I just read a great post by Ustrategy’s Ravit Lichtenberg on ReadWriteWeb highlighting the 10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010. It’s a great read and worthy of being carried under the ReadWriteWeb banner (I have no shame in being an unabashed fanboy of good tech reporting).
However (isn’t there always a “however”?), here’s where I disagree with Ravit. He posits that “Many ‘Old’ Skills Will Be Needed Again.”
An economic downturn coupled with the surge of social media eliminated many traditional marketing and PR roles. But this year, we’ll see the return of professionals to the field. Enterprises will turn back to marketers who specialize in understanding customer psychology and who are experienced in addressing these both offline and online. Research and development divisions will turn to customer experience professionals to draw on user needs and ideation as part of their product improvement and innovation process, and sales and support will continue to deliver services online. Expect to see job postings for social media managers, social media psychologists and social media executive administrators to help manage the infinite tasks involved with communities and social media campaigns.”
The reality is that the good shops, the smart companies, never lost sight of the core functions; they didn’t get blinded by the bright shiny lights. No, they saw the lights and worked them into larger, less tactical strategies.
As marketers, the new tools we have at our disposal couldn’t be greater. But they mean nothing/nada/zip/zero if they aren’t tied into a larger/boring/old school/smart/proven strategy.
For the past 18+ years, I’ve worked in the field of public relations. A flack. A spin doctor. And, apparently, not much different than your average, everyday hooker.
You see, years ago I came across a top 10 list of reasons PR is similar to prostitution. Along the way, I lost the list. No amount of Google searching could find it. Until today.
So, in the spirit of David Letterman, I present you “The Top 10 Ways PR is Like Prostitution”:
1. Your ‘customers’ are called clients…like a prostitute.
2. You work in weird shifts…like a prostitute.
3. You get paid to make clients happy…like a prostitute.
4. The client pays a lot of money, but your employer keeps almost every penny…like a prostitute.
5. You are rewarded for fulfilling your client’s dreams…like a prostitute.
6. When you meet the client you always have to be perfectly groomed…like a prostitute.
7. But when you go back home it seems like you are coming back from hell…like a prostitute.
8. The client always wants to pay less but expects incredible things from you…like a prostitute.
9. When people ask you about your job, you have difficulty explaining it…like a prostitute.
10. Everyday when you wake up, you say “I’m not going to spend the rest of my life doing this”…like a prostitute.
(Image via Creative Commons courtesy of Davide Ferro.)
Click to see a bigger version of this image (and my face).
Late last week I commented on an online story by B.L. Ochman that was running on BusinessWeek’s web site. B.L.’s post, “Debunkiing Six Social Media Myths,” is a good read and incited nearly 100 comments.
Out of that 100 — correction, out of all of the comments on BusinessWeek — my comment was chosen as the featured comment for BusinessWeek’s “In Your Face” section today. Not only that, but my mugshot is running on the front page of BusinessWeek.com.
If you are at all interested in social media, I encourage you to read B.L.’s post. I’ll also be posting more about the power of commenting on the just-about-to-be-launched 0to5blog later this afternoon.
@RobertDowling Suleman’s PR resigns after death threats http://budurl.com/48u7 Sounds like an excuse – PR pros cannot be bullied away from clients!
On this point, Robert and I disagree. I believe PR firms should expect to be called-out for taking on bad clients (although death threats obviously take this way over the line). The PR agency in this case, The Killeen Furtney Group, either (a) knew going in that this client would result in a backlash or (b) didn’t know, which makes their counsel questionable.
Unlike law, PR is not a right. Agencies must weigh their conscience when taking on new clients — paid or pro bono (in this case, I suspect the “pro bono” was instead free work in exchange for the visibility the agency knew the client would create). If an agency chooses to represent a controversial client, it must accept the consequences of associating itself (and, quite frankly, its team members) with the baggage and backlash attached to that client.
Image by jdlasica via FlickrFirst, if you’re an up-and-coming communications pro (or even a weathered old geezer), you’d do well to subscribe to Rafe Needleman’s “Pro PR Tips.” The C|NET vet has posted more than 100 rules from inside the head of one of the tech industry’s most-read journalists.
Tip #103: Agency, Shmagency: “I don’t care that much what agency you work for. What I care about is the company you represent.”
Now, you can argue that the calling cards of a small number of agencies will open otherwise hard-to-crack editorial doors (a reflection on consistently great hiring and training than on size and perceived power). However, even though the card might be able to open the door, it’s the story and personal relationship that gets your foot inside.
I’ve heard a lot lately about the power of personal brands. It’s a discussion good PR pros should heed. It doesn’t matter whether you work for IBM or Joe’s PR Shop, it’s your personal brand that makes you stand out.
Image via WikipediaFor those who still think what happens on blogs, Twitter and other social media networks is nothing more than a marketing echo chamber, think again.
I posted an entry to this blog yesterday that included links to the great online video work Ford and GM are doing. I also included a line about “the ever-present knock of death” at the auto industry’s door. While I’m no fan of the bailout — and recognize that Ford didn’t stick its hand out for public funds — the work Scott Monty and Christopher Barger (and their respective teams) are doing is worth noting.
