Comment on A Personal Note on the Year Ahead… [Second of three posts] by Melvin Yuan What? And disturb the peace and quiet around here? Comment on A Personal Note on the Year Ahead… [Second of three posts] by Vanessa Tan Hey Mel. Update this blog, lah! Comment on A Manifesto for the 21st Century Public Relations Firm by Manisha Shahane Hi there, Yes, a great read and thanks. . .I recommend that folks following this post also read Wikinomics if you haven’t already. You can also check out the website that was published following the book’s publication wikinomics.com. I haven’t checked out the website lately. I enjoyed the book and considering how the concepts apply and in what segments and how in other segments the concepts proposed might be less applicable. One of those futuristic perspectives on what’s happening with loss of control at the “center” and mass participation as a result of the evolving internet. Comment on A Personal Note on the Year Ahead… [First of three posts] by Singapore SEO Congrats though it seem a bit late. Any way new role equals new responsibility. Comment on A PR 2.0 Primer by Denver Web Design Getting the word out there and marketing your company is like exercising. Everybody knows what they ned to do but they don’t want to do it. Everyone wants a shortcut to success. Good post! Comment on Leading Change in PR 2.0 by Demixo The main role of a PR 2.0 agency that I can see is to organise campaigns with digital agencies. This model sits pretty nicely with some information I found a while ago - http://www.demonzmedia.com/DemonzBlog/?p=11 Comment on A Personal Note on the Year Ahead… [Second of three posts] by Kenneth Phua Came across your post. On PR 2.0 while doing some research on PR. I have a few responses, quite lengthy to be honest to your blog post. Hopefully, it might serve to be more constructive than others who just concur. Idea of Influence The model presented by the change influence model has principally assumes that the customer or consumer is coagulated as a whole. However, this might not necessarily be true. Opinion leaders must be considered as a principal nodes within the consumer set in the equation/model. As all marketing and PR practitioners would know, this has its major challenges. To identify principal nodes (opinion leaders), one must first be able to plot the entire network and not rely on guess work, which is impractical to some sense, even though arguably these principal nodes can be estimated, attributing hits to influence of industry leaders, experts… basically people whose popularity we can measure. However, measuring is of the biggest issue to date. For example, we assume that bloggers with the highest hits are opinion leaders because they have extremely high hits. Thus, we see countless PR firms flocking unwittingly at these bloggers, getting them to test drive a new software, a new product, etc. (bloggers include opinion leaders in the field, such as Tech experts, fashion gurus, or just ‘star bloggers’). So the question lies…. Are we really ready to challenge this new frontier? Do we really have the tools to measure? Is it even possible to plot this web? Or are we just hastily estimating? Coverage and issues The biggest challenge to revamping the mindset towards that of a direct correlation of PR and business results has long been a challenge to Practitioners. Why? 2 reasons, measurability (again) and misunderstanding. Measurability Unless run through a detailed regression, which I believe no one has actually done, it is not possible to show direct correlation between PR and profits, or rather divorcing PR efforts from Marketing efforts to show how much each has contributed to profits/business results. Therefore, PR firms start adopting the simplest method they know how, assuming that positive news coverage (arguably more credible than ads) can be quantified and therefore counted as a “more credible ad” accounting it to the increase in business results. Mis-understanding One of the fundamental problems of the relations between in house Corp Comms and PR agencies is the issue of not understanding the true function of PR. While PR is fundamentally a function on its own used to manage opinions and to ultimately influence purchase. In house Corp Comms often lack in the expertise to do as such, using PR as more a marketing function than anything else most of the time, distinguishing themselves with ‘coverage’ as its main difference. This leads to the misconception of CEOs and Senior management of their Corp Comms function, which in turns brings about a constant need to self-justification by the Corp Comms, using the only tool they have to show for – coverage. Comment on A Personal Note on the Year Ahead… [Second of three posts] by Hun Boon Hey Melvin, I found your web site. Remember our quick chat on what PR is? If I substitute the word “marketing” for “PR” in your article above, it’ll still ring just as true. So what is your take on the difference between Marketing and PR? Cheers Hun Boon Comment on A Manifesto for the 21st Century Public Relations Firm by Kim Young This was a fantastic article. I was one that used to work in the traditional PR environment and am now launching my own business offering web 2.0 tools across the board. It is indeed about the people, transparency and discussion and gone are the deathly fumes of one sided information and lack of discourse, indeed the information impotency of being a spectator and non agenda setter. And I love Elissa Jenkins’ note. Thanks again Kim Young MA (leic) Chairman and CEO PRO TEMP PR BARBADOS Comment on Being transparent doesn’t mean being stupid or sloppy by Handling New (and Old) Media – a CEO’s Perspective on Personal Brand « […] CEO’s today have to be transparent – they must be careful, smart and position themselves above the fray, remembering the internet is the great equalizer and cyber-sleuths love to uncover “who is really behind those posts,” as Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey, found out.  