Web Ink Now

Most PR people are spammers - Chris Anderson now blocks you and I may be next

At every one of my speeches, I say PR people are spammers. That gets everyone's attention so I have an opportunity to explain what I mean.

I get several hundred unsolicited press releases and PR pitches every week. Well over 99% of them are not targeted to me, instead they are sent to me because I am on various PR people’s lists because of this blog, because of my books, and because I am a contributing editor to EContent Magazine and have written for a bunch of other publications. I’m getting the identical piece of spam email as hundreds of other poor journalists.

To paraphrase the Wikipedia entry, spam is sending email that is both unsolicited by the recipient and sent in substantively identical form to many recipients.

Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and author of The Long Tail recently lamented that he gets 300 emails a day and he’s had it. So he's blocked PR people and has published a list of those blocked on his blog.

Chris says: "So fair warning: I only want two kinds of email: those from people I know, and those from people who have taken the time to find out what I'm interested in and composed a note meant to appeal to that (I love those emails; indeed, that's why my email address is public)."

I couldn't agree more.

At my speaking gigs, after I get people's attention by saying PR people are spammers and describe the worst practices, I also offer ideas how to be successful with the media:

> Read our blogs.
> Comment on our blogs.
> Read our books.
> Read our publications (or watch & listen to our TV & radio shows).
> Attend our speaking gigs.
> Publish your own blog.
> Send well-crafted, personal email telling us something that is interesting and helpful.

I kind of like the idea of blocking the PR people who spam and naming names on this blog...

You must unlearn what you have learned

When I first started writing The New Rules of Marketing & PR there was significant debate about "new." Is this stuff really new or is the title just a hook? Yes, I admit that the book title was partly chosen to help position the book and generate interest.

Brian Clark over at Copyblogger was one of the first to jump in. Many people such as Brian asked: "Does marketing and PR on the Web really require 'new' thinking?"

More than ever, I am convinced the answer is "yes."

Robert Scoble, in his terrific foreword to The New Rules of Marketing & PR suggests: "It's a new world you're about to enter... if you understand how to use it you can drive buzz, new product feedback, sales, and more." I couldn’t agree more, Robert.

Some recent discussion with my friend and colleague Steve Johnson helped to solidify ideas around 'new." Steve reminded me of this quote: "You must unlearn what you have learned." – Yoda in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

It can be really, really difficult to unlearn what you have learned. Which is way so many people have trouble implementing great online marketing & PR.

Don't believe me? How many spaces do you type after a period? It took me nearly a year to unlearn typing two spaces after a period. A year! Just to stop typing a space! Twenty-something years ago I learned the "old rule" - that you always type two spaces after a period. So I always typed two spaces until I started to write books and magazine articles. I was required to obey a new rule: One space only or manuscripts were rejected. Wow -- that habit was ingrained! Try making that little change yourself.

Old rule: Buy your way in with advertising

As marketing people, we've all learned rules that worked in the offline world. But to succeed on the Web using the new rules, old habits must be unlearned.

As Steve Johnson says, "Stop shouting BUY MY PRODUCT!" (people turn off overt advertising, especially online). You need to unlearn the marketing habit of constantly pitching your product. Instead create content to help people answer their problems.

Old rule: Beg your way in with PR

Your buyers are not nameless faceless metrics. They are people like you and me who want to consume valuable content.

You must unlearn the idea that media and analysts are the only ones who can tell your story. Instead, the web has made PR public again.

New Rule: Publish your way in with great content that your buyers want to consume.

> You must unlearn the use of gobbledygook about your products and services. Instead start from the problems and needs of your buyer personas.

> You must unlearn spin. Instead, understand that people crave authenticity and transparency.

> You must unlearn interrupting people with "messages." Instead, publish online content they want to consume.

> You must unlearn marketing to the masses. Instead understand who your niche buyers are and reach them with targeted Web content.

> You must unlearn being egotistical and trying to force people to adapt to your terms. Instead create online content that addresses buyer problems.

> You must unlearn the assumption that you must buy access. Instead, create something that goes viral and let millions of people tell your story for you.

> You must unlearn the idea that the "clip book" is the only way to measure your communications efforts. Instead, consider how you can reach people directly.

> You must unlearn the idea that "leads" are the only way to measure your marketing efforts. Instead, consider how you are engaging your buyers and building a position as a trusted resource.

Smart Marketers are statistically improbable according to Amazon.com

Amazon recently turned on Search Inside for The New Rules of Marketing & PR.

I finished the manuscript for the book way back in December 2006 (about a decade in Internet time). As an author, some of the things that get surfaced by Search Inside jolt me. Did I write that? It’s like running into an old girlfriend after many years.

