Archive for March, 2009


Magazine Ad Value Per Minute Study- Relevance or Selling Their Own Hype?

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

A recent article on MediaDailyNews describing a report by Magazine Publishers of America, revealed an index comparing TV, online, radio, newspapers, and magazine advertising values. After an apparent shift in supported data there appears to be a new opinion and a new metric for successfully measuring these values. When Time/Ad Impact Ratio is applied to major consumer media it implies magazines carry more than twice the impact of TV, online, radio and even photo courtesy of Johna Burkehigher than traditional newspapers. While this appears to be an attempt to create a new metric supporting this thesis I discourage PR pros from giving this too much credence.

Using Ad Value Equivalency (Media Value) as a media measurement metric is a common PR practice, but not considered a best practice. BurrellesLuce counsels practitioners who are required to show AVE to use it as an index over time vs. a stand-along metric. If you currently provide AVE as a metric of media measurement, the “best practice” is to only use the portion of the article specific to your mention. While there are those who will immediately dismiss the relevance of AVE the reality is there are still executives demanding this evaluation. Realizing there is a certain amount of trust that must be built up before you can convert AVE advocates we want you to know you have a support system with BurrellesLuce. By using this as one metric in an index where you will likely see some correlation practitioners will ultimately be able to provide a more holistic (quantitative and qualitative) analysis to raise the profile of public relations.

While I don’t subscribe to the theory that magazine advertising is more credible I know I don’t want to go without my beloved glossy pages. I believe within the thinning pages of Time and Fortune lies some of the only remaining investigative reporting. The thought of being without magazines is ghastly as long as the “please discontinue use of all portable devices” rule is in effect on every flight.

Can you imagine waiting for your dentist, doctor or hair appointment without the companionship of magazines?

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Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Media Industry, Public Relations | 5 Comments »

Are You Showing Your Value?

Monday, March 30th, 2009

The theme for the past week has been showing value for PR. Dave Mullen’s latest blog post, asked what the biggest challenge is for PR in 2009. Readers were then asked to vote, and  the overall leader has been better measurement and proving value.

I attended the National Capital Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA-NCC), #PRSA_NCC, seminar on “Tips Showing Value in 2009″ on Wednesday. Heathere Evans-Keenan, Keenan PR, moderated a panel, which included Steve Grant, NEA, Dave Groobert, Environics, and Lucien Salvant, National Association of Realtors. Here are some great tips from the panel:

  • Get to know your boss, and understand what is valuable to him/her. Work with him/her to define value.
  • Remember the definition of value is changing, so you need to take time to review and redefine.
  • Take ownership of an important piece of the overall strategy, like messaging. Then review your coverage for how your messages are being used and perceived.
  • Set measurable goals.
  • Measure your outcomes not just the outputs.
  • If your boss asks for a particular tactic, ask him/her why they feel they feel the organization need to use that tactic. This will help you understand the real motivation behind the request, which will help you advise on an overall strategy.
  • Do PR for PR. Remind stakeholders what your department is doing to help the organization. One great idea was to do a road show, so everyone in the organization will be aware of the PR strategy.

How are you showing value in your organization? What tips can you share?

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Posted in Media Measurement, Media Outreach, Media Relations, News Coverage, Public Relations | No Comments »

Social Media PR Pitching – Is It Passing You By?

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Do you sometimes feel like the rules are changing faster than you can keep up with and they’re passing you by?  You aren’t alone!   http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepe/9478475/sizes/m/

Don Bartholomew recently wrote a post where he states, “While traditional media relations will continue to play a role in public relations programming, its importance and impact is shrinking…”  He goes on to say that, “The best PR programs today take a broad, holistic view of the various avenues to engage with customers and prospects – traditional media, social media, community involvement, grassroots events – and attempt to do so in ways the customer/prospect respects and prefers.”  He then quotes the declining numbers of newspapers.

Traditional media relations and pitching are changing but not as fast as some would like you to believe. I recently read a post where the tally shows there were more (Canadian) magazine launches than closures this past year. And historically, all the best PR programs have used a variety of means to get the word out. When I worked at Shandwick (now Weber Shandwick) as long ago as the early-mid ‘90s (yes I’m that old) we pitched the print and broadcast media as well as planned and executed community grassroots events. 

A good, solid PR plan still typically begins with a media database such as BurellesLuce Media Contacts but definitely doesn’t end there. New social media may offer you many additional pitching opportunities today but don’t dismiss traditional print media just yet! 

What avenues are you using to reach out to the media?  We’d love to hear your feedback.

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Posted in Media Outreach, Media Relations, News Coverage, Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »

Will You Invest In A Twitter Premium Option?

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Investing in TwitterAs the Twitter swell surges so has the conversation about monetizing the 140-character tweets. Will this make it easier for the already resource strapped PR professionals or more difficult? Will Twitter start to gather demographic information so messages can more effectively be targeted?

According to the Wall Street Journal article Mashable Chief Executive Pete Cashmore is quoted saying “It’s kind of ironic that we’re monetizing Twitter before Twitter.” For a stand-alone service like Twitter how will their growing market respond? The charm of the Google model is the ability to develop services without a direct pass along to the end user rather through reinvest of advertising revenue for development.

Along with many of our PR peers, my BurrellesLuce colleagues and I are tweeting away and really enjoying ourselves. However, I’m left with more questions than answers about this developing medium. Will @scobleizer have the most revenue potential since he has reciprocal following practices allowing him multiple channels of communication with his sphere of influence? And most importantly will Twitter really be able to “follow the money” or jump the shark?

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Posted in Media Outreach, Media Relations, Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »

Trials and Tribulations in Twitterville

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Gail Nelson
Trials and Tribulations in TwittervilleRemember reading blogs using an RSS reader? I do. That was my everyday practice before I shifted more of my social media consumption to Twitter. This past weekend, I cozied up to my Google Reader for a good long time, and explored a surprisingly deep Twitter backlash. Who knew?

Silly
Check out this short animation from SuperNews called “Twouble with Twitters.” (I found it on the Murphy’s Law blog).  The plot: a twenty-something guy tries to persuade his twenty-something co-worker to join Twitter. It doesn’t end well. While the first twenty-something implores the second to “twitterstand,” the unconvinced co-colleague asserts that Twitter is about “randomly bragging about your unexceptional life.” (Funny, and partially true.)

Cluttered
Brian Solis has announced Friendfilter, a Twitter plug-in. You may use it to preview the profile and usage statistics of potential followers and determine if they are worth your time. It’s a form of white-listing – although receiving excessive tweets is self-inflicted form of spam, the downside of cultivating a large following. The way I see it, Friendfilter could also help power Twitter users (@gail_nelson is not one) to avoid hanging out with the less popular kids.

Superficial
In a theme he’s been building over a few posts, Robert Scoble (the Scobelizer) compares the nature of Twitter (public) with Facebook (private), and tries to figure out how each of these free services will structure advertising fees. The personal details users are willing to share on Facebook signal purchase decisions that make advertisers salivate, Scoble asserts.  People don’t tweet with the same depth, making the Twitter audience less valuable.

Addictive
Well, I’d better get this blog post off and uploaded so I can get back onto Twitter and tweet about it.

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Posted in Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »

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