Comments on: How To Work With Online Content Producers

By: Jason Keath

Jason Keath — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:02:50 +0000

Love it. Now can you fit this post into the header of my blog? Or maybe on a bumper sticker?
Might just add a page to my blog titled “Stop Pitching”

By: Casey Barto

Casey Barto — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:46:48 +0000

Excellent post, Beth. I especially agree with your thoughts about manners. It’s so important to keep in mind what we all learned in kindergarten: be kind, say thank you, etc.

By: Tom Martin

Tom Martin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:29:03 +0000

Beth
Yes, a very different scenario than the one I painted. I think the shame on your scenario is that the company/pr person pimping that MarketingProfs had published their stuff (but yet they still are not a member) obviously understands the value of the brand but won’t actually help pay to support the existence of the brand. Which is kind of cheesy I guess
As always, you make me think more, which is why I love ya. Keep it up.
@TomMartin

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:14:16 +0000

Gemma, putting down the ‘gun’ is going to be the first challenge for a lot of internal PR/marketing folks and agencies because, as you know, a more focused approach that reaches less people a) takes a lot more time and effort and b) doesn’t proliferate as quickly. With the mindset of pickups, clips and equating all of it to AVE’s the fear, I would think, is that PR will appear to not have “mass value” and therefore it doesn’t work. Which, we know not to be the case.
David, you’re welcoms, I am a fan of your books. I’ve heard that same sentiment from a lot of other bloggers and writers…not to mention analysts and customers (!!). They seek out information from sources other than the company/agency and make their own determination of its value long before contacting the company or listening to a pitch (PR or sales).
Paul Mc., I worked with an amazing though leader a few years ago and she would produce white papers that would make analysts blush for not being on the same industry wave length. It was a great way to help analysts get industry information, which in turn they would share with their clients with …. wait for it …. a recommendation to our services. She was definitely a follower of your manta: Be human. Educate. Share.
Paul B., exactly. The other issue is that “spray and pray” has a good SEO return, right? Well, we have all these links on Google now… Hooray! Okay. Well, how does that help? What happens when they click on the link? Does it go to an article pick up (which is easily dismissed) or does it go to great content where lots of folks are discussing the content and hopefully the organization, etc.
Chris, the only way to break through the noise is to get beyond it. The only way to do that is to stop having an inside-out approach. Organizations really need to understand what is going on in their industry and accept that while they are part of the industry, they are a small part. Marketing gobbledygook terms like “industry leader” are hollow. The leaders aren’t the vendors, but the people doing the actual work…the customers. This is opinion is based on my high-tech B2B marketing background, but I would think it’s the same for the B2C world. Just look at scrapbookers…they are helping vendors to create new products everyday because they use products in ways they weren’t meant to be used (out of necessity) therefore helping to create new products (and new revenue!). But if the organization isn’t an outside-in thinker…it’s a challenge. It’s the same with content…there needs to be an outside-in strategy.
Tom, good point and POV. I think it’s a fine line and knowing the community helps to determine where that line is and when it’s okay to cross it (as in your great example). Where I was coming from is PR/marketing folks that don’t make the effort to be a part of the community and they then use the brand of the content producer to self-promote. For example, say someone pitches MarketingProfs over and over (without being a part of our community) and we finally run their piece. If they then go out and say on Twitter (or wherever) “Look at us! We’re in MarketingProfs!!” It’s them using our brand to promote themselves. Versus if they comment here on the Daily Fix or in our resource area, know us on Twitter, get to know our members and what they want to read and then we pick them up and they then say “10 Steps to XYZ…Thanks MP for sharing our content!” while MP and the community are doing the same. See the difference?
The challenge is getting PR/marketing folks to see the subtleties. And, as you know, there are no hard and fast ‘rules.’ But I still think, and have seen, that if PR/marketing folks make the effort, there are greater benefits…and like I said seconds (and thirds) for continued content placement.

By: Tom Martin

Tom Martin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:35:24 +0000

Beth
Great stuff as usual. One place I might have a different POV is re: “Don’t self-promote that the content producer picked up your content, let the community help you out with that”
I actually think it is not only ok to self promote but encourage folks to do so for one reason. If I or my client thinks enough of a blogger or other content producer to reach out to them and try and insert our brand into their content, then wouldn’t my client’s brands’ followers likely also find that content producer’s stuff valuable? So by promoting that a blogger wrote about my client’s hotel, I’m intro’ing the followers of that hotel (travelers) to lets say a travel blogger they may not be currently following but maybe should be.
Seems that would be just good manners vs being “that guy” no?
@TomMartin

By: chris marentis

chris marentis — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:14:36 +0000

Really well thought out article. This is hard, detailed stuff to sort through as several of the other comments mentioned. A question I have for Beth is, what are strategies you employ for clients to break though the content “noise” and get them noticed. Thanks

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:42:19 +0000

Beth, terrific advice for PR professionals. Really then, this is an exercise in change management for the PR function because pushback is; “that approach would take too much time,” or “this is the way we’ve always done it”. It almost comes down to “spray and pray” vs a targeted “get to know your audience” approach…

By: Paul McKeon

Paul McKeon — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:05:57 +0000

Especially appreciate your thoughts about community. Online content isn’t preaching from the mountaintop, it’s rubbing elbows with the community and sharing what you know.
In the white paper “Is Anybody Following Your Thought Leadership?” we expound on similar ideas: Be human; Educate; Share.
That’s a significant change in approach for many traditional marketing pros.

By: David Meerman Scott

David Meerman Scott — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:23:38 +0000

Well said. And many thanks for mentioning my stuff.
As a journalist / blogger / author myself, I’ve written about hundreds of companies. 99% of what I write about comes via search or via things others send me. Almost nothing I write about is via pitching. My journalist friends say the same.
David

By: Gemma Went

Gemma Went — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:09:08 +0000

And may I apologise for my dreadful spelling. It was a little late when I read this

By: Gemma Went

Gemma Went — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:16:32 +0000

Great post as always Beth. So much of this comes down to being a person first and a ‘PR’ second. I think the stumbling block with may agencies is that the old scatter gun approach took less time that this more focused, strategic one. My feeling is that this extra time is a great investment if you manage to create a positive relationship with the content producer. Surely that’s the end goal, right?

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:33:15 +0000

Thanks Mark. I hope organizations that are working at placing their content with content producers find it as useful.

By: Mark W Schaefer

Mark W Schaefer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:27:45 +0000

Superb summary and very relevant. Well done.
I especially appreciate the comment about “manners.” A lot of people seem to lose civility over the web, in fact there often seems to be an aura of entitlement. I’m amazed at how even common courtesy is frequently ignored. Thanks for crystallizing this point, Beth.