Media Relations

Getting Paid "Twaid" To Tweet - Ad Dollars March Into Twitter

Imagine being paid, just like a celebrity who endorses product, to tweet about something?  According to today's ADWEEK,the same company offering bloggers compensation for writing about a product, IZEA, is moving into Twitter.  Call it: Pay per tweet.

New careers are being created.  Question is, will those who take payment be honest and credible?  Will they disclose their compensation? 

Those who venture into this new phase would be wise to treat their online reputations just as they do the ones they have in the non-cyberspace arena.  Let me quote William Buffet: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently."

Domino's Delivers Scathing Response To Disgusting Employee Video

Several days ago, we saw two Domino's employees grab their 15 minutes of fame on YouTube.  Now, in this video response, company president Patrick Doyle says they've been dismissed, and there are warrants out for their arrest.  This might set interesting precedence for businesses who feel they've been wronged online.

From a PR perspective, watch the video.  What did Domino's do well?  What might they have done differently?  Interested in the reaction from my peers. 

The employee video...if you really want to stomach it, is in the post just prior to this.

Icky Video & Mean-spirited Employees - A Nightmare That Could Ruin Your Company

Domino's Pizza, and your marketing/PR department...you have my deepest sympathies.

Unbelievable, icky, awful...whatever you want to call it, how on earth do you respond to this? The idiotic actions of two employees with a video camera, incredibly bad judgment and hideous taste.

First, set your meal aside, gird up your loins and watch the video.

If the video is gone by now....no worries, you can watch it in the Ragan Communications newsletter that discusses the companies PR and marketing response.

As for the two "budding video entertainment" Domino's employees...was your 15 minutes of fame really worth it?

 

Newspapers On Cliff's Edge - Will They Fly Or Jump?

They felt thin and weak in my hand this morning.  Two extremely lean newspapers, plastic wrapped and waiting on my doorstep.  I've subscribed to the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News for a long time.  We've been so fortunate to have two daily newspapers in the Salt Lake City market.  The bill to "re-up" came just yesterday and without hesitation, my check is in the mail.

But changes are coming.  It can't be denied.  We've heard about the newsroom layoffs, the lack of  print advertisers during a down economy, and the gutting of classifieds' revenue by other online entities who do it for free.

The industry is on the edge of a cliff.  Will it fly or jump?  Most importantly, will it hang onto its sage newsroom management and senior reporters?  Will they be there to mentor the newbies who may not understand how easily their words can ruin reputation or influence government and business for better or worse?

What if...

both papers suddenly announced they were going completely online?  Advertisers who've doubted the effectiveness of online ads would have only one option if they wanted to be in the Deseret News or Tribune....get used to online news.  As more advertisers take the plunge, new forms of measurement will follow to satisfy those who live and die by the numbers.

What if...

Kindle and iPhone offered Tribune and Deseret News subscriptions?  Sure, I can currently subscribe to other larger papers, but I want local news.   I'd be the first to buy in, because I refuse to spend my carefully rationed free time in front of a computer monitor.  Just last week, in five quick minutes, I bought a book from Amazon.com on my computer and it was downloaded wirelessly to my iPhone.  I quite enjoy reading from the device.

And what if...

in their hard copy absence, a group of skilled and fresh-out-of-work reporters could cobble together the financing to create a brand new Salt Lake newspaper...the kind you can still hold in your hand when technology hurts the weary eyes.  That would be a blast.  And I hope it happens.

No news reruns.

The news industry can't fill the online space with re-runs.  This is the information age and those who produce the content will always have a place.  Two tough questions remain:  Is it a welcoming, ethical, respectful place, and does it pay enough to make it worth their lifetime dedication?

The PR Job Of The Future: What Will It Be, And Will We Have The Guts For It? Six Characteristics Of The PR Stars of The Future

A great article on the future of our profession.   Katie Delahaye Paine of KDPaine & Partners wrote an article containing several predictions made by Tom Nicholson, Executive Director of the Arthur W. Page Society:

"Tom speculates that, in another decade, the job of PR within the corporate environment will either be seen as more important than legal, finance and facilities combined, or else it will be as irrelevant as one of my old jobs now is: making sure the 35 mm slides showed up on time for the Sales Meeting presentations. (Yes, I'm old enough to have actually produced 35 mm slide presentations!)"

Here's Katie's Six Characteristics Of Future PR Stars - If You Like Data, Prepare to Go Far In The Future:

1. They'll know that it is all about relationships.  The PR person who approaches the market from a relationships standpoint will win. They'll understand that the market is a conversation, and that building and maintaining healthy relationships is the foundation of any strategy.

