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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4

See a need, fill a need: Online tools finally coming of age
2008-03-05 06:00:00
See a need, fill a need: It’s a philosophy that is one of the primary themes of Robots (and what inspired Rodney). You could also say it’s the driving force in a free market, and why many businesses are started. While social media is still in its infancy — it’ll have a long life, so many years is still an “infancy” — many who’ve been involved have several years experience. Some of us, even have a couple! However, while the social media populus has been and continues to grow, the tools available to public relations professionals have been lacking, compared to what we’re used to offline. Offline, there’s media tracking services like Luce (okay, BurrellsLuce) and Bacon’s (okay, Cision), as well as newer online and less costly services like Factiva (via the WSJ) and NewsLibrary.com. If you’re tasked with keeping track of clients’/your employer’s media coverage, it’s great knowing you have other p...
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Other great points . . . .
2008-02-28 19:12:00
For your browsing, reading and thinking pleasure, may I direct you to: I’m Done With Social Media, Dave Fleet/davefleet.com The Golden Rule of Media Relations, Kami Huyse, APR/Communications Overtones Demystifying “Above the Fold,” FluidDesign blog The Social Medium is the Message, Marcel LeBrun/Media Philosopher The Press Release Page: A New Approach to an Old Problem, Mike Manuel/MediaGuerrilla And, finally, some co-workers recently started a cigar blog. So, if you are a cigar connoisseur of any kind, check out El Cigarro Maximo. –Mike
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Writing — good writing — is very much lacking
2008-02-27 18:45:00
The basic purpose of any writing/typing is to accurately and succinctly communicate information that is clearly understood by the recipient(s). For some types of writing, maybe being succinct is not as high a focus (such in novel and other writing), and you can have double meanings to play on words. But, the basic premise is to be accurate and understood. Good , quality writing is a skill that is underappreciated and very much lacking across all media. Here’s an example from today on the front page of Yahoo! Taken a glance — which is what we often do on pages: glance or scan — it sounds like that Bobby Brown is not buying cocaine with money, but getting it in exchange for community service. He gives his time to help the community, and gets some drugs in return. Ain’t that nice! Of course, even though we know what it reads, we likely really know what it means. Is it just me being picky? I hope not. Simply, say what you mean and ensure that what you say and ...
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Does social networking bring us together … or ultimately separate us
2008-02-21 05:33:00
I’m not social scientist (though I like to think I play one in my job), but I wonder if there are any studies that show the natural evolution of socialization. And, if that natural evoluation of socialization actually builds up walls rather than bringing the larger community together. Let me explain more of what I think could happen regarding online social networking…. Through blogs, discussion boards, social networks, communities and even virtual worlds, we have opportunities to “meet” and “know” more people than we can via face to face networking. Through my own professional interest, I have way more than 50 blogs in my Bloglines account. Sure, I have other categories for my other, usually personal interests, but none that compare in quantity. Sure, for various work projects and other activities related to work, I explore other topics and niche blogs and communities in social media. But, while they are interesting and I love to learn, if it...
More About: Social , Social Networking , Networking

I have the power — Part II
2008-02-01 06:04:00
Control of branding and “the message” or word-of-mouth talk about a company, product, service, issue, etc., is a common theme in social media. It’s been written about in many books, on many blogs and, heck, even in person I’m sure. And, it came up in a brief back and forth Twitter conversation I had with Geoff Livingston Thursday. Maybe we’re talking about the same thing, but taking a different approach. Maybe it’s just semantics. Or, maybe we disagree. As I’ve said in the past, businesses ultimately have control. Or, at least, the most influence. Let’s start at the beginning: Essentially a company forms when someone sees a need in the marketplace and tries to fill it. (Yes, there are variances, like when a someone makes a product and then tries to find a need, but let’s stick with the basic premise.) Before that company starts, there is no conversation, reputation or perception about it. It didn’t exist. That company marke...
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Green is growing
2008-01-17 19:22:00
Throughout my career (gosh that sounds so old), I’ve regularly worked with building materials suppliers and manufacturers who make products for residential and commercial/architectural building use. So, I know things like SHGC, how passive solar heat gain is a good thing in northern climates, R-values/factors, ENERGY STAR and LEED. I’ve also worked in other industries where products are designed to reduce fuel consumption and/or eliminate unneeded emissions by reducing idling (along with other features/benefits). One thing that has always struck me is that, no matter how much of a warm fuzzy feeling you can invoke by talking about the green benefits of your company, products or services, if it doesn’t have a positive affect on your company’s bottomline, it doesn’t really matter. I pointed that out in a post about Wal-Mart some time ago. In other words, a company is only going to be green, if it can get more green or spend less green to run its business...
