Meet the media – David Baker, WIRED UK

WIRED UK

Back in April of this year WIRED UK launched. The magazine has become synonymous with informed and intelligent analysis in the US so quite rightly was met with a flurry of excitement when it crossed the pond to our shores. So much so that it won the BSME Launch of the Year award on Tuesday night. Congrats to all involved.

As a result I was delighted when David Baker, managing editor for WIRED UK ,agreed to take part in one of my Meet the Media interviews. He makes a very key point about knowing the magazine and in particular the ability to refer to which section you are pitching for. If freelancers have to do this when looking for work then there simply is no excuse why PR professionals can’t.

Enjoy.

Name: David Baker
Title I work for: Managing editor of WIRED

Paul Stallard: What is your pet hate of PR?
David Baker: Being phoned up to see if I have received an email. If I’m interested I am going to respond. Also, not asking if I am on deadline. I often am and will happily talk at another time.

PS: What is the best way to contact you?
DB: Email to our general PR address. All the editors see that.

PS: Do you think that most PR professionals read the titles you write for before contacting you?
DB: Hard to say. It would be handy if they did and could name the section of the title their story would be good for. We expect that of journalists pitching stories.

PS: Have you ever done any PR work and if yes what was the experience like?
DB: Yes, in the 1980s. Dispiriting. Most of it was creating stories out of nothing when the client should really be buying advertising.

PS: What is your top tip for PR professionals?
DB: Be able to summarise the story in eight words or less. This is often called the “top line” in newspapers, eg. “A new app, XXX, will be the death of Apple’s iPhone”

PS: Do you run or can you recommend a PR training course?
DB: No.

PS: How many emails / calls do you get a day?
DB: From PRs: about 50 emails, very few calls. In total about 100 emails, 20 calls.

PS: How has the increase of social media affected traditional journalism?
DB: With Twitter we can see what our readers think of a new issue as soon as it hits the street. In the past it was hard to get that feedback.

PS: Have you had to change your writing style for online copy to incorporate SEO?
DB: What’s SEO?

PS: Is there a future long term for hard copy publications or will online rule?
DB: Definitely a future for print. A well produced magazine is an artefact as well as a collection of information and opinion. Plus you can read it in the bath.

PS: Bar your own, which news titles do you read?
DB: Guardian, Economist.

PS: What is your favourite restaurant/coffee house for briefings?
DB: None particular.

PS: Do you believe journalists are rude to PR professionals?
DB: Yes and they shouldn’t be. (Though see deadlines above).

Letter in The Times

Following a story this week in The Times by Sathnam Sanghera about why businesses shouldn’t use Twitter I decided to dust the old pen off and compose a letter in response. Sathnam made some very valid points but I felt he had been slightly short sighted in his analysis of the situation. Someone else must have liked my argument at The Times, as yesterday my response appeared in the hard copy of the paper.

I’m a firm believer that you have to prove to people you can do something yourself before they will buy into you providing them a similar service. Would you pay a company that doesn’t blog to provide you advice on how to manage this communication channel? The same goes for rapid response campaigns. We have countless examples at Berkeley PR of running rapid response campaigns for our clients which work on the same principals used to secure coverage such as the above letter in The Times.

 

Will the media’s paid-for-model work?

But will anyone pay for it?

I was interested to see NMA has announced that it will be joining Rupert Murdock, the FT and Emap by experimenting with paid-for models online. In a statement on its site it announced that online access to all magazine content apart from opinion will be paid for only:

“Like all other publishers, we’re experimenting with paid-for models online,” said editor Justin Pearse. “While previously lead stories from the magazine were accessible for free, we’re confident this content, together with the analysis our site provides to the industry, is worth paying for.”

I hope Justin is right and I am sure it is not a decision that the team there have entered into lightly. My biggest concern is when I consider how I consume my information online. More often than not I won’t pay for content as it is quite likely it will also appear somewhere else for free – how will they guarantee that the information they are charging for can only be seen on their site? I also generally feel quite negative towards sites that ask me constantly to login to consume information and will avoid them if possible.

