I have no objection to adverting sales people selling into content.  For example, if a medium is planning to run a piece on golf, then approach golf courses, equipment manufacturer, retailers, etc., about adverting in that issue or during that episode.  Also, I think it is smart marketing to copy your advertising sales rep with any press release you are sending to a particular medium.  (I don’t mind another voice bringing a good story to an editor’s attention one more time.) What I do fervently object to is the creation of seemingly editorial content strictly for its sales value as well as tolerance of the unfettered quid pro quo where advertisers get positive and pronounced editorial coverage despite the quality of the product or service in question.  Running editorial and advertising as one unit where advertisers are “partners” is ethically dubious and it destroys the credibility of real PR in that medium, and perhaps across all media.  The wall between editorial and advertising has always had a degree of fluidity, but I fear it is now no more than a gauzy veil.  Editors, producers, journalists-rebuild this wall!

Check out this segment from NPR’s On the Media for an example of such a conflict.

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Yes, it is the job of the MPR professional to get media mentions and spread word-of-mouth for his or her company, brand, and/or products.  To that end, I’d like to say the folks at Weis Markets, a supermarket chain based in Sunbury, Pa., did their job when an article based on their December 31, 2009, press release, “Weis Markets Lowers Prices on 2,600 Staple Items and Freezes These Lower Prices for 90 Days,” appeared on the front page of the “Money” section of Allentown’s Morning Call.  This is great for Weis Markets. Or is it?  I am a bit concerned by the fact that the article, “Weis Lowers Prices on 2,600 Products,” is a rewrite of the press release and appears to be a thinly veiled “advertorial” for one the Morning Call’s bigger advertisers.  

What do you think?

Quite frankly, a supermarket lowering prices in a recession is not news-it’s a

promotional campaign. Sometimes, it is worth the time of a company’s

Marketing/PR department to help journalists by providing them with press

releases that read like news.  Otherwise, a great media mention loses the

credibility that makes PR so powerful in the first place.
 
 
It is somewhat ironic that I found out about the Tribune’s planned one week fast of Associated Press (AP) wire material from an AP article in the New York Times.  If you haven’t heard, the Tribune, parent of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and other regional newspapers, announced that it will not be using AP content next week.  There has been much analysis of what this means for the media, particularly newspaper industry, but I think this shift might signal opportunity for MPR pros. 

As mission driven (ethnic, religious, etc.) and locally focused media are the bright spots in a rather gloomy forecast for traditional media, I think it is reasonable to suggest that audience focused content will replace national news in many outlets.  While it will take more work for MPR folks to identify and pitch a growing number of news channels, it will lead to a more direct and meaningful dialogue between those with a story to tell and those eager to consume it.  Rather than saying “this is why our (company, brand, product, etc) matters to the world,” you should be saying “this is why our (company, brand, product, etc) matters to you.”  Since the big media companies and new aggregators will continue to cover national and global events, it will still be useful to tie larger trends to the interests of regional audiences and affinity groups.  To make this connection valuable to the audience, medium and firm, savvy MPR pros will have to use stories relating their brand’s value in terms of reputation, relationships, experience, or symbolism as the conduit.

I am interested in hearing what you think.  What effects with the changing media industry have on those of us on the marketing side of the PR fence?
 
 
In the November 2009 edition of the Journal of Marketing, Diego Rinallo  (Bocconi University) and Suman Basuroy (University of Oklahoma) publish the results of their study that took a quantitative approach to discovering the effect of advertising on media coverage.  Their study suggests that the more a firm advertises with a given medium the more coverage the firm’s products will receive within that medium.  (PR professionals already know this from experience.) They also show that the influence of advertising on a medium’s coverage increases as competitive media coverage of the advertiser’s product increases. That is, a medium will increase its coverage of an advertiser’s products as other media increase their coverage of those products. 

They go on to explain that advertisers have a higher degree of influence over publishers that focus on a single industry, and that larger companies receive more coverage than small companies, while innovative firms receive more exposure than mundane firms.

While MPR folks already understand the unspoken editorial quid pro quo that can occur between a medium and its advertisers, there are a few other MPR strategies that can be inferred from the work of Rinallo and Basuroy.

1.       As coverage begets coverage, show off the media mentions that you get on a timely basis, and put it somewhere that the media, especially those that you advertise with, can see it.  An “In the News” blog that feeds out to your media contacts is a great addition to a webpage of similar purpose.

2.       When pitching a story, think about starting with trade journals or other media that have a narrow focus on the topic at hand.  This coverage can then be leveraged into coverage by the broader media.

3.       If you can’t be big, be creative.  Even if your product or service is not particularly exciting, look to the intangible stuff and the areas where your products and services create true value for your customers.  It is in those spaces you will discover the novel and innovative things that your firm is doing.  Let the media know-especially those with which you advertise.

This is an installment of the MPR Distillery where we find the latest ideas and research on marketing public relations and social media and boil it down to where it can be easily implemented in a business or taught in a classroom.