Video used at today’s Shelby GT350 Press Conference in Chicago
February 9th, 2011Photos taken at today’s Shelby American GT350 Press Conference in Chicago
February 9th, 2011
Giving media the artistic edge
February 2nd, 2011
If a photograph is worth a thousand words, it ought to be worth $1,000, right?
It only seems that way to most journalists, who desperately need visuals for their content but wind up falling way short when it comes to finding the money to pay for their desires. Budgets have dropped, but the number of outlets has increased as amateur news gatherers with incredibly large followings take on big budget newspapers, cable stations and even established news websites.
Both print and, especially, online journalists need easy access to good photography if you want them to get the word out about your product or event.
Unfortunately, that recipe is all-too-elusive for many companies and services. Most news outlets barely have the budget to buy their own point-and-shoot cameras, let alone enough cash sitting around to be able to hire a professional at a four-figure-a-day rate (plus per diem!). As a result, they often wind up without any photography to illustrate stories, an especially difficult case when it comes to online publications with plenty of room for multi-image galleries. Stories that they would otherwise deem important are relegated to poor positions because they didn’t have visuals.
The easy solution to this dilemma falls on your ability to make images readily available to members of the media. Reasonably high quality images aren’t hard to shoot; they just take some time. Learn the basics of a moderately-priced digital SLR camera, set the scene up properly and you’re probably going to get decent stills of your own product. If it’s an event or a service you want to shoot, you might want to hire a professional – a local photographer might be willing to give a more reasonable rate in exchange for ownership of some of the content you don’t choose to use. Make sure you own the photos you want to use, however!
From there, it’s all about distributing your photos to members of the media. You can sit back and wait for requests, but that won’t reap benefits very quickly and it makes you seem rather aloof. Instead, being proactive by sending out relevant photography with news releases makes everyone’s job easier. If an outlet has good photography to work with, they are considerably more likely to publish the content simply because all of the pieces fell quickly into place.
For archival images, a dedicated media site – or at least easy access to an FTP server – makes downloading photos a cinch for members of the media. You can even provide photography with a strict embargo date to trusted members if you don’t want word reaching the public until after a major announcement.
After an event, make photos available to the media and make sure to identify any important guests or executives pictured – otherwise, you’ll spend half your day fielding phone calls all asking the same question!
Of course, there are a few things you aren’t going to want to do if you want to make your photography easy to use. Don’t put watermarks on images; let the outlet watermark their own photography, for example. Also, when you’re setting up a media site, make it easy to use. A complex design with all sorts of bells and whistles might look good to you, but reporters and art directors need to be able to efficiently download photos. Finally, don’t waste your time with subpar photography. You’ll be surprised with the places your photos will end up – in beautiful magazine layouts, spread across wallpaper galleries online and even in enthusiast websites, when the product is appropriate.
It’s simple: If you scratch the media’s back with accessible photography, they’ll provide the extensive coverage you need.
Officially dead: Printed promotional calendars
January 10th, 2011
When the big ball dropped in Times Square at midnight, we were all supposed to toss away our 2010 calendars and replace them with the latest and greatest. For well over a century, shopkeepers, business executives, mechanics and, yes, even New York’s taxi drivers, have relied on “freebie” promotional calendars for that ever-so-basic bit of information.
But as this increasingly digital age continues to take hold, the idea of a physical calendar – a booklet, a page-a-day or even a magnet ready to be attached to a refrigerator – is becoming more and more archaic. Paper calendars are beginning to feel like something out of the past, a relic of an era where typewriters and secretaries got things done, where going on vacation truly meant you were impossible to reach and where airport security was a breeze.
But several factors have killed the ubiquitous promotional calendar, a tool that was, until as recently as a year ago, so useful for getting your message out on a daily basis to your clients, your potential clients or even just your friends.
The digital edge
Synchronizing calendars on work computers, home computers and mobile phones used to be such a laborious effort that it was best left for computer geeks. The latest innovations – especially Google’s tremendous degree of integration – have made synchronization a no-sweat job hardly worthy of being called an “effort.”
