Mutually Inclusive PR

PR Briefs - News Items October 12, 2006

1. Right On, Nikon - Joe Jaffe - Sometimes a company puts its faith in the creativity and talent of its customers, and it pays off. Nikon gave cameras to some Flickr bloggers, and created ads based on the results. Smart move.
2. Three Weeks into the Alpha Course - Darren Barefoot - Reality blogging? Darren Barefoot joins an Alpha course at a local church to learn about Christianity, and gives his response after the first three weeks.  Will he last the full 10 weeks? You have to subscribe to find out.
3. IABC Presentation on Technology in the Online Environment - Andrea Weckerle - Report on a session by Katie Paine and James Irwin.

Tags: photography, nikon, nikond80, communications, iabc, alpha course, christianity, flickr

Saskatoon BarCamp Oct. 28

In the tradition of unconferences, there will be a BarCamp in Saskatoon at the end of the month.

I don't even know if I'm going, but I'll spend tomorrow thinking about what I might present if I do go.

BarCamps are a great chance for people interested in technology and new media to talk to each other, share their enthusiasm and knowledge, and spend time with interesting people.

If you haven't checked out the Saskatoon BarCamp site and the wiki, go now.  The price is right.  It's free.

Gay and Lesbian Communications Blog

A new public relations blog examines public relations and marketing as it relates to gays and lesbians.

Three staffers from international public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard want to add a new dimension to blog coverage of communications, and to the coverage of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues.

From their first blog post:

"[We’ll] talk about the world at large and the impact of business decisions and societal impacts on our community, but we’re not going to offer up our perspective on elections, which political party is best for the LGBT community, or why this or that politician should or shouldn’t come out."

Bloggers Eddie Evans, Ben Finzel and Steve Kauffman are all members of the agency's FH Out Front  practice, which focuses on helping organizations reach and interact with the lesbian and gay population in the U.S. and other countries.

Link via Fleishman-Hillard blogger David Jones.

Tags: communications, consulting, marketing, lgbt, agencies, rainbow, blogs

Merlin Mann & David Allen: When Procrastinators Podcast

Good news for Getting Things Done devotees: Merlin Mann of the 43 Folders blog is releasing interviews with the GTD god himself David Allen, as Productive Talk podcast episodes.

In a podcast many months ago, Mann admitted that he's just as prone to procrastination as others.  He may look like a super-efficient organizer, but the reason he's so obsessive about productivity tools is that his perfectionism gets in the the way of, well, getting things done.

Allen posted to a blog for a while, but mothballed it in March, saying he needed to use his time doing other stuff. His site can be found at Davidco.com. (I guess gtd.com wasn't available.)

Mann is a natural podcaster.  His output is a bit sporadic (see above, re. procrastination), but when he posts something, it's always engaging and worth listening to.

Tags: gtd, productivity, podcasts, davidallen, 43folders,

PR Briefs - News Items October 10, 2006

• Bloggers: How To Approach Companies - Mike Manuel - Some suggestions for bloggers who want something from a company.
• Will S**ttsburgh Forgive Sienna ? - Scott Baradell - Why screw around with words when a straightforward apology would do the trick?
• SNCR Symposium & Awards Gala in 3 Weeks - Elizabeth Allbrycht invites social media and new communications folks to a symposium in Boston Nov. 1-2. Put on by the Society for New Communications Research.
• Newspapers 2.0 - Doc Searls - Ten tips for newspaper publishers on how to get with the live web and avoid extinction.

Lee and Sachi - 301 Days and Counting

  Red Rorbu - Lofoten Islands, Norway 
  Originally uploaded by LeeLeFever_TwinF.

I've been following Lee and Sachi Lefever's trip around the world on their The World Is Not Flat site.

Their most recent destination is Norway, with some amazing photos of the fjords and craggy cliffs that drop straight into the water.

I used to read a lot of travel magazines, but not so much any more.  Following this Seattle couple on their journey has been fun, partly because it's not neatly wrapped up into a feature article, with colourful locals and a pithy moral for each location.

I like the fact this is a real couple reporting on their trip, along with contributions by other travellers who want to share their own travel experiences.

Tags: travel, leelefever, photography, blogging, norway

Mick and Keef Control the Weather

When the Rolling Stones booked Regina for an October concert, I was wondering if there might be snow. But apparently Mick and the boys have an in with the weather office.

Friday concert: Balmy, sunny day, followed by a warm evening.
Saturday day off: Heavy rain all day, with strong, cold winds.
Sunday concert: Cool in the morning, warming with sun in the afternoon - no wind.

Regina is known for the Craven Country Jamboree in the summer, but we don't get a lot of A-List rock bands playing here.  Even with extra seats added at Taylor Field, the Stones sold out so fast they added a second show.

It's good to see bands like the Stones play some non-traditional venues.  And their decision to grant the beer concession to Saskatchewan-run Great West Breweries was a nice tip of the hat to a local company.

Photo of balmy concert weather - thanks to ve5cma for allowing open use of their Flickr photos.

