Native Edge

Time to move on

2008-10-21T10:52:00.002+02:00

Two years ago I found myself drifitng towards the end of a job contract without any real idea of where to go next. I'd just done eight years in corporate PR and was coming to the end of a brief acquaintance with a global agency. Not wanting to return to corprate PR again I formed my own PR company, with the idea of specialising in international PR for Danish companies.

Since January 2007, I have learned a hugh amount: about myself and about the PR/communications business. I've worked with some of Denmark's biggest companies and some of the smallest and newest. I've launched products, written articles and press releases, developed media lists, talked to journalists all over the globe and found my way back into blogging and social media after a six-year break.

But from the end of the year I'm closing the company and moving on. My new job, which I have already started, is as a copywriter and strategist for Eye for Image, Denmark's leading English copywriting bureau. Why the change? Well, for starters, I've found myself doing less and less PR and more copywriting work for my clients. Public Relations is still underdeveloped in Denmark and is still focused on the traditional communication 'products' such as press releases, brochures and web sites. Even more so in the international arena.

So I have taken the consequences of my experience and teamed up with Eye for Image. I've known the guys at Eye for Image for about three - four years, first as a client, then they were kind enough to help me get my PR business up and running, generously giving their help to get me over the first hurdles as a business owner.

If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly
For the past 18 months I've been the lodger in the Eye for Image offices and have had the opportunity to observe the team and the way they work at first hand. They are not only suberbly professional, but a great bunch to work alongside. So when I was offered a job, there was little doubt in my mind that I'd like to join. Running a business is a fascinating, frustrating thing to do, but I have discovered that on balance I prefer to concentrate on doing the best job I can for clients rather than worrying about tax returns.

And if you're going to work for someone else, it might as well be the best.

Over the next three months, I'm going to be winding down Native Edge working on Eye for Image clients alongside my own. So, I'd like to give a public thanks for all the people who have helped me over the past two years and to the clients who have trusted me - and here's to the future.

Andrew

Quickbooks haters of the world unite

2008-08-19T10:00:00.001+02:00

Less Accounting - a web based accounting package for small business owners who aren't accountants - has developed a novel use for Twitter by creating the site We All Hate Quickbooks, Do You? - What Twitter Users Are Saying. The site pulls in all Twitter posts - good and bad - and displays them. Simple. Then it leaves it up to you to decide whether Quickbooks is good or bad.

Thanks to Russell for the link.

Harold Evans: 'These grand designs must have stories to back them up'

2008-07-21T08:53:00.001+02:00

An interview with one of the greatest journalists ever about the importance of good content. If you want to write well in any media you should get a copy of 'Newsman's English'.

Harold Evans: 'These grand designs must have stories to back them up' - Media, News - The Independent

Newspaper SEO to earn money

2008-06-13T09:36:00.001+02:00

A good article by Joost de Valk that adds another angle to the new business model for newspapers - how many actually optimise their site and content to increase the number of visitors? That can reap benefits in advertising (why hasn't that already started to replace classifieds?) and paid for views of archive material for researchers.

Newspaper SEO

Why aren't publishers counting clicks?

2008-06-06T14:51:00.001+02:00

I had a nice surprise yesterday that made me realise there are publications that are beginning to see the opportunities in web-based media. In my inbox was a monthly report from Building Talk (part of the Pro-Talk network)giving me the statistics for a press release they published for a client in March. It told me which of my press releases had had the most views and how many views. It also told how many visitors had clicked on the link to visit my clients web site.

It also reminded me that a few months ago I had received a confirmation email from a journalist telling me that he had used the story and here was a link to it on the web.

The fact that these two happenings are pretty remarkable indicates how poor journalists are at dialogue - especially with PR people. (remember the PR blacklisting stories of recent weeks).

Now, as we keep being reminded that advertising revenues are falling, perhaps we could use some of the above to start developing a more workable business model for the publishing industry.

As well as monetising content, how about monetising information about content? There is lots of valuable metadata slopping around publishers, but no-one wants to use it. It was only this week that a vice-president of AP told the World Editors Forum in Gothenburg that metadata should be standard in digital publishing.

As a PR person I have to pay a lot of money to get that information second-hand from companies like Cision. Why aren't the newspapers and other publications gathering together to pool and sell the information they have? Right now if I get a story in the digital edition of Børsen or Berlingske Tidende, the most I can do is send a screendump to a customer and hope for a pat on the back.

For US-based web sites I can run them through Quantcast to see how many visitors a site gets and what demographic they belong to. But still nothing at the story level.

Think how much better it would be if I could have a report showing how many views a story had and where they went afterwards like I get from Building Talk.

Perhaps that's a job for all the ad reps who aren't selling ads?

All copy should be born with metatags that can guide it through its journey to the consumer. Not just to make that journey easier, but to help create a stream of revenue for that content. Think what it could reveal to companies about their potential customers, interests, habits, etc.

Right now publishers are throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Journalism.co.uk :: WAN 08: AP calls for metadata as standard in US newspaper's digital content

2008-06-03T16:02:00.001+02:00

Shock horror! Stop the presses and hold the front page; journalism moves into the 20th century.

