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Self-serving Press Release Content Has Killed PR. The origins of the press release are unclear, but in the not too distant past, this communication tool was called a “News Release.” Flacks began using the press release as a marketing and propaganda tool, and this was a bad thing. And over time, it will make you irrelevant.
Media relations (or press relations) involves risks and consequences that can quickly derail any career, either as a corporate executive or PR agency rep. Here are four lessons I’ve learned from working with the press: 1. Press relations is always a crap shoot. A misquote can sink a company’s stock price. Then she hung up.
eReleases competes with dozens of electronic news distribution services, all seeking to charge companies and PR agencies hefty fees to put their press releases in front of journalists, in hopes of capturing the media’s attention and coverage. Missing: Nimmi, the acrobatic dog. All of our editors pick up the phone.
With good intentions, but given no budget or time to perform proper market research, we interviewed a total of 6 corporate CEOs and board members to provide some validation to the underlying premise of our press release. The headline read: “Most Corporate Directors & Officers Believe They Are Not Protected Properly from Legal Risk.”.
But because the press can deliver exposure and credibility that PR craves, journalists have always been in a more powerful position. Over the past decade, three developments have upset the already rocky relationship between PR and the press: Email, and “blast email” in particular, has become PR’s most frequently used communication device.
For example: one-off quotes in news stories, pay-to-play articles in any type of publication, and pickup from most press releases are worthless. Most B2B firms are seeking the WRONG kind of earned media.
Too often important corporate milestones are treated in a manner similar to a wedding anniversary: companies will send out an announcement (press release, advertisement or email blast), host a modest reception, and provide a memento to a select number of longstanding clients.
Blog posts or press releases extolling the features and benefits of your firm’s whiz-bang new product or service are more likely to be read by competitors than by prospects. Here’s why: Most firms still don’t understand that marketing content is NOT about sales.
With good intentions, but given no budget or time to perform proper market research, we interviewed a total of 6 corporate CEOs and board members to provide some validation to the underlying premise of our press release. The headline read: “Most Corporate Directors & Officers Believe They Are Not Adequately Protected from Legal Risk.”.
It also means that you must provide your agency with the time and guidance necessary for them to deliver something more than a pile of useless press clippings. If you’re unwilling to make that commitment, or if they’re incapable of delivering on your expectations, then it’s time to stop the insanity. Fire your PR firm in 2014.
here are two fundamental PR lessons from this brand debacle: Assume the press will always learn about a problem, and plan an offensive strategy (well ahead of time) to minimize the damage. If the press is on your damaging story, or is likely to be very soon, sometimes it’s better to keep your powder dry if you haven’t planned ahead.
Regardless of how well a company communicates with the press, it stands a good chance of being “burned” on occasion. Unfortunately, no standard methodology exists for redress of grievances with the press. Que Sera, Sera.
A new spotlight has been cast on the issue, with writer Michael Lewis’ acknowledgment that he’d agreed to quote approval for his Vanity Fair profile on Barack Obama, and the new policy issued by the New York Times , which forbids their reporters from agreeing to “after-the-fact quote approval by sources and their press aides.”.
This effort requires that a company either engage an outside PR agency or employ dedicated staff members who are skilled at pitching stories and nurturing press coverage. So, if media placement is both an inefficient and costly marketing tactic, then why do large, sophisticated companies continue to use it?
I drafted a press release entitled “Irate BMW Owner Places Ads in New York Times and Wall Street Journal After 27 Problems With 318i,” that detailed the car’s various issues. I FedExed the letter, the advertisement, the press release, and the editor list to BMW headquarters in New Jersey. I’ve got 27 Good Ones for you.”. He laughed.
They understood the difference between a sheet-fed and web offset printing press, could distinguish between thermography and engraving, and spent hours studying paper stock samples, typefaces and PMS color charts. Graphic designers used drafting boards, rulers and glue.
Unlike law, medicine, accounting or engineering, it’s difficult to define or validate expertise in public relations – as evidenced, for example, by the volume of information and disagreement on issues as fundamental as press release protocol.
If you’re not a habitual rubbernecker of battles between companies and the press, here’s a condensed version of a recent incident that can provide some lessons for all those subject to public scrutiny…which includes just about every individual, institution and company, public or private. Journalistic ideals espoused by Edward R.