With one Google profile, a user can schedule a meeting on his Android-powered Smartphone that will automatically show up on any computer or Smartphone he signs into. “The cloud” is hard to imagine, but we can all agree that it rocks.
Apple takes a slightly different approach, but its system is just as intuitive – and that’s something that more businesses are realizing as the Cupertino California, tech giant continues to lure businesses into its web.
Smartphones are so intelligent these days that some will automatically link to a car’s infotainment system to store calendar and email data. Integration is so simple on cars with Ford’s much-ballyhooed Sync system or BMW’s advanced Blackberry-supporting system that it’s almost impossible to be uninformed for long.
Going green
International compliance efforts are putting companies on the green track in an effort to reduce consumption of the earth’s limited resources. As a result, many companies seeking various degrees of ISO certification levels take an aggressive stance against paper products.
Limited printing from a corporate-owned printer is only half of the battle; some of the most cutting edge firms are limiting the number of non-essential paper products entering their offices.
A promotional calendar suddenly seems less than forward-looking.
Cost cutters
Everyone is looking for every way to trim costs in this economy, and promotional tools without an obvious way to track their effectiveness are the first on the list.
As a result, these promotional calendars are being replaced by totally different, often less expensive campaigns.
What this means to you
Sometimes it’s good to get back to basics with a simple promotional tool that doesn’t cost much to make but reaches a wide audience. Promotional calendars aren’t dead, but they’re on their way out.
What will be the next obvious choice for daily exposure marketing devices?
The digital edge
Synchronizing calendars on work computers, home computers and mobile phones used to be such a laborious effort that it was best left for computer geeks. The latest innovations – especially Google’s tremendous degree of integration – have made synchronization a no-sweat job hardly worthy of being called an “effort.”
With one Google profile, a user can schedule a meeting on his Android-powered Smartphone that will automatically show up on any computer or Smartphone he signs into. “The cloud” is hard to imagine, but we can all agree that it rocks.
Apple takes a slightly different approach, but its system is just as intuitive – and that’s something that more businesses are realizing as the Cupertino California, tech giant continues to lure businesses into its web.
Smartphones are so intelligent these days that some will automatically link to a car’s infotainment system to store calendar and email data. Integration is so simple on cars with Ford’s much-ballyhooed Sync system or BMW’s advanced Blackberry-supporting system that it’s almost impossible to be uninformed for long.
Going green
International compliance efforts are putting companies on the green track in an effort to reduce consumption of the earth’s limited resources. As a result, many companies seeking various degrees of ISO certification levels take an aggressive stance against paper products.
Limited printing from a corporate-owned printer is only half of the battle; some of the most cutting edge firms are limiting the number of non-essential paper products entering their offices.
A promotional calendar suddenly seems less than forward-looking.
Cost cutters
Everyone is looking for every way to trim costs in this economy, and promotional tools without an obvious way to track their effectiveness are the first on the list.
As a result, these promotional calendars are being replaced by totally different, often less expensive campaigns.
What this means to you
Sometimes it’s good to get back to basics with a simple promotional tool that doesn’t cost much to make but reaches a wide audience. Promotional calendars aren’t dead, but they’re on their way out.
What will be the next obvious choice for daily exposure marketing devices?
Tablet wars: Look at the full picture
December 27th, 2010
Of all the fierce battles in history, few have been as decisive as when Sony’s Betamax took on JVC’s VHS tapes. Sure, the battle was hardly bloody – although some conference room discussions in Japan might have made Custer’s tent at Little Bighorn positively tranquil – but the outcome saw the VHS victor totally obliterate its well-heeled, generally superior competitor with one fell swoop.
It seems that history is repeating itself as we watch Apple’s iPad take on an increasingly large number of rivals touting the Android operating system. The comparisons are easy, but their eventual outcome is our focal point and our take-home lesson. As marketers attempt to reach increasingly wide audiences over a vast array of media, tablets could play a massive role in the near future.
