Consumer Anarchy (and Other PR Blog Jots)
Pay-For-Performance Not Always Best
Online Public Relations
Jim Horton responds to yesterday’s Bulldog Reporter blog post from David Oates, who argues for public relations agencies to change their revenue models to a pay-for-performance system. Horton likes this idea in theory, but claims it is not necessarily the best strategy for certain kinds of PR. He points out that crisis communications and corporate positioning aren’t areas where a pay-for-performance revenue model would be appropriate. “Mr. Oates is thinking, of course, of marketing PR in which gaining awareness is the goal. Most PR activity today is marketing, but not all of it. I happen to work in a part of the field that appears to be an exception to Mr. Oates' point of view.”
Online Letters-to-the-Editor Bring New Groups to Blogosphere
BusinessWeek Blogspotting
Steven Baker notes a Colorado paper’s decision to allow letters-to-the-editor to be entered online in a blog format, giving readers the opportunity for instant feedback and to respond to LTEs via a comments section. He applauds the trend as bringing a whole new demographic into the blogosphere, and hopes that other papers will join in the idea. “And Daily Camera appears to be an innovator in opening up its editorial processes. The paper has a feature called Virtual Editorial Board, in which they solicit views on a subject and then mold them into the paper's editorial.”
Blogging for Business
Capital PR links today to an interesting post from Ted Demopoulos on “How to Pitch a Blogger.” Demopoulos simplifies the idea using the same tactics a PR pro would use to pitch a mainstream journalist, and prints an example of an especially effective pitch he received. When pitching journalists, PR pros learn the topics they like to write about and personalize their pitches as much as possible. It is the same for bloggers, according to Demopoulos. “So, how to pitch me or other bloggers? Address us by name. Make it clear you've read our blog. Be ON…target! (I don’t write about weight loss!)”
PR Squared
In light of recent blog chatter regarding a consumer using a camera phone to document the poor condition of a popular retail store, Todd Defren wonders if blogging has led to a new culture of “anarchy” among consumers. He notes that in the world of new media, big brand names need to beware the spiteful consumer who may blog about their poor customer service experiences. He also notes that this trend may result in positive changes from some of the larger companies as they realize they need to show a “human” side. “Of course, there's a flip-side to all this. I've mused before about the scalability challenge that marketers and PR pros will face in addressing quajillions of empowered consumers. In those previous posts I was wondering about how to do a GOOD JOB. Now I am growing equally concerned about Marketing's ability to simply KEEP UP! We must not only find all these posts, we must not only respond, but we must also respond promptly & well!?”
Comments