This is part of my crisis communications 2.0 program that discusses how companies should communicate with people during the good and especially the bad times using traditional and new media. I’ve been sitting on this post for a while, although I touched upon it at bub.blicio.us recently and also discussed it with Alan Levy on his BlogTalkRadio program last week. Robert Scoble’s plea for Facebook PR pushed me to finish it. It’s important to understand from the beginning that this…
Customer Service is the New, New Marketing
The topic of empowering your customers so that they become an extension of your marketing isn’t new. Transforming people into a surrogate sales force is the dream of any service organization. The difference today is that the landscape has shifted to the point where good customer service is no longer the minimum ante to play the game. Over the next decade, customer service will fuse with marketing to become a holistic inbound, outbound campaign of listening to and engaging with…
Taking a Moment to Promote Now Is Gone
What a week! On 11/27, I joined Mike McGrath and Geoff Livingston on Digital Society, McGrath’s show on BlogTalkRadio, to discuss our book Now is Gone and the principles and strategies on how to use social media to engage your customers. Then it was off to the annual PRSA Media Predicts event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. It was nice to catch up with old and new friends. I made sure to pass around Now Is Gone…
The Pitch is Dead – R.I.P.
Scroll below to read with a white background. We are gathered here to not mourn the death of “the pitch,” but to celebrate its life and how its misuse and oft irrelevance helped us improve the entire communications industry. R.I.P. Journalists and bloggers have had it and they’re fighting back. Quite honestly, it’s been a long time coming and we’re bound to see more blacklists and PR people called out for their mistakes. Hey, it happens to the best, and…
The New Rules of Breaking News, Beware of Embargoes
Part Four of a series discussing blogger relations, “Building a Bridge Between Your Story, Bloggers, and People.” Scroll to the bottom to read this article with a white background. The New Rules of Breaking News was written to open your mind and unlock creativity when introducing new products and services. It subscribes to the notion that there isn’t one “audience” to any given story or campaign. There are opportunities outside of the usual routine of drafting press releases and blasting…
The Art of Letting Go: Now Is Gone Podcast Series #3
On the heels of the official book release, Geoff Livingston and I continue our podcast series discussing the seven principles of community engagement uncovered in Now is Gone. Message control is the antithesis of social media, which enables people to communicate The video “The Break-Up” serves as the ideal example of this culture clash (just replace the word “Advertising” on his shirt with “Public Relations” and play along Companies will lose their customer relationships if they don’t learn how to…
Blogworld Expo – PR Do’s and Don’t’s
I participated in the PR Do’s and Don’t’s session at Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas. I have to say that this was one of the smartest panels I’ve had the opportnity to join in a while. Everyone just got it! The number one takeaway from the session is that PR needs to remember that whether dealing with reporters or bloggers, it’s all about people, relationships, and adding value. And at the end of the day, Public Relations is the responsibility…
Participation Is Marketing: Now Is Gone Podcast Series #2
As the official Social Media Release from Bartelby Press hitting the streets today, so does part two of our podcast series discussing the seven principles of community engagement uncovered in the upcoming book, Now is Gone. In the “Participation Is Marketing” podcast we discuss: Most companies make the mistake of assuming that merely publishing blog posts is all they need to do to “participate.” Participation requires a shift from organizational-centric based communications to customer or community-centric communications – Think Customer…
Now is Gone Set for Release on November 12, 2007
Bartelby Press issued a Social Media Release announcing that Now Is Gone: A Primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs by Geoff Livingston with yours truly will be available for sale on Monday, November 12th. In one sitting, the book helps business executives and communications professionals understand social media and how to integrate it into the marketing mix: Introduces Social Media, the benefits, and the importance of engaging with influencers and customers directly Explains the new culture of two-way…
Dear Chris Anderson, an Open Letter to Make Things Right
Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief of Wired and also author of The Long Tail, is someone whom I deeply admire and respect. We’ve linked to each other in the past and for the most part, I agree with his views and observations. Every now and then Anderson discusses the state of PR and when he does, it causes nothing less than a full-blown blogstorm that reverberates across the entire industry. But, what matters is that we all learn from it….