Other CEO’s have realized transparency in all facets of business. […] Messages are worthless without meaningful action Businesses should always commit to meaningful action above all things, but many corporations pussyfoot around serious issues in the hope that PR (misunderstood as spin-making) can create a buffer between reality and appearance. Unfortunately, it is easy for PR professionals to accede to this agenda under various pressures from clients and upper-management. And we have ourselves to blame if we are not taken seriously in the boardroom. To advance my previous argument for PR’s place in the C-suite, one reason why we’re not there yet, is this: When PR professionals successfully mask the truth to get a positive story where a negative one could have resulted, we get applauded for solving the problem. The recognition may feel good in the short term. But in the long run, the profession takes a beating because we don’t get respected for helping to steer the company in the right direction. I came across a succinct summary by Michael Tangeman on the need to help companies face up to the truth and take the right action; and it’s worth quoting here: “The best advice any public relations firm that premises its work on truth can give a client is that if you’ve got a problem, fix it – ‘fess up, tell what you’ve done to correct the problem and move on to the many positive things you are doing… …Trying to help a company mask its problems with other initiatives or justifying a p.r. approach with utterances that clearly don’t connect with the reality of a client’s situation is a true disservice.” And might I add - it’s a true disservice to both our clients and the profession. Traitors in Our Midst [Disclaimer: This article is not directed at any individual or company in particular. I mean to point out a fallacy in common thinking about PR – a deeply-rooted error in traditional PR practices that seems innocuous, but threaten to jeopardize all the good that we are doing today.] I stumbled upon a post on the Hass MS&L blog that discusses “the value of online media monitoring”. It makes a case study out of the KFC/Taco Bell crisis – the company was shamed by the news media earlier this year, when rats were found scurrying around in one of its restaurants. The main point of the article: Seven hours is all it takes for a company’s reputation to be smashed when issues are left unmonitored. And it ended with: “If this company had media monitoring and crisis monitoring someone could have called to move media crews away from the front window or covered the front window where dozens of media outlets had set up shop filming and getting customer reaction shots.” It is a useful post, because it emphasizes the importance of media monitoring and crisis management. And it presents a very compelling timeline that shows how fast a company’s reputation can “go south” when crises are left unchecked today. But I am troubled that it was overly preoccupied with the case for monitoring, covering up, and responding to appearances. I understand that PR professionals are concerned with the public image, but I’m disheartened that there was no mention of, or apparent regard for, what’s really needed immediately after “monitoring” – apologies and meaningful action. Yes, we do have a part to play in a crisis, but we shouldn’t prioritize ‘transparency’ above meaningful action. Neither should we conceal the truth. We must understand that corporate transparency is not something to be manipulated. But we must charge ourselves with higher standards of integrity in a business landscape that’s increasingly transparent. And I advocate 360-degree pro-activity – understand what goes on in the day-to-day operations of a company, and hold every department accountable to the public. Public Relations should not be just about conversations with the public, but also ensuring that promises are kept after all the talk is done. The Concerted PR 2.0 Effort In naming an agency effort that deals with the complexities of PR in our very wired world today, Ogilvy PR has nailed it with ‘360 Degree Digital Influence’. Few agencies can do better because “360 Degree Influence” is exactly the challenge that businesses face today in reaching out to the public and other stake-holders, and influencing them. (Well, almost the perfect name. I think ‘digital’ wrongly puts the spotlight on the technological aspect of the media revolution. It is primarily a sociological change, with technological second. But that’s another post altogether.) The Case for 360 Degree (Digital) Influence Corporations today are forcibly more transparent than before; with citizen journalists probing at every outlet, and with the power to draw public attention – for good or bad – vested on every employee from CEO to janitor. Rohit Bhargava in his post on Corporate Bloggers and the Rise of the Accidental