Before I start I want you to know that I am not endorsing or denouncing gold as an investment.  Thankfully, that’s not my line of work.  What I want to point out is how being prepared for an interview can really pay off, or at least avoid a public relations disaster.

In this piece ABC new attempts to expose the misdeeds of the gold selling business, and singles out industry leader, Goldline in particular.  The investigative reporter, Brian Ross, points out possible nefarious activity by gold sellers then uses commentary from a democratic congressman and a liberal watchdog group in support of his argument against Goldline, while the words, “Glenn Beck Endorses Company,” runs in the graphic snipe at the bottom of the screen throughout most of the piece.  Ross also mentions the other conservative commentators who endorse Goldline.  This is a poor journalistic effort in which their thesis seems to be that if liberals don’t like it but the Fox News crowd does, then it must be bad.  Did they bother to interview a real expert?  A professor? A seasoned commodities trader?   A financial advisor? Um, no.

Now, it should have been clear to the folks at Goldline that ABC News was looking for that “gotcha moment.”   When invited to be interviewed they could have anticipated that the set up piece (Ross’s report) and interview questions would be accusatory, and it would have been very easy to decline the request.  But they did not.  This was a risky move.  While I don’t know whether Goldline Executive Vice President Scott Carter is a prince among men or a complete shyster, I do know is that he did a great job with this interview.  Carter expected the questions he received and had answers well enough prepared to seem like he was answering them off-the-cuff.  He stayed on message and used short, simple speech.  He remained positive and enthusiastic, never saying “no comment.”  He even had his “Three Quick Points,” that seemed to be designed to lead into a story or two, but by that time George Stephanopoulos had to cut him off to go to a break.

Is it possible that Carter came off a bit too slick, and that some viewers don’t trust him or his industry?  Probably, but I’d bet those folks either lean to the left politically, or don’t plan on buying gold anyway.  Not a big deal for Carter because that’s not his audience, and I will say with some certainty that he got through to his intended audience in a very positive way.
 
SOCAP 06/17/2010
 
I had the pleasure of presenting “Generations and Social Media” at the Society of Consumer Affairs Professional’s (SOCAP) meeting in Hershey, Pennsylvania yesterday.  I enjoyed my time with the group, and I was pleased to see so many talented and committed professionals working to break down the silos of marketing, PR, and customer service to create a business model where all company functions integrate customers into strategy and operations.

Thanks SOCAP-Philadelphia!
 
 
Hi MPRers.  I’ve been off doing other things for a while, but rest assured you’ll be seeing lots more from me soon.  In the meantime, this is something I had to share.  It is a video of Rory Sutherland speaking at the TED conference.  Sutherland talks about the importance of perception and he is very informative and entertaining as well.  While I am a TED subscriber, I have to credit Scott Monty for bringing this video to my attention.  So, I encourage you to check out Scott’s blog, The Social Media Marketing Blog for his insights.
 
 
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From May 24-May 28 I will be conducting interviews with traditional media and bloggers about Marketing Public Relations.  Some things I will be discussing:

·         Including PR and social media into a firm’s marketing communications mix

·         Ethics as applied to PR and social media

·         Tying PR and social media into business strategy

·         Using PR and social media to create brand authors and enhance brand value

·         How PR and social media influence the consumer and business buying decision process

·         Using PR traditional tactics with non-traditional media

·         “Selling the Story”

·         Teaching a marketer’s approach to PR to journalism and communication studies students

·         Teaching PR and social media to business and marketing students

·         The importance of teaching PR in business programs

My time slots are filling up, but there is still time to participate.  If you are interested in discussing any of these topics with me for your show, blog, column, etc.,  please contact Melinda Jensen at Pearson-Prentice Hall publishing at anne.fahlgren@pearson.com.  I am happy to work with you via phone, email, or chat. 
 
PR Kung Fu 04/18/2010
 
This blog post is intended for those of you who are teaching marketing or public relations and are looking for a good, end of semester discussion topic. But, everyone else, please read on to the last paragraph.

