CustomScoop's PR PodJots

Welcome to CustomScoop’s PR PodJots, our weekly rundown of the best of the PR podosphere. Thanks to all who submitted new podcasts this week, I’ve got a couple fresh names on my list!

Activity was a little lighter than usual this week, perhaps everyone joined CustomScoop CEO Chip Griffin on vacation this week.

We begin with Inside PR this week, as our friends to the north

Inside PR – July 27, 2007 – Pitching Best Practices from the Horse’s Mouth

This week on Inside PR, Dave Jones and Terry Fallis interviews Janina Palhares and Brad Matson, segment producers on a morning chat show in Canada. Brad and Janina discuss the media side of pitching.

Janina and Brad receive hundreds of pitches a day, and the best advice they give is that old Shakespeare chestnut, “brevity is the soul of wit.” Keep it short, press releases going on for thousands of words will end up in the trash bin, no matter how important their subject matter may be.

For email, they recommend getting straight to the point with the “who/what/where,” so they can easily weed out anything that may catch their interest. They also recommend capitalizing on relationships, particularly on the phone. If you have a previous relationship with someone, don’t bombard them, but call them when you’re sure you have something that may interest their show (or column, or magazine, etc). Remind them of any previous projects you’ve worked on together, and be sure to be polite when your pitch is rejected.

What I find most interesting about all “pitch advice” from media members is that it all seems so obvious. Be brief, don’t pester with excessive follow-up, know your target, etc. Doesn’t seem that hard to grasp. Yet bad pitches seem to become more ubiquitous every day. I think the problem is a mutual lack of common sense—something that is certainly not unique to communicators.

Managing the Gray #39 – July 27, 2007 – Is New Media Selling Itself Short?

C.C. Chapman discusses the recent Boston Tweetup, which was followed by a screening of a new cooking-themed Catherine Zeta-Jones movie, presented by Startcooking.com. He remarks that it’s terrific that Kathy, one of the hosts of Start Cooking, received a lot of attention at the event, noting that for a podcaster to receive that kind of attention is a great step towards new media going more mainstream.

Because new media is becoming more mainstream, C.C. wonders if podcasters and other new media adopters are selling themselves short. He discusses the monetization of podcasts as an example, arguing that the content that podcasters offer is valuable, no matter how many listeners they may have. He’s not insisting on monetization of podcasts, but thinks that sponsorships and ad buys are going to continue to be important, and should be fair and reasonable—particularly when a show is good.

A caller comments on the Joseph Jaffe iPhone sponsorship idea (in which CustomScoop’s CEO Chip Griffin, at Jaffe’s offer to trade “Across the Sound” sponsorship for an iPhone, sent him one of the new gadgets). He thinks it was a great idea, but that perhaps Jaffe sold his show a little short, arguing that $600 is a pretty paltry sum in exchange for episode sponsorship. What would have been more revolutionary, according to C.C., is if Apple themselves had offered up an iPhone for free, along with a free two-year contract.

He does not want podcasts to become totally monetized, arguing that if they become a “big money” enterprise it will ruin the point behind new media. I agree with this point; part of the beauty of social media is that it’s run by “nobodies,” ordinary people with a passion who start blogging or podcasting or posting on message boards—the day that big business starts running the show will be bleak indeed.

I also must agree about the content creators being undervalued—the problem, I think, is that the Internet is so jam-packed with utter garbage that those not “in the know” assume that everything else must be as well.

Marketing Over Coffee – July 25, 2007 – Getting the Full SEO Bang for your Post

John Wall and Chris Penn discuss a full gamut of ideas this week, but spend some compelling time on search engine optimization, urging marketers to work their niche—find the bloggers that are already interested in your company (or event, or organization, etc), and strike up relationships with them.

Niches are an important aspect to social media marketing, in Chip Griffin’s New Media Cocktail e-book, he points out that finding a specific niche that even a small group of people are passionate about is a great way to raise your profile. John mentions Clarence, of “Do You Know Clarence?” (the second podcast in a row to promote Clarence’s site, which has officially made my feedreader), who runs a separate blog devoted to comic books. He found a niche and ran with it, and found a higher profile as a result.

Also discussed this week:

• Customer surveys
• Using Yahoo Pipes to filter out Harry Potter spoilers
• Increasing SEO through full posts on feedreaders
• 93 days to Podcamp Boston 2007
• Podcamp Pittsburgh 2

Around the PR Podcast Horn (in alphabetical order):

Across the Sound #84 – July 22, 2007 – Joseph Jaffe continues to discuss his “iPhone for an episode” plan, in which CustomScoop’s Chip Griffin sent the podcaster one of the coveted toys in exchange for ATS episode sponsorship. He also responds to Mack Collier's response to the sponsorship plan, and discusses the terrific Plaid Nation tour, with an audio commentary from Plaid founder Darryl Ohrt.

For Immediate Release #261 – July 26, 2007 – Aside from introducing “FIR Cuts” this week (excised portions of FIR that didn’t make it to the final cut), Shel and Neville discussed their well-deserved nomination for a 2007 podcast award, tech acceptance rates in PR, and much more. A common topic this week, they also touch on Todd And’s decision to move the Power 150 to Advertising Age.

PR Junction Podcast – July 24, 2007 – This week, PR Junction host John Hoel discusses the Australian Innovation Festival with the event’s organizers, Peter Westfield and Tegan Mel. According to the show notes, “During the Australian Innovation Festival, participants showcase and promote these innovative and entrepreneurial abilities through an emphasis on the three pillars of future economic growth – excellence in research, development and commercialization.”

Six Pixels of Separation #61 – July 22, 2007 – Mitch Joel continues the discussion on Facebook, plays listener feedback comments, and discusses his upcoming presentation at a Singapore university on the important of social media to public relations. His weekly “6 Points of Separation” involve advice for commenting on blogs or podcasts.

Trafcom News Podcast #60 – July 22, 2007 – This week, Donna discusses the importance for communicators of learning to read from a script and sound natural. She gives tips on when to pause, relaxation, colloquialisms and other tricks to sound as natural as possible when scripted. Donna also discusses other PR podcasts, posting a list of the most indispensable in her show notes.

Comments

[Donna Papacosta]

Just want to say how much I enjoy reading the PR PodJots. I already listen to the vast majority of these PR podcasts, but sometimes you alert me to something I've missed. Thanks!

[Jon Hoel]

Guys,

Great service you are providing, and thanks for the shout out. I think what you are doing, along with Chip Griffins tips on FIR will eventually be written up as textbook social media engagement.

Keep up the great work!

[Sarah Wurrey]

Thanks for the support, both of you! I definitely have fun listening to so many podcasts and doing the weekly write-up. Glad to know others appreciate it.