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All we do in life is personal…
2007-12-27 18:56:00
especially social media. Today, the Center for Media Research has a must-read report: “Emotional Business Bonding on Social Networks,” based on research from Communispace: “New research from Communispace, supporting the hypothesis that people are looking to fulfill six essential social needs online, and drawing on the Maslow hierarchy of human needs, concludes that businesses that help facilitate those needs are more likely to create deeper emotional bonds than usually exist between companies and customers.” The key point that, while consumers don’t necessarily want a relationship with companies, they do want their needs met. You market by meeting needs. And, in the online world, you need to meet personal, social needs to be successful. You don’t “hook” people. It’s much more subtle. I don’t mean deceptive tactics, but play into human nature. This is an approach I bring up every so often via Twitter (in reply to Chris ...
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Numbers don’t lie . . . or do they?
2007-12-19 04:55:00
Numbers are parodoxical. On one hand, they are black or white. Wrong or right. Inarguable. On the other hand, they can be manipulated to result in a conclusion you desire. But, if you have enough numbers, you are able to see the truth. Or, at least, enough of the situation than just one statistic. A Ford Motor Company ad (”Both coasts have spoken.”) on the back page of the September 2007 issue of Motor Trend caught my eye recently. The ad boasts that, after 400 people test drove the Ford Fusion, Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord, Ford rated higher than its competitors in terms of being “attractive,” “fun to drive,” “performs well” and “handling.” Each time a participant scored the Ford, Toyota or Honda in one of the categories, that car received a point. Okay, comparisons versus competitors is good advertising. Head to head. But, if you look at the numbers, there are other ways to look at the survey. In the “attrative...
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Apple isn’t playing fair; boo-hoo on the PC industry
2007-12-12 05:38:00
Let me give Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq, IBM, Sony and even Microsoft some free advice: Team up, co-op and go after Apple . (While there’s still enough of you left.) It’s eating your lunch and it’ll be the worm that eats into a sizeable amount of your profits, unless you do something about it. International Herald Tribune, Oct. 22, 2007: Driven in part by what analysts call a halo effect from the iPod and the iPhone, the market share of the company’s personal computers is surging. Two research firms that track the computer market said last week that Apple would move into third place in the United States behind Hewlett-Packard and Dell on Monday, when it reports product shipments in the fiscal fourth quarter as part of its earnings announcement. PC World, Dec. 3, 2007: Apple has jumped to 6.81 percent market share of the OS market, according to the latest research from Net Applications. The figures confirm a slowdown in market share in October, which quickly becam...
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In PR We Trust?
2007-12-06 14:22:00
Though it’s a never-ending battle, I try to make things simple. That’s why part of me finds this transparency issue — a fancy way of saying honesty — puzzling. Yes, in public relations, you represent your employer’s/client’s side of an issue or news story. You may not write or talk about every angle, but you do not mislead or lie. You tell one side of a story. Just as you would hear anyone talking about an event he/she witnessed. If you’re doing your job correctly, you put yourself in the mindset of a news reporter to write a news release as a journalist would. Or, close to it. As noted, you may not include all angles, but you’d better be able to honestly, accurately and fairly answer any question that comes afterward. It’s pretty simple. In general, don’t you always expect honesty? If you always doubt what someone tells you, how awful that would be! But, apparently, that’s how people perceive PR professionals. Why el...
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Mob rule?
2007-11-30 04:34:00
What makes social media and related tools great — making it possible for a single voice heard everywhere with just a bit of momentum – is also their greatest opportunity for mob rule. We all can applaud the sleuthing, okay fisking that goes into shedding light on someone that wishes to remain anonymous. But, sometimes, the light being shed comes from the torches of an angry mob. Case in point is the mother and family that played a harmful, deadly prank on a young girl, and is being blamed for pushing her over the edge to hang herself. Legally, the family posing as the “friend” have done nothing wrong. You know, innocent until proven guilty. And, rightfully, traditional, trained, professional media kept the family out of print. But, then, there’s online rule. The St. Charles Journal decided not to identify the neighbor in the absence of criminal charges or a civil complaint — even though her name is in a police report on a related incident. Columni...
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Which is better: paid or unpaid product reviews?