The publication has also said that it will not be charging for news until it is seven days old (who wants to read it then?) and some columns and opinion will remain free which leads me to ask….what would I be paying for?

I understand that we are in a recession and that for magazines to survive they can’t keep giving content away but I am not certain of how such a subscription system will work. Readers of magazines like to read their favourite columnists such as Will or Alex at NMA, but how many NEED to? (sorry chaps). Also, on a slightly different note, one of the key successes of Twitter is the ability to share content. As Alan Burkitt-Gray of GTB said when I interviewed him: “Twitter links that I post are the second biggest producer of visits to the Global Telecoms Business site”. Paying for content prohibits the distribution of content so will they inadvertently reduce the traffic to their website?

I think another valuable point to consider is the FT. I would argue that people pay the subscription for the FT because it publishes financial information valuable to its readers, that can’t be found elsewhere for free, and not because of the editorial. It is also interesting to note that as NMA reported just a few weeks ago, FT subscribers had risen but it still saw revenues fall by 14 per cent year on year over the first nine months of 2009.

My biggest concern for publications that are moving to a subscriber model for online content is - will the amount of traffic you will undoubtedly lose be worth the revenues you generate from charging for content? By limiting the ability for users to share your most interesting articles are you closing the door to new readers?

I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t know what the answer is but I will be watching how this situation unfolds with great interest over the coming months as I am sure it will ultimately affect everyone in the media and PR industries.

Social media ROI

While catching up on my reading after a month out of the loop playing happy families I came across a link on Brendan Cooper’s blog to a piece on Mashable about ROI with social media. An excellent read and Christina Warren the author has hit the nail on the head in my eyes. As she points out at the start according to a survey they ran 84 per cent of social media programs don’t measure ROI and companies don’t know where to start.

All too often you hear people talk about social media tools as a time waster or a client has heard Stephen Fry talk about Twitter and wants to know how they can use it. Christina’s article has been designed to outline how users of social media can determine ROI.

In the meantime, Oliver Blanchard’s Social Media ROI Presentation above which also came from the same piece is well worth flicking through. It is a little long but good use of comedy pictures help give an introduction as to why ROI with social media is essential.

Meet the media – Michael Brook, editor of T3

Michael Brook, T3

After a short break, my meet the media series returns with a bang. This week my interview is with editor of T3 Magazine and lover of the Wimpy, Michael Brook. I was interested to see his point about bad PR. This is a great point and one a number of marketing managers should take note of. Just because you pay for an advert doesn’t mean you will get a top review of your product in the publication. 

Enjoy.

Name: Michael Brook
Title I work for: T3 Magazine

Paul Stallard: What is the best way to contact you?
Michael Brook: Email is always the best way – I’m away from my desk and in meeting such a huge amount of the time that it’s almost impossible to get me on the phone, which I know frustrates PRs. My Blackberry, however, is my constant companion…

PS: Do you think that most PR professionals read the titles you write for before contacting you?
MB: I think the vast majority do, particularly the ones in core areas of tech. It’s the calls that go, ‘can I speak to the gadgets and technology editor please?’ that wind me up!

PS: What is your top tip for PR professionals?
MB: This is a no-brainer, but worth mentioning because it goes the same for freelancers. There’s not substitute for face-to-face contact or at the very least a phone call rather than an email. Email a journalist 20 times and you might get 5 responses, but take a journalist out for a fancy lunch with booze thrown in and you’ve made a friend for life! The other one is know your title. Journalists are always looking for the path of least resistance, so come to them with an idea for your product that writes/shoots itself, or fits as an editorial-led, impartial piece and they’ll chew you arm off. Write it for them as well and you’re in business…

PS: How many emails / calls do you get a day?
MB: Calls – anything between 10 and 20 and it’d be more if was actually anywhere near my phone for most of the day. Emails? Probably around 150-200.

