October 2006
Nearly everything offered up for public consumption by companies and their PR machines is pretty sterile. Any hint of controversy is usually scrubbed clean during the editing process. Blogs are different - at least the good ones are. Written properly, blog posts are the next best thing to being a "fly on the wall."
Blogs give you an insight into what people on the inside are really thinking about regarding their market and competitors. BEA's Bill Roth has a great post on October 27, "Oracle OpenWorld: Sound and Fury, Signifying Almost Nothing." Roth sniffs at Oracle's "boring conference" and then grades himself on his pre-conference predictions for his competitor's SOA and ESB announcements. It's interesting stuff - and something you'll never see in a press release. Another example comes from an August 15 post by Eclipse's Mike Milinkovich (full disclosure time - I'm on the Eclipse media relations team here at Schwartz). Milinkovich's comments on Sun's plans to open source Java sparks a nice exchange with Simon Phipps, Sun's chief open source officer. It's not often that two high-profile executives get into a candid exchange like this in public.
I only hope that as companies discover the value of blogging they don't impose strict "message controls" on their writers. Press releases, ads and marketing collateral represent official corporate speak - it's necessary, but boring. Blogs should be opinionated, honest and a little edgy. This may make the corporate communications and legal people a little restless, but if you want to use blogs properly you have to write straight from the heart.
Posted by John Moran on October 31, 2006 at 8:39 AM
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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the importance of being completely up front in your online practices. You should avoid anonymity and pseudonyms; they will damage your credibility. Here are a couple of recent examples -
First, the wrong way. Wal-Mart and its PR firm, Edelman, have been getting hammered recently over the seemingly harmless blog "Wal-Marting Across America." Taking a chapter from Charles Kuralt's "On the Road" series for CBS, a freelance writer and her husband set out to see America, visiting various Wal-Marts along the way. The writer chronicled their experiences in her blog - and had plenty of flattering things to say about Wal-Mart and its employees. The problem? The writer neglected to mention that Wal-Mart sponsored the trip. Edelman's error? The top people of the firm, including Richard Edelman, are prolific, well respected bloggers. Edelman constantly stresses the importance of transparency, yet they failed to tell their readers they built the blog for Wal-Mart in a timely manner. Result - both parties are taking alot of needless flak (some deserved, some just gratuitous piling-on)
Now, the right way. Today's New York Times has a story on Google "bombing," a tactic that some have used to try and influence search results. In this case, liberal political activist Chris Bowers has been busy trying to elevate negative stories about vulnerable Republican candidates. Conservatives are up in arms, most likely because they haven't done it as well. But Bowers is off the hook - he used his own name, his own web site and stories that have been previously published in mainstream newspapers.
Do what you will, say what you want - and own up to it right from the start.
Posted by John Moran on October 26, 2006 at 5:27 PM
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Check out "Joining the Party, Eager to Make Friends" in today's New York Times. Saul Hansell writes about the efforts of companies to use new communication channels (blogs, podcasts and social network sites) to market their story. While this piece focuses on marketing to a young demographic, the lesson applies to all - be relevant.
Blogs, Net casts and social networking have taken their place alongside press releases, marketing collateral, sales presentations, media opportunities, analyst briefings, trade show appearances and advertising as a way to get your message out. The core message should always be the same, but the way you present it must be appropriate to the individual venue and the audience.
Posted by John Moran on October 16, 2006 at 9:11 AM
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In a post earlier this week, ZD Net's David Berlind covered Daryl Plummer's keynote at the Gartner Symposium/IT Expo. Plummer told IT managers they need to find a way to deliver business value and growth. Plummer told his audience, "IT organizations obsess about details that matter to them but not to the business...Get over it! Stop obsessing over these details...think about your approach to delivering more growth and value to the business."
Plummer's advice also applies to tech executives doing media interviews. Too many execs insist on delving into the nitty-gritty of service-oriented architecture, software-as-a-service, Web 2.0, various ultra-geeky open-source projects etc. Here's a news flash - business reporters don't care!!!!!! Talk to business reporters the way you might talk to your CEO. No CEO wants to waste time listening to the VP of Tech Wonkery prattle on about the syntax and semantics of extensible stylesheet language transformations (z-z-z-z-z-z-) - the CEO just wants to know the tech folks can help the business make money and get an edge on the competition. The business reporter is the same way.
Tell the reporter about customers using your technology - dress it up with ROI stats - offer to put the reporter in touch with your customers. Show the reporter how your technology helps customers become more profitable and more competitive - that'll get their attention and increase your chances for a great story.
Posted by John Moran on October 13, 2006 at 10:29 AM
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In his "Media Metamorphosis" blog, Chuck Tanowitz (a colleague of mine here at Schwartz) asks why so many bloggers remain anonymous. That's easy - they're gutless. It's easy to be a tough guy when there's almost no chance you'll be personally confronted or held accountable for your remarks.
Anonymous blogging is the online equivalent of flipping someone off while you're driving away at 65 mph - all glory, no risk. It's also equivalent to the people who call radio/TV talk shows - they toss verbal bombs at others, safe in the knowledge that the other person can't go after them. Years ago, the Union-Leader newspaper in New Hampshire had an editorial writer by the name of Jim Finnegan. This guy pulled no punches with his editorials, they were brutal - and every one was signed with his name at the bottom. People knew who wrote it and where to find him. I didn't agree with everything he wrote, but I respected his approach.