Search Inside takes every word of the book and runs it through a bunch of algorithms. Many authors and publishers don’t like search inside because they feel people can "steal" their work. Nonsense. Having my book appear in search results when someone enters a phrase that is used in the book is a terrific benefit. Search Inside also allows buyers to virtually flip through the book as they would in a bookstore. Being able to browse before a purchase is important for any Web site. Amazon lets publishers opt out of Search Inside, but I think those who do are making a mistake.

I'm particularly intrigued by the Amazon.com Statistically Improbable Phrases which are the most distinctive phrases in the text of books in the Search Inside program. To identify Statistically Improbable Phrases, Amazon indexes every word of every book in the Search Inside program. Phrases that occurs a large number of times in a particular book relative to all Search Inside books are considered Statistically Improbable Phrases. The idea here is if a consumer is looking for a book on a subject, the Amazon search engine surfaces the right books by analyzing the text inside the book, not just the title and subtitle.

Some of the Statistically Improbable Phrases for The New Rules of Marketing & PR include: buyer personas, online media room, news release content, persona research, news release strategy, persona profile, influential bloggers, news release program, search engine marketing, click fraud, landing page, social networking sites, blog posts, online news sites, smart marketers. What a great way to surface long tail content.

So if someone, such as Adele Revella for example, had entered buyer personas into the Amazon search engine, my book would pop up in the book search results page because that phrase is statistically improbable and it appears in my book a lot. How cool is that?

I think the list of Statistically Improbable Phrases that are surfaced for my book is a great one. My book is about those things!

But hey, why are "smart marketers" statistically improbable? What does that say about marketing people?

The long tail of marketing and Apollo moon mission artifacts

As readers of this blog know, I'm a fan of Chris Anderson and his book, The Long Tail, and I followed, via Anderson's blog, his groundbreaking ideas about the Web’s economic shift away from mainstream markets toward smaller niche products and services well before his book was published in July 2006.

There is no doubt that Anderson's Long Tail thesis is critically important for marketers.

While Anderson's book focuses on product availability and selling models on the Web, the concepts apply equally well to marketing and PR on the Web. There’s no doubt that there is a long-tail "market" for Web content created by organizations of all kinds—corporations, nonprofits, churches, schools, individuals, rock bands—and used for reaching buyers—those who buy, donate, join, apply—directly.

I collect artifacts from the Apollo space program. This obsession of mine is a classic long tail hobby. Check out my Apollo Artifacts site to see some of the items in my collection. Yeah, I know, this hobby is rather odd.

Prior to the Web, it was virtually impossible for people like me to be marketed to or for us to congregate anywhere. We were lumped into general collecting (with the Beanie Baby people - how embarrassing!). I'd estimate that there are perhaps only 1,000 or so hardcore space collectors. We are way too small a market for anybody to care about prior to the Web.

But the Web opens up many more opportunities. Now, we've got our own online community: CollectSPACE.

As consumers search the Internet for answers to their problems, as they browse blogs and chat rooms and Web sites for ideas, they are searching for what organizations like yours have to offer. Unlike in the days of the old rules of interruption marketing with a mainstream message, today's consumers are looking for just the right product or service to satisfy their unique desires at the precise moment they are online.

Marketers must shift their thinking from the short head of mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy of targeting vast numbers of underserved audiences via the Web.

The space artifact dealers, for example Farthest Reaches, couldn't have done business prior to the Web. The owner, Steve Hankow, could never find his market and we space collectors couldn't find him. Now it is simple to market to people like me.

As marketers understand the Web as a place to reach millions of micromarkets with precise messages just at the point of consumption, the way they create Web content changes dramatically. Instead of a one-size-fits-all Web site with a mass-market message, we need to create many different microsites—with purpose-built landing pages and "just-right" content—each aimed at a narrow target constituency.

Kansas family and divorce lawyer builds his business through blogging

After getting tired of paying exorbitant fees to market and advertise his business, Grant D. Griffiths, a Kansas family and divorce lawyer, started his blog in March 2005. "Prior to starting the blog, I did lots of yellow page advertisements," Griffiths says. "The costs were too much and the results were not great."

Since Griffiths deals with just one practice specialty, he created his blog to speak to this target market. "I've learned that in the legal profession, and probably any other profession, you need to be very targeted. I get a huge amount of traffic from search engines. If you type in anything related to Kansas and family law into a search engine, then my blog is usually in the top few hits on the first page. I didn't do anything special to get those rankings, I just post good content."

