Paul Stallard's Technology PR Agency Blog

Technology PR and marketing blog covering all things relating to PR, AR and social media agency by Paul Stallard.

BBC Blogworld is looking for blogs

Posted by paulstallard on March 9, 2010

BBC Blogworld


I was mucking about on the BBC site the other day and found a section called Blogworld. This section of the site is looking to highlight the best international blogs in multiple languages for a special BBC season about the power of the internet. The team behind it are hoping to update the Blogworld blog regularly with their finds and the public’s recommendations. So if there is a blog that you would like to highlight to them don’t hesitate to visit the site and drop them a line.

To co-incide with this the BBC will be airing short TV and radio slots in English, Arabic and Farsi, talking with some of the bloggers it’s featured. So if you want to participate why not drop them a line or record a webcam piece for them.

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Imitation press releases

Posted by paulstallard on March 9, 2010

Hunter S Thompson


I have been reading a book about the life of Hunter S Thompson over the past few weeks and in it friends of his explain that he would literally type out passages from books by authors that he admired. Why? To feel what it was like to have “written” them.

What a load of rubbish I hear you cry. I disagree.

From a PR perspective it is important to have the ability to write in a number of different styles and audiences. One of my golden rules for anyone writing a press release is to read the number one target for where you would like to place that release and draft the copy in the style of that title.

If you can understand how that publication writes you can produce copy that will be targeted and easily processed by the journalist who receives it. Understanding how a title structures its news stories is something that can only come from understanding the title.

Although I am not saying sit down and copy word for word the whole of the news section from Computing, it is a valid suggestion to imitate the structure of its stories when you draft your announcements if this is a target.

Imitation can often prove to be greatest form of flattery – and a great way to secure coverage in your top target.

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Farnham Twestival

Posted by paulstallard on March 8, 2010

Farnham Castle


On Thursday 25 March 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness.  Twestival (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good.  All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all ticket sales and donations go direct to projects.

Unfortunately I can’t make the festival this year due to prior commitments on the said date but if I were, I would be attending the one in my home town of Farnham. The Farnham Twestival will be taking place at the towns 900 year old castle and is also boasting a keynote speech from TweetMeme’s CEO, Nick Halstead.

There are limited tickets left so if you want to have the opportunity to meet some other great people who use Twitter, visit a castle, listen to Nick from TweetMeme, donate money to a fabulous cause and have a free drink on arrival don’t hesitate to buy your ticket today. My PR agency is donating some raffle prizes for the night and I am sure that the team at The Blue Door, who are helping to organise the event, will have some further treasures on offer.

If you do order a ticket for Farnham Twestival, I would love to hear from you and hopefully we can meet at a future event or Farnham Twitter meet up.

@Paul_Stallard

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Meet the media: Andy Shaw, Web User

Posted by paulstallard on March 4, 2010

Andy Shaw Web User


This week’s meet the media interview is with Andy Shaw from Web User. Andy makes a good point about contacting journalists to arrange meetings with specific times and dates in mind. If you are lucky this can work but on most occations, with the pressures the media are under these days, clients can get more benefit out of meeting the press at a time that fits their schedule.

Name: Andy Shaw
Title I work for: Web User (www.webuser.co.uk), where I’m the Technical & Reviews Editor, looking after hardware and software product reviews, step by step guides and problem solving. I’ve previously worked for Computeractive, PC Advisor and PC Home, and have been working in computer magazines since 1993.

Paul Stallard: What is your pet hate of PR?
Andy Shaw: Pointless phone calls, where the caller sounds like they’re reading a press release before asking if I’d be interested in writing a review – I’d rather read the press release at my leisure. Requests to meet a PR’s client at a specific time on a specific day – I may be free but there are other things pulling on my time. Give me a couple of days and I’ll happily tell you which blocks of time I’m available for. Suggestions of products aimed at businesses – Web User is a consumer magazine (see the ‘read the title’ question below). Oh, and requests for forward features lists – do other magazines do these? I’ve never worked on a magazine that does.

PS: What is the best way to contact you?
AS: Email. I work from home two days a week so the chances of catching me at my phone aren’t great. Plus the phone is an interuption. I stop work to read emails too, but at least I’ve got the option not to.

PS: Do you think that most PR professionals read the title you write for before contacting you?
AS: I’m always pleasantly surprised when I find ones that do – they often really like it! I suspect too many rely on clippings only. I often get business products pitched, which is a waste of everyone’s time.

PS: Have you ever done any PR work and if yes what was the experience like?
AS: No, I don’t think it’s for me.

PS: How many emails / calls do you get a day?
AS: I don’t count them. Lots of emails and a smattering of calls.