Metadata should be a standard feature of digital news content in the US, a vice president of the Associated Press (AP) told an industry conference today.
The use of metadata, which involves invisible tagging of content with the names of people and places featured in an article, as standard would better serve the audience in their search for news, Jim Kennedy, vice president and director of strategic planning for AP, told the World Editors Forum

Er, yes. Of course, financial news wires have been tagging their content for at least 10 years but in plain text rather than html or xml. Perhaps we should see some progress towards decent rich media sites.

Journalism.co.uk :: WAN 08: AP calls for metadata as standard in US newspaper's digital content

The new social order: Trends and opportunities in social software

2008-06-02T16:41:00.002+02:00

Interesting figures for corporate useage of social software

The new social order: Trends and opportunities in social software - 30 May 2008

The alternative to PR 'spam'

2008-05-13T13:53:00.001+02:00

There's been lots of chat over this long weekend about PR people "spamming" bloggers and journalists with press releases. The kick-off to this was the decision by Gina Trapani of Lifehacker.com to blacklist PR companies because they sent press releases to her personal email, rather than to a specific address at Lifehacker.com Gina has chosen to blacklist whole domains (i.e. stopping emails from the entire company) rather than individuals as Chris Anderson, editor of Wired did.

I panicked when I saw this because only a day or two before I had sent a story pitch to Lifehacker on behalf of a client. I checked the blacklist and I wasn't on it; going back to my email client I could see that luckily I had sent it to the 'right' address.

However, if I had the option, I would have sent it to Gina Trapani on the basis that if it wasn't right for her she would send it on to the other journalists. I did this on the assumption that that's what an editor does.

On the whole, I can appreciate her frustration and to some extent her reaction. But the incident underlines that the rules are changing for both sides. Bloggers, journalists and blogger-journalists also have a duty to make it clear what they will and will not accept and how they will accept it.

I have more or less dropped buying in mailing lists from the usual suspects. That means I have to do a lot of research to hand-pick the right journalists and their publications. Generally that means ringing up beforehand to ask if they want to be part of a mailing list. It is hard and time-consuming work and I don't charge anything more than a flat rate for it because I see it as an investment in my business and my clients' business.

That experience has made me realise how poor most magazine and newspaper web sites are in dealing with their own relations. Few give a clear idea who edits the publication, what they are looking for, their deadlines, upcoming features etc. (Mind you, if I want advertising I have to beat them off with a shitty stick...). No wonder that PR people use mailing lists from Cision and PRNewswire.

On a wiki page Gina gives detailed instructions on how to set up a filter to stop unsolicited emails from PR companies. Perhaps her time would have been better spent setting up an automated response telling PR companies that they should really be sending their releases to the other email address and giving more detailed information on the web page.

The biter gets bit

2008-05-09T12:20:00.001+02:00

You can guarantee that just when you start feeling particularly clever about something it'll turn round and bite you where you sit down. It just happened to me.

I've written a couple of posts recently about the need to change and adapt to the new conditions in PR and journalism. Of course, I was talking about everyone else's need to change. Me? I was fine with all the paradigm shifting going on.

Then a potential client with a brilliant product tripped me up. He asked me if I was willing to be paid by results. Well, I didn't quite fall off my chair. I had just started the "oh no, this is PR we can't guarantee anything, it is very hard to measure you know..." speech, when I began to feel a set of teeth in my back end. The biter was getting bit.

I've talked about payments by results and had just a touch of schadenfreude when ad agencies have been 'persuaded' by procurement departments of large companies. I've never really thought about how it might work in practice, though.

But I'm going to now. Not because I'm desperate for the work, but because the thought of payment by results appeals to me in this case. It fits the client and the industry and it fits the times.

I've already started scribbling and come up with a few models, but if you've got any more ideas I'd love to hear them...

Who's afraid of the big, bad PR wolf?

2008-04-30T09:10:00.001+02:00

The double-page spread in today's media supplement in the Danish business daily Børsen about the defection of journalists to PR in the country will nourish a feeding frenzy of media academics from years to come. What messages, what metaphors - what a load of rubbish.

Slap bang in the middle of the page is an illustration showing big business (yes he's smoking a cigar, yawn) ringed by faceless PR people in suits to keep away the poor, bemused journalist (yes, he's got a press pass in his hat bad).

And the headlines: "Media loses ground to PR", "Press departments threaten balance of power", "Course leader: We will not teach PR".

And all this comes on top of an excellent post by former FT journalist turned blogger Tom Foremski, MediaWatch: Why Some Journalists Won't Transition To The New Journalism who references an excellent article by Amy Graham at www.poynter.org called Journalism: A Toxic Culture? (Or: Why Aren't We Having More Fun?)

Both the posts are about the inability of journalists to adapt to the new culture of internet-based media because of their unwillingness to accept change. One of the six reasons given by Graham and commented on by Foremski is:

Priesthood syndrome: Traditional journalists are the sole source of news that can and should be trusted -- which gives them a privileged and sacred role that society is ethically obligated to support.

Now let's look at that Børsen story again in the light of the fading light of the priesthood of journalism and the growing legions of faceless PR people.