With a blog that is targeted to specific buyer personas (people who need a lawyer who specializes in family law) and is rich in valuable content and great writing, Griffiths has averaged about a dozen e-mail inquires per week from new contacts since August 2005. Let me repeat that—Griffiths’s blog generates a dozen inquiries per week! "And on average I get two to three new cases a week from the blog," he says. "I stopped doing yellow page ads last year. In talking to other lawyers, I hear they are scared of not doing a yellow page ad because they are afraid that if they don't, then they won't get any more business. They don't feel like a real lawyer without a yellow page ad because it is traditional marketing."

Griffiths says the most important thing about blogging is to decide who you want to target. "I'm not writing my blog for other attorneys; I write for the public. More specifically, I write for people in Kansas who need a family lawyer. My practice blog is my store front, shingle, office sign, newspaper ad, and yellow page ad. It generates new business every week."

Nice job Grant!

Your best customers participate in online forums—so should you—a case study

Here is another fascinating case study that will appear in my upcoming book The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

On the Web, customers, stakeholders, and the media can immediately see what's on people’s minds. There’s never been as good of an opportunity to monitor what’s being said about you and your products than the one we have now. The Internet is like a massive focus group with uninhibited customers offering up their thoughts for free!

Tapping this resource is simple: You've got to monitor what’s being said. And when an organization is the subject of heated discussions, particularly negative ones, it just feels weird if a representative of that organization doesn’t jump in with a response. If the company is dark, not saying a thing online, participants start wondering, "What are they hiding?" Just having a presence on the blogs, forums, and chat rooms that your customers frequent shows that you care about the people who spend money with your organization. It is best not to wait for a crisis. You should participate as appropriate all the time. How can you afford not to become closer to your most vocal constituents?

Let's look at another example, but one with a much different outcome than the Sony BMG case that I wrote about a few days ago. In late 2005, Nikon introduced a new "prosumer" digital camera, the D200 model, which appeals to very advanced amateur photographers and professionals alike. Nikon launched the new model globally through specialty distributors and high-end camera stores frequented by experienced hobbyists and professionals. But Nikon also offered the D200 outside of the normal distribution channels by selling the model in "big box" stores such as Circuit City and Best Buy. The camera was a hot commodity when launched just prior to the holidays, and supply was constrained when it first hit the stores.

"The places where camera guys like me normally get Nikon gear were caught out because of a lack of supply," says Alan Scott, an experienced photographer and long-time Nikon customer. "People who preordered the D200 or who were waiting for camera retailer sites to go live with an announcement of availability were gnashing their teeth wanting to get the camera."

Like many other photographers, Scott frequents popular online digital photography forums, including Nikonians: The Nikon User Community and DPR: Digital Photography Review. "The forums were active with lots of people complaining that they couldn’t get the camera from their normal long-term suppliers but that the big box stores had them," Scott says. "Then a thread was started on Nikonians and later picked up on DPR that discussed how popular New York City photography supplier B&H, a trusted source with a knowledgeable staff that many professionals and high-end hobbyists go to, had taken orders but then were canceling them."

The first post, from ceo1939, said, "I ordered a D200 from B & H this afternoon about 4:30 mountain time. The charge was made against my credit card. A hour later I got an E Mail that said they had a technical problem and the camera was actually not in stock, but they would hold my order and charge for when they actually get in stock. I tried cancelling the charge, and got an e mail back on how to handle a disputed charge. I will see what happens when I call them in the morning."

Many camera enthusiasts and customers of B&H were monitoring the thread at this point. "Within a few hours, several dozen posts appeared on the thread and the tone had become critical of B&H, with people complaining that the company was purposely screwing them," Scott says. "Forum participants said that e-mail notifications from B&H did not work and people who called in were getting cameras in front of those who had signed up for an alert system."

The B&H situation sounds a bit like the Sony BMG incident, doesn’t it? In both cases, avid participants in specialty online forums sounded off about a company, its products, and its business practices. Both sets of threads occurred in little-known nooks of the Web, far outside mainstream media channels and other typical places that PR people monitor for what’s being said about their company and its products. But the B&H case is very different because a B&H employee was an active participant on the boards.

"Unfortunately as everyone who frequents this site knows, Nikon USA has been remarkably reluctant (diplomatic, eh?) to put this camera in retailers' hands," wrote Henry Posner of B&H Photo-Video, Inc on the DPR thread. "The result in this particular case is that had we left the order open, we'd still be sitting on your money and would have been unable to fulfill the D200 order and it's reasonable to presume you'd be chafing to get your camera, which we'd have been (and are) unable to supply due to circumstances beyond our control… We regret and apologize for having vexed you."