Spokesperson offers an insight into the complexities of PR today. He points out that individuals “working for an organization and blogging, but are not considered official spokespersons” can become ‘accidental spokespersons’; and he cites the example of Robert Scoble who became that very accidental spokesperson who humanized Microsoft to the rest of the world. Similarly, outside corporate walls (and payrolls), there are customer evangelists who speak more for a company than the designated spokespersons or individuals from the corporate communications team itself. Mike Kaltschnee of HackingNetflix.com fame is one such example. So great is his influence on, and for, the online DVD rental service that Steve Rubel constantly talks about what Mike does for Netflix. The Naked Corporation and its Many Public Faces The point is – there are more faces to a company today than there were three years ago; and there are more public inquirers in the form of citizen journalists. The world is rife with ‘Accidental Spokespersons’ like Scoble, evangelists like Kaltschnee or unwitting newsmakers like the Comcast technician who fell asleep at a customer’s home while being put on hold by his own company’s customer service! The Changing Role of PR Managers In recent months, I’ve been thinking about the role of the PR manager amidst all these changes. The dynamics of PR has changed, but observably, the role of the PR manager hasn’t. And it should. With public spotlight on every inch of the company at all levels and in all departments, the PR manager has to stop focusing on mere publicity and media relations. He has to start influencing public relationships through every department and at every level of the company’s structure – orchestrating, in effect, a concerted PR effort. The Concerted Effort John Cass, in his response to my previous post on “Being transparent…”, accurately observed that “many public relations professionals were [not] formerly in the business of creating trusted relationships with customers directly, though certainly maybe indirectly.” He added that “product builders, customer service people and the people who traditionally were the first contact with customers were responsible for creating trusted relationships.” Now, when you realize that customers (with the power to blog and to be heard online) ARE the Media as well, you can’t help but wonder about the need for PR counsel in Customer Relations, and the many other functions within the corporation. Why PR Has to Lead Because PR professionals have the skill-set to deal with the intricacies of public relations and corporate reputation, the PR manager/director must take the leadership reins in preparing the company to deal with the ‘360 degree’ landscape of digital influence. John Cass observes that “blogging is a team effort that borrows many skills from the public relations profession, [and] also much from other professions.” And that is true. This is why PR must be considered in every aspect of the business; for counsel on the impact of every business function on public relations. Clearly, PR (in the true sense of the word) is no longer the sole responsibility of the PR team, or designated spokespersons. The reputation of a company and the relationship it has with the public lies in the hands of many. And the PR manager must lead this concerted effort with an effective strategy – energizing employees to be effective spokespersons, engaging customer evangelists and integrating them into the media and marketing strategy, holding customer service accountable to stringent demands that corporate reputation is built upon etc. Earning Our Place in the C-suite Along with this responsibility comes PR’s opportunity to prove our place in the C-suite. It begins when CEOs recognize that corporate walls have vanished and that the company – like it or not – is made more transparent than ever. And there is a need for effective counsel in the C-suite, because in the ‘transparent organization’ phenomenon lies both danger and opportunity: Danger, for the company that does not have its house in order. And opportunity, for strong companies to bring vital relationships with the public to a much deeper level. The way to do it? Before developing strategy at the C-levels, corporate PR managers must first earn that trust and equip themselves by understanding how every department in the company operates and its intrinsic relationship with the public. When they do, they will see their (transparent) company as it truly is. And this understanding will enable them to forge relationships with the public that views the company, not through the windows of the CEO office or the communications department, but through every pore. Only then, can Influence be truly 360. Updates: John Bell and Walter Lim have made two comments that are worth expanding here PR’s Catapult into the C-suite – Direct Impact on the Bottom-line John Bell affirms that today, we have an increasingly important place in the boardroom because social media has greater impact on stock prices than before; and “traditional marketing is going in only one direction”. We need no more evidence than corporate crises like the Kryptonite lock case, or the numerous research papers that forecast higher online expenditure. The imperative is now on CEOs to bring PR into a calm boardroom with a solid game plan; rather than yank them in later with the panic button. Everyone thinks 360 anyway. It’s time we