Brad Marley's Blog

The Joy of Guest Blogging

Writing a guest blog, as I have come to find out, is a lot like writing a term paper.

• There's a specific topic.

• There's a due date that can be extended with some negotiation.

• The first time you do it is a daunting experience.

• You expect to only get better.

Kirsten Wright of Wright Creativity approached me a few weeks ago and asked if I could contribute a post to her blog on the topic of creativity.  I was happy to oblige.  How hard could it be?

As the days turned into weeks, and I begged and pleaded for an extension, I found out exactly how hard it could be.

This is the worst blog post I've ever written.

She has actual followers, which means people are going to read it.

Is it to late to delete my blog and erase any digital sign of myself? 

But I pressed on.  And maybe in what is a true sign of creativity, the blog post practically wrote itself.

It started out as a treatise on why public relations and creativity don't mix, and turned into a slightly different take on creativity.

Anyway, here it is.

Weekly Grab Bag of Links - August 28, 2009

The summer of 2009 will surely reach blink-and-you'll-miss-it status if this weekend's forecast holds up.

Those of us living in the mitten are bracing for 65 degree highs.  In August.  You know, the "dog days."

I'm fully expecting 90's in October.

On that note, let's check out some links.

• Mike Hendrick and the Laws of Shamelessness (Bad Pitch Blog) - This ill-advised attempt by a journalist to land a job at a public relations firm received a lot of play on the Web this past week, but I couldn't resist adding it to the links.  Great example of how you can be too clever in your job search.

• Passing the Buck and Ethics (Pop! PR Jots) - In light of recent news that a certain PR firm ordered their interns to post favorable reviews of their clients iPhone applications in the iPhone Applications Store, Jeremy Pepper shares his view on the ethics behind this practice.

• How to Pitch a Story: Part One (Journalistics) - Every single piece of this post is spot-on and worthy of being reviewed by even the most seasoned PR professional.  A lot of firms get a bad name for spamming their reporters.  Follow these steps and you'll never (okay, rarely) piss off a reporter again.

• How to Pitch a Story: Part Two (Journalistics) - The second part in the "How to Pitch a Story" series.  You may have heard of it.

• 31 Ways To Get More Comments On Your Blog (Seth Simonds) - By no means am I a comment hoarder, but who doesn't like the occasional comment on their blog? This post shares some suggestions on how to up the feedback.

Enjoy the weather. 

Apple and the Hyperlocal Revolution

What do you do when your brand has achieved cult-like status among millions and millions of devotees?

You mobilize them and give new meaning to the term "hyperlocal."

Duh.

Following the news that Apple retail stores continue to buck the depressing economic trend, videos of packed Apple stores -- often with narration that sets up the clips -- are popping up all over the Web.

There's one from New York City.

Here's another filmed in San Francisco.

Even the Twin Cities store got in on the act.

(I also found one from an unnamed city where a customer wanted to make sure the audience knew what they were watching. Fishy.)

It's hard to believe it's a coincidence that Apple fans in different parts of the country decided to visit their local Apple store to videotape the crowds. 

I find it more likely that the idea to record videos and post them to blogs was seeded either by a post like this on Ars Technica, or alternate means of PR.

Either way, it's groundbreaking.

Why?

It's the future of public relations.

At a time when the public expresses a "deep skepticism" toward the media, it makes sense to get the word out through alternate channels.  And what better way to do that than by utilizing hyperlocal individuals who the audience trusts? The worst they can do is deny your suggestion.

It's a brilliant move.

Granted, not every company can pull this off.  But the ones that have worked hard to gain a loyal following are in a unique position to take a chance with new strategies to get the word out about their products.

Now, the question becomes: will they?

How do people react to your personal brand?

According to an unofficial poll taken of semi-drunk concertgoers from June 2005 to July of 2009, the Iron City Brewing Company is the most popular brand in America today.

I mean, of all the t-shirts I own, this one elicits the most reactions from complete strangers.

The comments I get usually range from "Iron City? More like Iron Shitty!" to "Yeah! Pittsburgh!", which is usually followed by the person pointing at my chest. My wife loves it.

I suppose it's a combination of the type of crowd at the concerts I attend and the fact that everyone gets lubed up in the parking lot a few hours prior to the gates opening, but the key takeaway is that the brand causes a reaction in people that compels them to express their opinion. 

