"Relationships Won't Go Away", a Conversation with Network World's Keith Shaw
I had a nice conversation yesterday with one of our favorite journalists, Keith Shaw of Network World. I’ve worked with Keith for years and have developed a good relationship (he sends me pictures of his adorable daughter; I send him good products to review) so I was very excited to hear him tell me about his new promotion. Keith has been named Programming Director for Network World. He is in charge of driving their multimedia strategy – videos, pod casts, and developing an interactive chat channel. Keith will continue his work in the labs of Network World but limit himself to only coordinating wireless testing. He is keeping his Cool Tools blog and weekly video show (our favorite). He will also continue to be the other half of Network World’s Twisted Pair weekly pod cast with Jason Meserve. Keith’s weekly blog for DEMOletter will continue, as well. As if he doesn’t have enough on his plate, Keith also continues to drive traffic to his snack food review web site Taquitos.net. Who would have known – top technology journalist by day, snack food aficionado by night?!
Network World creating this new position for Keith is a clear indication of the direction that media is going. “Until two years ago, print was the most important,” says Keith. “All of the extra material was thrown online.” Times are certainly changing. From our experience at BLAST, we know that a blog mention may result in higher web traffic to a client’s web site than an article in print. It’s happening more and more as blogs become more popular, more targeted and more familiar. Keith made a good point when he told me that with his labs reviews, in addition to being in print, he can put them online and add graphs, a pod cast interview with the developer, or a sidebar. Online space is limitless. “You can’t record on a piece of paper,” he says. “You can just do so much more online and provide much more information to your readers.” And another positive - the shelf life is certainly longer online than for print. We can testify to that – we could save a few trees with all of the magazines and newspapers we throw out each month here at BLAST. Keith said that if he could tell PR people one thing it is “Stop trying so hard for print.” Blog coverage or a mention in a pod cast could very well drive more traffic and result in more sales than a print article – we see it happen every week
It’s an exciting time to be in the media industry – media is changing rapidly and you either adapt, or get left behind. There is one thing Keith and I discussed that will never change, however. That is the relationships between media and PR people. The relationships we’ve built with reporters, journalists, editors and producers are priceless. You need those relationships to be successful in PR and to make your clients successful. It can be the difference between getting your client average coverage, and getting your client consistent and quality coverage. It’s a give and take relationship between the media and PR people – give them good news angles and good products, they give you time, expert opinions and (hopefully) coverage. As online media takes away some of the dominance of print, there is one thing in the industry that will remain unchanged. Keith and I agree, “Relationships won’t go away.”
Many of our clients have been asking about how our new office is coming in SanFran, so I thought I would post this video which shows the progress. For those keeping notes at home, we’ve been working for the last 6 months on opening our office in SanFran. We really got lucky by a chance meeting with Mitch Kemp of PCL Real Estate in SanFrancisco (he’s been a force in the SanFran commercial market for over 30 years) who showed us properties all over the city. By complete serendepity we heard from Mitch that some space recently came available in the Hearst building, which is one of the most recognizable landmarks in SanFran located right in heart of the city.
Office space rarely comes available there as I think the average tenant occupancy is over 15 years with some tenants being there over 60 years. Did I mention the Hearst Corporation also has offices in the buildings for a few of their magazines: O,Oprah Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Cosmo, Esquire and a number of others. You can probably guess we’ll be hanging out in the lounge seeing what story opportunities are cooking!!!! Long story short, we secured space in the Hearst Building and demolition started 2 weeks ago. I flew out last week to check on the progress and finalize paint, carpet, etc and took this short video. -We’ll try to keep you abreast of the progress in the weeks/months to come.
So you have a blog - Now what are you going to do?
In our past few posts you may have noticed a more “serious” tone to our blog…it is not by accident and it is not a permanent signal that we are turning into a boring PR company. It is just a desire to add positive discourse to the blogosphere. Don’t worry - I have a feeling that an eating competition involving pizza is just around the corner …
Many companies are blogging, even the FTC. Yes, the FTC is blogging. So what makes your blog better than anyone else’s? There is no right or wrong answer. But there is one thing you must have - a voice. I have a number of blogs that I keep track of on my RSS but there are only a few that I make a point to read every day. As I started evaluating each blog, I realized they were all different. Seomoz is a blog that I really like. I don’t know a ton about SEO but I like how transparent they are about their company. From client proposals to hiring, they offer a glimpse of the company culture and their business philosophy. Another blog I often read is Seth Godin’s blog. Seth’s blog is usually quick posts of reactions/insights to situations he comes across on a daily basis. I like his posts because they usually make me stop and think, if only for a second, before I continue to my next feed.
Blogging is not art. I have yet to come across a “professional” blogger who I think has created an art form. But that is the beauty of it and why they have become popular. Anyone can blog. Just remember if you are going to do it, do it well and do it consistently. The most successful blogs keep up to date posts. Whether posts are weekly in-depth posts such as BlogMaverick, or quick daily posts, the content should be new, fresh and insightful. Don’t be afraid to open up a little and show personality. If your company is fun, show it. Be true to your company and to your culture, and people will respect you for what you are.
So blog away, friends! Just remember to have a voice and be true to that voice. As far as we’re concerned, you will continue to see our more in-depth and professional posts as we try to create our voice. Hopefully it will help provide you, dear reader, with something to think about, as well as entertain you with our fun side. And if you need a quick tool, take a look at this good resource on how to write for blogs.
Who are your favorite bloggers and why? (C’mon, send me a comment!)
I’ve a clear memory of a cartoon by Gary Larson (the Far Side) of the preverbal dog finally catching the bus (mouth on bumper) and two cows sitting in a corn field saying something like “now what’s he going to do?”. It seems to me we spend most of our time “chasing” things -more money, a better title, a new relationship, bigger clients,.....you get the picture. As I get older, it isn’t any clearer to me as to why we spend so much time chasing and so little time enjoying the moment (taking time to breathe). -I guess it’s just how we’re wired, or maybe it’s the chase we all love.
Here at BLASTmedia we’ve been chasing a few “big” fish as of late. You know the kind, the ones where you pull out all the stops - burning through color print cartridges for the shiniest proposals you can create, meeting after meeting to discuss PR strategy and flying to all corners of the country for sales calls.
After all the time we spend preparing for our “calls,” what I find most interesting is our ability to deconstruct our current plan (we’ve spent so much time building) and collectively hatch new ideas/strategies, build them out and conceptually execute all while walking down a terminal -or waiting in line for the rental car -or hanging out at the nearest Starbucks anxiously waiting for the moment to put on our selling shoes and head out the door. We can spend an entire week building a media relations campaign and in the matter of a 15-minute walk down the terminal we can deconstruct it and come up with an entirely new campaign based just off a few new insights. It’s amazing what adrenalin and caffeine can do a person’s brain. -Man, I love the chase!
So, what do you do when finally get your mouth around the bumper and catch the bus? The real chase begins! Executing the plan you hatched in the terminal on the trip to Timbuktu is the best chase of all. We’ve recently discovered we snagged those big fish we’ve been chasing! So, now the real chase begins........................breathe.
