Wildfire Tech PR Blog – Business and Consumer Technology Public Relations

It struck me recently that with all the focus and interest on social media and digital PR, we are giving short shrift to an aspect of ‘traditional media’ that I believe still holds a lot of value: the British newspaper.

Let me explain why.

The other half and I went blackberry picking at the weekend. We came away with two large tubs full of lovely juicy berries and popped them in the fridge, but we just couldn’t think of anything interesting to do with them outside of a crumble, blackberry pie or jam.

Then this morning I received a letter in the post from my mum (who I’d updated on our blackberry predicament). She’d cut out a summer pudding recipe from her local newspaper and sent it to me.

So I stuck it in the letter rack along with the other 14 newspaper articles she’s already posted to me this year, which range from restaurant reviews and ads for sofas, to recipes and health remedies, and even some articles on fishing.

You see, my mum actually reads the newspaper.  She doesn’t flip through the money pages and check the TV guide before turning to the crossword. No, she sits down with a cup of tea and gives the newspaper her full attention, with scissors on hand to cut out any titbits (she’s been doing viral marketing for years has my mum).

She’s not on Facebook, or Twitter. She probably thinks Spotify is some kind of illness. And she still prefers to go into her local travel agent to book her holidays.  My mum’s probably not the type of person any brand is going to reach with viral marketing or social media or banner ads or digital PR.

But if you’re looking to target a woman with time on her hands to really absorb a message, who feels compelled to proactively share interesting articles with friend and family, and has the purchasing power – and time – to take action if something catches her attention, then you could be making a mistake if you ignore print newspapers.

If one thing has become clear in the last few weeks, it’s that everyone loves the Old Spice guy.  He sprung out of nowhere, posted some clever YouTube videos and we all had a good time.

But social media was supposed to be about more than this.  It was supposed to make companies more transparent and usher in a new age of true public relations – it was supposed to save the world!

“I’m on a horse”

Instead, the old approach of pushing a brand into consumers’ faces, however entertaining, seems to prevail. Examples like the Old Spice man are typical ‘flash in the pan’ campaigns, disposable advertising that builds as much of a relationship with most viewers as ads ever have. Once it has run its course, P&G will be back to the drawing board for another idea.

This marketing will always have its place, it’s part of the mix and when done well, indispensable. But it’s a prime example of social channels being used the old fashioned way. Most importantly, it’s the advertising agency speaking to the viewer, not the business itself.

Talk to the animals

But we all know how brands can use social media to communicate externally, right? Get the customer service department stuck in!

All you need is a clever Boolean search for your brand name and you can wage war on negative sentiment, responding to your audience and making them feel loved.  What’s great about this is that it sets the right tone and the right priorities, namely independence and authenticity.

Interestingly, it’s also fundamentally quite old-fashioned with businesses communicating directly with customers based on intimate job expertise, not marketing credentials. It’s what people want, it’s how things used to be, and it’s as it can be again.

Think bigger

But why would you bring this change to only one department in your business? At best, this displays a lack of ambition and, at worst, unappealing cynicism.

Those working with brands and social media in any capacity should do everything possible to help clients become socially aware, involved and ultimately, independent.

This is our best hope to escape the current “flash in the pan” case studies and move toward the more mature pedigree of what we’ve started to call sustainable social media.

A better future for our children

Just as the concept of sustainability elsewhere draws on ideas of self-sufficiency and a long game perspective, in social media, we need to be laying the groundwork for businesses to do the same.

Campaigns like Old Spice Man will always have their place and indeed, this is where I might expect specialists to come in and bring their creativity to the table.  But once we’re through this teething phase and clients are more social savvy than not, the potential of such campaigns will be truly phenomenal.

And our childrens’ children

Once brands are thoroughly social and working with intelligent and equally competent specialists in PR, digital etc, that’s when we’re going to start seeing the most consistently brilliant work. And that’s when the aspirations of social media will finally become more than collective ambition and over-exposed shallow case studies.

Yesterday, I blogged about our fear of change. Today, I want to talk about an issue that may, at first, seem contradictory. Because, while the world in general dislikes change as much as my cat likes having her nails clipped, many marketers simply love the chance to jump on a new technology and hail it as the best thing since sliced bread.

