How to work a trade show, part 2

September 12th, 2007 by pgillin

Paul Gillin and David Strom talk about new and old media for PR professionals

In part two of our interview with Pulvermedia’s Bill Sell, we talk about the role of new media in event PR. Bill believes bloggers are a hugely useful resource to PR people, but that too few companies leverage their enthusiasm and talent. Pulvermedia has been proactive about courting bloggers to cover its events but Bill warns that you can’t treat bloggers the same way you would mainstream media. By courting them appropriately, though, PR pros can find new communities of customers. Boggers bring knowledge and insight to their reporting that isn’t always evident in technology journalists, but they can also be critical and challenging. They’re worth the effort, though.

Download the podcast. (13:35)

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25: How to work a trade show, part 1

September 5th, 2007 by pgillin

In the first of a two-part interview, Bill Sell, Vice President & General Manager of Events at Pulvermedia, shares his advice on how to work a trade show. Bill’s been in the events business for nearly 30 years and has managed the biggest of the big: Comdex in its glory days. In this interview, he outlines best practices he’s seen PR pros use and talks about the future of the trade show business. He also talks about the worst of trade show PR, like the dumpster that Comdex organizers used to maintain to hold all the discarded press kits. A lot of PR people work a trade show badly, Sell says. They don’t plan well and their press kits are stuffed with unnecessary information that fails to catch attention. Hear about the best and worst practices for working a trade show.

Download the podcast here. (14:22)

Here are some of Bill’s main talking points if you don’t have time to listen to both parts of the podcast:

1. Talk with the show organizer

* Role of the show manager

* Role of the exhibitor

* Role of the public relations agency

* Role of the press person

2. Preparing pre-show, at-show and post-show media outreach efforts

* Pre-show – set goals and objectives

* Make calls to reporters you know and invite them

* Prep your press person for show site

* At-show - who is your ideal spokesperson and who wins the “quote war”?

* Handling press who visit the booth

* Planning for follow-up and thank you’s

* Post-show call to thank them (call, not email, then email)

* Summarize your show action plan and product announcements and recap for all of the relevant press your missed

3. Save some money – don’t create a press kit

* Don’t bring a press kit!

* Work the show press list early

* Pre-announce your product or service a week before and showcase it for the first time at the show “double exposure”

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24: Mitch Wagner on Second Life for PR pros

August 28th, 2007 by strom

Our guest this week is Mitch Wagner, who writes for various CMP online and print properties, principally InformationWeek.com. David and Paul talk to Mitch about what PR people should know about the virtual world Second Life. His five rules for Second Life article is posted here and talks about both good and bad practices that he has observed with businesses “in-world”. Meeting areas work better than billboards, for example. Once again, it is all about conversations and dialogs. As another example, host interesting, fun and offbeat events that will attract the media outside of their traditional beat areas.

Download the podcast here.

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23: BL Ochman on social media campaigns and PR

August 23rd, 2007 by pgillin

BL OchmanThis week, Paul and David’s guest is BL Ochmnan, author of the popular What’s Next Blog and the creative force behind such popular social media campaigns as EthicsCrisis.com and ClutterControlFreak.com. BL tells how her blog has been a huge driver of business and why she thinks blogs are here for the long term. She also discusses how she maintains her privacy in a world that’s increasingly open. BL also has some choice words for some of the seamier tactics she has encountered in the public relations profession.

Download and listen to the podcast here (15:10)

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22: Surviving a blog swarm

August 15th, 2007 by pgillin

What should you do if you’re at the center of a blog swarm? Fear of negative publicity or an attack by an angry mob of bloggers is enough to keep many companies from experimenting with social media. But these fears are mostly overblown, Dave and Paul believe. In this episode, they talk about how having a thick skin and a willingness to swallow one’s pride can create a revealing and rewarding experience in social media space. They also offer examples of how the blogosphere can be a remarkably forgiving and accepting place, if participants are only willing to listen and respond to what’s said there.

Read this article from CIO Magazine for more advice on how to handle a flame war.

Download and listen to the podcast here (11:29)

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21: Shara Karasic, social media bonzana!