Well, as Gruppenführer in a PR company (actually,that's not my real title, but if we succeed in crushing journalism forever, who knows?) I think that the Børsen article is one-sided and under-researched.

That the demand for communications people is growing in Denmark is not in doubt, but the article fails to look at some key facts such as:

Compared with other western, liberal economies, Denmark has a conservative business culture and has been way behind in their use of PR and communications people. The explosion of media outlets and the growing aggressiveness of primarily news journalists has meant they are playing catch-up.
The article doesn't say how many of the newly appointed communication people are internal or external. Denmark excels in internal communication that is inclusive and comprehensive; the faceless PR people are in fact concerned and committed colleagues who have been known to walk rather than communicate badly.
PR people on a global scale are also being challenged by the reduction in the number of journalists. We actually like journalists because they are the people we send our stories to.
The whole traditional media model is breaking down and that will effect all aspects of the business. PR people are also struggling to embrace new PR or PR 2.0 or web PR, call it what you will.

I started in this business as a journalist on a local paper more than 20 years ago and that has always informed my work in internal communications and PR. The "us and them" model doesn't work anymore. In the networking society where PR people and journalists live side by side on a LinkedIn profile, we are just kidding ourselves if we think it does.

Make Marketing History: The Top 5 Made-Up Words Of Web 2.0.

2008-04-15T22:42:00.001+02:00

I've just come across John Dodd's fine blog Make Marketing History, which has some extremely straightforward and sensible comments on social media and the like. Starting with:

Conversation
It's a metaphor folks. It doesn't mean that your customers want a conversation with you. They generally want a quiet life without unwanted noise from you. They want the ability to interact with you on their terms, they want you to listen and, most crucially, they now have the ability to have a conversation about you when you screw up. Your focus should be on listening and not screwing up rather than having a conversation.

Make Marketing History: The Top 5 Made-Up Words Of Web 2.0.

Danish PR bureaus lack own blogging experience

2008-03-27T11:06:00.005+01:00

Danish PR bureau Rescu Kommunikation has just published a survey that shows bureaus here aren't not very active, to say the least. According to Rescu, only seven out of 58 bureaus have a blog or one underway.

As Rescu points out, you don't have to have a blog as an agency, but if you are advising companies on whether to blog or not, then a bit of personal insight might be a good idea.

The reasons given in a follow-up newspaper article were:

Lack of subjects
Lack of time
Not wanting to appear as an opinion former

All fairly reasonable, but to my mind a bit thin.

If you are used to wandering round in the blogosphere (and you should be if you are advising companies) and can't find subjects I'd be worried.

As far as time is concerned, you can use as much or little as you need - just because you can update every 30 secs, doesn't mean you have to.

And finally, if you have a PR bureau that doesn't have an opinion on its profession that can be made public, then I'd go looking for another bureau...

PR self-help in a recession

2008-02-28T10:50:00.001+01:00

2007 was a fantastic year for PR and communication companies generally, but fear of coming recession or evening just a cooling of the economic climate in general has meant the businesses who employed them have already started cutting budgets or delaying spending. These budget restrictions often mean that these businesses suddenly find themselves without the qualified help they were used to.

So, faced with the same demands for awareness and results, how should businesses handle DIY PR?

Make sure you know who you're talking to and why. When your time is limited it is better to spend time with the journalists and others who can really help you. Don't waste time on national dailies if you have a niche product.
Don't disappear off the map. If the thought of a long drawn-out approval process for a press release is just too enervating, try ringing up journalists and giving them tips instead. Or just drop them an email with links they might find interesting - also about industry issues.
Be focused. Revisit you company's business objectives and make sure that your communication objectives match them - especially in the short term.

B2B Marketing Online: Business Meets Social Media - eMarketer

2008-02-04T20:52:00.001+01:00

I'm busy so I'll just chuck a link out!

B2B Marketing Online: Business Meets Social Media - eMarketer

Are you a Poet or a Plumber?

2008-01-31T13:44:00.001+01:00

Just back from the launch of Poets and Plumbers in Vanløse Bio in Copenhagen where 250 people met up to hear about a new initiative to get the classic and on-line marketing world to understand each other and work closer together. (Disclosure: one of my business partners is one of the founders).

Bringing together the Poets (brands, storytelling, visuals) with the Plumbers (data, processes and ROI) in an online/real world connected way is a great idea.

The presentations and ideas were excellent nearly all round. Two things stood out for me though: that the emphasis is on Poets becoming more Plumber-like and that there wasn't enough emphasis on listening to consumers.

To take the first. For a few years, I've been a member of 26, a group of business writers who have the goal of bringing more creativity into the workplace. That has shown me that even Plumbers can be Poets - I'd like to see more people recognise and work with that. We need to narrow the understanding gap from both sides.

Secondly, there was too much mention of terms such as "online mass media" and "online channels". Despite the fact that many presenters talked about engagement and involvement, not one of them mentioned ways of how to listen. Too much of the talk from Plumbers was about getting people to the shop - instead of getting the shop to the people.

In the context of the general high quality of the event these are minor points perhaps. But when Poets and Plumbers come together they need to really grasp the idea that the internet is a collection of linked human beings not "demographics" or "users".

