Marketing Roadmaps has been going in a new direction for the past couple months, so I thought it would be a good time to articulate what you can expect to find here. And what you most likely will not find here.
First off — what you will find here. More on the practice of blogger relations, the impact of social media on customer care, practical tips culled from my workshops on social media and blogger relations. Conversation about online reputation management, measuring the return on investment, online communities and the impact of social media on traditional entertainment.
What you won’t find so much of? Sales process and marketing management tips. I’ll be writing and talking about those on Business Forward, the blog and podcast I produce for my client GuideMark. Too much talk about my family, pets, trips and favorite tv shows, unless there’s a marketing angle. All of that you’ll find at my personal blog Snapshot Chronicles.
You also won’t find too much discussion of the practice of public relations, as distinct from blogger relations, unless it is something really juicy like blacklists or gross unethical behavior by a top PR agency that I just cannot resist.
I especially will not be talking about the social media press release. For me to comment on the press release, as a form, in any form, at this point is like a vegetarian recommending a cut of beef. As my practice moves away from pureplay public relations, and toward blogger relations and online reputation management, I find that just about the last thing I recommend to clients is a press release. It’s just not relevant to what they are trying to achieve, which is to talk with their customers online.
Wait a minute, I hear you cry. Over the past few years, many marketing and PR consultants have recommended online distribution of releases through services like PR Web as a way to reach customers directly. By putting the release on the wire, the story goes, you improve the discoverability of your news by the search engines. Well, yes. But the operative word is NEWS. If you are issuing actual company news or material information, and you need to reach the news media, by all means do a news release, in whatever form floats your boat — traditional, social media, tom-tom drum. Whatever.
But if it isn’t actually news, as in new and interesting, it shouldn’t be distributed as news. I attribute most of the press release crap lining my spam folder to the mistaken notion that using the form of the press release somehow transforms mundane sales pitches into page one material.
If you are trying to reach your customers, the news release is not and and never has been the optimum form. Telephone. Newsletters. Email blast to your customer list. Personal email. Blogs. All of these are better, more easily understood ways to convey information about your products and services to your customers. Including bloggers.
So take it away, Todd Defren, Brian Solis, Chris Heuer and Tom Foremski. I’ll come over and comment at your places, but as far as Marketing Roadmaps goes, I’ve said what I’m going to say, I’ve said it again, and now I’ve said it for the last time.
Instead, I’m going to focus on helping companies meet their customers online.
Peace out.
Tags: social media press release, blogger relations, customer relations
Hiya Susan –
The SMR is only relevant in that its original intent is to help spur and aggregate those conversations with customers. But having said that, I am curious about what prompted you to spend so much real estate in this post on a relatively niche issue like the SMR? Did I miss something?
Nah, you didn’t miss anything. Just stuff I’ve been thinking about lately vis this blog, what I’ve written about in past and where it it is going in future.
I’m on a blogger relations panel next week at the Vocus User Conference. One of the misconceptions we have to deal with is this notion that the press release in *any form* transforms boring stuff into news.
As you know I have no problem with press releases, social media formatted or otherwise, used for news. However, I don’t think the form is appropriate for conversation with bloggers and customers. Because I see the potential for the same crap, just delivered with links. Not from SHIFT. Or any of the other folks who have been working so diligently on this. But I fear it will happen.
Sooo, if I have an agenda, and I suppose I do, it would be to see people stop using press releases as the communications form for blogger relations. And instead focus on talking with fewer bloggers in a more personal way.
Amen to that, Susan. What’s interesting is that when the rare person does take the time to read what I write about and correspond with me on a personal level, my interest is usually peaked. And if I do not plan to write about that topic, I can recommend others who would.