I'm sure there are instances when a blogger might uncover information about shenanigans going on at a business or government organization, thus justifying the cloak of anonymity - but these instances are very rare.
The blogosphere is filled with alot of worthwhile material; it's also littered with alot of junk. If you have something to say, sign your name to it!
Posted by John Moran on October 12, 2006 at 9:38 AM
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Forrester Research's Kerry Bodine last week published a report that argues poor design and usability are undermining fledgling corporate blogs. I haven't plunked down the $349 required to read the entire report, but the premise seems sound. One problem cited by Bodine is "confusing terminology." Why am I not surprised? Software companies toss around terms like SOA, AJAX and Web 2.0 as if the whole world understands what they're talking about. The reality is that most customers are too busy with their day job to follow all the next big things being promoted by vendors.
Businesses are getting into blogging and podcasting with little or no planning. This is due, in part, to the "everybody's doing it, so we better do something" mentality. Big mistake. The informal nature of new communication vehicles, such as blogging and podcasting, should not lull you into complacency. The fundamental rules of communication still apply. Who is your audience? What do you want to say to them? What do you hope to achieve? Answer these questions, plan accordingly and then get to work.
Posted by John Moran on October 10, 2006 at 1:50 PM
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In recent posts, I've mentioned Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz's blog and IBM's use of YouTube to build interest for its SOA launch - examples of companies using new communication channels to get out their message. The spotlight today is on Nissan.
Check out this morning's New York Times story "Living the Promotional Life." The auto maker is embarking on a major promotional campaign that combines "old school" media like print and TV with newer methods like blogs and online video. New approaches "provide better engagement [with target audience]" and you can "measure impressions, interaction rates and view-throughs" - and what executive doesn't love metrics.
My favorite line in the piece is from Nissan's marketing VP - "We're looking at how people consume media, not how we think they should consume media." Folks, that's what it's all about - figure out how your audience gets its information (trust me, it's different than it was yesterday) and come up with an interesting way to get into that conversation.
Posted by John Moran on October 6, 2006 at 8:47 AM
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A recent piece in Investor's Business Daily, "Tech Trends Threaten Trade Shows," examined the impact of the Internet and other technologies on trade shows. One Red Hat executive goes so far as to say that new technologies "have made the old-fashioned spectacle of trade shows obsolete." That may be a stretch, but the main point is valid - companies are using new communication channels to spread their message. When done properly, it can be an excellent way to describe and identify the value of dense software topics like SOA and web services.
HP has an online video offering called "Change Artists," a series of interviews with CEOs from HP customers such as Reuters and FedEx. Other companies are beginning to produce podcasts - online audio programs that are easy to produce and very effective for reaching a specific audience. eWeek's October 2 cover story is an excellent starting point if you'd like to know more about podcasts and why they matter to businesses.
As is the case with most new technologies, there's no need to rush headlong into these new communication channels. Know that they have great potential - start small - see what works and delivers value - and grow from there - but don't sit on the sidelines.
Posted by John Moran on October 4, 2006 at 4:46 PM
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In his blog post today, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz makes a compelling case for why the SEC should re-visit Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD). He even includes a recent letter he sent to SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) implemented Reg FD six years ago. It was "designed to promote the full and fair disclosure of information" by public companies. Organizations can use a number of ways to comply with Reg FD - e.g. a press release, a Form-8K filing, a story that appears over a major new wire or publication such as the Wall Street Journal - but not the company website.
In Section 4b of its 2000 ruling, the SEC stated that "an issuer's posting of new information on its website would not by itself be considered a sufficient method of public disclosure." But it also recognized the possibility that these rules would someday need to be amended, "As technology evolves and more investors use the Internet." Well, we've come along away in the past six years. As Schwartz suggests, it is time for the SEC to take another look at what constitutes "full and fair disclosure."
Posted by John Moran on October 3, 2006 at 2:10 PM
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Page one of the business section in today's Washington Post contains an important lesson for dealing with negative blog posts. In the piece, "Hard-Learned Lesson: Don't Try to Censor a Blogger," we read the story of an unwitting Washington, DC venture capitalist by the name of Murry Gunty. Back on January 19 of this year, Mark Pincus (founder of Tribe.net) posted a long entry on business ethics. In the middle of his post, Pincus dredged up Gunty's 1992 ballot-stuffing escapade at the Harvard Business School. Over the next six months, this entry sat virtually unnoticed in the blogosphere - only six comments were left to the original post during that time. Then Gunty made an enormous mistake. According to the Post, Gunty, or an associate acting on his behalf, sent an e-mail to Six Apart, Inc. (the host for Pincus' blog) asking that the blog post be changed. Six Apart approached Pincus, who not only didn't agree to modify the post - he dashed off a new post revealing Gunty's clumsy attempt to change the original piece. This set off a firestorm that pushed the original post to the top of a Google search for "Murry Gunty." - ugh!
There are two things you can do if you or your company show up on someone's blog:
1) Ignore it. There are millions of blogs today - use some discretion - pick the sites that deserve a response (based on the author, audience and topic).
2) Post a comment giving your side of the story. If you go this route, make sure you write in a conversational style and don't get confrontational. Present your side of the story and let it go. The author and his/her readers will respect the fact that you had the nerve to enter the lion's den. In fact, today's Post story quotes Pincus as saying, "If Murry had responded on my blog, the whole thing would have ended there."
Posted by John Moran on October 2, 2006 at 3:48 PM
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