PS: How has the increase of social media affected traditional journalism?
AS: I think there’s a long way to go with it. Do I want news headlines and marketing nonsense mixed up amongst updates about what my friends had for tea? Not really.

PS: Have you had to change your writing style for online copy to incorporate SEO?
AS: Sure, print and online are different. Magazine buyers are approaching material from a different angle. You have to cater for that. It’s not just about the SEO, though obvsiously that’s incredibly important. But what do people want from a story on the web as opposed to something they read in a magazine? It’s not the same thing, and it’s a tightrope that all print media with websites are walking. Interesting times lie ahead.

PS: Is there a future long term for hard copy publications or will online rule?
AS: Ask the advertisers. I don’t believe print will die but I think its glory days are over.

PS: Are there any PR agencies you have black listed because of bad practices?
AS: No.

PS: Do you believe journalists are rude to PR professionals?
AS: Some are, yes. I think being rude to anyone is abhorrent.

PS: Is being London based an advantage for PR professionals?
AS: I’m sure it is when starting out – more agencies must equal more opportunities. Once you’re established you can make choices. I live outside London now, which is great for almost every reason I can think of. I even love the commute, as it’s the only time I haven’t got either work or family pressures pulling on me. I can pull out a book and lose myself.

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What is Posterous?

Posted by paulstallard on March 3, 2010

Posterous

I have been playing with Posterous over the past couple of days and I have to say I like it. Posterous lets you post anything online really fast simply by using email. It has the look and feel of a blog but you simply get your photo, video, audio file, documents or links and email them to post@posterous.com and the site replies back to you instantly to let you know that the blog has been updated.

I have seen a growing trend for people sharing the links they find on Twitter by posting link after link on their blog inbetween interesting content they have written. I generally feel this feels cluncky and ugly but I understand why people have done it. You have found some cool things online that you want to share with your network, so why not post it.

I think that Posterous fits perfectly in the middle ground. I personally plan to use Posterous as a virtual scrap book for images, videos and any other files that I want to share with people while continuing to use Twitter and wordpress as my blogging platforms of choice.

I read a great post on The Next Web by Martin Bryant which lists some great ideas for ways to use Posterous:

As a blog
Use it to update your existing blog
Use it to post anything almost anywhere
Use it to work as a group in private
Use it as a podcasting platform
Use it as a ‘Web Scrapbook’

This is such an easy platform to use and I think that any marketing manager could find a reason to use it to help promote collateral that the company is putting out into the public domain. What do you think? Is it one more platform that you won’t use or will it replace something else in your online world?

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Is PR becoming public again?

Posted by paulstallard on March 1, 2010

Online PR

There was a great article in last weeks issue of Marketing about online PR. It really struck a cord with me as it discussed how online PR was all about influencing the people who can influence your target journalists. Ten years ago PR agencies almost solely contacted the media to get their message out there to buyers. The world has changed.

At the recent Apple iPad launch Stephen Fry was in attendance because they knew with his different channels he would be able to influence and communicate their messages better than a single journalist. But you don’t have to just target the Stephen Frys of this world to drive sales.

The internet has helped to make PR public again after almost exclusively focusing on the media. PR professionals are starting to wake up to the fact that the web allows direct access to information about their clients and are starting to use it to help promote them.

Blogs, online news releases and forums are allowing communications experts to contact buyers directly. This isn’t only possible with B2C but it can be just as effective with B2B. You just need to know the right channels.

My question to you is are you joining conversations with your customers or prospects? If the answer to this question is no then you may be missing a trick. If this is the case don’t worry you are not alone and you are not too late.

For the vast majority of my clients, coverage is still king but more and more I am trying to show them that it is time to start looking beyond simply generating X amount of press clippings and to begin looking at how they can spend their retainer on directly driving sales. The B2B world has been slow to the party but is starting to realise that it isn’t just digital or consumer brands that can communicate directly with customers – businesses can as well.

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Meet the media: Chris Mellor, The Register

Posted by paulstallard on February 25, 2010

Chris Mellor

After a break of a few months my meet the media series is back with Chris Mellor from The Register, one of my favourite titles. El Reg is one of those titles that you are always delighted to see your client in if you have done your job well. It is not a title that minces its words and with its fantastic daily readership carry a lot of weight so you don’t want to get on the wrong side of these guys.

If you have ever had a storage client then you must know Chris. He  is hugely knowledgeable about the industry and a all round good guy. His top tip is simple and to the point, but far too many in our industry still ignore this: “Know your target publication and target journalist and be aware of events in the industry they cover.”

Name: Chris Mellor
Title I work for: The Register

Paul Stallard: What is your pet hate of PR?
Chris Mellor: Telephone calls about sending me a press release.

PS: What is the best way to contact you?
CM: E-mail.