VHS won out over Betamax not because it was better – most historians and technophiles will agree that Sony’s system was vastly more advanced – but because JVC was willing to share its technology.
Sony assumed that the video recording market would remain relatively small and the company assumed that domination would come easy. The Japanese giant had created a fast, high resolution recording system that it wasn’t eager to share with anyone else.
Meanwhile, JVC developed the VHS tape, which wasn’t as sophisticated, but could be produced at a marginally lower cost. Forward-thinking JVC was also much smaller than Sony and it realized that, in order to be successful, it would need some outside help. JVC licensed its VHS technology to nearly every major electronics manufacturer, which meant that VHS recorders quickly became readily available – at competition-driven low prices.
Sony assumed that its high-end, high-quality Betamax would win, but consumers elected to go after the cheaper offering, even as they acknowledged that it was inferior.
Parallels to Apple’s iPad are obvious. Apple has made its operating system open source – meaning that anyone capable can develop applications – but it won’t provide a license to other electronics manufacturers. Apple wants to control hardware, just like Sony did. Android – purchased by Google in 2005 – has been distributed to licensees since 2007. As a result, it’s hard not to find an Android-powered device at any electronics store (other than at an Apple Store, of course).
That’s not to say that the iPad isn’t a great device. It is highly capable and its integration with Apple’s other products makes it truly impressive. But the cheapest iPad will set buyers back $500, about the price of three low-end Android-powered tablets.
Without a time-traveling app, we can’t tell who will win this battle. But as we continue to develop applications and look for unique ways to reach consumers, we can’t ignore the potential of these two devices.
Don’t be the electronics store that stocked up on Betamax tapes only to be stuck with dusty, unsold merchandise years later.
Minimizing executive interview mistakes
December 16th, 2010
You’ve had hours, days or even weeks to prepare for an interview. You’re up to date on your company’s operations and products. If you’re lucky, the interviewer has even provided you with some hints on what to expect from the discussion.
Then the interview comes along and you stumble, never fully getting your point across and not knowing the answers to every question. It happens to the best of us, even those who think they are well prepared.
The basics
Look at an interview with a member of the media in much the same way you’d want to interview for a new job. You want to go beyond answering questions – you want to present a compelling, but not overly boastful, case for you and your company. You want to sell your message.
Your answer needs to be more than just words. It needs to be believable, not only because it needs to be accurate and truthful, but it also needs to be something you genuinely take as fact. Be comfortable and try to be yourself.
Anticipate questions ahead of time by working with your public relations team. Collect your thoughts ahead of time; only in certain circumstances should you agree to an on-the-spot interview.
On track
The rapid-fire, “report first, ask later” nature of online and TV media makes it imperative that you keep control of the interview. Don’t let the interviewer take you off track – unless you want to go there.
Answering questions that might move the conversation in the wrong direction with a simple, “That’s a great question for another time; let’s revisit it soon” will endear reporters and lead to what could be a mutually beneficial follow-up interview. It’s a smart answer that can be effective if used sparingly.
Additionally, you must keep control of yourself during the interview. A flustered answer will bomb on more levels than you want to think about – your clear answer, your facts and your credibility are all on the line during the interview.
Tailor-made
Help the reporter by giving answers that can easily be put in context in an article or clip; think of your answers as sound bytes. Your answers should be concise, accurate and, perhaps most importantly, they need to be natural. A short and simple answer that tells the basics is easy for a reporter to use; if they want to dig deeper, that’s their prerogative.
You can’t assume that a reporter will know what you’re talking about, so you might need to build up your answer with background basics. This varies by outlet, so be careful not to oversimplify to an industry trade journal, for example.
Simple answers don’t mean misleading answers; if you’re intentionally glossing over the details or ignoring certain elements, they’ll track down the facts. Ultimately, this tactic will backfire and destroy your credibility.