Unlike in the Sony BMG example, people at B&H had been monitoring the messages and were prepared to participate. "So in steps Henry Posner, who is with B&H," Scott says. "He came into the forum and said, basically, 'you’re right, we screwed you,' but then explained what happened, apologized, and said that B&H will make it right. By acknowledging the issue, one guy with one post changed the whole tone of the thread and the reputation of B&H. After that, the posts changed to become incredibly positive."

Indeed they were. "Henry's participation in various web forums is something I respect greatly," wrote BJNicholls on one thread. "I can't think of someone of power with any other business who engages in public discussion of store issues and products."

"I also admire his forthrightness," added N80. "He admits there have been some mistakes and that the situation has been hard to handle. However, he firmly denies the charges of lying and deceitfulness that have been flying around. And I absolutely believe him."

Don't you wish your customers had been this understanding the last time your company screwed up? If you participate in an active way in the online communities that they do, you will gain more sympathy.

Elevator ads? Here is some great data from a company that took the ride

David Hamm, Director of Global Marketing Communications & Advertising at Factiva, a Dow Jones and Reuters Company posted this great analysis of elevator advertising. It is worth a read of you've ever wondered how elevator advertising works or thought of trying it.

As many readers of this blog know, I am not a fan of traditional broadcast style advertising. I just think it is wasteful and that Web marketing works better and is far cheaper. That being said, I do see room for highly specific advertising that reaches a targeted buyer persona. I've always been intrigued with those little TV screens in elevators. But does advertising on them really work?

This form of advertising is fascinating because it allows an advertiser to micro-target a specific potential customer. For example, if you know what building in New York City your big prospect is headquartered in, you can cross reference the address to the network to see if they have TVs in the elevators at that building. Factiva went with Captivate Network for their advertising. Imagine broadcasting a message to people every day as they are going to and from their office.

David's post has great data on his campaign. Check it out.

I would encourage anyone who wants to try this to be very careful about creative. Because the audience is so concentrated and they cannot leave the elevator, the ads that you use must not piss people off. The potential to damage your brand with annoying ads is large. Try to provide something of value.

The Student Loan Network gains a competitive edge online with Financial Aid Podcast

Another inspiring case study that will appear in my upcoming book The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

The Student Loan Network is an online student loan company that's been around since 1998. The company is a significant lender, with some $150 million to $200 million in loans produced each year. The Student Loan Network site excels as an online guide to student loans and financial aid, and it reaches students and parents directly with financial aid advice and student loan services. Particularly interesting is the company's Financial Aid Podcast a six-days-per-week podcast available on iTunes and other podcast distribution and subscription services.

"We're always looking for a competitive edge online," says Christopher S. Penn, chief evangelist for The Student Loan Network and host of Financial Aid Podcast. His show helps students (and some parents, too) make college more affordable through shows on topics such as credit cards, international student issues, private student loans, and scholarships. But Penn also produces episodes dealing with other aspects of finance that interest young people. The podcast was the first and is by far the most popular show about financial aid for college-bound students. "So much of modern American society revolves around money in one way or another, and the more I learn about it, the more I see, the more I understand," Penn says on the bio page of his podcast's companion blog. "Money, economics, all that stuff is so important, so vital to understand, and it's what really drives me to crank out a podcast every single day. Each day, another piece gets added to the puzzle, and I know a little bit more about how to make the world work for me—and for my listeners.

"The audience for Financial Aid Podcast is primarily people who are looking to get into college, are currently in college, or have just graduated," Penn says. "The nice thing about the college aid demographic is that they all have iPods, which is ideal for the podcast as a marketing tool." Because Penn understands his buyer personas—young people—he can speak to them in an authentic, resonant way. Penn knows that for his demographic, a podcast is perfect, because so many people are already listening to audio and have iTunes accounts.

"Podcasting is great marketing because, like blogging, it is a human voice," Penn says. "Most podcasts don't have a PR stamp on them, so the shows come across as being human. The reason why this is interesting is that there is a big marketing shift going on right now. The older, traditional advertising model, like 1950s TV, is that we publish and you consume. However, today's marketing model is that we publish and you respond. It provides me real feedback from real people, and I have conversations. I can be interactive."

Penn sees a clear link between marketing and customer service at companies. He suggests that customer service needs to be real and authentic and have a human voice, just like great marketing. "There is no such thing as 'on message' anymore," Penn says. "[Customer service] is no longer about spin, but instead becoming a part of the conversation. Now I think that companies that do not make the jump to blogging and podcasting and interacting with customers look like dinosaurs. Some industries are tailor-made for this, but they do not get it. For example, I would think that real estate agents could do a great job with video podcasts, but it is very rare. If you have a customer services department, you need to be doing this kind of marketing."