do too! Walter Lim points out that another motivation to think 360-degrees – is simply because everyone else does! Even if ‘traditional PR folks’ don’t think so, journalists are even more aware today, of a company’s many public faces. This means that more reporters will want to talk to bloggers with a point of view on customer service, and interview the shop-floor operators who sit 10,000 cubicles away from the HR directors. If there ever was a motivation for those holed up in ‘traditional media’ to embrace the mandate to think 360-degrees, this is it! Natural Progression And a final point – natural progression. The world is clearly moving towards greater social public disclosure. Financial standards, food and drug labeling and manufacturing data, amongst many other aspects, have to abide by stricter standards of social disclosure than before. Sure, we could wait for a global public disaster the likes of Enron, before bringing PR higher up the management agenda, or we could be proactive in creating constructive transparent relationships at all levels of the business. It’s your call. Useful Online Apps for PR I’ve created a page - PR Apps (for lack of a better name) – to list web applications that will be useful to PR professionals and agencies. This is definitely work-in-progress. Flickr, YouTube and other tools that enable PR professionals (or any web worker for that matter) to do more / be more productive, deserve to be on the list, but I will only list them along with tips on how to best apply it to our work. If you wish to contribute to this list, please send me an e-mail with links to the application and your blog post on how to make full use of it. I’ll be glad to add it in. Google Notebook - The (Almost) Perfect Tool for News Analysis As part of our counsel to clients/colleagues, we track the news regularly and provide analyses on the issues discussed. The Problem Very often, the administrative hassle – of collection, collaboration, formatting, sharing and publishing – impede our personal efficiency and ability to get the real work – of analysis and counsel – done quickly and effectively. The Solution Google Notebook - which just came out of beta last week - seems like the perfect solution. As you search for news articles online, you can easily add them to your Google Notebook by simply cutting and pasting. It’s even simpler with a Firefox Extension - you can “add clippings of text, images and links from web pages to your Google Notebook without ever leaving your browser window”. More importantly, you can type in your analyses in the ‘Notes’ section at the bottom of every notebook entry – just as you would comment on a blog post. Organize, Collaborate, Publish You can create sections to categorize your news clippings by date, topic or in any way you please. And you can collaborate, share, publish and even export your entire notebook to Google Documents and saved so that it can be stored offline. I used to think that a blog was a good way to keep a shared record of news articles with relevant commentaries, but Google Notebook offers a far more intuitive interface for this purpose. Plus it has collaboration features that blogs don’t. What it Lacks My only gripes at this stage are: We can’t add tags to each entry. This makes sorting quite difficult if we have a massive amount of entries. We cannot post images, and audio and video news clips, directly to the notebook. But this problem is easily solved by hosting the clips on an ftp site or a file sharing service like YouTube.com and linking to it. But still, I love it. If you haven’t already, you should certainly take a tour and see how this can dramatically improve your personal and team productivity. The PR 2.0 University I’m posting this for the benefit of those who’ve been accessing the content on this blog primarily through RSS feeds; because you would not have noticed a new page that I added: It’s a list of essential readings in PR 2.0, and I’ve labelled it “The PR 2.0 University“. Click here to find out more. Being transparent doesn’t mean being stupid or sloppy Clive Thompson of Wired wrote about the need for honesty and transparency in his article on “The See-Through CEO”. I agree with Greg that this is a pretty good piece, but I’m appalled by Clive’s sub-headline – “Fire the publicist. Go off message. Let all your employees blab and blog. In the new world of radical transparency, the path to business success is clear.” In the interest of fellow PR professionals, I’d like to dissect it and examine the misconceptions embedded within: “Fire the publicist” – For too long, the term “Public Relations Professional” has been contracted to “Publicist”. This wrongly puts the focus on “Publicity” as the end-in-mind. The focus should be on “Relationships” instead. Publicity is mere “fruit” of the process, and a means to an end. “Go off message. Let all your employees blab and blog.” – “Messages” should explain the vision and actions of an organisation. A company that “goes off message” gives wrong and unclear impressions of the company’s vision and state of affairs. This is no good for everyone. Yes, we need to listen to the public, but after the listening is done, we have to make decisions; and our messages have to explain what the decisions are. Then we listen some more, participate in more conversations and adapt, innovate, and clearly state what we’re doing, where we are going. Leadership and clear directions are