A timely example
For months, General Motors told reporters that the innovative Chevrolet Volt’s gasoline engine never directly powered its drive wheels. Then, closer to the Volt’s on-sale date, GM revealed that, under certain unusual circumstances, the gasoline engine could indeed bypass its electric counterpart to motivate the vehicle on its own.
It’s a difference that buyers won’t notice because, simply, it doesn’t matter in day-to-day driving. But it betrayed many reporters’ trust in GM and its public relations team, whom the media decried as misleading and engaging in evasion tactics. Not only did the gaffe dent GM among reporters, it made journalists look as though they had been reporting false stories.
The drama that ensued could have been avoided in one of two ways. The simplest answer would be for GM to have told the truth initially, which would have prevented reporters from being misled. Conversely, GM could have chosen not to reveal the information until it was ready.
The Business Card Gets Smart
November 29th, 2010Pundits have rarely been so wrong. Once a hallmark of a successful businessperson, the calling card was predicted to die out in this increasingly digital age. Instead, business cards have evolved – but not necessarily in the exclusively bits and bytes manner one might expect.
Dating back to the Ming Dynasty in China, business cards have long been the primary means of contact information distribution from businesses to businesses or companies to consumers. The “visiting card,” as it was known then, made its way to Europe’s strict societies, which emphasized etiquette. Eventually, lithographers expanded the practice to a burgeoning 19th century middle class before cards took hold in the United States. Our entrepreneurial society latched onto the idea of spreading information and the card has evolved ever since.
Material goods
Odds are, your business cards are printed on card stock in two or three colors. They might have information on both sides and a stylized logo, as well as basic facts like your name, position, address, phone and fax numbers, as well as your email and your company’s website. You could even have a slogan or a few basic company facts.
Your cards might follow the same basic pattern found elsewhere, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop there.
Think about materials you can use for cards.
Recycled paper and eco-friendly ink is environmentally conscious, which helps meet ISO standard and resonates with clients. Maybe a high-tech appearance is a better bet; cards printed on thin steel, leather, cloth, carbon fiber or aluminum won’t cost substantially more, but they’ll stand out.
Regardless of the material, these unique cards are designed to make an impact, both to prospective accounts and to remind existing clients of your innovative approach.
Going digital
Critics said that business cards would die when smartphones took over. The Blackberry didn’t kill them and iPhones and Androids helped evolve them.
The prevailing idea just a few years ago was that “bump” apps would be the ideal way of transferring information from one device to another. Bumping isn’t a lost concept, but it hasn’t reshaped business cards.
Perhaps the biggest advancement to the traditional business card model is the integration of QR (“quick response”) codes, small matrix barcodes designed to be read by a mobile phone’s camera. A simple wave of a smartphone over a QR barcode reveals significantly more information than before.
QR codes might have hit their Zenith at the South by Southwest festival earlier this year in Austin, Texas. Appearing on business cards, credentials, signage, flyers and giveaways, QR codes instantly linked recipients to a plethora of information – social media pages, websites, product information pages and way more.
But a QR code might be just the beginning for many. For one, they’re not necessarily appropriate everywhere. Many businesses ban mobile phone cameras in order to prevent sensitive information from escaping, while some business card transactions and reviews occur 35,000 feet above the air. Yep, you’ve probably passed out your card at least once on an airplane.
PlugYourBrand.com has an innovative – although costly – solution. USB business cards shaped and sized about like a thick credit card can plug right into computers to provide recipients with pre-loaded information, including product information or capability portfolios. At around $3 each when bought in bulk, they aren’t a mass market concept yet, but they do provide a sophisticated way of showing off capabilities.
USB sticks (thumb drives) are cheaper, but they offer packaging real estate for little more than a logo.
A paper card might suffice for now, but staying on the cutting edge dictates adding more to your standard business card. You don’t want to be playing catch up, do you?