If I wore a t-shirt with your face on the front, would it do the same?

Weekly Grab Bag of Links - August 21, 2009

I'm beginning to wonder if anybody looks forward to these posts, or if I should reduce the frequency to once-per-month.

While I ponder that, check out this week's links

• Something, Something, Something, Detroit (Vice World) - One local writer is fed up with the way Detroit has been portrayed by the national media, and here's why.  It's actually a pretty compelling read.  Did you know that some of the Detroit's structural casualties were actually abandoned long before Detroit became the symbol of the nation's recession? It's true. Read about it. 

• Networking for Dummies (The Writer's Coin) - The guy at the Writer's Coin shares his view on networking and why it's more like socializing.  It's good food for thought the next time you attend a networking event.

• If It's Important, Do It Every Day (World's Strongest Librarian) - The premise of this post (which I won't spoil) is so simple that it sounds too easy.  But I'm assured that it works.

• Does Social Media Make PR Agencies Obsolete? (David Fleet) - In a word - no.  But David goes on to explain why we're not going to become obsolete any time soon (which is good, because I have a baby on the way.)  However, the fact that anybody can reach out to a journalist via social media sites means we've got to raise our game because we're the pros, not them.

You can find all of my links on my Delicious page.

10 Things Not to Say To a Reporter

This is my attempt at humor while I think about more serious, thought-inducing things to blog about.

1. "I'll set up that interview for you, but from now on I want you to refer to me as 'Deepthroat.'" 

2. "How much does it cost to write a story about my client?"

3. "You're only blogging for the paper? I'm sorry, but my client prefers to work with a real reporter."

4. "Remember during the interview when my client compared his competitor's workforce to "slave labor"?  Can you just strike that from the conversation?" 

5. "Why, yes, this is the Brad who called you from ABC Tech Company.  I just want to make sure you received the ten voicemails I left regarding our upcoming product launch."

6. "I need to know what you look like so my executive can pick you out from the crowd when you arrive at tomorrow's event.  On a scale of 1 to 10, where would you rank yourself?"

7. "I'm sorry to hear you've been laid off.  Can make sure the profile piece we worked on together runs before you are asked to clean out your desk."

8. "What's Twitter?"

9. "I would be happy to offer you a demo of our product, but the last time we did that you wrote a particularly scathing review that we were not happy with."

10. "Can we still be Facebook friends?"  

Social media's numbers will blow your freaking mind.

To the general public, Wikipedia is about as reliable as a baseball mitt with a hole in it and Twitter is just a way to tell everybody when you're doing nothing.

Heck, I'm guilty of lessening the intended importance of Twitter. (I remain that sometimes it seems like 300 people yelling at me at once, but TweetDeck is slowly allowing me to change my mind.)

But yesterday I came across a video on the social media revolution that opened my eyes to its sheer magnitude and how prevalent it is becoming in our day-to-day lives.

The video doesn't tell us why theses sites are important, per se, but it gives us evidence, through statistics, why it is beneficial to join the discussion.

(Spoiler alert for PR people: This is where you will find your audience.)

I won't ruin your viewing of this video (which clocks in around four and a half minutes) but some of the stats were particularly eye-opening: 

• It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million users, television 13 years and the Internet four years.  Facebook added 100 million users in less than nine months.

• If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's 4th largest, right behind the United States.

• 80 percent of companies use LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees.

• If you were paid one dollar for every time an article was posted to Wikipedia, you would earn $156.23 per hour.

Here's the video:

Weekly Grab Bag of Links - August 14, 2009

Just like Christopher Columbus returned to Spain to give his funders news of new lands, I return to give my readers new links.

I realize the historical implications differ, but, hey, this is the first time I've posted links in two weeks.

Give me a break.

• The Money Diaries: The 20-something semi-conscious spender (I Will Teach You To Be Rich) - The Money Diaries are modeled after New York Magazine's Sex Diaries, only these entries focus on coinage instead of...you know what?  Just read them.  Each post is a fascinating look into the spending habits of one anonymous person over one week.

• PR People: Stop Not Knowing How to Do Stuff (Bad Pitch Blog) - Nick Balkin shares ten super-serious ways PR professionals can become rock stars.  I mean, like, SUPER serious.