As you may know a new version of the movie, Karate Kid, is coming out in June.  It stars Jackie Chan, and Jaden Smith (Will Smith’s son.)  When you view the trailer for the movie, you will notice that they are not using Karate in this movie, but rather, Kung Fu.

As has been mentioned many times in this blog , one of the best ways for a local business to get media mentions and spread word-of-mouth is to tie its story into a larger event.  To this end I have asked my students to discuss how the Bethlehem Kung Fu Center (you can use a local Kung Fu school if there is one convenient to you) can use the launch of this movie to promote its business.  I remind them to bring in all of the elements of PR and marketing we’ve discussed throughout the semester and to be thorough, be innovative, and be creative in their preparation.

I am also interested in have your thoughts (or your students’ thoughts) on this topic, so please comment on how you think a regional Kung Fu school might capitalize on this movie launch.
 
Money is good 04/10/2010
 
I am not one to blog political, so please don't take this post as a political statement.  I do think that this soliloquy from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged is more relevant today than it was in 1957 when it was written.  I also believe that this passage and the entire book is an instructive read for modern marketers and PR folk.  If you'd rather read this, here's a link.  Please share this.
 
Tea Time 04/06/2010
 
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“We just don’t have anything newsworthy.”  That is the cry I hear from so many companies that have products that are in crowded markets or products that seem somewhat mundane.  This is what Salada Tea, makers of one of the world’s oldest products could have said, but they didn’t.  Realizing that their ancient beverage stands at the intersection of several modern trends, they set out on their “Unbottle Your Tea” campaign with the assistance of marketing communications agency, Pinckney Hugo Group.

In the last several years environmental stewardship, frugality, and healthy living have been some of the hottest topics in the media and blogosphere, and Salada realized that “unbottled” tea reduces the amount of material in the waste stream, by eliminating bottles and saves money as brewing tea from tea bags is much less expensive than buying bottled, ready-to-drink tea.  In addition, there has been lots of recent scientific evidence that tea (especially green tea) is good for you.  A PR goldmine-if executed properly, and Salada and Pinckney Hugo did just that.

The goals for their campaign include:  increasing the sales and awareness of
Salada teas; stimulating trial and usage of their products; promoting new green tea flavors; and building an online database of consumers for future promotional efforts.  The primary target market for this campaign was women over the age of thirty-five.  To achieve these goals they reached out to traditional media as well as bloggers; used YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook extensively, conducted a media tour where a brand spokesperson went on the road visiting media outlets; extended the integrated marketing campaign  to include media sponsorship with Prevention Magazine for fitness-oriented events (and to distribute samples), and held in-store promotions.

The results were outstanding and exceeded their optimistic expectations.  A few of the measurable highlights of this campaign were:

·        Initial coverage by New York Times’ Media & Advertising, PR Week and AdWeek

·         Media coverage reaching nearly 600 stories and nearly 80 millionunweighted media impressions

·         More than 2,200 consumers visited the Unbottle Web site

·         The Media tour landed 17 TV interviews with Salada spokesperson  along with supporting print and online coverage

·         Increased sales in target markets followed tour appearances

·         More than 98,000 samples of Salada were distributed at sponsored health events

·         More than 4,000 people requested a free sample in response to an e-newsletter sponsorship

·         New flavors were highlighted in all TV appearances and blog reviews

·         Awareness was generated prior to in-store availability driving demand for new flavors

·         UBYT Web site has attracted more than 355,000 unique visitors, 547,000 page views and 2.8 million hits since its launch

·         Salada and UBYT campaign were featured in more than 100 audience-appropriate blogs

·         Salada collected more than 120,000 e-mail addresses from promotions and giveaways

Wow, and this is just a sample of what this campaign achieved.  Here is a sample from their YouTube site.  Be sure to check out their sample of media mentions and list of blog coverage in the “News” section of the Unbottle Your Tea microsite. Their Facebook fan page, and Twitter site are also worth a look.  Doing PR right is crucial in any business.  Use this as an example and please share it with your friends and colleagues.
 