Working “off the record” to your advantage
November 23rd, 2010
Journalists know better than anyone that words are, well, just words. They’re to be taken at face value – unless, of course, they mean something else.
Confused? You have the right to be, especially if you’ve ever been asked a question “off the record” only to find out that what you said is circulating around the public. What you said was meant to stay between you and the reporter, but it didn’t stop there.
What’s going on here and why doesn’t “off the record” mean what it seems like it should?
Good cop, bad cop
During a TV cop drama, a detective will grill his suspect or witness using the “off the record” trick to reveal a detailed, informative answer. He can’t use the response in a court, but, like any good dramatized officer, he’ll utilize his newfound knowledge to get to the bottom of things by circumventing traditional methods.
Minus the built-in drama and flashy graphics, real life reporters also use this trick. By engaging in friendly conversation without a notebook or recorder in hand, a journalist might casually ask a question “off the record.”
The reporter is looking for you to confirm a query or a suspicion that he will verify elsewhere, often simply as an “anonymous” source. You probably won’t find your words published verbatim, but you might find out that trade secrets or future product information you’ve only discussed with one reporter show up in his outlet.
Many major newspapers’ style guides and codes of ethics limit their reporters from quoting anonymous sources, especially in the wake of troubling accounts like the Washington Post’s Jason Blair, who famously made up sources and fabricated quotes.
But just because they won’t use this shortcut doesn’t mean that reporters won’t go behind your back to find someone else to whom they can attribute the information. Speaking with another representative of your firm, a reporter will indicate that he knows something that shouldn’t be made public. This other representative might share even more details since he thinks that the reporter is privy only to information you want to be “on the record.”
Manipulating “off the record” comments is a journalism trick that will help net an “exclusive,” so you can’t blame a reporter for trying. Instead, take a holistic approach to the way you word your interview responses and “off the record” discussions.
Solutions
Your best bet is simply to not share information that you don’t want getting out to the public. Deception isn’t your friend, but it is often necessary to keep certain things private for a period of time. Keep quiet and say that you “can’t share those details at this time.”
There are mutually ways to work around the “off the record” situation. If you know the journalist well and are on a friendly basis with them, you might want to consider sharing “off the record” information while explaining the reason you don’t want what you’ve said to show up in print or online. In addition to keeping the information private, this dialog between you and the reporter might further solidify a relationship, and it will help the reporter reach a more in-depth understanding of your perspective.
Alternatively, many companies take advantage of product information embargoes to ensure that classified information doesn’t leak out early. Inviting journalists to a detailed technical presentation or even a light preview gives them insider details, but asking them to sign a waiver – isn’t even really legally binding – can benefit everyone. Reporters get an even playing field while they feel like embedded members of the media and you get the timing you want on the information the public needs – if not quite yet.
Making the news: A look into online reporting
November 12th, 2010
To understand the enemy, you must think like the enemy – so the military strategy goes. True, journalists are certainly not enemies, so the comparison isn’t quite valid. But the point remains: to truly understand how a journalist reports the news and understands what you’re trying to tell them, you must look at the process from their angle.
Online journalism might look like traditional print, radio or television media, but it’s vastly different. It benefits from the reader’s ability to quickly verify facts. Cable news viewers can delve further into a subject after seeing a report, but that usually requires a move from the couch to the computer – even an iPad isn’t motivation enough. When a reader sees something reported on an online news site, a blog or even a social media outlet, it doesn’t take much more than a visit to Google to dig deeper.
Readers know everything. And anything they don’t already know, they will within 10 minutes, even if their facts might be stretched to fit a point or an agenda.
Dissecting the media
Let’s look at a few ways an entry or an article might make its way online, starting with the simplest approach – social media.
A few words are all it takes for an amateur reporter to disseminate fact (or fiction). In this case, it’s usually based on something they’ve read elsewhere – a press release, a company website or an article. These quick reports engage their followers, who might spread the word digitally or verbally. No, a social media user isn’t a journalist per se, but they’re saying something to an audience that, in one way or another, views them as authoritative. They listen. They repeat.