2007-11-24 05:59:00
I don’t have a big problem with services like PayPerPost (mostly because it encourages its bloggers to disclose a PPP post). And, really, if a blogger does paid reviews, it’s part of living in a free market society. For the most part, blogging doesn’t pay (much), and if you can make a buck or three, I can understand the enticement. But, it’s . . . just . . . not . . . right. David Binkowski often enough writes about PayPerPost and his opinions are pretty clear. Sara of Suburban Oblivion, while not giving her opinion, recently asked her readers about paid reviews. (She and others do product reviews, but I saw no indication if they’re paid or not.) It seemed that most of the commenters have no problem with paid reviews. If you’re being paid to review and blog about a product, there always will be a veil of bias hanging over the post. I don’t think I’m being utopian by stating that blog posts are viewed as being honest. Forthright. Upfro...
More About: Reviews , Product , Paid

If you’re not hiding anything, why mind the light?
2007-11-11 06:36:00
Social media, I think more than anything else, is shining a bright light on public relations. And, that’s a good thing. Because, rarely does anything good in business happen in the dark (figuratively speaking, of course). So,  goes the argument, if you’ve got nothing to hide, then you won’t mind answering a few questions for us. Ultimately, good public relations is about achieveing good business results — whether that’s promoting a product, educating the market or pointing out a company’s true good aspects. It seems like advertising doesn’t have any issues regarding if it’s honest or not. That’s because we know it’s advertising and, of course, it’s slanted. But, public relations — media relations, social media, and other activities to influence people — is generally more tactful. Traditionally, more “behind the scenes.” More indirect in reaching consumers. And, it’s more personal. (That&...
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Quotable Quotes: M&Ms
2007-10-12 19:22:00
“If the message is king, then the medium is queen.” -Mike Driehorst (yeah, that’s me!) Inspired by Chris Thilk’s Forrester’s Consumer Forum Twitter. For references and information to related message-medium posts, see here and here. – Mike
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Other great points . . . .
2007-10-11 14:52:00
(UPDATED: 3:30 p.m. Oct. 11, 2007, with another great point, added at the top.) For your amusement and awareness (in no particular order), I offer: Amanda’s Backstory Reveals Ugly Character: Did you Know?, infOpinions/Robert French What can happen when you push the PR pitch too far, Corporate Engagement/Trevor Cook (courtesy of Paull Young via Twitter) Global PR Blog Week 3.0 needs your ideas, PR meets the WWW/Constantin Basturea To respond or not to respond, Airfoil Public Relations/Tonja Deegan Flickr Famous, BlogWorks/Laurie Mayers On the American Cult of Individuality, History Mike/Michael Brooks Signal to Noise, Occam’s RazR/Ike Pigott
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Is the medium or the message the more trusted?
2007-10-05 06:46:00
I guess it depends. Earlier this week, MarketingVox reported that BrandWeek reported that mobile and banner ads were the least trusted sources of media. Here’s a rundown: Newspaper ads: 63% of media consumers surveyed said they trusted newspapers ads. TV ads: 56% Search ads: 34% Banner ads: 26% Mobile ads: 18% Sites focusing on one brand, built by brand marketers: 60%. (Also called microsites. See my previous post.) Contrast those trust percentages for ads with blogs: Consumer-created blogs were trusted by 61 percent of global respondents, a figure that shot up to 66 percent for US-only respondents. That, combined with the 78 percent who trust word-of-mouth recommendations, suggests people put far more stock in the opinions of other “real” people. So, for advertising, is it a person’s level of comfort and familiarity with the medium that impacts trust? Why are newspaper ads more trusted than banner ads? And, funny how, even if a person is familiar with a co...
More About: Message , Medium , The Message , Mess

It’s a micro, micro, micro world
2007-10-02 05:55:00
While mainstream media (and the media relations/PR pursusing them) and mass-marketing tactics like advertising (offline and online) will always have their place, the future is definitely small. As in small, targeted, niche-focused marketing. Micro marketing. Okay, that may not be an “ah-ha” moment, but it is something to think about. It’s easy to see micro marketing in social media. The blogosphere is pretty much nothing but a bunch of niche, topic-, cause- and geography-focused bloggers. The same is true for discussion boards. But, there are other areas to view small marketing. Website development. Microsites are growing for campaigns, product launches and just product emphasis. Bill Hanekamp, CEO of The Well has touted microsites, particuarly through WOMMA. (And, my employer has and continues to develop client microsites, as it’s determined that, that’s the best strategy.) And, when you think of it, good media relations and public relations is about ...
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Other great points . . .
