If you have a blog, you should take the MIT Weblog survey.
The press release is dead. NOT.
The PR segment of the blogosphere has been having a field day with Steve Rubel’s assertion that blogs and RSS will eventually supplant the press release. Echoing Mark Twain, some posters have referred to his comments as the premature declaration of the "death of the press release."
Now, in my short time as blogger, I have come to appreciate Steve’s style. For the most part, he provides links and information. From time to time, however, he takes a strong position on an issue. ‘Cause nothing works to build interest like a strong position. PR 101, my friends.
Before I get to my opinion, some selections from the bloggersation.
Shel Holtz on Messages and Channels — on the importance of professional communications in getting the story told
John Cass, with a suggestion that we should look for examples where blogs have been more effective than PR. Hard to measure this, John, unless you set the research task prior to the program, not afterward.
Tom Murphy (PR Opinions) — with a rant and a round up of opinions, including his own. BL Ochman makes a similar point to Tom’s: blogs are tools, and won’t replace the press release. But, thank god, blogs are reducing the frequency of lame press releases 🙂
There was WAAAAY more than this, but Tom Murphy has links to much of the commentary in his posts, and if you REALLY want more, I am sure Technorati and Google can help you out.
What do I think?
The press release form has a tremendous value for both marketers and journalists. It is part of our "rules of engagement." A press release tells the reporter who what where when why and, okay, how. Some releases are better than others, but for the most part, press releases get this basic job done. Reporters rely on this. Parseing a blog would be way more painful.
And, Chicken Little and EPIC 2015 notwithstanding, the mainstream media is NOT going away tomorrow. So: companies need to engage with journalists in the time-honored ways. Should the press release feed be in RSS? You bet. Will RSS, a distribution mechanism, replace the press release, a form for communication? No way. Apples and Oranges.
But what about blogs? Those are forms of communication? Can’t they get the job done? Who needs a press release?
Can a corporate blog do the job of the press release? Maybe, but the form of its post is going to be so damn close to the press release that I challenge you to tell the difference.
Shel and Tom cover this very nicely in their posts, but I want to stress one thing. Blogs are not about the rule of engagement. For the most part, bloggers don’t understand or care; they just want access. They won’t strive to address all the points, as a good reporter will. They will pick what they want and ignore the rest. Back to the rules of engagement: it is in all our interests that professional journalists and professional communicators tell the story. Because we want a story. Not just a few facts sprinkled with opinion.
Marketing and PR pros know the press release is just the tip of the iceberg; the outreach to the journalist is far deeper, with many more layers. As a communications professional, you must develop a strategy for communicating with bloggers AND the regular media, which remains as, if not more, important. Bloggers have strong reference value with their core audience. Mainstream media’s influence extends far beyond its fans; even critics respect what the NY Times says.
Blogs are subective. MSM (except perhaps Fox News) is objective. Both have their place in reaching the audience. Make sure you include blogs, RSS and press releases in your forward communications plan.
The press release isn’t dead. it is just evolving.
Roadmaps Round-up
Adrants on the promotion campaign for the John Twelve Hawks’ book The Traveler. Program includes a character blog, and as I said in my comments on Adrants, I’ve long believed that fans of books/tv/film will embrace well written character blogs. This is slightly different, as it is promo for a new book, not a build-on to an existing franchise, but it will be very interesting to watch this play out. From my quick glance, the program looks very well done, and there is certainly no subterfuge.
Amy Gahran over at Contentious has a great idea for a unique gift: the gift of conversation.
From Creating Passionate Users, Featuritis vs. the Happy User Peak Main takeaway: give the right features and make them usable as well as useful. Don’t provide a feature just because you can. Make sure it is something that your user actually wants.
Finally, from Jim Logan, some thoughts about CRM — CRM is an attitude and a set of processes, not a piece of software Main takeaway: Focus on doing active customer relationship management, using whatever software tools you want, versus on a piece of software as savior.
Who’s on top?
Why is it that even in the middle of a media revolution, we can’t resist the temptation to create an aristocracy? Benevolent, but an elite nonetheless.
Following hot on the heels of blogebrity (which apparently started as part of a contest), we have the AO/Technorati Open Media 100.
I agree with Fred from A VC, who says: Take me off your lists please:
"Open Media? Then let’s make it open. Let’s keep the desire to rank and create clubs in check guys."
Unfortunately, I don’t think we are going to get our wish.
It is human nature to congregate with people of like mind. Social groups (cliques) form. Once the group has solidified, it is hard to break into it. Not impossible, but the formed unit tends to resist interlopers.
In nature, order and structure are a requirement for smooth operation of the unit. Someone has to be in charge of defending the territory etc. etc.
In human society, however, social groups are formed for reasons other than defense and self preservation. The group may initially apply order and structure to itself to make the group more manageable. You know, to blow up society, even anarchists need a leader 🙂
It starts with the member list and a definition of the membership requirements. But, sooner rather than later, it becomes clear that "membership has its privileges." Status. Respect. Wealth. Before you know it, the group, which may *think* it is open to all comers, starts to fear dilution of the membership value, and as a result, begins to defend its exclusivity. It may be subtle. It may even be sub-conscious. But make no mistake… it is there.
This is bad enough when the group is a formal group. But when it is an informal group — a clique versus an organization — it can be downright insidious. Because informal groups aren’t going to have rules in the same way a club or association might. So there’s no way for those on the outside to EVER get on the inside where all those great connections can be found.
Do I think this has happened in the blogosphere? No. Not yet. But the signs are there, and it would be a shame if we didn’t resist.
Captain Picard did, and so can we.
blogher
Just a reminder post about the upcoming blogher conference in late July. Hope to see you there!