New Blog Progress - A Little Optimization this Time

Work continues on my new PR blog. Yesterday my chosen task was to do some key word analysis of Mutually Inclusive PR, which I'll apply to the new blog.

Search Engine Optimization has grown into a very profitable industry, with most of the practitioners running successful blogs of their own. Heck, some of them have entire farms of blogs, growing "relevant" links every day.

I have no interest in going the link farm route, but with this new blog I'm going to pay a bit more attention to actively pursuing an audience.  Traffic has never been a big deal for me, but I have to admit I'd like to reach more people who are curious about how business communications, and especially external public relations, affect companies and their relationships with customers, suppliers and others.

Is search engine optimization a nefarious way of gaming Google and Yahoo?  I'm sure that's part of the landscape.  But for me, it's more about making sure that people who want to read about the topics I cover can find my stuff.

Without any effort at optimization, I've become one of the top sources on Google for such exciting searches as "Toby Maguire fat", "Pierce Mattie", "Promo Girl revealed", "Terry O'Reilly and the Age of Persuasion", and a few other laser-focused searches like that.

I'm okay with that, but I'd also like to be the one people find when they're searching for items about linking communications with business goals, examples of simple but effective PR techniques, and finding a compelling angle for your organization's story.

This is a learning process.  Two years ago, I looked at all the "how to make your blog stand out" advice from Darren Rowse and others,  and cringed a bit at the crassness of some of the techniques suggested.  Now I realize that some of those techniques would have served me well, as long as I applied a bit of class to their use.  Being witty and clever is less fulfilling if you're doing it by yourself.

A couple of other sources I'm using for advice on SEO:

Performancing and SEOBook.com.

Update: Here's a long-winded search that came my way today:
What are the public relation tools when using proactive public relations

 

My blog shows up no. 9 in Google for that search term.

Tags: promotion, self-promotion, blogging, seo, search

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PR Briefs - News Items October 2, 2006

• Spoiled Rotten (Apple) - Joseph Jaffe - The big question is, why do people let Apple get away with such consumer-unfriendly behaviour?
• Avoiding Tradmarkicide: Ziplock Bags and Apple’s iPod - Kami Huyse - The Apple trademark legal battle that's shaping up, and the challenge of protecting a trademark from becoming a generic term.
• PR Pro says NO to Skin Whitener Cosmetics - what is SK-II to do? - Pierce Mattie - Toxic products and promotion.
• Guess what? Press releases have never been exclusively for the press - David Meerman Scott - The argument against viewing a news release as something written just for journalists.
• Everybody Has the Right to Be Depressed - Scott Baradell - Depression can hit celebrities and the wealthy, the popular and the beautiful. Scott B. takes the media to task for attacking famous people who struggle with depression.
• The Social Bookmarking Faceoff - A good comparison of the various social bookmarking sites. Link via Brian Solis - The Social Bookmarking Faceoff and its Effects on PR.
• If you encrypt, are you guilty? U.S. Customs peaking into your digital life - Tris Hussey - A look at the issue of customs officers wanting to view sensitive, confidential info on your laptop or other device.
• The Future of Television, Revision3 Launches - Thomas Hawk - Digg launches a video service.
• Sharing the PR Podcast Lurrrrve - Paull Young - A quick look at several PR podcasts.
• Where are the Public Relations Firms? - John Andrews - Johnon.com asks why the fresh goods companies aren't doing any proactive public relations in response to the spinach e-coli food scare.
• I'm back to celebrate OneWebDay - Dave Traynor -  wonders if we're any further ahead in our workload and quality of life after all these advances in information.
• Social Media Communciations - A downloadable e-book. 
• Ingenious Reporting Using del.icio.us - David Jones notes a Toronto journalist who encourages people to send her del.icio.us links of things she should check out.
• Why RSS is important to marketers - Paul Gillin posts results of a survey of bloggers.
• Heather Mallick Column at CBC.ca - After quitting her column at the Globe and Mail over editing choices, Heather Mallick lands at CBC.ca with a column.

Tags: china, apple, trademarks, depression, del.icio.us, video, encryption, security, rss, social+media

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Outrageous Satire, or U.S. Foreign Policy? Hard to Tell, Some Days

When you scan a headline like this in The Onion, you know it's either a hilarious exagerration of the truth, or American foreign policy (read: credibility) has sunk to a new low.

If it's humour, everyone's getting in on the joke:

• Talking Torture and Using Germany as an Illustration - Atlantic Review
• Senate Passes Torture Bill and Bush Pardon - Drudge Report: Beavis Christ Blog
• Have You No Sense of Decency, Sir, at Long Last? - Tragos, Brian Cooney
• Senate Passes Detainee Bill Sought by Bush - New York Times

When the post 9/11 suspension of some human rights began, I hoped the various governments, armies and security agencies would somehow distinguish themselves by their ethics and actions from those who sew terror with suicide bombs in public places. The distinction continues to blur until into insignificance.

Tags: terrorists, usa, senate, anti-terrorism, torture

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