Theunis Bates
My meet the media interview this week is with Theunis (Tee-Unce) Bates a regular contributor to TIME, Fast Company and AOL News (in the US). I thought it was interesting that he saw the influence of social media has meant that he now has to PR his own work.
Name: Theunis Bates
Paul Stallard: What are your pet PR hates?
Theunis Bates: PRs that don’t consider the titles I write for. I’m never going to write about a £10 MP3 player, or a new data storage service for TIME or Fast Company magazine
Uncooperative PRs who refuse to offer any form of help if your request falls ever so slightly out of their domain.
PRs who try and dictate what/when I should write. I’m the journalist, and I’ll make those decisions thanks. If you want total control of copy, then take out an advert.
And a very individual pet hate: PRs who don’t ask how to pronounce my name, but who — over the course of several conversations — decide to stick with their own bizarre construction. I honestly won’t be offended if you ask how to pronounce Theunis. (Which, by the way, is “Tee-Unce”).
PS: Do you think that most PR professionals read the title you write for before contacting you?
TB: No. I think they see that I often write about technology, and so assume I must be interested in a gold-plated digital photo frame. (Which, by the way, I’m not). Occasionally, though, I do get a very well considered pitch. And those are the ones I typically follow up.
PS: What is your top tip for PR professionals?
TB: Please, please, please think about whether I’m really going to able to write something interesting about your product/service that will appeal to my audience.
PS: Can you recommend a PR training course?
TB: Jonathan Margolis from the FT’s How to Spend It magazine offers top quality media training.
PS: How many emails / calls do you get a day?
TB: Too many. Probably around 20 press releases a day.
PS: How has the increase of social media affected traditional journalism?
TB: It’s blurred the lines between PR and journalism. I now have to promote my own articles via Twitter, Facebook, Digg etc.
PS: Have you had to change your writing style for online copy to incorporate SEO?
TB: No. Good quality writing should hit all of the relevant words/phrases anyway.
PS: Is there a long-term future for hard copy publications, or will online rule?
TB: I’d like to think there is a future for hard copy publications. The world would be a far duller place without long-form magazine journalism. But there’s one good reason paper publications may stick around: Will people read an iPad on the loo? I think the magazine will always be king of the bathroom.
PS: Bar your own, which news titles do you read?
TB: All of the British papers (except the Express and the Star), the New York Times, Wired, the New Yorker, and the New Scientist.
In terms of online: BBC, Boing Boing, Gizmodo, Engadget and Gawker.
PS: What is the worst case of PR you have come across?
TB: Being contacted by a press officer who wanted to tell me about the great advances being made by hi-tech firms in Sri Lanka, just a week after the country’s civil war had ended. Thousands of Tamil civilians were being held in detention camps, a practice the UN and others loudly condemned. The PR was clearly working on a poorly timed campaign to improve the image of the Sri Lankan government.
PS: Are there any PR agencies you have black listed because of bad practices?
TB: Nope.
PS: What is your favourite restaurant/coffee house for briefings?
TB: Anywhere quiet in central London is fine by me.
PS: Do you believe journalists are rude to PR professionals?
TB: Yes. Sometimes with good reason, sometimes because they’re on a deadline and don’t have time to talk and sometimes simply because a lot or journalists are rude jerks.
Are you a PR superstar?
27 Jul
Justice League
After a week where my colleagues at Berkeley PR have won some brilliant new business and generated some fantastic coverage including a quarter page in The Sunday Times, three pages in Web Designer, a viewpoint in Marketing Week and a whole host of others, it simply reinforced my opinion that our team is brilliant. Some would even say they are superheroes!
It made me think about an interesting and entertaining post I read this week by Mike Schaffer who clarifies PR professionals based upon the characteristics of superheroes. Which one are you?
Meet the media: Pete Swabey, Information Age
16 Jul
Pete Swabey
This week’s Meet the Media interview is someone who needs no introduction, Pete Swabey, editor of Information Age. I asked Pete about the affect of social media on traditional journalism and he explained that he was surprised by the degree to which PR still relies on traditional media as a channel. In response to another question it was also sad to see that the editor of one of the most prominent publications in our field doesn’t believe that most PR professionals read his title. How disappointing.
