Here’s my video talk to the Small Business Council of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce on November 20.  Just the basics on PR and social media. (Thanks to the Greater Lehigh Valley Ad Club for setting this up.) HZ2B9CJF844N
 
 
It has long been my belief that positioning a firm’s executives and knowledge workers as experts in the eyes of media and the company’s stakeholders is one of the most effective ways to promote a brand, product, or service.  It has been my experience that too few firms take advantage of this opportunity.   To venture a guess, I will say that the reason for this lack of enthusiasm for expert-based promotion is ignorance of this type of promotion or the insecurity marketers feel about this type of activity.  It is with a fair amount of certainty that I claim the reason for both the former and latter stem from the fact that colleges and universities don’t teach this within their business and marketing curriculum, and that marketing firms and advertising agencies largely ignore this approach to marketing.  Fortunately, there is someone out there with his eye on the ball, Ken Lizotte, author of The Expert’s Edge (McGraw-Hill, 2008).

Lizotte’s book is a well written guide to turning garden variety experts into “thought leaders.”  The foundation of his philosophy is based on his five pillars of thought leadership: publishing (articles & book); public speaking; conducting research (he calls it “fresh thinking”); leveraging the internet; and using the media.  The book’s primary audience consists of consultants, small business owners, and people interested in creating a “personal brand,” and for those of you who fall into one of these categories, this book is a must read.  I also want to suggest that The Expert’s Edge is a great resource for marketers in companies of any size.   Lizotte’s tactics for turning oneself into a thought leader can, with a little ingenuity, be used by marketers for transforming their firm’s executives and knowledge workers into thought leaders.

Oh, and for you college professors teaching marketing or PR, this book makes a great complement to many texts.  I can recommend it specifically to those using Marketing Public Relations as supplemental reading for chapters 11 and 12-especially for graduate level courses.
 
 
Thanks to Sales and Marketing Magazine for posting an excerpt of Marketing Public Relations.
 
 
As marketers, we are always looking for ways to define our audience.  Armies of market researchers conduct surveys, observe behavior, and sift through artifacts of commercial life to discover what makes a particular group of people tick.  Or, more importantly, what makes them buy.  We are in an interesting time in that the generation coming of age today, the Millennials, has been imbued in brand culture and immersed in social media.  While this may give some parents pause, it is an opportunity to observe these savvy and social consumers in action, and to record and study their journey from young adulthood to their rise to dominance in business and culture.

In attempt to harness this tremendous potential, Edward Boches, Chief Social Media Officer at Mullen, has launched “The Next Great Generation,” or TNGG.   This ambitious project aims to get Millennials to share their thoughts regarding life, work, brands, technology, environment, money, faith, sex, and love, while giving other generations a chance to listen, learn, and even ask questions about them.

If you fall into the Millennial age group, I implore you to check this out and get involved.  If you teach or work with Millennials get this information into their hands and encourage them to participate.

TNGG’s website is linked here, and you can followe the conversation on Twitter using the hash tag #tngg.  Spread the word.
 
Tribal Video 11/09/2009
 
There are a handful of high profile business and marketing people who capture the essence of Marketing Public Relations.  Seth Godin is one of those people.  This video is one of a handful of videos of Seth that will make you think about what we do.  I suggest that connecting with “tribes” is what MPR is all about.  He also discusses how tribes create stories about a company or product and spread them.  This is the MPR notion of creating “brand authors.”  Bravo Seth.  Enjoy the video all.
Here's another.
 
 
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?
 
 
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time on social media, and while that is really important in today’s marketing environment, there are tons of great topics on the traditional side of marketing PR that are worth covering.  I have been getting some good feedback on a video I did for my Applied Public Relations class on pitch letters, and I think it is worth sharing with you.  Keep in mind that this was created for a class, but there are some good take-aways here for you.

You know where to find my book, but if you want to check out Richard Laermer’s book you can click here.  Please remember to tweet this story to your friends.

 
 
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. 
 
 
I will be participating in the Social Media Club’sCurriculum and Standards conference call at noon eastern time on Monday, November 2.  This is your link to participate or to hear the thoughts of some dynamic professors and marketers.  I will post a recap of this meeting on the MPR blog later in the week.
 
 
Chris Brogan’s blog post, “How to Market an Offline Event Online” got me thinking. Aside from the great tactical insight that Chris gives us on using social media for promoting an online event, the post reminds us that social media is just another set of tools in our PR garage.  Like the printed page, or telephone call, social media will just be something else we use to promote our brand, sell our product, and get our message out.  If you look closely, all folks that are being recognized for their social media acumen are also masters of traditional media PR. Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba, Gary Vaynerchuk and the like are doing live events, appearing on TV shows, being quoted by the traditional press, writing books, and giving lectures that help build their brand as much as the social media work that they do.  All of these elements, be they ancient or recently invented, use the magic of “Out of Control Marketing” where your message is handed over to connectors who, in turn, pass your message along via media mentions or word-of-mouth.  Those who practice this are risk takers because they let their message be reshaped by those who pass it on, but, wow, does it pack credibility.  So, this is your cue to look beyond the hot topic and to dig deeper in to all aspects of marketing public relations.

The answer to the question is yes, of course social media is just a form of PR.  The delivery method is different, but the purpose and the skills need to execute both forms of promotion are the same.