Archive | February, 2010

Meet the media: Chris Mellor, The Register

25 Feb

Chris Mellor

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

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

Name: Chris Mellor
Title I work for: The Register

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previous meet the media interviews:

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

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

22 Feb


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

15 Feb

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

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

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

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

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

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Reputation online – Jo Jamieson

15 Feb

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

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Vodafone and *that* Twitter message

10 Feb

It’s been fascinating to watch Vodafone’s unfortunate Twitter incident unfold over the past few days. You’re no doubt familiar by now with *that* tweet so I’m not going to cover old ground by going through it again. My interest has been watching how Vodafone have dealt with the aftermath.

Vodafone has run its Twitter presence as a customer support channel for some time now alongside its efforts on other social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and its own eForum. Looking at how much effort Vodafone is putting into its online engagement, it’s pretty easy to see why they acted so swiftly when the rogue tweet was published.

I personally also think it’s also clear that, far from panicking or being forced into action as some have suggested, Vodafone’s actions were transparent, swift and albeit a little clunky, addressed individual Tweeters directly, for which I think they should be applauded. Dan Bowsher, a former colleague of mine who is now part of the Vodafone team, demonstrated how seriously they are taking this mishap with his detailed explanation of their actions in response to the Reputation Online blog from earlier this week. I also thought that it was interesting that Jakub, head of web relations at Vodafone also contacted the blog to explain how the incident actually took place. Fair play and kudos to both of them – many would have just apologised and left it that.

My biggest concern is that the whole episode will be used by some to justify why business, in particular large businesses, should avoid engaging with social media and this is massively unfortunate. If anything, Vodafone’s very public experience simply illustrates how – with the right approach and attitude – a potential disaster can be averted.

I’m not saying that Vodafone can’t learn from this – I’m 100 per cent certain that they are :0), but anyone that thinks this illustrates big brands’ inability to handle channels like Twitter and Facebook is missing the point somewhat. Surely the benefit that customers have received from the service for the past seven months is greater than the inconvenience of seeing a writings of one idiot now looking for a job.

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Steve Mobs and Mapple

9 Feb

My dear friend Josie Herbert at Phiness PR pointed me in the direction of this clip from the Simpson mocking Apple after she saw my interview on PR Week. Classic line “Who dares mock our leader that we sacked ten years ago?”

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PR versus advertising

9 Feb

Banksy advert

One of my newer clients was attending an exhibition last week and was approached on her booth by a publisher for one of her trade titles. Having sat through a series of media interviews and similar approaches with me, she was well versed at listening to what they had to say about their exhibitions, advertising rates and contact lists before asking what editorial opportunities there were and what they were interested in receiving.

When she ran through the potential opportunities that were secured I felt quite proud, especially when she said that they would never have asked these questions a few months ago.

However, what did concern me was that the advertising guy started bad mouthing PR agencies. “Why bother spending money with an agency when you can buy an ad with me for a couple of months?” Initially I was quite angry with this unprofessional approach, but it actually presented the opportunity for me to present to my client why I thought he was wrong.

Clearly I am going to fight the PR industry’s corner and here are my top five reasons:

1. Who reads adverts? At the gym, I very rarely visit, they always have copies of the latest GQ for you to read. When ever I pick it up I skip throug the first 20 pages as they are of no interest to me at all – they are adverts. The content in the magazine that makes me want to buy something is the editorial copy – reviews and not ads. The same is true in every magazine in the world.

2. PR isn’t cheap but it is possible (I believe) to get more for your buck and target a wider variety of niche markets. For example, a well constructed letter to the editor could get your thoughts and opinions accross to national, business and trade titles. For the price that it would cost to achieve this, do you think you could secure similar sized advertisement in the national, business or trade magazines?

3. Too many trade titles still think of advertising with the old rules of marketing in mind, namely that it is a one way communication. There are some smarter methods out there, but trying to grab someones attention with a banner ad rarely works when compared with trying to grab their attention with a thought provoking piece of copy.

4. How can you stand out in an advert? Everyone says that they are the best in an advert, but a customer case study endorsing your product is worth so much more. Case studies allow you to paint a picture of a common problem and demonstrate how it was solved within a story. You can’t do this very easily or as effectively with an advertisement.

5. Punch above your weight. We have clients that produce fabulous solutions but are tiny in stature when compared with some of the major players in their space. PR allows them to punch above their weight. It provides them with the chance to enter debates and be seen alongside brands far bigger and richer than theyare and be judged on merit rather than how deep their pockets are.

What do you think?

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Why it’s time to take SEO more seriously

5 Feb

The WIRED blog

I was looking at where my traffic had come from this afternoon on the blog and saw that quite a few had been directed from the WIRED blog.

Intrigued I followed the link back to see that it was written by David BakerS who had participated in one of my meet the media interviews.
Apparently one of the questions I asked him about whether he had changed his writing style at all to incorporate SEO struck a cord. At the time he asked what is SEO but has subsequently been looking into the power of this practice and how it can help businesses and more importantly journalists. As David says:

It’s easy for Silicon Roundabout types to be snooty about the SEO business. It somehow challenges the purity of what they are trying to do. But then you go home and casually find a plumber by typing not much more than “plumber” in the little box in Firefox, and you see there’s something in it after all.

The world is changing. A lot of PR professionals are having to change the way that they work and deal with the online world but let’s not forget that we are not the only cog in the mechanism that are going through this evolution. So are journalists.

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PR Week video interview

5 Feb

This week I was invited to take part in a PR Week video interview about the recent Apple iPad launch. An interesting experience and one that has given me added sympathy for clients who participate in interviews.

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