 
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I really wish I had been the first one to break the news about the Grateful Dead being social networking pioneers.  Alas, they start this when I was quite young and it took the great news organizations of our land decades to figure this out.  What did the Dead do that gave them the cult following we all look for when marketing our products and businesses?  They created content and community, and they were willing to share.  In addition, they developed some outstanding symbols for the community that let people announce their membership. 

“Our strong suit is what we do, and our audience,” Jerry Garcia

Let there be songs to fill the air.
 
 
It is exciting to see the traction that the Marketing Public Relations book and blog are getting.  I have had a ton of great case studies submitted from companies across the globe, and I will share them with all of you during the coming weeks and months-yep, that many.  I’ve also had some folks offer to be guest bloggers.  Here is the first guest blog post from Andrew Billman.  I hope you enjoy it.

These days, it seems a lot of corporate marketers are drooling over the prospects of social networks. “If we can simply infiltrate Facebook and Twitter,” the logic goes, “we’re in! We’ve got such great products and prices! Everyone online will love us! We’ll have thousands of fans, RSS feeds flying all over the place, and sales numbers through the roof!”

So corporate Facebook accounts are set up, fake friends are added, company-approved photos and logos are uploaded, and the cash just comes rolling in. Easy!

Ha!

One word forms the core of successful social media marketing: Respect. Without it, at best, you're dead. At worst, you're dead AND you're viewed as an incredible d*ckhead.

Instead of only seeing big numbers and immediate opportunities associated with social media, taking history (and therefore, respect) into consideration is paramount for today’s marketers. Remember: All the social media outlets began in their purest forms as social (i.e., fun) places to hang out. Even though they’re rapidly evolving, that remains their essence. And that’s why they must be thought of as neighborhoods, not tradeshows.

Almost by their very nature, social media sites are distrusting of corporate motives – no shock there. But what many marketers don't realize is that their companies are akin to an insurance salesman ringing the doorbell at a loud, fun party on a Friday night: No one cares, no one's in the mood for a sales pitch, and most are questioning why he's even there. “Who the hell is that guy?” Being ignored is bad, but being hated is worse.

So the corporate social media relationship marketing strategy has turned into one big dorky party-crasher. Not cool.

But understanding the respect concept, however, changes everything. And it means social media marketers can have a positive impact. When respect comes into the equation, the situation becomes, "Hey, it's the insurance guy, but don't worry, he brought beer!" And instead of discussing ways to save on auto insurance, the insurance guy simply meets a few people, partakes in the activities, and enjoys the opportunity to simply be there. He’s not a self-promotional one-way blabbermouth; he’s a member of the community with a subtle message to share, but only at the right time with the right people.

That's a big difference. As massive as social media has become, it is not mass media. It’s one-to-one media. Strategically, you have to think in those terms. You’re not there to push yourself, but allow yourself to be pulled. Yes, that’s a passive strategy. But it’s the only one that works. You don’t honestly think you can show up at a crowded house, uninvited, and be the life of the party, do you? Well, do you?

If marketers approach social media from an I’m-an-uninvited-guest standpoint, be on their best behavior, and bring things of value and interest, then the chances for success increase. That’s why, to be even partially welcomed at the social media party, we need to figure out what our metaphorical beer is, make sure it’s appropriate, and make sure we bring enough for everybody.

 

Andrew Billmann is 19.75 years into a copywriting, advertising and marketing career in agency and corporate environments. While adept at writing for new media, he’s done more classical projects for companies ranging from Fortune 50 to high-tech startups. He generally prefers the social aspects of 25-cent happy-hour shrimp to those of any online network. Want to contact him?  You can find him at abillmann@gmail.com
 
 
Some of you who were at my talk at Kutztown University on St. Patrick’s Day, and some who couldn’t make it, have asked for a copy of my presentation.  Here it is.  I am happy to answer any questions.