quinta-feira, 2 de abril de 2009

10 Dead or Dying PR Tactics:

10) Newspaper-based Media Relations Strategy
Newspapers are dying. Circulation is down. You can’t wrap your media relations strategy solely around trying to get print coverage anymore.
Status: Alive, but poor strategy

9) Deskside Reporter Meetings
These are the sit-down meetings where you get to know reporters and/or pitch them in person. My friend and former boss Jon Newman recently wrote about desksides, saying they’re dying. I agree. In a “former life” I flew from Richmond, VA to New York City on a semi-frequent basis for these meetings. Now, reporters (particularly the print ones) are ridiculously overtaxed and even more jaded than I remember. You will occasionally find journalists who appreciate the face-to-face time, but there aren’t many left.
Status: Hard to find

8) Media packets
I would put this tactic in the “nearly dead” category. You still see plenty of them. Just one man’s opinion, but I don’t consider glossy packets a good use of money for most organizations. I’d sooner build a micro-website or even a Facebook page.
Status: Alive, but IMHO a waste of money

7) Video news releases (VNRs)
These are still around, but they’re not nearly as popular as they were 10 years ago. The Bush Administration essentially killed this tactic.
Status: Alive, but hard to get results

6) Audio news releases (ANRs)
This tactic, which I actually promoted as a service when EndGame PR was first founded, was always the less popular younger sister of VNRs. While I’m not aware of the Bush Administration getting in trouble for ANRs, they basically died at the same time as VNRs. They’ve been replaced somewhat by podcasts or web audio soundbites used in social media news releases, but you can still find stations that are willing to accept them.
Status: See #7

5) Media Map
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this tool, it was a server-based media directory. It was horrendously expensive compared to today’s web-based directories. I recall the president of the firm where I worked being elated when I discovered we could save about $40,000 every year by switching to the web-based Bacon’s Mediasource. Oh yeah … I got some major brownie points that week!
Status: Replaced

4) Blast faxing
Remember when we used to pay services to send our releases out to hundreds or even thousands of news outlets? Who faxes anymore? I have a fax machine. I rarely use it.
Status: Replaced

3) Mailed Newsletters
These used to be very popular, but have been replaced by email newsletters that should be backed up by a blog. You’ll likely see a trend in this list. I consider anything that involves using snail mail to be outdated.
Status: Replaced

2) Bacon’s Media Guides
I’m not talking about the online media directories. I’m talking about the paper media guides … the books. I believe they’re still available in some format but, really, if I have to explain why the web-based versions are better then you need to take a course on the “Internets”.
Status: Dinosaur

1) Mailed Reporter Pitches
It’s hard to believe, but if you hunt through the “pitching preferences” in the media guides (the web-based ones of course) you’ll still find some reporters who say they prefer mailed pitches. This is another way of saying, “Don’t pitch me”. However, there was a time before email was widespread when it was a legitimate way to pitch.
Status: Doornail, as in “dead as a”

Honorable Mention: Peter Shankman claims the news release itself is dead, or will be soon, with the exception of financial releases. I disagree. I believe the release is still alive and well, but is in a different form than it was 10 years ago. I believe online distribution has saved the release from becoming a dinosaur. We’ll give it a couple of years and see who is right!

Note: Plenty of people DO still use some of the above tactics. I’m not writing this list to offend anyone. If you’re successful … I’m not judging!

http://www.endgamepr.com/blog/

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