Latest case in point: Foursquare. If I had a pound for every time I’ve seen a fellow marketer on Twitter talk about ‘an amazing new Foursquare case study’ or asked fellow pros about their ‘best tips for getting the most out of Foursquare’, I’d be a rich man.

Foursquare only used by 4% of US adults

I was therefore doubly interested to read research last week, which finds that only 4% of US adults use location-based services and only 1% update them once per week (or more). 84% of Americans said they had no idea what these types of app even were.

It is no surprise that these early adopter technologies get a very small, loyal following, which then grows over time. It is also understandable that forward-thinking marketers are quick to get to grips with these new platforms and join the early adopter crowd. But, this is where things should stop.

At Wildfire we are fascinated by shiny new technologies, but when it comes to running campaigns and devising strategies for clients, our approach is 100% audience centric. The marketing media might lap up the latest Foursquare campaign, but your target audience likely won’t.

So, next time an agency tries to sell you a fantastic Foursquare strategy, just ask yourself whether the 1% really constitutes the majority of your target audience and, if not, be really suspicious about whether this is just attempt for your agency to get a bit of PR in NMA…

picture credit

Some fascinating research out this week from PR Moment and Daryl Wilcox Publishing sheds light on the pressures and stress journalists now have to deal with and also how their relationship with PR has changed because of this.

The survey asked a broad spread of journalists to comment on the pressures they now found themselves under, with the vast majority saying the need to produce content for multiple channels has shortened the news cycle. Over 80% said they cannot offer the same level of insight as they would have been able to previously, but on the flipside, nearly 60% said they now depend more on PR support.

This merely confirms what many PRs will tell you based on their own dealings with journalists. It means it is even more important than ever for PR agencies and brands to produce great newsworthy content (targeted at relevant journalists) in a format that is helpful, useful and interesting for journalists.

This is a guest post by Adam Parker, CEO at Realwire

Why use one?

The low cost of publishing online means that, in many sectors, there can be a large number of relevant editorial and social media sites who might be interested in talking about your news. But the scale of this challenge can, perhaps, appear daunting, or at least very time consuming. So how do I increase the reach of my story in an efficient way? One potential solution to this challenge is a press release distribution service.

Press release distribution services:

• provide content hosting platforms to ease the provision of news to the online world;
• achieve improved online visibility for your story through publishing on sites such as Google news – that can only be reached directly by selected publishers;
• and use techniques like RSS, email and Twitter to reach potentially relevant and interested editorial sites and bloggers.

All of which can save time and money, improve search engine optimisation and lead to increased and more influential coverage.

What should my press release be like if it’s distributed online?

A press release doesn’t truly become “online” in nature just because it is published on a website. Ideally an online press release is a release that is designed to take advantage of the breadth of digital tools that are available to help you tell your story. It is not just the written word. This means potentially:

• linked multimedia content – audio, video, graphics and images to enhance your storytelling;
• allowing people to share the release, link to it, comment on it – thus facilitating a conversation based on it and then tracking the resulting reactions;
• directing people through links to other places where information relevant to the topic can be found.

Notwithstanding the technology it must be written in plain English and laid out in such as way as to be accessible by everyone from a journalist to an end reader.

What should I consider when choosing a service provider?

First of all don’t get drawn in by big numbers e.g. “We have 100,000 contacts we can distribute to and our website has one million visitors.” The vast majority of these contacts and visitors will not be relevant to you and your story.  If a site has one million pieces of content and every one was of interest to one person searching in Google every month then it would have one million unique visitors a month. Sounds impressive until you realise that means an average of one reader of your story a month. At best you will therefore end up getting a lot less than you perceived and at worst you will be contributing to the massive amount of PR spam that gets created every day.

Keep three key things in mind – “right people, right time, and right format”, and ask these simple questions:

1)    Do they have distribution potential to sites that are relevant to you?

2)    Can they demonstrate that they get results (and not just occasionally)?

3)    Do they understand the importance of timing?

4)    Do they allow you to tell your story in different ways e.g. via multimedia?

5)    Do they understand Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and have they taken account of this in their service?

If you keep these factors in mind distribution services have the potential to help you increase the efficiency and effectiveness of your online public relations activity.