Name: Pete Swabey
Title: editor of Information Age
Paul Stallard: What is your pet hate of PR?
Pete Swabey: The question “Looking forward to the weekend?”
PS: What is the best way to contact you?
PSW: Email. In an ideal world, I would simply subscribe to a feed of press releases from a given agency or client and leave email for messages that are actually directed to me. I can’t see that happening though.
PS: How many emails / calls do you get a day?
PSW: About 100 emails and between 5 and 10 calls
PS: Do you think that most PR professionals read the title you write for before contacting you?
PSW: Not most, no.
PS: Have you had to change your writing style for online copy to incorporate SEO?
PSW: We try to label stories in an appropriate way for SEO, of course, but I wouldn’t say it has changed the way we write the stories themselves or the topics we cover.
PS: Do you believe journalists are rude to PR professionals?
PSW: I am afraid to say I probably have been in the past, but I’m doing my best to grow out of it. Clearly, people who are just doing their job deserve to be treated with respect.
PS: How has the increase of social media affected traditional journalism?
PSW: Too soon to say. It hasn’t changed it as much or in quite the same way as some were predicting two or three years ago. For instance, while there have been a few breakthrough blogs, by and large I think social media has confirmed the status (if not the business models) of the newspapers because everyone wants to link to the source of a story. But we’re only getting started. What surprises me is the degree to which PR still relies on traditional media as a channel.
PS: Is there a future long term for hard copy publications or will online rule?
PSW: I’m more concerned about the future of long form journalism, which is struggling to compete with fast and shallow news online. Will ereaders and the iPad etc. change this? I hope so
Blog love: Launchpad
13 Jul
Sean Blair
Phil Szomszor has launched the first of a new series of interviews that he is calling Launchpad today, and having read the first I’m already looking forward to the next. Rather foolishly he has said that he is ripping off my meet the media series but he is doing himself a injustice. Bar the fact it is an interview it is nothing like my meet the media series….unlike quite a few other posts I have seen.
Phil’s interviews are based around profiling a range of internet start ups to see what unites them and catch up with them after a year to see how they’re getting on. The first is Sean Blair, a serial entrepreneur who started up a music service for runners called Audiofuel in December 2008 with friends Clare Crean and Howie Saunders. If you get a chance please click through and make sure you leave a comment. Phil has clearly put a lot of effort in to this and I know how much a comment is always appreciated.
Meet the media: Paul Fisher, SC Magazine
9 Jul
- Paul Fisher, SC Magazine
After a little break my meet the media series returns and the pipeline is looking good with some top names from our industry currently working on responses. We start off this week with Paul Fisher editor of SC Magazine. I think Paul makes an interesting point when he discusses how the rise in popularity of unregulated, self-opinionated blogs have changed the newspapers industry in the past 20 years ago. Enjoy.
Name: Paul Fisher
Title: Editor of SC Magazine
Paul Stallard: What is your pet hate of PR?
Paul Fisher: The usual. The “Have you read/did you get the press release I sent over”. It amazes me that in 2010 that agencies still get their juniors to do this. Is it some kind of initiation test? I know that they must sometimes get lucky but really it benefits no-one. The journalist will invariably get annoyed, the PR will feel stupid and used and the client will also suffer by association. So why does it still go on?
The other is fighting against the push nature of modern PR. When journalists actually try and pull some information or a contact from PR they don’t come up with the goods — either as required or to deadline – often both!
PS: What is the best way to contact you?
PF: Easily email. I do read it and I will respond to stuff that is useful. Phone is good but please see answer one above. Out of hours calls on mobile not usually appreciated.
PS: How many emails / calls do you get a day?
PF: I get around 100 emails, about 5 calls — I guess that ratio says something.
PS: How has the increase of social media affected traditional journalism?
PF: On the positive you can say that it has democratised the process, it’s no longer just those fortunate enough to have jobs in the traditional media who can drive opinion and get exposure.
On the other hand, is that it is now much harder to separate the wheat from the chaff and a culture has emerged that favours those who shout loudest and angriest.