The standard marketing approach – particularly among B2B firms – is to create a brochureware-esque “Who We Are / What We Do / Why You Should Select Us” web presence, which forever serves as a handy repository for press releases, case studies, white papers and other expressions of thought leadership.
As a result, website visitors might see…a company blog with only 3 posts over the past year; no press releases issued since 2009; a “Coming Soon” graphic for the In the News section; an archive of quarterly newsletters with many issues skipped; a 2 year-old white paper that’s no longer relevant; and zero upcoming events scheduled.
This past September, the well-respected marketing firm, Peppercom, conducted in-depth research involving nearly 300 of the hedge fund industry’s largest firms, to measure how those funds are currently applying standard marketing tools & tactics including websites, social media, the financial press and advertising, one year after the JOBS Act.
When pressed to explain why their company has a blog, many CEOs will admit they were either pushed by marketing counsel to create one, or believed they needed a blog because their competitors have them.
Even if your fund generates piles of press clippings, however, there are too many distractions within print, broadcast, and digital media channels to ensure that target audiences will ever notice, or be influenced by, any of those mentions.
Simply issuing a press release, or posting the event’s slide presentation on a website, will not adequately address the opportunity. What’s done to promote the firm’s endorsement from the sponsoring organization—in advance of and following the event—can be more important than what occurs at the event itself.
This is never encouraging news for a company paying a fat monthly retainer in exchange for a pile of press clippings that get hung like trophies on its website. Media placement is “credibility tool” generation.
LinkedIn has become an important due diligence tool for investors, intermediaries and the financial press. Manage press exposure selectively. A hedge fund’s intellectual capital represents its most powerful market differentiator, and can be showcased without giving away any proprietary information or methodologies.
Social media postings on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook referencing the publicity; A permanent “As seen in (name of media source)” banner on the home page of the client’s website; Surgical removal of the client’s quote from the story, coupled with the publication’s logo, hung like a hunting trophy in the client website’s News section.
Most marketing content is distributed through pull tactics, in which blog posts, social media posts, press releases, etc., Great content can build brand stature and increase market awareness, but in my experience, neither of those achievements necessarily delivers the type of market engagement that results in new accounts or revenue growth.
If your website has not been refreshed and updated in the last 3 years (which means more than simply sticking press releases in the “News” section), then your company is due for an overhaul. Don’t bother with social media tactics unless this tool is all that it can be. Blog Correctly, or Don’t Have One.
Press releases and related media exposure is a good example of marketing activity that is often overrated in terms of effort vs. tangible outcome. Be ruthless in your tactical assessment and focus on marketing initiatives that demonstrate a direct correlation between activity and a measurable business outcomes.
This does not simply mean pumping out a press release every time your company introduces a product, wins an industry award, or appoints a new vice president. The most effective way to reduce and offset brand sabotage is to consistently generate online content that positions your company in a positive manner.
For decades, the ONLY way to produce any type of printed material – ranging from sales & marketing brochures, to annual reports and informational flyers – involved a multi-step, time / people-intensive, costly process requiring a copywriter, graphic designer, a typesetter and a printing press.
A Compromised Value Proposition? If the biggest loser in disgruntled employee Greg Smith’s recent OpEd piece was Goldman Sachs, then the apparent winner in this high-profile media sideshow was The New York Times. Rarely has an opinion piece on any topic, published in any major newspaper or periodical, attracted so much attention and controversy.
Everything Counts in Brand Management. LinkedIn has become an important business channel, not only for individuals to showcase their professional credentials, but also for companies seeking to promote their value proposition and to establish or manage brand awareness.
Did Jere Kill Lolo’s Mojo? On August 4 th , New York Times sportswriter Jére Longman – who has been covering the Olympics under an “Inside the Rings” column – wrote an article on American hurdler Lolo Jones that was considered by many readers to be overly harsh and entirely unnecessary.
A communications strategy largely consisting of press releases or cryptic statements from management falls far short of what is required to protect an enterprise’s most valuable asset — its brand. However, in our digital age, rumor and misinformation can incur permanent damage to a company’s reputation with lightning speed.
Extreme examples of this error include companies that issue a press release, or generate Twitter and Facebook postings to announce, for example, that their CEO has been profiled in Inc.
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