Manhattan Marketing Maven

New Public Relations Calculus

In the old days PR guys sold ideas and press access. Today PR guys need to sell insight and a multidimensional system for anticipating and managing perceptions in a 24/7 digital global media environment.

The realization that the press is always on, that the standards for publishing credibility have radically changed and that the number of ways a story can be "placed" and morphed have increased geometrically. Thinking planning and preparing to manage perceptions of a brand in this environment requires a different way of thinking and different set of skills than ever before.

Too many clients and their PR counselors are still locked into the press agent paradigm and are unprepared philosophically and practically to deal with user-generated attacks on a brand, regulatory actions or marketplace developments that can move across media and across the planet in a nanosecond.

Three critical factors are changing the basic PR calculus:

Always On Connected Media.  A random complaint voiced by a blogger in a remote area or a court decision in a distant venue can quickly become the cause of the moment on a social networking site, an embarrassing video on YouTube and shortly thereafter a wire service story or a story on CNN, Reuters or even Al-Jezeera. Everything from fluff to oddities to self-promoting celebrities to topics we used to consider hard news can have a hockey stick trajectory from obscurity onto the global media front pages.

Persistence & Searchability. In the old days a story appeared and went away the next day. Even an extended story had a beginning, a middle and an end. On the Internet nothing ever dies and everything --fact fiction or fantasy -- persists forever. Since the Internet has great believability, publicists not only have to find these endless mentions but interact with authors, lobby and threaten to remove inaccuracies or rumors and stay vigilant to insure that the default information source for millions of consumers and businesses fairly presents their client's stories. Many PR firms routinely prepare special variations of releases targeting emerging news and opinion sources or influencers and enabling easy online search functionality.

Changing Credibility. Big media has always scoured trade media and small town media for trends, new people, early signs of innovation and odd-ball stories. Now the fishing pool has been expanded to include blogs, podcasts, social networks, video sites, photo-sharing sites, wikis, search engines and other emerging new digital venues to sniff out a scoop or find the back story or the color commentary to flesh put stories making the global news cycle. The ten year old blogosphere gives virtually any consumer anywhere a global platform to voice complaints or advocate a favorite brand.

Managing brand perceptions on a global basis requires understanding core brand values and insight into the needs and concerns of constituent audiences married to scalable and credible systems to address multiple media in multiple formats simultaneously in real time. 

Join the Creative Conversation

PR guys often rate themselves on creativity. But in my mind creativity starts with context.

At any given time, there are ideas, issues, topics and conversations that are part of the on-going national dialogue. Some of these are set by politicians and the economy. Some are developed by the realities of life and still others emerge from the interplay of people and media --- the influence of social networks and the Internet.

By positioning yourself, your company, your product or your service in the context of these ideas you get more attention faster, greater uptake and gain rapid familiarity. A lot of PR thinking then is helping clients connect the dots and do the math to link client needs to these broad themes.

Let me give you a few examples.

For the last ten years we’ve been talking about women’s leadership, women’s empowerment, the glass ceiling, the mommy track and post-feminism. Clients use these well known concepts as launching points for positioning themselves, explaining the implications of their ideas, reaching out to women’s audiences using familiar terms of debate and positioning ideas, services and products relative to the progress and the challenges women in business face.

As you can imagine, when this is done right, like the Dove campaign, women perceive ideas quickly and differently, get engaged faster, interact with our brands favorably and help advance and extend the message.

Similarly we have been talking and thinking about ecology, our planet, global warming, conservation and the need to respect and preserve the earth. Many clients have used this context to explain, position and promote new organic products. Many businesses have framed moves to open markets, build facilities and re-engineer production using these terms.

Now if you’re thinking all you have to do is clothe your pitch with the buzzwords and aura of an on-going conversation you’d be dead wrong! This is not a cynical manipulation because consumers sense that instantly.

This approach works when the claims are real and the connections are genuine. There is no room anymore for PR to mean an attempt to fool some of the people some of the time. Americans are too savvy for the stunts and tricks of the past.

Our institutions – like family and marriage – and our civil and social behavior is a constant source of context. We are in constant conversation about teaching, feeding, parenting, motivating and protecting our kids. Questions about traditional and changing values, the sanctity of the family, new variations in relationships and lifestyles, democracy, equality and fairness are familiar to everyone. In this on-going national conversation are openings to present personalities, points of view, perspectives, products and to raise our consciousness about problems and solutions.

An important thing about creativity we’re learning from the online world is that reaction is often as powerful and sometimes more powerful than initiation. You don’t have to have all the big ideas or even start the ball rolling. In some cases commenting on events, reacting to others’ ideas or jumping into a debate can be a very effective communications tactic.

The line between writers and producers and their viewers or readers has become fuzzy. We are sometimes influenced as much by YouTube or MySpace as much as we are by CNN or the NBC Nightly News. And we are generally recognizing authoritative voices even if they aren’t employed by media companies.

The Enduring Appeal of Lists

Humans love a horse race. There is something about a list, especially one that ranks the names on it, that virtually guarantees media attention. Making lists and positioning clients -- either as the arbitor of lists or in prominent positions on prestigious lists -- is part and parcel of the publicist's craft.