PS: Is there a future long term for hard copy publications or will online rule?
MB: Definitely. There are things that print can do that online just can’t. Not one’s really nailed how to run a proper ‘big read’ feature online. The web is great for news snippets but features will never work on a computer screen as well as they do in print and advertisers will always pay a premium to sit next to beautiful photography.

PS: What is the worst case of PR you have come across?
MB: You often find that US companies are the worst. Pulling advertising because of bad reviews and threatening to never deal with you again/never send you product. A lot of them expect that if they advertise with you, editorial will just roll over, but that’s not the way we work at T3.

PS: What is your favourite restaurant/coffee house for briefings?
MB: I’m desperate for someone to take me to a Wimpy for a briefing but no one has obliged so far. I’m not even sure there is one near Baker Street, although I’ll find out if someone’s up for taking me to one!

PS: Do you believe journalists are rude to PR professionals?
MB: I think a lot of them are. Plenty of journalists don’t understand the two-way nature of PR and use them as whipping boys/girls. I’ve never been in a situation that couldn’t be dealt with better via a polite conversation outlining your position, instead of shouting and slamming phones. Suggestion is a very powerful thing and you don’t want to make too many PR enemies in this business.

Viral video – Editors hack Google Maps

Having just bought the new album after falling in love with the song Papillon I was quite impressed with this viral where they hack Google Maps to co-incide with the album launch. Neat idea.

Thanks from the Stallard family

Mae Stallard

Just a quick note to thank all of the people who sent cards, gifts, messages and emails of congratulation to Amanda and I. You will never know how much they were all appreciated. After a couple of weeks being cared for by the amasing staff at the special care unit for babies at Frimley Park (my charity of choice) Mae is home and doing fantastically well.

Also a massive thanks to all at Berkeley PR for their wonderful support and for ensuring that the clients barely knew I was away.

You are all stars

I’m a Dad!

Mae Stallard

I will be going off line for a while while I spend some valuable time with my wonderful wife Amanda and our amazing and beautiful little daughter Mae who was born on Friday. As a result I won’t be posting much here but will be checking in from time to time on Twitter.

Just off for another (proud) cry.

Skaters play human Tetris

I have never been much of a gamer having never really got past playing Sonic and Tetris but I love this beautiful viral video which I found on the Wired UK blog. A neat viral advert from the people at Freebord Skateboards and I love it.

Social PR Forum: Christian J. Schultz, Mattel

Source: Christian J. Schultz

The next interview in my series with speakers at the Social PR Forum event taking place at RIBA, London in December this year is with Christian J. Schultz, head of communication at Mattel CNEURS-SEE. See you at the show.

Paul Stallard: Why has social networking and other social media meant PR strategies need to change?
Christian Schultz: Social networks and social media haven’t caused PR strategies to change but it has meant that the execution of our PR strategies has changed. PR is a field in which we must constantly evolve and align our way of communicating to our stakeholders. E.g. if our stakeholders communicate through social media, then we must communicate through similar channels.

PS: What is your top tip for using social networks with brand PR?
CS: Be where your stakeholders are, not where you think they are.

PS: How do you keep your social media program accountable in terms of time and keeping the balance?
CS: Set up measurable targets and specific goals before beginning any social media program. Once the program is up and running, then you need to track it regularly and review it once complete. Always bring what you learnt with you to your next program.

PS: Online PR – is it adapt or die?
CS: Online PR is here to stay, no doubt about it. But again, it is your stakeholders that at the end of the day decides how engaged you need to be with your online PR.

PS: How important is understanding SEO to modern PR professionals?
CS: Understanding SEO and knowing how to maximize your presence and opportunities online is absolutely necessary as we all scramble for stakeholder awareness. With users online increasing by the minute, the optimization of online information availability is a challenge but also a fantastic opportunity to stand out from the rest.