2007-09-27 14:58:00
While I am still alive and kicking, blogging has (unfortunately for me) taken a third-row backseat to life’s other activities. As noted before, I tend to find blogging (or just writing in general) therapeutic and a good way to crystalize things (See bottom of post for reference.). While there are a lot of great issues and other bloggers’ posts to write about, I try not to be one to whip out a post without much thought into it. (I’ve been lazy before, and got burned.) But, I have come across several great posts and other tidbits (a.k.a. points, hence the headline) and I offer them up now to you for your digestion: Will we never learn?, a shel of my former self/Shel Holtz PR-Squared’s ‘Social Media Tactics’ Series…Edgework with Social Bookmarking, PR Squared/Todd Defren Social Media Bandwagoning, Media Guerrilla/Mike Manuel Are skateboarders more savvy than social media experts?, Canuckflack/Colin McKay Blogger Relations: Good Intentions, Ba...
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There’s no fooling the ‘net generation
2007-09-12 19:11:00
That is right. The Internet Generation is savvy when it comes to all things Internet. A classic example occurred when my oldest son had a Harry Potter birthday party last month. Among the “potions” my wife concocted for my son and his friends to make or see, was “leech juice and frog eyes.” As you can tell from the audio, there was no fooling these fourth graders. They knew it was Diet Coke and Mentos. Fortunately (for my own aging ego), I still know more about the Internet and computers than my children (ages 9, 6, 4 and a new born). But, I wonder when they’ll surpass me? Probably soon. – Mike

Dehumanizing our work
2007-08-07 18:28:00
As we get wrapped up in our work, setting — and meeting/exceeding — goals (hits, placements, coverage, etc.), it’s easy to loose sight of what we are really doing. We can get too wrapped up in numbers. Driving traffic to Websites. Getting online and offline “hits” for product or company coverage. Click through rates. Unless you are making a “pitch” in face to face, it’s easy to become separated from your audience sitting in front of a computer or even on the telephone phone. Just type, click and distribute. A post by CityMamma/Stefania Pomponi Butler about a BlogHer session reminded me of the importance of knowing who we are dealing with in our work: People. “In the “State of the Momosphere” session on day 1 of Blogher07, I listened as not one, but two PR guys stood up to tell us mothers how proud they were of their strategy to ‘hook’ moms into trying their products by pretending to read our blogs (so we&r...
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Product review: Flip Video really is an ‘everyday camcorder’
2007-07-03 20:19:00
(NOTE: While I’m trying to get the imbedded video below to work, if you want to see my 21-sec demo of Flip Video , see here on YouTube.) And, there’s nothing wrong with that, unless you’re expecting more. The good points: It is easy to use. On-off, play, record and delete buttons. You can zoom in and out somewhat, and adjust the volume. Anyone can use it. In fact, my nearly 9- and 6 1/2-year-old sons each have made their own video. And, the quality is the same as what I’ve done. The audio picks up a lot. If anything, it is too sensitive (even the clicks as you zoom), but count it as a plus. The software that comes with it, pops right up when you connect it to your computer. Easy to edit, and upload to YouTube. Can also upload to Grouper, but I’ve not done it yet. You can also snap scenes and use as still images. So, it eliminates the needs for a camcorder and a camera at the same event. The really down side is the lack of an image stabilizer. As your ...
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Quotable Quotes: Why social media
2007-06-28 17:39:00
“Folks, you use social media to connect with people not to market to them.” – Josh Hallet (a/k/a Hyku) via Twitter While, ultimately, marketing is the objective for companies’ involvement in social media, you don’t “market to” people via social media. You engage them, involve them, inform them, help them. – Mike
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Should we design for our audiences?
2007-06-27 18:41:00
In media relations, social media and similar communications efforts — where you’re often communicating with one person, one at a time — personalization is best. Know who you’re communicating with, and craft the communication to that person’s preferences (while still being honest, sincere, etc.). But, in the bigger picture of website design and even larger of corporate identity, should we cater to our primary audience? According to an eMarketer story today, women use websites more so than other sources when researching products: “Over half of US female Internet users ages 25 and older say the Internet is their main research source for checking out potential product purchases, according to Burst Media’s “Online Insight” report, published June 2007. The Internet was named far more often than other methods. Around 10% or fewer of respondents said they got their information from “asking family and friends,” newspapers and ...
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Why does size matter?
2007-06-22 15:20:00
While we all are interested in “who’s the biggest,” size does not necessarily equate to quality. (Heh, I sound a bit like SWBU, but look much different.) Guess I’m puzzled why this is such a big deal: Aegis, WPP Dominate Digital Agency Ranks, Account For Half The Industry. Size can be important (or, impotent for some I suppose), but it’s the quality and rating of the work that really sizes up a firm. So, for those companies seeking an online marketing partner, don’t be fooled by the size of the package. It truly is what is inside that counts. – Mike Now, I could use this opportunity to tout my employer, but I won’t.