PS: Do you think that most PR professionals read the title you write for before contacting you?
CM: Most in my computing storage niche where there are relatively few suppliers do. New ones often don’t.

PS: Have you ever done any PR work?
CM: Yes, a few case studies in the past.

PS: What is your top tip for PR professionals?
CM: Know your target publication and target journalist and be aware of events in the industry they cover.

PS: Do you run or can you recommend a PR training course?
CM: I have run one but I’m too busy. No, I can’t recommend one.

PS: How many emails / calls do you get a day?
CM: 75 – 150.

PS: How has the increase of social media affected traditional journalism?
CM: Yes. It has finished its exclusivity for news and also provided more direct access to certain suppliers and analysts.

PS: Have you had to change your writing style for online copy to incorporate SEO?
CM: Indirectly, via sub-editors.

PS: Is there a future long term for hard copy publications or will online rule?
CM: I think there will be a future for both with hard copy providing more unique comment and analysis.

PS: Bar your own, which news titles do you read?
CM: General: The Times. In my IT niche: Search Storage, Techmeme, Google News, CNET News, Storage Newsletter, DigiTimes, Tech-on, Globes Online and others.

PS: What is the worst case of PR you have come across?
CM: Nothing stands out as particularly bad.

PS: Are there any PR agencies you have black listed because of bad practices?
CM: No.

PS: What is your favourite restaurant/coffee house for briefings?
CM: Aldwych One in London.

PS: Do you believe journalists are rude to PR professionals?
CM: Yes, too often, and that includes me, regrettably.

Previous meet the media interviews:

David Baker – Wired UK
Lem Bingley – Incisive Media
Alan Cane – FT

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How many PR professionals comment on a journalist’s blog?

Posted by paulstallard on February 22, 2010

Source: www.mountcope.files.wordpress.com


I have been working on this and other blogs for a couple of years and have always found that a great way to build relationships with other interesting bloggers is to leave a comment on a post. I know from working on this one, I will always click through to a blog that has linked to me and check on them from time to time to look for an opportunity to return the compliment.

One of my favourite past times on a lazy Sunday (before Mae was born and these became a distant memory) was to flick through my blog roll and catch up on what the good and the bad from our industry were up to.

One of the things I always tried to do was find journalists who blog and try and keep track of what they were up to. I know that a lot of journalists don’t particularly like this medium as they see it as giving their craft away for free but a hell of a lot use it effectively.  For example I have seen some excellent tips on how to work with the media or what they believe is bad PR practice. They are also homes to highlight work they have been commissioned to work on ahead of posting on Response Source.

That said there are a variety of journalist blogs that are totally ignored by PR people. I know how personal my blog is to me and I am sure that it is exactly the same with journalists.

What better way is there to understand exactly what interests them (or doesn’t), what they like to write about or who they write for? A blog will give you all of this information and allow you to build a relationship with a journalist ahead of pitching something for your client.

I know that I am more likely to answer an email or a call from a familiar name quicker than a stranger and by commenting on a journalists blog you can start to build this relationship. The relationship should be a two way thing or you risk being named and shamed by those in the media fed up receiving spam mails from faceless PR professionals.

I understand that there are a lot of pressures on our time but I genuinely think that if you have 10 journalists who are important to you, it doesn’t take much effort to read their blogs once a week and provide some comments. By investing this small amount of effort I believe the rewards can be priceless.

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Is it more important for your PR agency to win an award than you?

Posted by paulstallard on February 15, 2010

Source: www.blogs.theage.com.au

It is always nice to receive an award and to have your work recognised. Show me someone who doesn’t like a pat on the back from time to time, and I will show you someone who doesn’t care about their job.

A great many PR agencies list the awards that they have won at the bottom of emails and on their websites. Fair play but more often than not these prestigious awards are three or four years old or from a source I have never heard of.  As a client, I am sure it is reasurring to see that you have chosen an agency that has won this award or that award for its PR campaigns. I personally disagree.

I think it would be more interesting to see the awards that the agency has helped a client win? At Berkeley PR, awards are often a large part of campaigns and some of our clients have actually set targets for being shortlisted and winning awards.

If I was a prospective client I think I would be more interested in hearing about how my PR agency could help me get recognised for my hard work rather than how successful they have been for other companies?

PR should be about working with all other marketing activities to drive sales and if you win an award that helps you win a customer, surely that is more interesting than your PR agency winning an award? As a client you should ask yourself – is it more important to my PR agency to win PR awards than for me to win new customers?

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Reputation online – Jo Jamieson

Posted by paulstallard on February 15, 2010

Following my appearance on PR Week’s video interview my colleague Jo Jamieson took part in a five minute chat on Reputation online where she introduces Berkeley PR and gives some insight into the PR industry. I think she did a great job so wanted to let some more of you see the clip.

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