The rise in popularity of unregulated, self-opinionated blogs has created a consequent rise in zealotry and intolerance in the traditional media. There was much less harsh (often uninformed) opinion and a lot more news in newspapers 20 years ago.
The reader comments that follow most mainstream opinion pieces in The Guardian and elsewhere are mostly dispiriting.
PS: Have you had to change your writing style for online copy to incorporate SEO?
PF: Not so much personally but as a company we have been encouraged to write copy and (specially) headlines for SEO. Like most publishers we have our share of new media chancers who have swapped their lack of journalistic talent for well paid positions as online gurus by telling the rest of us “what works online”. I don’t think anyone really knows what works online. I do think that people will always be drawn to good, audience targeted content – what physical form it takes is irrelevant.
PS: Is there a future long term for hard copy publications or will online rule?
PF: See above.
PS: Bar your own, which news titles do you read?
PF: FT, Economist, Guardian, Times, Computing, Computer Weekly, Engadget, TechCrunch
PS: What is your favourite restaurant/coffee house for briefings?
PF: In Hammersmith we are not spoilt for choice but the coffee lounge at the Novotel is fine for briefings – I’ve lost count of the number of meetings I’ve had there. As for restaurants, not fussed as long as it’s chosen for relative tranquillity (plus fine food and wine) so that you can actually hear what you are being briefed about.
PS: Do you believe journalists are rude to PR professionals?
PF: Some are, yes. I hope I’m not.
PS: Is being London based an advantage for PR professionals?
PF: Perhaps not so much in the internet age but it’s still where most people are.
Coverage is only 80 percent of the process
5 Jul
Coverage
At Berkeley PR we achieved a three page profile in one of our client’s trade titles last week and quite rightly they were absolutely delighted with the result. However, it was at this point that I had to remind the client that achieving the coverage was only 80 percent of the process.
PR works to raise awareness but also helps convince current customers that they are working with the best vendor and helps boost the morale of staff internally. When you get a great piece of coverage I always advise clients that they need to take note of these six steps to complete the process.
1. Include a mention of it in a customer newsletter or mailouts
2. Link to it or shout about it on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr
3. Ensure that you blog about the coverage – tell your online community about your great result
4. Buy the copyright for the PDF and put it on your website
5. Print it out as a sales handout to send with any pitches or proposals
6. Buy a few copies to be framed internally in your board room – your team will get a buzz out of seeing their smiling faces in the media and when customers visit it will help convince them that you are experts in your field.
When you get coverage you need to understand that you are working for a great company, with some brilliant customers and fantastic examples of its work. If you didn’t you wouldn’t have featured in the media so don’t be scared to tell the world.
People naturally want to work with companies that others are working with but you need to let them know about your results and how you are important enough to be mentioned in the press.
Why we buy online
4 Jul
Why we buy
Following a conversation with the impressive Andy Budd at Clearleft I recently purchased Why we buy by Paco Underhill. Increasingly this science is being applied to the online retail world and I want to apply the methodology to the PR industry. Understanding customers is essential if you want to communicate with them.
I was talking to a friend of mine who has just gone through the pitch process on the client side (God I wish I could do that) and they told me that all of the PR agencies spoke about Twitter and Facebook as a way of communicating with their audience but there was no intelligence behind it. They all said they should run a Twitter campaign and set up a Facebook fan page but none had an answer, when pushed, about why either was the correct tool to speak to their customers.
Ultimately, the question that should be asked is which tool best allows you to speak to your target audience? I sometimes feel that social media tools are just buzz words in our industry and people throw them around without remotely understanding them.
I read an interesting piece of research from Com Score which looked at how the advent of social networking sites has seen an increase in eCommerce opportunities. According to the research, users of Twitter are more likely to purchase online than people from facebook. I wonder how many people review research such as this or the demographics of networking sites before asking clients to part with vast sums of money on campaigns?
TThis would be invaluable to voucher code companies such as Savoo.co.uk or sellers of personalised gifts but I wonder how many of their PR agencies understand this or are aware of it? Surely, if this is the tool that will allow you to drive more sales then this is where the greater percentage of your communications campaign should be emphasised on?
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