Manhattan Marketing Maven

Bloggers: New Targets for PR Guys

PR guys have discovered bloggers. We've become the flavor of the week because there are many more of us and we are dramatically more accessible than journalists. We are also much less reliable and much flakier.

Drew Middleton was bitching about how clueless PR people are and praised Ogilvy PR for being clueless with a credo. He sounds like many journalists who write frequently about the carpet bombing publicists do in an attempt to break through the multi-channel efforts by writers, editors and producers of all stripes in all media to erect telephonic and digital barriers to avoid random pitches.

For me its kind of funny. I've gotten a few free books, a few off-beat pitches and a lot of unwarranted praise from publicists who have found me on Google Blogs or Technorati and gush about whatever I'm doing; as if they've read me. Hey, I'm not above basking in bogus glory. I'm not getting rich from Adwords clicks.

The potential to create genuine buzz by reaching out to and persuading bloggers to gush about and link to you, your product, your service, your event or your client is driving publicity seekers to mine the blogosphere. So far a few random examples where buzz was created are motivating a million half-hearted attempts. But if you are going to give a go, consider these tips to improve your performance:

1. Read a few posts. Don't rely on the blog title or even the tags to guide you. Then craft a pitch that aligns with the general thrust and tone of the blog.

2. Many bloggers are personalities. Some are really out there. The more you can frame your pitch in their voice or based on an established point of view; the better you are likely to do.

3. Unlike real journalists we aren't bound by codes of conduct or corporate watch dogs. We can be bribed with really good freebies.Don't think a cheap hat, t-shirt, mouse pad or a book nobody else wants is a really good freebie. Many of us are smarting that we are so far under the freebie radar that we never got the free Nikon, iPod or Dell Inspiron. We can be schmeared, just do it right.

4. Many of us hope to use content to lure more, new readers. If what you are pitching can help us develop our audiences, tell us and explain how and why. You'll get much better play. Better yet -- if you can teach us a new tech trick or link us to a serious traffic source, we'll put out big time.

5. Be real. We are a savvy, skeptical lot. And we can use profanity at will without limit and go off on you much worse that official media outlets. Don't try to bullshit us or sell us something that is obviously bogus.

I Hate Duane Reade

Duane Reade is a ubiquitous and terminally frustrating drug store in New York City. They have 250+ locations and a brand promise that is essentially "Always a Wait. Always an Attitude."

They are a brand that I, and others, love to hate because they are convenient yet evidence the decline of retail. They offer a broad selection and they are on almost every corner, but just as soon as you convince yourself it will be okay this time, you get into the store and confront either the absence of intelligent life, surly, insulting or downright hostile help or you join a line of 100 people being served by a single half-wit.

And yet we keep going in. Maybe its because of the $5 rebate for every $100 spent or maybe because its so close. In my case there's a store in my apartment building so even though we know better we are continual optimists. We figure -- They got the goods. Its 50 steps from our door. And maybe we can get in and out just this time without a load of bullshit. Millions make the same bet each lunch hour by jumping in to grab a necessity or two or by trying and fill a prescription before dashing back to their desks.

The Manhattan User Guide, a daily eZine, turned me on to the I Hate Duane Reade:Service From Hell  blog, which chronicles the wide disparity between the brand's stated promise and the brand's hopeless performance.  This is a very funny, validating blog that chronicles and mirrors the user experience. It confirms the value of a blog as a ranting and advocacy vehicle and it will be interesting to see if it has any influence over Duane Reade management.

They are particularly strident in criticizing the new heavily advertised "pledge" to deliver prescriptions accurately and quickly. This is such a blatant lie that its hard not to laugh out loud. But you have to wonder how the leaership and marketers can be so out of touch with their customers since this advertising signals the chain's indifference and scorn of its suffering customers.

Duane Reade makes half its revenue from the pharmacy yet in every store it is a source of outrage and communal scorn. In my store at 2589 Broadway you can be guaranteed a mob scene, street theater and the makings of a riot at any time of the day at the pharmacy counter which is staffed by rent-a-pharmacists and the largest collection of illiterate, clueless and nasty clerks ever assembled.

Its a study in human frustration watching members of every age group, ethnicity and socio-economic segments act out in reaction to incompetence, condescension and basic stupidity. Standing on the endless line watching everyone from yuppie moms with high end strollers to old ladies with pearls and walkers curse out the help, I've fantasized about holding a creative cursing competition or a "Lifeboat" themed reality TV show in the aisles of this terminally dis-functional store.

And while we all realize that technology, HMOs and managed care have changed the nature of pharmaceutical dispensing and financing, the Duane Reade experience is a taste of hell. Rarely are things ready on time, even when you use the automated phone service or the in-store kiosk something is wrong or missing. They can't recruit or keep pharmacists so you rarely see the same person twice and they have little empathy and fewer computer skills.

So stay tuned to see if user generated content can have an impact on a serial customer abuser -- Duane Reade.

    

Mining Marketing Blogs

Kevin Hillstrom analyzed 188 posts during the first seven days of April from bloggers on Mack Colliers Top 25 Marketing blogs list. He found that bloggers aren't necessarily negative and that we are groping for ways to use this medium.

Having come from the corporate side at Nordstrom and Lands End, he started with the premise "that pundits frequently took potshots at brands and that online comments were overwhelmingly negative." Fortunately his data discipline led to the opposite conclusion and he identified a much more promotional spin among the Top 10 versus 11-25, which might actually explain why they get more attention and more traffic which as also reported on Jaffe Juice.

Here are his key findings:

• 14% of posts are about brand commentary and 6 out of 10 are negative or critical
• Brands were criticized as a whole
• But innovative strategies used by brands were largely complimented
• 22% of posts were about blogging

Kevin also found that in addition to wondering and writing about the act of blogging and madly linking to other marketing bloggers in the hopes of realizing the mythic global continuous, dynamic, real-time idea marathon, marketing bloggers focus on strategic innovation, get wrapped up in the technology flavor of the moment, wax poetic about social networking and web 2.0 and blab about all kinds of things that strike them as useful or interesting but that can't be easily characterized. 

I suspect that many of the top bloggers are just like me; trying to figure out what this is all about and trying to separate whats real from the hype. My rants against brands are not only driven by bad service and bad strategy. I'm trying to see if brands are really monitoring the blogosphere or managing their reputations online. So far none of my victims (American Airlines, WaMu or Duane Reade) have noticed or commented on my beefs.

Many bloggers want to share ideas and concepts, call out cool and interesting things and have a say. They, like me, are trying to find the formula to drive greater traffic, link to blogs with bigger audiences and get themselves heard to see if anyone is really listening. And some of us, see blogging as a way to present alternative points of view and to have an intelligent and vocal "loyal opposition" to the brands, marketers and commentators that currently dominate the scene.

Hear Me Rant

If you ever wondered what these blog pieces might sound like vocalized in my Irish tenor voice, check out Jim Peake's My Success Gateway, a small business portal site that features endless gurus with limitless ideas.

Jim, who I've never met but who lives a parallel life, found me on the web, invited me to do a podcast, turned me on to a bunch of tricks he uses to look ultra professional and then smoothly conducted an hour-long free ranging conversation which allowed me to philosophize, rant, relive a dozen previous jobs, anounce the death of the advertising ageny business, name call and hopefully lay out some fundamental ideas that guide me in thinking about sales and marketing for clients.

Read the headline and you can share his pleasure at my academic self-loathing. Then listen close. You'll hear my nasal tones and rapid-fire delivery and instantly understand why I had absolutely no future in radio.