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Tag Archive for 'public_relations'

Why PR?

Published

on 9/11/2008

. Comments

Amidst all the noise from a week ago, Jeremiah Owyang strikes a blow for truth and justice with a smartly (as always) written post “How PR Can Help Some Startups.”

The money quote:

Some PR folks have become their own hubs. What’s this mean? They should up to so many tech events, that they’ve developed real relationships with influencers regardless of who their client list is. There’s a handful in silicon valley you can identify at any event or party, they literally are “hubs” and people are constantly surrounding them.

PR people have to learn that ‘relations’ is as important a part of their jobs as media is. Those relations will not only outlive their clients, but might help them outlast the next downturn.

Thank you Jeremiah for this.

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PR vs The Bloggers part XXVII

Published

David Parmet

on 5/12/2008

in Mouthing Off

. Comments

Every year the New York City Press Corps lampoon the shenanigans of New York’s political elite at the Inner Circle Dinner. You may remember the pictures of Rudy G in a dress. What I remember most are the lyrics of the closing number. The assembled journalists address the audience of New York’s greatest movers and shakers with a rousing chorus along the lines of “You need us, we need you.”

Yep. Journalists telling politicians (and their assembled flacks) that they need each other. Because without the politicians, the journalists would be out of their jobs.

So the latest dust up between A-list bloggers and PR flacks has taken the form of Gina Trapani, editor of Lifehacker, against a rouge’s gallery of agencies she’s decided to blacklist for the sin of, among others, emailing her directly instead of using the editorial email address.

So for the crimes of a few ACs, she’s blacklisting whole agencies.

Gina, do you honestly believe that nothing good or on topic will ever come from Edelman? Or any of the other agencies you have blacklisted? And is the onslaught of email really so bad that hitting ‘delete’ is too difficult?

What Gina, and most other full-time bloggers, have to learn – assuming they want to be treated like journalists – is that they are always going to need sources for good stories. Those sources don’t grow on trees – some of them might even come from PR agencies.

In the meantime, good luck writing all of those blog posts every day.

Bonus link: More smarts on the subject from Geoff Livingstone and Jason Falls.

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Press kits

Published

David Parmet

on 1/15/2008

in Mouthing Off

. Comments

Press kits, originally uploaded by david parmet.

So you spent all last week putting together this amazing press kit. Four color printing and embossed folders.

Well guess what. I’m in the press room right now and no one is reading them.

Next year, try putting out something that gets them out of the press room instead of leaves them trying to figure out what the hell you are talking about.

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So you’re calling bullshit…

Published

David Parmet

on 11/17/2007

in Mouthing Off

. Comments

Josh has called out the fakers, the frauds and the fools in our industry. Especially those who present themselves as experts when their experience is inch deep and not much wider.

Many times recently I’ve been sitting in conferences listening to ‘experts’ talk about various subjects. I’ve always said my definition of expert, especially when it comes to social media, is loosely defined as ‘a few years ahead of you on the learning curve’. It’s funny though that these experts were asking ‘what is social media?’ just a short time ago.

So what do we do, as an industry, about the so-called experts?

For one thing, stop paying to go to conferences that are serving up these experts. And stop patronizing the sponsors of these conferences.

On the subject of conference sponsors, let’s reward those who are putting on quality programs. Let me plug the Society for New Communications Research’s Annual Research Symposium and Awards Gala in Boston next month. If you are reading this and interested in the Future of Our Industry(tm) you better plan on attending.

And what about the individual speakers and experts who give out advice like “add content to your company’s Wikipedia entry?” How about naming names? Let’s use our collective Google-juice and make sure the permanent record is corrected.

That’s a start. Let a thousand flowers bloom in the comment section and throughout the marketing-blogosphere.

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Right on target

Published

David Parmet

on 10/30/2007

in Required Reading

. Comments

Back when I was still an agency drone, when blogging was a hobby and PR was my career and never the twain shall meet, it was Steve Rubel who showed me the light. Steve proved to me that blogging, and the then-emerging idea of social media, could be an important part of public relations.

This was back in the ancient days of 2004, when blogging was still something done by ‘those people.’

For a while I really felt that Steve lost his way, that he was transfixed by a cushy career with a big agency and writing about the latest bright shiny toy to come out of the Valley. There was nothing new there. And he slipped out of my reader, along with a lot of other big shot bloggers who became boring.

And then, like a bolt out of the blue, Steve has found his voice again. Once again, he’s the voice in the wilderness leading us to the promised land.

Let’s face it, we’re skunk drunk and it’s because of money. It’s almost like we all need to enter Betty Ford Clinic 2.0 together. This time, it’s not stock market money but private equity, M&A, VCs and to some degree the reckless abandonment of logic by some advertisers who are perpetuating what is sure to end badly when the economy turns. Hubris is back my friends.

Amen.

Read on.

We’re chasing toys instead of ideas. We’re fixated on tactics and not on strategy. If I get one more ‘how long should my podcast be’ question, I’m going to hit someone.

I agree with Steve that the technologies are going to stay with us for a long time, that they have the potential to change the way we work, communicate and think about our World. Just as long as I’m not asked about monetizing my blog, I’ll be fine.

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