Wondering what to read online?
This Vanity Fair chart provides guidance on what influential blogs cover what and — most importantly — where they land on the scale of scurrilous to earnest, and from news to opinion.
Inverted pyramids need not apply.
Tim Russert’s death hurts.
There’s heartbreak for his son, wife and father.
There’s sadness for NBC colleagues in a Washington D.C. news bureau covering a historial presidential election.
There’s a void for the 4 million viewers who let him into their homes Sunday mornings with Meet the Press, the program he transformed over a 17-year run.
Seventeen years in one place with joy, enthusiasm and dedication doesn’t happen much anymore. Tim Russert came on the scene before the Web exploded with 24/7 content, and newspapers began their slow decline.
No blogger, no radio host, no YouTube sensation can match what Tim Russert did. The “everyman” from Buffalo, New York, the son of a garbage man, showed us the meaning of transparency and authenticity long before it became fashionable, before public relations advisors claimed the words as a “strategy,” before a herd of marketers recognized honesty as valuable.
Why do we miss Tim Russert?
He’ll never be replaced.
That’s why.
Do you love concise? I mean, really short bursts and bites of copy? Seth Godin’s advice to write a 6-word classified ad is a good start on how to nail the message you want to send. For Generation Y members, write a Craigslist posting. You may have never seen a classified ad.
Here’s another fun way. Reporters and writers on deadline poring through shorthand notes or transcribing taped interviews also pretend. They picture themselves at the dinner table where they “tell it to Mom” — tell the story as if she had never heard it before, starting with the first sentence, the story’s lead.
Editors have passed the “Mom” advice along for decades. It keeps the “curse of knowledge” in check, the same affliction that can turn good PowerPoint presentations to data dump exercises that kill audience interest. About 10-20% of a reporter’s notes make it into the final story.
There’s a place for dense copy and complex sentence structures.
It’s never in marketing copy, newspaper stories, classified ads, or Craigslist postings.
At a year-end concert last night in the gym of my local elementary school, there was lots of technology to record the moment: a camcorder, digital camera or cellphone camera for each musician. Parents gathered around to get the best angle during the “Kodak” moment for both orchestra and band.
I shamelessly did the same, but not before being struck by the words on four big posters on the wall that make up the school’s code of business for its students:
The school’s mantra: Work Hard. Be Kind
Is your company or organization this together in its mission? I know a group of kids in San Diego who can probably teach you a few great things, if you have time to check out their next assembly or musical performance.
What’s your company or organization’s story? How do you tell it?
Messaging is part art and science. It takes a strong gut sense to move a group messaging session to completion — especially in the early phase of a company when stakes feel so much higher. Will we nail it? Are we over-reaching? Is it clear? Can it be better?
It almost always can be. Messaging is human. And it can change over time.
One of my favorite press release boilerplates:
About Cisco
Cisco, (NASDAQ: CSCO), is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Cisco news and information are available at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.
No discussion of routers, switches or VoIP. Pretty simple, elegant and direct with links for loads of announcements.
Now, it could be argued that “networking” is too broad (think social networks), and that connecting, communicating and collaborating can be done many ways.
But that’s the point: it can with Cisco gear.
The message police at Cisco made it simple. A good thing.
“You Give Love a Bad Name” is a timeless anthem of heartache and angst.
Some agencies give PR a bad name. There is the selection process, the excitement, and the promise of what can be. Then the boilerplate letter of agreement arrives. If you’re in PR, there is a flavor long since out of vogue (think the bubble and $25,000 monthly retainers) that you might want to take out of your toolkit. While certain offerings may help provide steady monthly income, they ultimately do little for the client and lead to a breakup.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
No mention of what these items entail. No mention of hourly rate (blended or otherwise). No mention of much.
Valuable and proactive PR has worked in my career (including cover stories for a small wireless startup on InfoWorld and eWeek, clips with the BBC, Forbes and New York Times). If you can, find a small practice (or solo practitioner) with a strong partner or two. Give them great content. Let them prioritize and sell embargoed stories (the kind that journalists want) to hand-selected key writers and editors. Prepare a case study while your at it to leverage on the marcom side after the story is published and press release issued (for general consumption and investors if you’re public).
Be patient and execute.