vital to the “conversation” process. I said it earlier at the end of my post on Leading Change, and I’ll say it again – the path (conversations with the public) ahead is a journey to lead, and not a walk in the dark. “Radical transparency” doesn’t mean “reduced accountability” (to the organization, shareholders and customers). If you prioritise blabber above action, you alarm the public and you waste their time. Yes, I’m all for “naked conversations” and “naked corporations”, but who wants a CEO to shift his businesses strategies from boardroom to bedroom? PR professionals are responsible for helping to pull that act together and make sure that CEOs listen and act in the best interest of the public and every stakeholder. CEOs and their companies must be human, personal and transparent. But Greg sums it up perfectly when he says that “being transparent doesn’t mean being stupid or sloppy.” PR, Clive Thompsons-of-the-world, is far higher up the rungs of leadership than you perceive it to be. It is more about relationships than publicity, and more about leadership than relationships. We PR folks get our priorities mixed up sometimes; but some of us are changing things. And CEOs, this is not the time to “fire your publicists, go off message and let your employess blab and blog”. Even more than ever, you need the counsel of true PR professionals who understand that our chief mandate should not be “to create publicity”. We build the vital, trusted relationships that your companies depend on, and not the illusion of it. “PR” is not a job title or “marketing strategy”. It is organisational leadership made public and personal. And today, we have the tools to do this better than ever. The Community Press Release [An Experiment] Like Shift Communications and Edelman, I’m attempting to change the way a Press Release is developed. Yes, it may end up looking conceptually the same as Shift’s Social Media News Release (SMNR) or Edelman’s StoryCrafter, but the approach is entirely different. Enter the Community Press Release. I’m testing this on a technology conference that’s taking place tomorrow – Nexus 2007 – organized by The Digital Movement, a non-profit organization that I am a part of. In the actual implementation, I’ve labeled it The Committeeunity Press Release. Because that’s what it is… I’m scratching out the “Committee-dictated”, top-down approach to writing the event press release, and instead, handing the task over to the Community of conference participants. They can write the release, link their blog posts (about the event) to it, share their best photos and Podcasts of the conference, and do just about anything that they feel will best present the conference to reporters and the rest of the world. In fact, they’ll probably be more thorough in reporting on the incidental (but significant) news that my team may have missed out in the process of running the event! PLUS, there is an added layer of authenticity in a piece that’s written and checked by a Community of participants. (Think Wikipedia.) Here’s a step-by-step guide I developed along the way (note that all this is still work in progress): A. Set it up Start the Community Press Release on a public wiki Ensure that it has a short and intuitive URL (domain forwarding helps) Consider password and registration requirements for participants B. Create a framework Provide a structure for the press release (because not all bloggers know what a press release looks like); and include sections like: Headline/s Facts (5W1H) Quotes Interesting events Provide links to: Official website/s Blog posts on conference segments (consider categorizing the blog posts according to day/session/theme) Photo-sharing sites where participants upload their best photos Podcasts Conference coverage in mainstream media (perhaps more relevant after the event) Appoint a facilitator to ensure that participants are making meaningful contributions, and that technical issues are quickly resolved C. Provide guidance Provide background and essential information to start with Give clear instructions on how conference attendees can participate in the Community Press Release, and how to get help/further guidance (Give them the phone number or an the IM details of the facilitator) Under each section header, provide annotations D. Call to action Announce it at the start of the event and/or place signboards of the announcement Encourage each attendee to be a participant in sharing their experience with the “Invisible Crowd”. Some people learn more when they participate, and this will be a good incentive for participants wanting to get more out of an event! Offer prizes? E. Putting the results to use Send it to reporters who ask for a press release Make the URL available to everyone Note: The Community Press Release is probably only suitable for conferences at this point of time. What are your thoughts on the concept of a Community Press Release? Apart from events, how else do you think a Community Press Release can work? Nexus 2007 will start in about five hours; and by the end of the day, I hope to have a Community Press Release that is succinct enough to hold a reporter’s attention at first glance. Yet it should also be comprehensive enough – with links to other sources of information and rich media – for reporters and the rest of the world out there! Look out for the Nexus 2007 Community Press Release Wish me luck! Case Study #1: Highrise | 37signals The