August 9th, 2007 by pgillin

Our guest this week is Shara Karasic, the community manager at Work.com. She maintains a fascinating and very extensive directory of social media sites here. She talks to Paul and David about the sites that PR people should pay more attention to depending on their client’s goals such as Xing.com. Also, some of the more obscure sites that you may not have heard of, and specialty sites that might be relevant to particular market segments.

She talks about the reasons for the big uptake with businesses using social media for their own purposes and the ways influence is gained and maintained.

You can download and listen to the podcast here (16:05)

Giovanni RodriguezThis week, our guest is veteran PR professional Giovanni Rodriguez, co-author of a new white paper about the role of public relations in social media. The paper has stirred some controversy among PR bloggers who disagree with its authors’ findings.

Among the surprises the research turned up are that PR people believe they’re competing with other marketing and even corporate disciplines to own the social media conversation and that new media may actually be weakening PR’s hold on its traditional function. Giovanni suggests there’s a bit of an identity crisis going on in PR as a result. Quite a few agencies have experimented with social media, but enough people are intimidated by the new influencers of social media that a debate has emerged over whether social media should be PR’s responsibility.

In reality, Giovanni says, social media relations isn’t all that different from media relations. You need to speak to the interests of the blogger as you would to a reporter. Public relations should really be about relating to the public, not just the media, and if PR professionals embrace the opportunity, their career growth will be enhanced.

Paul and David take time out to talk about their own multitude of activities and give their listeners a view of their own emerging media empires. Both of them write, podcast and webcast for various TechTarget properties (where Paul was the founding EIC). Paul writes a weekly blog for Ziff-Davis on innovation that despite being sponsored by IBM is independent. David is the EIC for a new site called DigitalLanding.com that sells home broadband services, as well as writing for eWeek’s channel demographic, Computerworld, various CMP properties, and the New York Times.

Paul does a lot of custom social media consulting work, while David consults on product marketing and reviews strategy. Paul’s efforts right now are focussed on his new book, called “The New Influencers” which has gotten reviewed in the WSJ earlier this month. David’s doesn’t have a book in him right at the moment, but does offer some commentary about the self-publishing industry and talks up the local St. Louis Publishers Association support group.

Both do a fair amount of public speaking, with Paul doing a keynote at the RightNow Technologies user conference next month. David has spoken at various conferences as well, and both will be participating at the December New Communications Forum in the Boston area.

Download and listen to the podcast now (16:10)

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The role of PR with social media

July 20th, 2007 by strom

Paul Rand and Giovanni Rodriguez have written a manifesto of sorts, interviewing some members of fairly large PR firms and internal corporate PR folks about their use of social media. It makes for interesting reading. Called “Relating to the Public: The Evolving Role of PR in the Age of Social Media,” it contains such nuggets as the following suggestion from journalist Brian Oberkirch, author of the Slidell Hurricane Damage blog, about when to use blogs, podcasts, and social networking sites:

1. Social media is about connection, not content.

2. Social media is about them, not you.

3. Social media may be cheaper initially, but it takes far more homework.

4. Get small fast. (Niche is nice. Think smaller feature sets, more targeted audiences, less chatter from you,

and so on).

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey was praised for entering the blogosphere two years ago but the buzz turned bad when it was revealed recently that Mackey had written anonymously about his company on Internet stock message boards. PR pros should take note, argue Paul and David. It’s great when the CEO blogs, but the very hint of deception can turn the community against you and end up doing more harm than good.

It turns out both our hosts have been spending time on Facebook lately and they really like it. Paul says Facebook is what LinkedIn should have been: a professional networking site with personality. David likes all the new applications that members can share. But they hesitate to call Facebook the winner in professional social networking. The market is too chaotic right now to predict who will come out on top. That’s no excuse not to dive into a social network and learn the style and lingo, the advise PR pros. Just do it!

In Cheers & Jeers, David roasts Sunrocket, a VOIP provider that went out of business but didn’t bother to turn off its website, where you can still sign up for its non-existent service. Paul toasts Harry Potter, whose Internet success may keep the book series alive even after its author has stopped writing.