More About: Matter

Dear Google: Just give me the best results for my terms; I’ll decide
2007-06-15 06:14:00
Let me preface with what (I hope) you’re going to read by saying that, Googl e can operate its business however it wishes. Let the market decide if it’s good or not. And, for the most part, the market has said Google’s actions are good. Let me also state that its effort to prevent companies from buying page rank is not so good to some degree. “We work hard to return the most relevant results for every search we conduct. To that end, we encourage site managers to make their content straightforward and easily understood by users and search engines alike. Unfortunately, not all websites have users’ best interests at heart. Some site owners attempt to ‘buy PageRank™’ in the form of paid links to their sites. Buying links to improve PageRank violates our quality guidelines.” Yes, ranking high in Google search results is important for businesses. All businesses, I’d dare say. But, there are other reasons for “paid links” l...
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Consumers are not stupid
2007-06-11 19:07:00
Whenever you “try to pull a fast one” over someone, you run a huge risk of ruining that relationship. That is, if you get caught. And, sooner or later, you’ll get caught. You’ll pay a huge price by losing that person’s trust. Word of your deceitful deed will also likely spread so that you lose the trust of the previous fools you’ve fooled and have no credibility going forward. Monday morning, MediaPost had research from a great study that showed which products benefit the most from product placement, and which demographics are most influenced. It’s a short article, with informative charts and such focused on product placement. But, the kicker that we all should pay attention to came at the end: Gary Drenik, President & CEO of BIGresearch, said “Advertisers… are attempting to get their brand message out in non-traditional ways. However, today’s consumer knows when they are being manipulated and product placements must b...
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If you visited MikesPoints with IE6 recently, scan your computer
2007-06-11 04:03:00
I found out late last week that there was some security concerns with my blog host and an FTP account was accessed. There were a bunch of sick, perverse zoo sex links hidden at the botttom of one or more of my pages. Those links have been removed, and other steps have taken place so that it (hopefully) won’t happen again. I’m told that, if you read my blog with Internet Explorer 6 or earlier, a script may have infected your computer with a trojan or other type of virus. So, PLEASE SCAN YOUR COMPUTER. If by chance you don’t have an anti-virus program on your computer (and you should!), McAfee does offer a FreeScan . I’m sorry if this caused any convenience or other trouble. – Mike
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The downside of relationships
2007-06-08 04:24:00
This social media stuff is all about getting personal. Becoming familiar with and sincerely, honestly engaging people on a grass-roots level who are customers, potential customers or key influencers of one of the first two groups of people mentioned. And, hoping, through how you treat and involve them, that they’ll spread the word to others about you, your product, service or cause. On the corporate blogging side, it’s also the personalization of corporations and asssociations. Putting a personality and a name (or names) to a corporation. Think of Bob Lutz with GM. Think of the Randy Baessler of Boeing. (Yes, I know GM has expanded the FastLane blog to include others more than Mr. Lutz, but no one else seems to get the response he does. And, I know there’s a new Randy at Boeing.) But, what happens when the person behind the personalization moves on (fired, resigns or retires)? And, what about the individual blogs? In the PR world, it’s well known that Steve ...
More About: Relationships , Ship , Relation , The D

Remembering Memorial Day
2007-05-25 19:38:00
While we’re enjoying the upcoming three-day weekend, and the official (says who?) start of summer, let’s not forget why there is a Memo rial Day and how it started: “Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. . . . While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860’s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about rec...
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Going against the grain: A genuine interest in others is a necessity in soc
2007-05-24 04:54:00
I think it’s safe to say that public relations, advertising and related communication professionals are generally not well trusted. Afterall, aren’t we paid — by clients and/or our employer — to market particular messages that are ultimately intended to sell something? We’re biased. We have “hidden agendas.” And, when involved in social media marketing, I guess that’s still true. We do have an agenda. But, if your audience knows about your agenda — at least who you represent — then it’s a more open conversation in which we can engage our audience. We’re not hiding anything, but rather letting the audience come to their own, respective conclusions and actions, based on information we provide and questions we pose. And, there’s the rub — and where traditional PR activities and approaches won’t work. We’re not dealing with journalists who naturally have a healthy dose of skepticsm, or client...
More About: Genuine , Interest , Rest , Hers , Grain