Mini-Media Kits, Results Measurement, and Other PR Blog Jots
Strumpette
In his weekly guest-blog, PR vet Phil Hall underscores the importance of properly measuring the results of a public relations campaign. He urges a focus on quality over quantity when it comes to results measurement, noting that hundreds of useless news clips are not as effective as a few high-quality placements to most clients. Hall highlights some main concerns most PR pros have when it comes to measuring, and stresses how important it is to a campaign’s success. “How serious is this issue? If you believe some people, it is on par with global warming. I’ve waded through the numerous articles, blogs and conference sessions devoted solely to making sense of measurement, and the subject is viewed with an acute seriousness that you’d think the fate of the industry depended on the ability to measure PR activity.”
Making News
David Henderson offers a fresh spin on the media kit, a tactic he considers nearly obsolete in the age of PR 2.0. Pointing out that most reporters will tell you they toss media kits away without even reading them, Henderson suggests using customized USB flash drives outfitted with all the information a reporter would need, delivered in a format they would not throw away as casually (after all, USB drives can be reused and are always useful to have around). “For about $10 or less each, you can order a quantity of thumb drives emblazoned with your logo. Lots of places sell them. Just Google ‘usb flash drive.’ This will enable you to create customized media presentation materials, and here's the best part -- this is not something a reporter would ever pitch in the trash.”
Most PR Professionals Forgo Blog Monitoring
Communications Overtones
As a PRSA article recently noted (link courtesy of Crisisblogger), nearly three-quarters of public relations practitioners are not monitoring blogs as part of their campaigns. Kami Huyse links to the study the article cited, from Kent University School of Journalism’s Bill Sledzik. Some of the more interesting aspects of the results were a fear of losing control of the message by engaging in the unrestrained, more free-wheeling blogosphere as a communications approach. Huyse sees this attitude as a symptom of big-business resisting change. “While the results from this study can’t be extrapolated to all public relations practitioners, it is very interesting to see the overall attitudes about blogs and blogging. I think that those of us that do engage in monitoring, and feel that it is important, will continue to face huge corporate barriers to change.”
At an executive media training session I did this week, one executive asked: what is a blog? Not a single one of the 15 very smart executives blogged, read blogs, or really understood what was going on with them. It's like an underground city that operates beneath our feet and that a good part of the world not only is essentially ignorant about, but would rather pretend that it isn't even there. But that city is well on its way to emerging into the light of day and a lot of folks are being surprised.
Posted by: gbaron | February 23, 2007 at 01:22 PM
Sorry to chime in so late. Been busy monitoring some other issues -- on blogs! Our study at Kent State focuses on PR and marketing professionals, a majority of whom are not tracking blogs. So I'm not at all surprised at Gerald's story that executives were clueless on the topic. It's a good bet they've also never been to on YouTube or MySpace, but they have bigger issues to deal with.
Those executives will need more than anecdotal evidence to commit resources to the blogosphere. And this presents PR types with an opportunity to shine, or to crash and burn.
Again. Sorry I missed the tag last week. I don't know how the A-list bloggers keep up.
Posted by: Bill Sledzik | February 28, 2007 at 10:25 AM