launch of Highrise – the shared contact manager I first wrote about in Media Follow-ups 2.0 – is an awesome example of brilliant PR. Observe how creators 37signals first announced the upcoming product. How they teased the public and satisfied their curiosity for news, with regular previews through their blog. How they launched Highrise on their blog and accepted genuine feedback in the form of comments (both positive and negative) on the blog post. How 37signals responded with rapid changes to Highrise‘s product packages; and how they ‘relaunched’ it. Observe the comments that follow. To distill the lessons gleaned from this online product launch (via a corporate blog), here are five reminders to bear in mind: Talk to your key stakeholders like you would to a friend Let them talk back Get them involved in your product design Listen carefully to what they have to say Act fast! (or be prepared to explain your inaction) Granted, most companies don’t deal with web products that are somewhat easier to tweak at customers’ wimps and fancies; but the principles outlined here are timeless, and especially true in the Internet age today. What a brilliant show by 37signals. And what I’d like to know is this: What were the thoughts that went on in the CEO’s mind between the first criticism on the blog post and 37signal’s announcement of the ‘new, improved’ product? Conferences and the Invisible Crowd Maximising the Value of Conferences and other PR Events… Virtually. Chris Brogan wrote a very useful piece on “attending conferences without [actually] being there”. But let me explain why this is absolutely vital to PR folks who plan and manage conferences (and other events) as relationship-building measures: Yes, people are now “attending conferences without being there”. But, short of bugging the venue with video cameras, they can’t do it unless someone makes it possible/easy for them. And, knowing this is going to change the way you plan conferences. Observably: The savvy Netizen today will find more ways to be at an event without actually being there (physically). Conference participants-cum-bloggers will be a vital part of the equation. The long tail effect dictates that worthy information gets carried as far across the globe as it is relevant, and stays alive online… forever. In fact, ‘second-degree audiences’ may even get a better deal because in addition to a blow-by-blow account of the conference, they get expert and mass opinion. (Not really, I’d rather be there first-hand!) The recent New Communications Forum in Las Vegas and the ongoing SxSW 2007 in Austin, Texas are excellent case studies. Content is even more important today. Audiences have greater choice over how much they choose to be engaged – it’s easier (less embarrassing) to close a browser window than to doze off in the middle of an auditorium when a speech is given. And online audiences can definitely gripe about how bad an event seems to be going! The reason for this: The Social Web – and Web 2.0 technologies – is increasing our ability to engage a virtual audience along with the real one. And this does a lot for your event ROI. The possibilities are clear and the trend is apparent – to get more bang for your buck at conferences; you need to engage more participants than just those who can attend physically. The impetus on PR: To be truly effective, PR folks and conference organisers should think about the (potential) ‘2.0’ dimension for every PR event or conference – Can you hold a real-time webcast? Can you invite a blogger/s to blog about or create podcasts of the event? Are you making it easier for the audience (who are also bloggers) to report on what’s happening in real-time? Are you reporting it well enough through your own channels? Here are some questions to ask before developing a conference plan: The ‘real audience’ Who am I inviting? Who are my ‘real’ audiences? What am I saying to them? The ‘virtual dimension’ Who are my ‘virtual’ audiences? Who did/could I not invite, but are reading and hearing about the event on blogs, podcasts and instant messaging, as the conference unfolds? What are they talking about? How will their presence be felt? How will/can they interact with the crowds? Bridging the gap between the real conference and the virtual event How can we get them connected virtually? Think webcasts, podcasts and virtual tours (a concurrent Second Life version of the event?). How can I enrich their experience? How can I extend the virtual reach of the conference? Establish the right infrastructure (wireless Internet access); make URLs visible and accessible; make them easy to relay in print and by speech (it should be short and simple to read); make content immediately available and easily accessible. How can I get accurate feedback on the event? The feedback from the ‘real audience’ will be easy to collect (and measure) through feedback forms. But you shouldn’t ignore the feedback from the ‘invisible crowd’. This can possibly be more authentic, given that conference participants tend to be easily swayed by inherent biases found in many feedback forms. Some ways to obtain this feedback are by analyzing blog entries, comments and web traffic etc. Having said all this, while we extol the virtues of pleasing the virtual audience; don’t neglect to give the real audience something special so that they’ll remember the conference fondly. After all, they paid for it and took the trouble to travel down!