EXCLUSIVE! New Media Release group includes amateur

2008-01-30T10:23:00.001+01:00

It looks like that my 15 minutes of fame has arrived. The satirical PR blog Strumpette has continued its slightly peevish campaign against social media with a new video featuring a Brian Connolly interview with the Social Media Club's Chris Heuer. But wait, there's more!

NOTE: This interview was made possible by the New Media Release Workgroup and the tireless efforts of Shannon Whitley, Alison Minaglia, Andy Arnold, Dan Zarrella, David Weiner, David Parmet, Jason Ryan, Michael O'Connor Clarke, Paul Dyer, Paul Pritchard, Steve Kayser, Susan Watiker, and Todd Van Hoosear. Special thanks to Todd Defren for inventing the SMPR.

... says Brian.

Well, I'm honoured to be in the same list and it would be lovely to think that the work will now come flooding in, but the truth is a bit more prosaic. I'm not worthy.

I didn't join the working group because I'm a guru or aspire to guru status, but because I felt I didn't know enough about social media releases. I still don't and that's why I continue to follow developments at close hand, rather than making snarky comments from the sidelines. Certainly, social media releases, rich media releases, press releases - call them what you will - are an easy target and people talking about them can have a tendency to be, erm... unfocused on occasion.

Am I an evangelist? No. Am I interested in new ways to do my job better and help my clients get their messages across? Of course I am.

Why social media is like newspapers - not news stories

2008-01-21T10:33:00.001+01:00

Chris Brogan has an interesting take on social media. He suggests companies look at Sunday newspapers when considering how to approach social media. It isn't as daft as it sounds.

Its good to see some more nuanced discussion about the different forms of media instead of the whole "dead tree" mainstream media diatribe. I really get annoyed when people from the online media world trash newspapers on the basis of comparing their business models. For me this is quite wrong. I have spent a lot of energy arguing against the dreaded "web writing is sooo different from writing for newspapers"

Yeah, right. Try telling that to a sub-editor (copy editor in the US) who has to cut down a 700-word outpouring to a 150-word brief, or to write a grabbing headline or standfirst that will advertise the story and work graphically as well. Or a magazine editor who has to work with pictures and typography to create a compelling layout. There may not be hyperlinks, but the good print journalist writes in the hyperlinks so you don't have to go somewhere else to get the story.

It's true many news stories are not suitable for publication on the web - but in the same way that broadsheet articles aren't suitable for publication in a tabloid. A good sub-editor could soon sort that out though.

Too many people look at the newspaper as a content delivery system instead of looking behind this to see a content creation system. Too many people judge newspapers on their circulation and advertising revenue - the business side - rather than the dynamic process of how content is created.

Of course the role of paper is going to be reduced - but don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

A Sunday Newspaper Strategy for Traditional Companies : [chrisbrogan.com]

The subject of objectivity

2008-01-18T11:13:00.001+01:00

Objectivity and its implications for ethics in the PR and journalism communities is an issue at the moment and has been neatly covered by Peter Brill at Net.Mentor.

Ethics seems to be one of the new battlegrounds in the media industry. While PR and journalism have always had a love hate relationship, it seems to me that things have been worsened by the advent of social media. It was easier when you were defined by which side of the publishing fence you were on, although as Peter describes there has always been that grey area in trade/business to business publications.

But now, PR professionals and journalists are meant to be all things to all men and also have to compete with all men when it comes to breaking news, spreading news and having an opinion about. It's difficult to feel sure about yourself when the basis for your existence starts dissolving. The results?

Established media pour scorn on bloggers and social media sites for their lack of professional rigour and pandering to the lowest common denominator
Bloggers ridicule PR people for treating them like a 'channel' and publish their names to shame them
Bloggers condescendingly refer to the 'msm' (mainstream media)
Traditional PR people ridicule those who are experimenting with and even developed social media tools

for drinking too much 'Kool-Aid'.

'New' PR people can't quite seem to work out whether they are in PR, marketing or advertising and are trying to grab as much territory as possible to make sure they don't get overrun by the departments with the big budgets.

All in all it could be pretty depressing - I for one have a foot in all these camps and I know others as well. After years of knowing what to do and how to do it, its hard to be confronted every other week with a new idea you have to take a position on. But, you know what? I think it is pretty exciting. We are on a moving escalator and no amount of whinging or complaining or disagreeing is going to stop the escalator. (Although sometimes it is difficult to see whether it's going up or down).

I'm not depressed because I try and look for the wood and not the trees. I have a sneaking sympathy for all sides. So until things change again I'll carry a newspaper because it is still the ultimate format for readability and portability, I'll keep a tag on my industries through trade mags and the growing number of web sites that complement them, I'll post on forums, receive messages on email subscription lists, follow my friends on Facebook, keep tabs on my professional life through LinkedIn, read opinions on blogs fed to my RSS reader and use Twitter and Jaiku because I might need to know about them in the future.

Despite their differences, most people in these various camps, despite what their detractors say and what they say about others, are not looking for what's best, but what works. That can only be positive.