• Camp Sundown shines in the Bronx (ESPN.com) - Okay, I hate the New York Yankees.  Hate them.  I think their uber-boisterous reactions to the simplest tasks this season is a carefully orchestrated PR stunt to throw us off the scent that they're actually robots.  But then I read this story about the night they opened the new Yankee Stadium for a special group of kids.  I still hate them.  But at least I know they're human. (I'm pretty sure.)

• Why PR Pros Should Be The Ones to Handle Social Media (Legends of Aerocles) - Aerocles (whoever he is) shares his reasons why PR professionals should handle social media.  It backs up a recent article from PRWeek showcasing a recent report that indicates PR people generally handle digital communications.

You can see all of my links on my Delicious page.

Adventures in PR - Turning Folly Into Fortune

At some point in your career (if you haven't done it already) you will send an e-mail to a colleague or client that will cause spontaneous swearing to emanate from your cubical while you frantically click 'Recall', hoping in vain that you were quick enough to stop the e-mail in question from leaving your inbox.

Unfortunately the Web is merciless when it comes to retrieving inadvertent e-mail.  I mean, do we really believe it when we're told an e-mail has been successfully recalled?  I didn't think so.  

In public relations, a profession that tends to "live in the inbox," realizing too late that we sent a reporter the wrong e-mail is what keeps us up at night; it's why I compulsively re-read my e-mail ten times before I click 'Send.'  And that doesn't take into account the constant clicking of the spell check button. 

The relationship with the home & garden blogger at the Joplin Globe that you worked so hard to establish can be wiped out with one e-mail that describes the lurid details of your best friend's bachelor party, when you really meant to send a fact sheet on the different types of backyard fountains to accent bird feeders.

Whoops.

But what happens when the tables are turned?  What do you do when the reporter sends you the wrong e-mail?  You can't turn down that relationship.

I once had a reporter send me an e-mail in response to my pitch that was clearly meant to go to his editor.  In it, he begged and pleaded with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek not to be forced to attend the event.

After a discussion with my boss about how to handle this unique opportunity, I replied to the reporter's response, indicating that I must have been mistaken in thinking his beat matched the focus of the event.

Even though I did not get a story out of him, he did reply to say it sounded like a great event.

Sympathy points, I guess.

Regardless, I could have left that e-mail in my inbox.  But with the proper guidance from my superiors, I took a chance and, without directly saying it, let the reporter know that I knew he didn't mean to send me the e-mail.

And maybe, just maybe, the next time he saw an e-mail from me, he'd throw me a bone.

At the very least, he would remember my name.

In public relations, that's half the battle.

Book Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

If The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was a surprisingly delectable, medium-rare filet mignon that got better with each bite devoured, then the The Girl Who Played With Fire was the chef's attempt to replicate the original experience.

Unfortunately for chefs and authors alike, the anticipation of a repeat performance is rarely, if ever, surpassed by the second helping.

That is not to say, however, that The Girl Who Played With Fire was a terrible book.  Quite the contrary.  But when the book that introduced me to a character as complex and intriguing as Lisbeth Salander forced me to remain on the couch until I plowed through to the end, well, the sequel definitely had its work cut out for it.

The second installment of the late Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy takes place roughly two years after the events of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

When Millennium magazine is approached by a freelance writer to publish a book on Sweden's underground sex trade industry that will implicate some of the country's top officials for their participation in this horrific past time, the editorial staff thinks they have another piece of investigative work on their hands comparable to the success of their fictional Wennerstrom affair coverage. 

But, as is often the case in the world of fiction, something goes wrong, and newly renowned Millennium reporter, Michael Blomquist, feels it is his journalistic duty to skirt the police investigation to solve a crime that Salander, and other characters from the first book, figure prominently in.

I usually judge books on how easy they are to walk away from mid-read, and it was not difficult to put this one aside for a day before returning to the story.

Unlike the first installment, where the story revved up about forty pages in and never stopped escalating, the second seemed to stay stuck in neutral, with an occasional uptick in gear that hinted at a top speed that never materialized.

Luckily for those of us reading the series, the third and final book, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, is scheduled to be released in October, and I hold out hope that the plodding pace of the middle entry was a necessity, because the first one was too good and showed too much promise to be an anomaly.

But who am I kidding?  Even if this book was the literary equivalent of an overcooked, dried out T-bone, I would still line up for thirds, come October.