A step up from this is the blogger. Closely related to a social media user, a blogger is, in many ways, simply a more verbose Tweeter or Facebooker. Yes, blogs came well before either of those sites, but their worlds are closely intertwined.
For example, a connected blogger gathers information from Twitter, relying as much on official accounts as word-of-mouth Tweets from nearly anyone. Sometimes it’s as simple as reporting on an announcement, while other times an inconveniently leaked message to an exposed situation. They’re opposite ends, but they represent the different ways a blogger might work. To get more connected to this unique reporting manner, follow a celebrity’s Tweets for the day and then check out one of the countless celebrity-tracking blogs. Suddenly, you’re a few words away from being a blogger.
What separates most bloggers from most reporters is the level of research put into crafting a story. Broadly speaking, most bloggers are looking to get a story up quickly – they’ll check their sources later and post an update. It’s modern sensationalism, but this ever-faster-moving world can’t be satisfied any other way.
Traditional reporting is hardly dead, although bloggers might suggest otherwise. Websites affiliated with print outlets follow their parent groups’ standards, even though they usually have a reasonably well-researched blog section written by traditional reporters.
These blog sections offer up anything from obscure news stories to short bits that, in the eyes of the editor, don’t merit an in-depth story.
A well-researched piece will have the writer conducting his business in much the same way as a print reporter might. Interviews are required and citing more than one source to verify information or opinion is a given.
The comment paradigm
Instant, visible feedback is almost always the way the online world moves. Few active websites don’t have a section for readers to share their comments. Although most legitimate sites carefully monitor comments, few censor anything other than spam and profanity.
Journalists get instant feedback from their readers, which allows the ability to further craft a piece. Do readers point out incorrect information? A writer can edit the story since it is not set in stone. A new development? The public almost always finds out first, so a reporter often learns as much from the comments as from an official source.
Of course, a good reporter then verifies the information learned – or at least verifies the source. Occasionally, the reporter will directly engage readers to solicit more information or opinions. Sometimes this happens behind the scenes via email, while often a reporter will add to the comments, carefully ensuring that he or she does not reveal a bias.
Moreover, comment sections give readers the opportunity to voice their opinions, which are then read by other readers. While readers might not assign a high level of credibility to these numerous opinions, they certainly pay attention to them.
Taking advantage
Disseminating your information in a fast and efficient process is essential. Thorough, but concise press releases, extensive use of social media and easy availability for on-the-record conversations will ensure a positive relationship with the media.
Resist using a site’s feedback section to engage audiences. A better approach is to directly contact the reporter to discuss a false or concerning comment. Don’t expect the reporter to edit a comment, but sometimes a clarification can be made in the text of the story.
As always, establishing a rapport with the media will produce positive results.
Facebook Fans vs. Twitter Followers: Who should your organization target?
November 12th, 2010A wise marketing guru once said, “Facebook is for the people you know while Twitter is for those you want to know.”
Facebook’s entire platform is based on the premise that you can connect or reconnect with people that you already know. People you’d want to share photos with of your dogs, family vacays and any other important moments. It was designed with a more personal aim in mind.
Twitter, on the other hand, was designed for strangers who want to share their common interests and news with one another. It’s socially acceptable to “follow” someone, even if you’ve never met them before. Twitter’s platform is a catalyst for information exchange.
According to eMarketer, surveys showed that 37% of respondents were more likely to purchase from a brand after following them on Twitter as opposed to only 17% of those that “like” a brand on Facebook.
This isn’t to say that Facebook is a useless marketing tool considering that Mark Zuckerberg is one of the wealthiest people in the U.S. at only age of 26. However, there’s clearly value in having both Twitter and Facebook in a company’s social media strategy to maximize results and increase the bottom line. The only way to do that is to target the “followers” that will respond to your company’s marketing message.
Let’s not forget marketing’s primary mathematical expression: behavior > awareness.