Skype investor buys Danish free paper

2008-01-17T10:24:00.000+01:00

Slightly batty Danish IT investor Morten Lund has taken over control of the Danish free newspaper Nyhedsavisen (Newspaper in English). The Danish media have reported the story with a mixture of amazement - the paper has made a loss since it launched in October 2006 - and glee. The glee of course coming from the fact that one of the many upstarts in their business is losing money faster than they are - slightly faster anyway.

But hang on. While Morten gives the impression of being slightly disorganized in his blog writing he has made some shrewd decisions over the years about where to put his money (such as being an early investor in Skype). He has a thoroughly good grounding in the workings of advertising, media and the internet that could stand Nyhedsavisen in good stead.

While most reporters have focused on Morten buying a newspaper, it'll be interesting to see how much paper is actually involved. I'd take a bet that what he has actually bought is a content platform that spans the virtual and the real worlds.

Morten Lund køber Nyhedsavisen - Medier & reklame

» Measuring the influence of social media

2008-01-17T09:51:00.001+01:00

Edelman and others have released a good white paper that looks at the challenges and possibilities of measuring the influence of social media. The white paper is an attempt to further the discussion started in July last year on Edelman's Social Media Index (SMI).

» Distributed Influence white paper (or son of SMI) sixtysecondview: Sixty second interviews from pr, media and politics

PR Group’s Journalist Survey Identifies Blogs’ Influence on Traditional News Coverage

2008-01-08T11:10:00.000+01:00

There is more and more information coming out about how blogging affects mainstream news gathering - rather than if. This makes a nice counterweight to the "all bloggers are bigmouths with their own agendas" idea that some PR and communications people have been pushing.

PR Group’s Journalist Survey Identifies Blogs’ Influence on Traditional News Coverage

Online newspaper advertising presses forward

2007-12-11T09:45:00.000+01:00

Forwarded without comment...

Figures released by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) report that advertising expenditures for newspaper Web sites increased by 21.1% in the third quarter of 2007 versus the same period in the previous year.
In dollars and cents,that represents a total of $773 million in online ad spending in the third quarter. The increase is the 14th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for online newspaper advertising recorded since the NAA started tracking online ad spending in 2004.
Online newspaper advertising now accounts for 7.1% of total newspaper ad spending, compared with 5.4% for last year’s third quarter.
On the downside, total advertising expenditures at US newspapers were only $10.9 billion for the third quarter of 2007, a 7.4% decrease from a year earlier.
“Broad economic issues are impacting our industry the same way they are impacting other media,” said NAA CEO John Sturm. “The continued fallout from declines in the housing market clearly affects real estate, recruitment and retail advertising.”

PR exists in Denmark - it's official

2007-12-06T09:37:00.000+01:00

Finally, proof that public relations does actually exist in Denmark. This morning I got a letter from Danmarks Statistik, the body that categorizes companies and economic activity, informing me that public relations and communications now have a category of their own. For the past five years I've been classified under "Other company advisors".

Does this mean that PR is finally beginning to make an impact in Denmark as an independent profession rather than referring to the press releases the marketing department sends out? I hope so.

Technology makes way for people

2007-11-30T14:28:00.000+01:00

I've just heaved a huge sigh of relief. No, not because it's Friday, but because Geoff Livingston over at the Now is Gone blog has posted a story that restores my faith in PR. It is about how social media and traditional PR sit together quite nicely thank you and that effective use of the old and the new depends on your relationship with people.

It has been a depressing couple of weeks to be in PR. The mainstream press in the US and high profile bloggers have highlighted various stories that (justly) raise concerns about the tactics used by PR people and online marketers. It reached the stage this week that I was almost afraid to pick up the phone and speak to journalists because I was afraid of what the reaction might be.

Geoff's post underlines how good PR - and good business generally, I would add - is about good hands-on, craftmanship. Know your tools, know your materials and know your customer. It is slightly ironic that high technology is taking us back in this way. But for me that is waht web 2.0 is about - the machinery getting out of the way of the people.

By the way, I did pick up the phone and call plenty of journalists this week - and they were without exception kind, courteous and willing to talk about what they needed for their publications.

Death of an ad salesman

2007-11-23T13:10:00.000+01:00

I've commented before on figures that show falling adsales for newspapers and how some think that means the end of the industry. Figures from this week show that advertising sales are continuing to fall.

I've never really understood why so much emphasis is placed on advertising in the newspaper business model - alright I know why, I just think that the emphasis is misplaced. On a very basic level it makes up for all the times as a journalist I was told by ad salesmen that they "pay my wages" with a superior air. All my spluttering anger trying to justify that it was my fantastic words that sold the paper or magazine are now coming back to haunt them.

Because if anything is proven by the downward spiral of ad revenues it is that content matters.

Papers aren't precious, but journalists and other content creators are. It is time for publishers to realise that there's nothing wrong with the reading public, just the publishers' business model.

While ad revenues drop for newspapers, the picture is different for business to business magazines. However, there aren't many media correspondents or pundits that focus much attention on the b2b number sector. In fact, the number of new magazines remains stable with a slight increase. While ad revenue is falling, b2b magazines are actually increasing revenues when you include online, trade shows and other spin-offs.

To underline: yes, paper editions may soon be lining the bottom of the budgie's cage. However, the content lives on is RSS feeds, on blogs, in databases, on social bookmarking sites.

