everyone has a DVR, and until it becomes a truly universal household name, the crisis really won’t be a crisis.
But what happens when it becomes as standard as cable, and people don’t sit down to watch a show as it comes on, but only pick things that have already been recorded so that they can fly through the commercials as much as they please?
Social Stupidity
Here’s an article from the New York Times by Anna Bahney that really boils my blood and has already generated a little buzz in the blogosphere. It’s not the article that angers me, I love the article. It’s the chowderhead subjects.
People have been stupid for years, so there’s nothing new there. What is new is the lightning fast way in which you can prove your stupidity to hundreds or thousands of people within seconds. And do so in a way that might never go away, bonus! Yes, the Internet is the recorded, megaphoned soapbox that morons around the world can now utlize for the embarrassment of us all.
I’m being harsh, but truthful.
Trevor Cook points it out, Denise Howell has an interesting take on it, and Slashdot weighed in for example. There’s not a lot of discussion about it, just traffic. The article pretty much says it all. It’s humorous, to the point, and pertinent. The most quoted part in blog postings I’ve seen from the article is this:
Valuable lessons from WSJ columnist
In a recent post by Jeremy Pepper for Bulldog Reporter’s Blog Run, he points to this post by Jeremy Wagstaff, a writer for the Wall Street Journal.
As Pepper puts it:
From a WSJ reporter that blogs, a good look at how PR people are dealing with bloggers - and dealing with them in a poor manner. A good post that is more about PR than just PR and blogs. It’s about the dance with journalists that PR people undertake everyday, and sadly that dance is being forgotten by some firms and some junior staffers don’t know how to dance with another person, a simple waltz. A MUST read for every PR person out there.
In reading Wagstaff’s post, I especially liked how he broke things down into pair of lists: one for bloggers, one for PR people pitching bloggers. As I’m both, I found his straight forward advice to be extremely helpful.
I agree with Pepper and highly recommend that you take a look. (And follow the links he includes within the post — very educational!)
Please Help Me Get My Foot Through the Door!
I find myself between a rock and a hard place. It isn’t life or death, but I am stuck when it comes to approaching this particular problem.
The problem is, this business I want to help doesn’t have a clear name in the community. Its customers call it by about four different names, but very few call it by the right one.
The business found this by asking customers to fill out a survey. The survey asked where certain products were bought. The customers knew the competitors’ names, but didn’t know this particular store’s name - even though they shopped there.
I want to help this business get its name out there, but I don’t know how to approach the manager that I would have to deal with. The business has no PR or marketing department, of course; thus the person I would be dealing with isn’t even in my directed field.
My question isn’t about pitching my ideas because that was covered in Ashley’s post. But how do I get my foot in the door? I know there is no perfect way, but the more possible suggestions to begin with the better.
Follow-up to “77 1/2 Public Relations Tips” post
Note from the editor: Yesterday, I published a brief post pointing our readers to a book Todd Defren mentioned on his blog. As Todd noted, the author of the piece is a client of his. While I don’t at all doubt his sincerity in praising the book, I thought it very worthwhile to provide an objective review of the material, as well. This has been graciously provided by Owen Lystrup of the Into PR blog, where his review is also posted.
- Erin Caldwell, managing editor
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Erin at Forward Blog posted a reference to this book, 77 1/2 Public Relations Tips: Things Everyone in Business Should Know. Since I’m a sucker for books, I bought the thing ($7 at Amazon). She noted Todd Defren’s take on the book, “This is a quick read that will make any PR newbie sound like a PR pro.”
Well, it’s not quite that, but it is a pretty quick and useful tool. Here’s my review:
When I found out 77 Tips was actually a 63-page online book, I was a little skeptical. But, I’ve spent $7 on a lot worse in the past, so I went for it.
Vet Affairs’ “Oops!”
How many of us smacked our foreheads when we learned this week that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) waited two weeks before alerting the public that the personal data of 26.5 million veterans was stolen? Now, instead of educating veterans about how to protect themselves from identity theft, VA is busy trying to put out an unnecessary fire, leaving that job to the media and other third parties.
When you mess up, you still have a chance to make things right by apologizing and taking the lead in educating those affected. The only things we’ve heard from VA involve checking your credit. Besides a Web site where vets can go to learn about fraud alerts and other identity theft remedies (they’ve finally posted information on their web site), the real focus should be on a quick, timely response to the situation. This will help salvage your reputation from being completely damaged, and (most of all) it will give those affected the information they need to be confident that they are OK.
VA was honest, but waiting two weeks before telling the public, and the ensuing irresponsibility (their explanations are sounding more like excuses) will most certainly damage their reputation. When a crisis hits, come out talking immediately, show your compassion and humility, and talk candidly.
A good read for PR students
Todd Defren of the PR Squared blog wrote a post back at the beginning of May that I’ve been meaning to point our readers to for a while. He highlights a book, 77 1/2 Public Relations Tips, by Joe Chernov.
I recommend reading Todd’s original post, but here’s his opinion in a nutshell:
This is a quick read that will make any PR newbie sound like a legitimate pro. As Joe himself says in the book: “PR is not magic. It’s a trade.” If so, he’s written a first-class instruction book.
I’ll be adding it to our suggested reading list, along with several others I’ve been meaning to add …
The Naked Truth
‘You stink!’ Young children haven’t learnt to avoid the plain truth. But adults often find it difficult to be direct. Have you ever told a friend or co-worker that their body odor is offensive? Could you tell your supervisor?
So, the simple truth becomes harder to tell as we grow older, and harder to voice when power enters a relationship. This explains the story of the emperor’s new clothes. It’s a parable about power and its tendency to distort the truth.
What does this have to do with public relations? Well, here’s another parable taken from my favorite management writer, Charles Handy. In The Empty Raincoat, first published in 1994, he picks up on a line by the socialist politician Tony Benn about kings and prophets: ‘the kings have the power and the prophets have the principles.’