2. They'll make decisions based on data, not gut feelings.
Yes the gut will still be a powerful tool, but in an environment that morphs faster than you can say "Utterli, Seesmic, Plurk, and Twittergrader," the gut will be a very difficult thing to read and rely upon.

3. They'll listen first, listen more, and listen more carefully than did any of their predecessors. They'll constantly keep an ear to the ground, listening to every whisper of what the customers, media, influencers, analysts, employees, neighbors, and community are saying. They spend at least as much on listening as they do on shouting.

4. They'll design programs, strategies, and messages around the needs and perceptions of the target audience. Not around the product features, or the whims of a boss.

5. They'll value truth and transparency above all; there will be no secrets in this new era. Anyone can fact check anything and probably will.

6. They'll stand up for their ethics and values.  If asked to lie, to obfuscate, or to conceal, the successful PR person of the future will quit.

Nicely put, Katie!  Full article here.

Quarantined News Media Face Huge Ethics Test On November 4th

On November 4th, those typical exit polls (those that many accuse of skewing election outcomes) will be conducted.  According to an interview on last weekend's On The Media, representatives from the four TV networks and Associated Press will be quarantined.  At 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, those individuals will be given some early and general trend information from those polls.  They are free to take it back to the newsroom where employees are supposed to embargo the information until the Western states have finished voting.

This will be the ultimate test of news media ethics.  After all, TV anchors will be ravenous for anything to say during the long stretch from 5:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. EST Standard Time (when all polls have closed). 

The On The Media piece (click on the podcast Poll Me Twice) addressed the genuine concern that newsrooms may leak the forbidden info to bloggers/citizen journalists, who will then post online...allowing traditional media to simply "cover what's already out there."

And if it happens....will it skew the results as anchors release scraps of online information?  Will Western voters figure their vote won't count if they see TV report a "clear trend" from the exit polls.

The world will be watching.

PR Freeze Ahead in 2009? And PR Ethics Dilemmas Pondered

What's the outlook for the use of PR services, or even the staffing of PR departments for the coming year? 

Several thoughts.  A hesitant warning...surely PR will be just as vulnerable if not more so than any other profession.  We still have to constantly prove we aren't "fluff".  On a positive note, when a business is in trouble, it often needs crisis PR.

When it comes to agencies, the big ones, today's PR Week edition contains a piece on the 2009 economic predictions from PR industry consultants.  See the excerpt below.  Also, BusinessWeek predicts that layoffs will be across the board, rather than industry focused, as with the .com bust.

Excerpt from PR Week:

"Hiring for communications positions on the agency side is generally flat except for key hires," says Don Spetner, EVP of corporate affairs at Korn/Ferry International. And Karen Bloom, principal at executive search firm Bloom, Gross & Associates, says the PR side of her business is down some because companies are putting off hiring decisions until the new year, when they'll reassess.

One story source said that travel, consumer, b-to-b, retail, financial, and some tech and entertainment industries (and their PR efforts) could face rough times.  Yet on the bright side, digital industries may be spared. 

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On another note, America' business ethics are in the burning glare of public disgust.   PR professionals are constantly faced with ethical dilemmas.  A presenter at the upcoming PRSA International Conference in Detroit, Emmanuel Tchividjian, will hold a panel discussion on those challenges.  For a preview, listen to his podcast here.  Tchividjian is the ethics officer at Ruder Fin and is in charge of the Ruder Finn Ethic Consulting practice.

The Daunting Daily Fishbowl. Even Your Neighbors Are Now "Citizen Reporters."

“If the British government can’t keep Prince Harry’s presence in a war zone a secret, why do organization leaders think they can hide anything? Revealing a widespread cover-up was the dream of any journalist. Now that dream is shared by millions of citizen journalists.”

This from an article in PRSA Issues and Trends by Gerald Baron, called Building Trust in a Media Maelstrom.

Whether they like it or not, businesses, government, organizations, associations...even your late night scrap-booking club are open to a scrutiny as tiny as an atom and as huge as the universe as we know it today.  Baron's article asks: "So how can trust be built in this kind of negative environment?" His excellent answer: "Remember the three drivers of the instant news world: speed, direct communication and transparency."

The next time you are are asked to keep something "out of the media,"  flash Baron's article in the face of the asker.  Especially this part:

"Those involved in responding to the Virginia Tech incident reported more than 1000 reporters were on scene. Add to that number the tens of thousands of bloggers, passersby with cell cameras and individuals commenting on news sites who are part of the new army of 'citizen' journalists.' "

Enough said?  If you are a one-person PR team, as is the case with so many companies in America, be ready for the day when the "Media Maelstrom" pays a grueling visit. 