Now who's paying whose wages?

This just in...

2007-11-22T17:05:00.000+01:00

from the doom and gloom department.

Newspaper ads are continuing to fall - therefore print is dead. Yay, all the geeks cheer.

Old-fashioned PR with a web spice

2007-11-21T15:07:00.000+01:00

Heather Yaxley has a great post on her blog about why Social Media isn't the be all and end all of PR.
I have to admit to moment of euphoria where my enthusiasm with the social media release tends to overshadow everything.
Today was a good counterpoint to that. Today was a good solid - traditional - grind of a day building up a media list of relevant journalists for a new client. Where I have bought in lists in the past for some clients, this time it is all handbuilt and checked with phone calls to the editors to check if they are interested - before the release goes out.
Although I haven't been able to get through to everyone and have reverted to emailing some of the really busy ones, it has been a good learning experience in an industry that I don't know well enough yet. Chatting to editors, if you can get their attention, is a rewarding experience and best done before the "are you going to use it?" phone call - which incidentally I hate (along with all other PR practitioners I should imagine).
While this part of the job hasn't changed for years, I did it by cross-referencing database info with internet searches, and logging the time and contacts with two different web-based applications. Which brought it home to me how social media really is important but still just one tool in the toolbox.

Taking web experiences into the social sphere

2007-11-15T15:05:00.000+01:00

Just kicked off a very exciting web project with the International Business programme at Copenhagen Business School. What started off as a web writing project is developing into something a bit special.
Copenhagen Business School is one of the leading business schools in Europe, but hasn't always had the awareness it deserves. So, together with a group of present students, I'm working on polishing up the web site so it can attract the attention of future students.
From the initial chats we quickly decided that instead of just brushing up the copy we would try and incorporate external blogs, social bookmarking, linking and all sorts of web 2.o bits and pieces to give an idea of the life of students.
The CMS the site uses is a bit restrictive - but has a nice right-hand column that we can use to tuck away bits of code and links off the main site.
The idea is that the main site will carry much of the information needed about studying at Copenhagen Business School, while the outside links will be about the 'experience'.

Just so we don't get too cocky...

2007-11-13T14:43:00.000+01:00

Social media releases - now in Denmark!

2007-11-08T17:51:00.000+01:00

Enough talk, time for action. I've been following the ongoing discussion about social/new media releases for a while, but I thought it was about time to get involved. So here is the link to Denmark's first social media release for Velorbis bikes. Perhaps not the first - and I'd be happy to hear of others. Leave a comment if you know.

Its built up on the Shift Communications template using PRXBuilder (thanks to Shannon Whitley). I have tried to include as much as possible to try and make it as useful as possible for journalists and bloggers alike. That means links from the release to the Velorbis web site, YouTube video and links to pictures, others resources, blogs and articles.

It also has links to send the story to social bookmarking services and the most important - the opportunity to comment and take part in the conversation. It is social media after all.

It isn't the first I've sent out - the others were for another client, b2bCRM , but they didn't quite have the richness of detail of this one, but the next ones will.

Bad PR or lazy journalists?

2007-11-02T12:45:00.000+01:00

This has not been the week to be in PR. Chris Andersen, author of the Long Tail and editor of Wired, unleashed a tidal wave of complaints and counter reaction by publishing a list of emails belonging to PR people who didn't pitch him in the right way. The post created 300 comments, some agreeing, some disagreeing.

While I agree with Chris in much of what he says, PR bashing is too easy to do for journalists.
I spent 10 years as a trade journalist, before emails really took off, so I can count myself lucky in that. My best friend during that time was a rubbish bin and a red pen. The rubbish bin speaks for itself. Crap press releases weren't invented with emails - they have always been with us. And it is still just as easy to get rid of them.

The red pen was to improve the press releases that were sent. When I was training as a journalist there were two golden rules: never put a release in unaltered, and never print it without ringing up for further information. As far as I can see that doesn't happen anymore.
It isn't the job of the PR person to write the story. The PR person should alert the journalist to the story and then help them get the facts and then get out of the way.

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times in the past three years a journalist has followed up a press release with a call for an extra quote or an angle more specific to their industry. Many have become lazy. They choose the obvious stories and ignore those that need time or thought. That's not good for journalism or PR.

Web 2.0 = PR 2.0

2007-10-25T15:47:00.000+02:00

Just came across this survey here on the Lewis PR website that claims that "web 2.0" has made PR a more visible process.

"The study showed 96 per cent of companies recognise the importance of PR. In addition, almost two thirds recognise that Web 2.0 has made it a more visible process. 60 per cent believe that the advent of consumer journalism had made PR business-critical, with social media seen to be having an impact on profit and consumer satisfaction."

Social media gets ready to take off

2007-10-19T09:25:00.001+02:00

There's a great disscussion going on at the moment about the nature of Social Media Releases (SMRs). There are several great bloggers involved - leading lights of the SMR movement, even - and the quality of discussion is very high.
Have a look in the sidebar for the links or go here:
http://www.briansolis.com/
http://www.pr-squared.com/2007/10/the_future_of_the_social_media.html
http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/10/18/storyboarding-another-view-on-how-to-use-the-social-media-news-release/

There's so much happening in this area that it is hard to track, but if you keep an eye on these three blogs then you won't miss much.