Penn has conducted research about his audience and has adapted his show accordingly. "Podcasting is time-shifted," he says. "You can take it with you and listen to it at any time. My shows are all eighteen to twenty-four minutes, because twenty-four minutes is the average commute, and the average human attention span is eighteen minutes." Penn also has an interesting perspective on competition. He says that he competes with every other podcaster, because listeners only have twenty-four hours in a day.

Penn has learned that the best way to drive his listeners into The Student Loan Network sales process is to mention URLs on his show. But he is quick to point out that the show is not a sales pitch. "The podcast is not an immediate business generator. We are real and authentic. We want to help people. We want to be beneficial to people;" he says. However, based on promotions that the company has run, Penn knows that he’s generated over $10 million in loans directly from podcasts. "It’s way beyond beer money," he says.

Uncle Seth and podcasts: Putting marketing back into musicians' control

Here's an interesting case study which will appear in my book The New Rules of Marketing and PR.

Music is a classic example of a long tail business. Prior to the Web, bands that didn't have a major label behind them couldn't hope to get national or global attention. The best they could do was establish a local audience in a city or region or perhaps with a definable market such as North Eastern US college students. Enter podcasting. Anybody with some simple and easy-to-use equipment can set themselves up as a radio station and get instant global distribution via iTunes and other distribution services.

"Podcasters are a different breed, they're like you and me," says Jay Moonah, musician and songwriter of the Toronto band Uncle Seth. "With TV and commercial radio and MTV-type people, they work and talk from on high. Podcasting is different. It's neat that we've made fans out of some of these podcasters, such as George Smyth of Eclectic Mix. It's fun when they play our music, and then if I email them it is great to start a conversation." Moonah says that the Indie bands like Uncle Seth that take the lead with podcasting have benefited greatly through wider distribution which generates new fans.

Editorial note to music fans: The new Uncle Seth single, an upbeat cover of Joni Mitchell's classic song Both Sides, Now (available at iTunes) is killer.

Besides working with other podcasters, Moonah and Uncle Seth also host their own podcast. In each episode the band debates, discusses wacky topics, and plays exclusive tracks of their music not available anywhere else. "The interesting thing about the show is that we made a conscious effort not to make it just the music," Moonah says. "We wanted to get some of our personality into it. So we went the direction of doing things like talking for an entire show about the first records we ever bought."

"Within the last year or so, podcasting has become a real part of the social networking thing," Moonah says. "From a technical aspect, you could do podcasting a long time ago. But for us, the social aspect is really neat, bands and other organizations combine the music and the community and mix them together. For example there a community of Canadian Jam bands where we’ve met a lot of friends. Like other online communities it has a real world community associated with it."

As Moonah has honed his expertise with podcasting and musician web sites, he's developed a side business working with bands labels and other musicians on podcasting strategy. "Especially in Canada it's difficult making a living as a musician," he says. "My thing of combining the businesses into a big circle of music and consulting and podcasting really works well for me."

"I like people to understand that podcasting has so many uses," Moonah says. "It is a legitimate thing, not a toy for kids. So the advice I have for managers and label people is to not jump into your own podcast until you listen to other podcasts. Find podcasts that you like and you think might play you and submit your music to them to get going. Then think about what you want to do if you want to make your own podcast. The people who make it work are those who understand it. As a band you can compete with radio via podcasts because you can get onto several podcasts and then people will hear you several times, just like a radio rotation."

Yes, podcasting works for the music business. But it is also effective for many other industries. How about yours?

Develop Messages Your Buyers Want to Hear

Companies with large budgets can't wait to spend the big bucks on slick TV advertisements. It's like commissioning artwork. TV ads make marketing people at larger companies feel good. But broadcast advertisements from the TV-industrial complex don't work so well anymore. When we had three networks and no cable it was different. In the Long Tail, YouTube, TiVo, blog, multi-channel, web, time shifted world, big bucks on TV ads are like commissioning your portrait to be painted in the nineteenth century: It might make you feel good, but did it bring any money in?

Instead of deploying huge budgets for dumbed down TV commercials that purport to speak to the masses (and therefore appeal to nobody), we need to think about the messages that our niche audiences want to hear. Why not build content specifically for your niche audiences and tell them a story about your product online that is created especially for them?

Instead of spending a million dollars on a huge direct mail campaign that virtually nobody will open, why not start a blog that shows the market that you understand what they are thinking? Or why not establish a Wiki that brings together the people in a neglected niche?

Once marketers and PR people tune their brains to think about niches, they begin to see opportunity for being more effective at delivering their organization's message.