Most good PR happens over the telephone. Most without an expensive press tour. And probably 99.9% with nary a white paper.
Journalists (and bloggers) who matter to your business want one thing: to be first. They don’t want to be left behind chasing a story or trend. They want something new. It’s your job to find them and help get the new covered in a variety of ways.
You can run a strong PR program with a telephone, email and good contacts. If a journalist really finds your company to be remarkable, he or she will be happy to come visit you. There’s little you can accomplish in a hour when they are on deadline and trying to make editors happy.
It doesn’t sound as impressive up front.
But it works.
Are attention spans linked to age?
This post by Steve Rubel poses the question in a Gen-X and-Gen-Y context.
Are we busy looking at what others are saying, trying to stay up with the latest buzz? Or are we OK with the amount of material we’re reading to stay current?
There’s multi-tasking. Then there’s time spent, time gone that can’t always be easily tracked.
What kind of time do you like?
The web allows us to search and connect. Magazines deliver some level of predictability. And books offer the promise of a longer-term experience.
As I wound through Rancho Santa Fe during a nice training ride before sunset, I noticed the same thing over and over yesterday: drivers talking on cellphones. Talking in sports cars. SUVs. Sedans. You name it, they were on the cell talking in it.
Multi-tasking is no big deal. We all do it (I’ve seen plenty bicyclists talking on cellphones while riding–very bad idea).
But here in Southern California, the use of cellphones by motorists takes on a whole new legal twist come July 1.
The law is an opportunity for Bluetooth headset makers and cellphone service providers to help consumers understand how to avoid trouble.
Here’s just a snippet of some highlights of the new law (pulled straight off the California DMV website) that applies to those 18 and older (an entire set of different regulations apply to those under 18):
Q: Does the new “hands-free” law prohibit you from dialing a wireless telephone while driving or just talking on it?
A: The new law does not prohibit dialing, but drivers are strongly urged not to dial while driving.
Q: Will it be legal to use a Bluetooth or other earpiece?
A: Yes, however you cannot have BOTH ears covered.
Q: Does the new “hands-free” law allow you to use the speaker phone function of your wireless telephone while driving?
A: Yes.
Q: Does the new “hands-free” law allow drivers 18 and over to text message while driving?
A: The law does not specifically prohibit that, but an officer can pull over and issue a citation to a driver of any age if, in the officer’s opinion, the driver was distracted and not operating the vehicle safely. Sending text messages while driving is unsafe at any speed and is strongly discouraged.
And on it goes…
Somewhere along the way, the act of talking into a cellphone while holding it your hand became more distracting than dialing or texting, which can take as many as two hands for the less nimble and inclined?
If I were a cellphone service provider, I’d have my campaign out now in simple and straight-forward language and pictures that consumers would not find threatening.
Don’t leave the messaging to the DMV. Using all-caps to emphasize any word is for people who don’t market or sell anything. If the DMV did, we’d already have drive-through license renewal and vehicle registration service.
Quick sports quiz: Who won golf’s U.S. Open Championship last June?
A: Not Tiger Woods. No, Angel Cabrera of Argentina was the victor at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh, PA.
What golf brand logo did Cabrera wear on his cap, the most valued of sponsorship spots?
Ping not Nike.
So did Ping get its money’s worth? Surely. But so did Nike, especially since Tiger Woods, the most recognizable player in the game, was just off the lead in the final round.
In a few weeks, Tiger will be the talk of the U.S. Open again. This time not only because of his popularity, but because he’s coming off knee surgery and he’s playing a course where he loves to win. Because of that, Torrey Pines South Course in San Diego will win a week of terrific exposure on cable and network television.
The Pacific Ocean, dramatic bluffs and municipal golf course that local hackers can play for about $45 on a weekday. A great recipe for Summer fun.
And good memories.
News of Sen. Edward Kennedy’s brain tumor today made me think of one thing: Livestrong.
Marketing a product or cause around the subject of cancer is difficult.
But the bright color yellow, the inspirational wrist bands (tens of millions worldwide), and the broad support of family and friends elevated cancer survivor and 7-time Tour de France champion — Lance Armstrong — as a symbol of hope for those fighting the disease, those helping loved ones fighting the disease, and volunteers who want to help.
If you are thinking about a cause to support, Livestrong is a great one to consider.