We have a relentless appetite for comparison and a burning need to know how we stack up against our peers. This internal dynamic seems universal and may be related to our Darwinist evolutionary past or our continuous competition for survival. Either way lists are great ways to get attention and lists have a life beyond their credibility or origins.

Two recent lists breakling in the media illustrate the point. Newsweek's list of the Top 50 Rabbis in the United States and Editor & Publisher's list of data from Nielsen/NetRatings ranking the Top 30 websites of le.ading US daily newspapers

The rabbi list is the first ever cross-denominational ranking. Conceived by some Hollywood guys and based on a homemade ranking system, it has rocked the Jewish world and provoked endless debate and comment about who's on, who's not and why. And even though no one really has a practical use for this list and no one will actuially use it to accomplish anything, its very existance has set things in motion and stirred the pot.

Similarly the newspaper ranking, especially at a time when offline advertising is soft, will raise eyebrows among investors and readers. The New York Times high ranking can be spun to offset invenstor anxiety about its future strategy. Data about time spent onsite can also give editors and investors cues about the relevance and interest level of online content.

The marketing implication is clear. If you can create or get on a list that ranks things with built-in audiences, you can get attention regardless of who you are, how the list is compiled or what the impact of the data in a marketplace might be. 

The Enduring Appeal of Lists

Humans love a horse race. There is something about a list, especially one that ranks the names on it, that virtually guarantees media attention. Making lists and positioning clients -- either as the arbitor of lists or in prominent positions on prestigious lists -- is part and parcel of the publicist's craft.

We have a relentless appetite for comparison and a burning need to know how we stack up against our peers. This internal dynamic seems universal and may be related to our Darwinist evolutionary past or our continuous competition for survival. Either way lists are great ways to get attention and lists have a life beyond their credibility or origins.

Two recent lists breakling in the media illustrate the point. Newsweek's list of the Top 50 Rabbis in the United States and Editor & Publisher's list of data from Nielsen/NetRatings ranking the Top 30 websites of le.ading US daily newspapers

The rabbi list is the first ever cross-denominational ranking. Conceived by some Hollywood guys and based on a homemade ranking system, it has rocked the Jewish world and provoked endless debate and comment about who's on, who's not and why. And even though no one really has a practical use for this list and no one will actuially use it to accomplish anything, its very existance has set things in motion and stirred the pot.

Similarly the newspaper ranking, especially at a time when offline advertising is soft, will raise eyebrows among investors and readers. The New York Times high ranking can be spun to offset invenstor anxiety about its future strategy. Data about time spent onsite can also give editors and investors cues about the relevance and interest level of online content.

The marketing implication is clear. If you can create or get on a list that ranks things with built-in audiences, you can get attention regardless of who you are, how the list is compiled or what the impact of the data in a marketplace might be. 

Old Fashioned PR Counsel for a Digital World

People buy people. After that transaction is made all kinds of commerce and communication take place. But even in a transparent digital world where people introduce and represent themselves on Facebook, Friendster, YouTube, LinkedIn and other emerging social networks, real connections get made using old fashioned PR tactics wielded by publicists with networks of contacts, wit, wisdom, favors, timing and the sensibility of old time press agents.

And while the seedy and marginal image of Sidney Falco, Ivy Lee and a myriad of press agents and propagandists past have been largely put to bed, there is a constant need to make people-to-people connections, to develop postures for key executives, to polish brands and position brand stewards in the right circles to advance business objectives. Not every CEO is a former Stanford wunderkind or the scion of a moneyed familyor an "overnite"sensation. Most have a big job and a not-quite-clear plan that requires others to help them get where they need to go..Many boldface names get into your consciousness, show up on the dias, speak at trade shows, chair gala balls and give interviews on the pages of the magazines and websites you pay attention to because skillful publicists are hard at work.

Charlie Brotman, Washington DC's legendary PR maven, taught me this as a callow youth when I got the opportunity to be his client. I had the good sense (and a cue from him) to shut up and take notes as I watched him systematically take a short, loud, balding, pedantic, graceless and demanding new CEO from out of town and over 8-12 months introduce him and gain acceptance for him with the right people to achieve "instant" recognition in a town dominated by old school ties, old money with a provincial perspective linked to political connections, all without bruising his Duddy Kravitz ego..

Howard Rubenstein, New York City's "Mr. Connections" provides a similar, if unarticulated, service to his clients. I'd bet that most of his 450 clients would rather have Howard make a connection, open a door, put them on a board, find them a charity or set up a meeting or a call with one of his celebrity clients than get them a big story in the dailies or get them on CNN. Even in the digital age, its who you know and what they can do for you that matters.

Recently I've watched Diane Terman, an East Side doyenne and style maven, who is a partner of mine, skillfully acculturate and advance the career and prosects of an ambitious female executive from the Midwest working in the New York office of a global services firm. Her counsel has ranged from finding the right haircut, the right designer look and the right pocket book to volunteering for charities, working on industry boards and showing up at the right events. In a bit more than a year she has fully positioned this executive as a fast-tracker and integrated her into circles that have materially aided her business and impressed her bosses, got her a book deal, accelerated her access to industry leaders and engineered a profile in the New York Times.