I have been a little suspicous about calls for the death of the press release - as it strikes me that it is a case of killing the messenger not the message, to paraphrase Margaret Thatcher's press secretary. But I think in the latest version of the arguments we are moving further away from the focus on format and more towards content and context. Social media is getting ready to take off.

The future of the press release

2007-10-02T10:47:00.000+02:00

Brian Solis is starting a multi part blog on the future of the press release over at PR 2.0 - Silicon Valley. Brian is one of the leading voices in the movement to open up PR with social media techniques and replace the press release with something better.

I'd like to drop the idea of press releases vs. social media releases because in the end we are talking about a single format (albeit a staple one) in the PR armoury. It isn't about format it is about content - the what, why, who, where, when and how.

In its most basic form a press release is raw content - no bells or whistles, just the facts. That many press releases are abused by the long and laborious route through corporate hierarchies is beyond doubt, but it still plays well to the number one audience - journalists.

It does so because the journalists still write stories in the same format, newspapers print them and news wires, despite their best efforts, still distribute most of their stories in plain text. By insisting of the death of one format over the other or the supremacy of digital over paper formats doesn't really do anything for me but obscure the real job for PR people - getting hold of people not talking about channels.

Talking about social media releases is good because it exposes businesses to an idea that they might not otherwise be receptive to. Physical products drive processes not the other way round. I am advocating social media releases not necessarily because they are better, but becuase they pioneer the idea that you can't control information anymore, you can only take part in the conversation.

I still expect to send out a great deal of press releases in my lifetime, I also expect to speak to a lot of journalists on the phone, text them tips, add links to delicious, blog and, yes, even make a few social media releases available

26 reasons to click here

2007-09-26T11:52:00.000+02:00

26, a group for business writers in the UK, has just launched its latest project that aims to bring creativity into business writing.

"As part of the 2007 London Design Festival, '26 Posters' set a challenge to twenty-six pairs of writers and designers. To create a six-word poster that somehow comments on or reflects its immediate location. That's it. Simple, but devilishly tricky."

Have a look at what words can do - you can also see some of the other projects on the web site

Great cycling blog

2007-09-24T10:41:00.001+02:00

Proof that cycling and chic go together in Copenhagen

read more | digg story

The death of print media - again, again

2007-08-16T12:55:00.001+02:00

http://www.pr-consultant.co.uk/2007/08/citizen-journalism-print.html

Carlsberg's disappointing global ambition

2007-07-20T09:36:00.000+02:00

Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, is looking for a new chief executive to replace Nils Smedegaard Andersen. The company has gone through a huge amount of change over the past seven- eight years, moving from being a national producer with a few international outposts to being a truly global corporation with common policies and practices. So what is the profile of the new CEO? He needs to be Danish, according to the chairman of the Carlsberg Foundation.
The reason is that Carlsberg is more integrated in Danish society than any other and any CEO needs to find his way around ministries, government and the arts, says the chairman Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen to daily business paper Børsen.
What staggering narrowness of vision! Close to 90% of Carlsberg's turnover is generated outside Denmark, how about finding someone who can manage that?
Krogsgaard-Larsen's comment raises two points about globalisation in Denmark:

Globalisation is something that goes on 'out there'
It implies that Danes are natural global leaders that nip out and solve the world's problems in an afternoon after doing the really complicated stuff at home.

Both of course are nonsense. While I suspect Carlsberg knows better, the Carlsberg Foundation (which owns 51% of the company) ought to be ashamed of such a comment

... and just to prove my point

2007-07-18T15:12:00.001+02:00

Morten Lund (who will forever be known as a Skype investor although he does other things) has blogged this. It is a web service that sits on the end of a PDF workflow and converts the files into a virtual book or magazine that is searchable by Google
http://www.pagegangster.com/

Now if you can just combine this with a feed into the local digital printer who can rattle you off a copy and post it to your home address...

The death of print media - again

2007-07-18T14:31:00.000+02:00

Forbes has a story about how online media is going to put an end to print media

http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/07/16/redherring-print-blogs-tech-media-cx_bc_0716techmedia.html

It's a good story, but in these days when xml is separating content and structure I can't help thinking that the reporter is barking up the wrong tree. The big fuss about paper vs. screen is about a delivery mechanism and how you attach ads to that mechanism. We should be focusing on content and then delivering that content in the way people want it - paper or screen. The production systems need to be flexible enough so people can choose. Its the news that ought to matter, not the box in comes in.

And I wouldn't rule out paper just yet - when everyone is competing for space on a screen, a well-timed delivery of good old fashioned paper might just be a refreshing change. If it were me, I'd make people subscribe to the content and let them choose how they want to read.

Need I say more?

2007-07-16T12:31:00.000+02:00

Great new media books

2007-07-12T15:58:00.000+02:00

A bit late on this one, but I've been busy. A good list of 25 books that help explain 'new media' . Glad to see the old favourites such as The Cluetrain Manifesto and Gonzo Marketing on the list.

http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/07/02/goodness-gracious-25-great-new-media-books/

The future of PR pitching

2007-07-12T12:47:00.000+02:00

An interesting post by Brian Sollis from FutureWorks. He was responding to a post by Robert Scoble who suggested that PR people pitch him on his Facebook wall.
In this post Brian very nicely sums up what PR people should be doing (and in my opinion should always have been doing) with regard to new media. There's a difference between journalists, bloggers and the public at large.