Now, I don’t pretend that this blog gets a ton of traffic. Scoble I am not. However, no sooner did I hit post when a comment from Scott appeared to clarify Ford’s position on my death-knell comment. Again, in the wide realm of blogs out there, I’m quite sure Maney|Digital is somewhat low on the totem pole of authority and impact for the automakers.
Which is why I wanted to highlight Scott’s actions. Somewhere in his toolbox, Scott has a trigger to alert him to any time Ford is mentioned on the web. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Scoble-sized mention or a lowly Maney|Digital-sized one. What matters is that Scott didn’t let a potentially (and unintentional) negative comment about his company sit idle for others to see.
Companies which aren’t monitoring what’s being said about them online do so at their own peril. While the overall impact of a single negative post on a site the size of Maney|Digital probably won’t make much of a difference, the cumulative effect of others seeing it, posting on it, linking to it, will.
Do you know what they are saying about your brand?
Image by b_d_solis via FlickrOne of the things I advocate to my clients is the concept of content repurposing. To put it more simply: What else can we do with the content we have beyond its single initial purpose?
For example, in the process of drafting a press announcement, most PR pros ask subject matter experts roughly the same set of 10 questions to get to the heart of the news. They then turn that interview into a press release (I’m being parochial on purpose here). Given the tools we now have at our disposal, why couldn’t we simultaneously do the following:
Capture the interview as an mp3 or on camera and post it as a pod/vidcast?
Repackage the interview into a Q&A?
Tweet good quotes as teasers?
The idea is to do more, to get more, out of the content we have and the content we generate. For more, check out this post from SHIFT PR’s Todd Defren. Related articles by Zemanta
Rule #1 in PR is don’t lie. Spin? Sure, we all do it to some extent (I’d claim spin is no longer the sole domain of PR even). But never, ever lie. The truth always comes out.
The current Bush Administration is a prime example of this. Another is the current dustup around Apple’s PR team trying to game the press and shareholders about their CEO’s health.
I encourage you to read the posts by former Fake Steve and current Real Dan Lyons for an inside look at how both sides are playing this game. The Fourth Estate smells blood and rather than getting out of the water (or getting a bigger boat), Apple’s PR team continues to chum the waters.
FTI Consulting has acquired digital communications firm Kinesis Marketing. The acquisition expands FD’s digital capabilities; the firm will be rebranded as FD Kinesis and will complement FD’s established design, annual report, and alternative media services unit. Kinesis has 22 employees located in Morristown, NJ and Philadelphia, as well as consultants abroad, and a national client roster.
Andreas was one of the original driving forces in digital media way back in the pre-bubble days when he led Poppe Tyson’s interactive division.
Last day of school 2010.mov The annual drench the kids as they get off the bus on the last day of school pizza party. From: maneydigital Views: 75 0 ratings Time: 01:04 More in People & Blogs
My Twitter profile says I’m a former Calvin Klein underwear model, father/husband, and stimulator of developer influencers. Well, I guess two out of three isn’t bad.
First, the personal me: I’m a father to two of the smartest, funniest, most talented and most beautiful girls on the planet (they get most of that from their mother). Speaking of, I’m married to a saint. I look a little like Andre Agassi if he got stung by a swarm of bees. I think Buffett and Springsteen are musical gods. I’ve run a 4:30 mile, a 1:19:00 half marathon and two full marathons (Chicago and New York City). I don't run as much as I used to, instead channeling my inner Lance Armstrong on the back roads of Bucks County, Pa. I’ve skied Tuckerman’s Ravine and survived. Despite being years out of practice, I can still climb a respectable 5.9. I once hung out with Chris Farley on the set of Saturday Night Live.
Some of the things I like (in no particular order): road biking, skiing, photography, travel (the non-tour, no-agenda kind), wine, Jimmy Buffett, Bruce Springsteen, Bill Bryson, The West Wing, and great comedy.
Now, the professional stuff: I’m a media junkie. Despite (or perhaps, because of) being in the PR business for roughly the past two decades, I think the Fourth Estate is one of the most important components of society. I’ve worked with big, global corporations (IBM, AT&T, Unisys), big honking agencies (Ogilvy, Grey, Saatchi) and exciting startups (MindTouch, Krugle, Mashery). I’m a believer in open source and an unabashed Mac fanboy. In my current role, I’m the Director of Influencer Management at Alcatel-Lucent. And if I can ever track down the last of those Polaroids, I'd someday like to run for President.
A respected mentor and former colleague once said I have an uncanny ability to help executives hone their messages and craft compelling, creative stories (that colleague also said I liked to kick the snot out of the competition). I've written a number of well-received speeches for executives, but I'm no Peggy Noonan. I've placed stories in outlets big and small. I'm a geek. I've crippled enough devices with alpha and beta software to be dangerous at a keyboard. That inquisitiveness makes me an early tech adopter (if you think Twitter is buggy today, you should have seen it when I was first using it in 2007).
I attended and (Yay!)graduated from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a concentration in professional writing and organizational communications. I grew up in a small town in northwestern New Jersey where I attended and (Yay again!) graduated from Hackettstown High School and lived out my Al Bundy'esque dreams as an all-state soccer star.
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