In this new media world, how do I sleep at night as a consultant?  I keep a list of senior, experience-rich contractors. I know their rates, and when a client calls me in "freak out" stage, (usually at 5:00 p.m. just prior to a three-day holiday) I get on the phone and recruit a customized crisis team and have an instant budget in my head.  I know I can't do it all alone.  I pay well, I pay immediately on invoice, and strive to be financially generous with those who keep my life sane.

One more thought on all of the above...an excellent quote by Warren Buffet:

"If you lose money for the firm, I will be understanding.  If you lose reputation for the firm, I will be ruthless."

Amen, Warren.

Information "Reruns" ? "Steep Drop in First-rate Journalism?"

You can feel it under your feet....like a long earthquake aftershock.  Excitement mixed with mild nausea.  Big, big change happening each and every day.  Just going online makes my heart race.

Newspapers and bloggers are converging.  It's happening fast - both exciting and eerie.  Lean-staffed newsrooms are producing the content that everyone needs....but the vehicles that transport the content throughout the Web are the ones who are either making the money or have the potential to make it... not the traditional newspapers or news outlets.

And then there's a big fracture in the definition of: What is news, what is truth and what are the new ethics?

Forbes now has a network of 400 blogs, lending its name and credibility to this new frontier, and plans to sell ads to go with it.  Also, today's  PRSA Issues and Trends paints the picture of our information future.

"America is about to enter a fractured, chaotic era of news, characterized by the superior community conversations made possible by blogs, and also by a steep drop in first-rate journalism. As a piece in the current issue of The New Yorker points out, the result will be clusters of communities with their own ideas of 'news' and 'truths,' and the loss of a single national narrative and agreed-upon sets of facts by which to conduct our policies."

The old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times," has manifested in our time and at this moment.  Don't misunderstand. I love & crave change.  But content creators give us the guts of the information world.  Even if they are willing to provide it for free now, the day will come when they must pay their bills, and must put food in their mouths.  We should regard and respect content producers or we are all doomed to information reruns online.

Thanks to fellow blogger Matt Reinbold for passing this along, let me conclude with this picture that paints a thousand words:

The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR

Via The FirmVoice , the latest chart from BurrellsLuce showing PR employment spiking, advertising jobs down.  Amazing...

While we're on the topic, the NY Times bestselling author of The Fall of Advertising & the Rise of PR, Laura Ries, is the keynote address at an upcoming PRSA Spring Conference in Salt Lake City, UT on Thursday, March 20.  Panel sessions afterwards include:

1. How technology is changing traditional communications channels and what you should do about it.

2. Managing Microtrends: Targeting your communications.

3. Networking reception.

I hope to see you there.  Register here for The New DNA of Communications Development conference.

From the program:

Workshop Schedule

Noon               Registration and Lunch

12:30 pm          Laura Ries Keynote Address

New York Times best selling author of The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR and The Origin of Brands, How Product Evolution Creates Endless Possibilities

Ries will discuss a startling and crucial development in marketing: the shift from advertising–oriented marketing to PR–oriented marketing. Today's brands are born with publicity, not advertising. The Body Shop, Starbucks, Wal–Mart, Beanie Babies, Oracle and Yahoo!, have all been built with virtually no advertising. With case histories and a step–by–step plan for creating buzz in the PR era, Ries will talk about how to give up the cherished big–bang approach in favor of a slow build–up. She will explain how and why publicity should assume the major role in product launches, with advertising solidifying brands rather than creating them. Her address will be an essential primer on brand–building in the public relations era.

1:45 p.m.          Media Panel

How is new technology is changing the way media collect and report the news?

NEWSPAPER             

Charlie Craine, Director of Interactive Media, Deseret Morning News

RADIO 

Alice Webber, Corporate Relations, KUER FM 90          

TELEVISION

Tanya Vea, News Director, KUTV 2 News

INTERACTIVE 

Matthew Reinbold, Creative Principle, Vox Pop Design

3 p.m.              Microtrends Panel

How to target strategic messages to specific audiences?

GENERATIONAL        Rob Brough, Vice President Communications, Zions Bank          

GENDER                     Katie Sullivan, PhD, University of Utah

CULTURAL                 Venessa Di Palma Wright, DPR Comm

INTEREST                   Susan Walton, PhD, Brigham Young University

4 pm                Networking Reception

Register today for this high-impact, strategic communication event.

www.slcprsa.org/events

Hosted by the Marriott City Center Hotel, 220 S. State Street in Salt Lake City

Questions?  Contact Jason Mathis, [email protected]