A multi-channel PR strategy in the right hands and its steady, progressive execution is a thing of beauty to behold. But it doesn't happen by itself or by magic. In a world of clicks and widgets, strong marketing still requires seasoned practitioners making useful and purposeful connections.    

Jet Blue's Mea Culpa

David Neeleman, the Mormon founder and CEO of JetBlue,  has mastered the mea culpa. But he and his airline don't seem to be getting any credit for it. Could this fall from grace radically change the perception of the company that empowered and entertained zillions of passengers?

Reaction to the Valentine's Day snow storm debacle is surprising because no one wants to cut JetBlue any slack. Maybe consumers and commentators seem genuinely shocked because they never really thought of the brand in the airline category populated as it is by odious but necessary carriers. Or maybe we are in shock that the organization who embraced the great unwashed can actually screw up and make travel miserable for old ladies, families with small children and people accompanied by farm animals.

Yet persistent bad-mouthing in face of apologies, refunds and a proposed Passengers Bill of Rights -- things the other carriers never do in spite of regular greed-driven screw ups -- is counterintuitive. No one expects a brand to be perfect. That's why marketers and customer service people do everything they can to make deposits in customers' emotional bank accounts as a hedge against the invariable foul-up.

You would think that JetBlue should have a healthy balance with its core audience and with the public in general. So when they hit the bump, where is all the word-of-mouth marketing celebrating their many acts of contrition? Where is  the user-generated content celebrating their apology, leveraging their can-do attitude and celebrating the promise to do better and to recalibrate expectations for all airline passengers? Why haven't those millions of bloggers taken to cyberspace to defend the franchise? Is it easier to dump on Brittney than back-up JetBlue?

The Wall Street Journal reports that the competitors are pissed that Neeleman's bill of rights might provoke Congress to get involved. They don't want anyone messing with how they run their mediocre shows. Rex Hammock forgave them on his blog, but not before taking a shot at the apology e-mail. And Maria Palma while crediting JetBlue with zero common sense praised their use of YouTube as a means of transmitting their message and as a tool for communicating Neeleman's sincerity?

Is it me or are you amazed at the absence of grassroots defense? Other airlines have committed similar and even greater sins against their passengers without any contrition or public confessions. Why aren't JetBlue's legion of happy passengers standing up and differentiating JetBlue for truth, honesty and a plan to regain the American way?

    

New PR Tactics for the Word-Of-Mouth World

Bloggers are opinion leaders. They can influence brand awareness, set customer expectations and reward or punish service delivery or lapses. I buy these arguments. What I’m not sure about is how to address them to get the best spin for my clients.

In one instance, I searched Technorati, Ice Rocket, Sphere and Google’s Beta Blog Search tool to identify people blogging in our category, industry or product category. I built a list of 65 people and personally e-mailed each of them. I wrote a straightforward e-mail identifying myself as a representative of the company, soliciting their opinions and offering a free product trial. Five responded. Three took the trial. Nobody wrote a syllable about our product.

Positioning PR for Maximum Results

I am amazed at how much business people expect from public relations. But I suspect that the overblown expectations which usually follow from the injunction “let’s get some PR on this” have more to do with tight budgets than realistic marketing strategy.

PR is an incredibly competitive sport. Each day thousands of story ideas compete for space and time in hundreds of trusted media outlets. The best PR people know how to frame the story, how to craft the pitch and exactly who to talk to. And even the best practitioners have to compete with wars, hurricanes, elections, coups, Wall Street, Congress, court decisions and other stories considered competitive hard news topics by the dominant media which can easily shift the news agenda and overturn all previous plans or promises.

PR, as opposed to advertising, carries the implied third party endorsement of the medium in which it appears. Most people, even skeptical, media savvy people, believe that “If the Times prints it, it must be true.” And yet this added credibility is never as strong as a paid call to action.

Another aspect is the trade-off between endorsement and editorial control. In a typical PR placement, an editor or a producer makes a decision on what to say, how to say it, how much or who to include and what to exclude. In fact, as a point of pride and to illustrate the distinction between editorial and advertising, it is rare for newspapers or TV stations to print or air prices or contact information.

As a result, people reading or viewing a story about an event, a concert, a performer or a product are much less likely to pick up the phone, type in a URL or initiate a Google search than those who see an ad asking them explicitly to take these actions.

Marketers fantasizing that a PR campaign by itself will sell out a theater, empty a warehouse or drive traffic to 800 numbers or websites are kidding themselves. PR, like brand advertising, builds awareness, creates a buzz and begins the demand generation process. But rarely will PR alone play the role of direct response advertising.

If you don’t target your most likely audience and communicate with them directly by making an offer, you are wasting your PR effort. PR combined with well placed; controlled messages with clear calls to action are a “best practices” formula for success. Anything less is wishful thinking.