Tips for great international PR

2007-06-20T09:40:00.000+02:00

International PR has a reputation for being complicated, time-consuming and expensive. With so many countries and thousands of newspapers, magazines and web sites to target, costs can quickly get out of hand. But the key is to focus on getting the most out of each market – not to cover them all equally. Here’s a few tips to help you get started.

Start by looking at your business objectives and how you can achieve them. This is particularly important with international PR – by focusing only on what’s relevant to your needs, you can cut a long list of potential journalists in half.
Be choosy. Only target the top two or three publications in each business segment. PR is about building awareness, but some publications are more highly regarded than others. Stick to the ones that matter.
Go to the publication’s web site and get hold of its editorial features list. A features list tells you when a magazine will write about a particular topic, use it to plan your communications.
Build a list of key publications – and use it. Make a point of contacting the relevant journalists on a regular basis. You don’t have to send a press release. Often, a short email ‘tip-off’ is enough, or just give them a call.
If you have a news story that is relevant to several different markets, buy a mailing list or have it distributed on a wire service such as PR Newswire. This way your story will be used on Google News, MSN, Yahoo and others. It also means that if someone searches for your company there’s a greater chance they’ll find you.
Use your web site actively. Upload your latest news and make sure it can be found by search engines through the smart use of keywords or by making an RSS feed. You can even ‘blog’ your news and let specific blog search services know when your blog is updated.
Become an expert on your own national market or region. That way, journalists will want to contact you for information!

Problematic 'point and shoot' PR

2007-06-18T21:50:00.000+02:00

I'm working for a client at the moment who has dropped all advertising and instead is just concentrating on Google adwords and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO for those in the know). One of my jobs has been to make sure that the keywords and search terms that are proving popular are also reflected in the press release.

Optimising and sending out press releases is a growing trend and there are more and more companies offering to send out a killer press release that'll help boost your search engine ratings.
But as more companies rush into this 'point and shoot' PR, it's worth considering once again who your targets really are. If you are trying to get a double page spread in the local business daily (Børsen, in my case) the benefits of releasing the story on the internet equivalent at the same time is really a waste of time. Journalists want exclusives, or at the least a fair run at beating the competition.

I think PR is developing towards a two-tier approach:

The personal relationships developed with journalists and bloggers that will get the targeted quality coverage. These are the people that can move opinions: they need one-to-one attention not blanket coverage

The ratings battle - getting your release on the right sites and feeds and getting clicks back to the right web site.

Both these are important and if you get the balance right will result in good coverage and good results, which is what PR is all about.

"If I'm short of any articles on my website, then I get someone in India to write me a couple."

2007-06-11T09:45:00.000+02:00

As a writer and PR professional, the above comment in a meeting shook me a little. But it really shows where the world is going and where some of the challenges exist for global communicators.

I earn a living by helping Danish companies to communicate in English, my native language. I tell myself that I'm competing with other Danish bureaus that can't write or communicate in English so well. But as the quote shows, that's not really the case. I'm now competing with the world and especially with former British colonies where 'proper' English is still taught.

The argument against outsourcing texts is of course that client contact is all important and you can only develop a good text with the active participation of the client. And you can argue that with modern technology briefing a writer in India is no different from briefing one in London or Stockholm - or Copenhagen.

As communications professionals we need to make sure that the client sees the value in what we do - but there may be areas where we can benefit from outsourcing.

No doubt there is a retired journalist somewhere in Bangalore who can copy edit faster than I can - giving me time to spend on other tasks.

Back on the chain gang

2007-06-11T09:33:00.001+02:00

I could have been famous.
I started a blog in 2001 on the encouragement of the exasperatingly active Jeneane Sessum who I blogged with on GonzoEngaged, the first team website on blogspot. But I couldn't stick to it because I didn't feel I had anything to say. At the time I was working for the Danish brewer Carlsberg and the conflict between work responsibilities and private comments was difficult to square. Now, I 'm trying again and this time there are no conflicts - I am my company!

TraceWorks makes marketing management a science

2007-05-10T15:42:00.000+02:00

A DKK30 million investment will help the Danish company develop software to meet the growing need for marketing return on investment

Copenhagen, Denmark (May 10, 2007) –TraceWorks, a Danish company specialising in marketing management software for advertisers, is expanding globally thanks to a DKK30 million (€4 million) investment.

The funding from Nordic Venture Partners will enable the company’s can-do marketing software Headlight™ to challenge existing players such DoubleClick, TradeDoubler, 24/7 Real Media, Mediaplex, Unica and Aprimo.

Nordic Venture Partners is a venture capital firm with a portfolio of investments in the Information and Communications Technology sector. TraceWorks was ‘spotted’ for development by Morten Lund of LundKenner who is internationally respected for his ability to spot young business talents and up and coming tech companies such as Skype, Zyb, Zecco, and Maxthon.