52: Anniversary Party

It’s our birthday! And in recognition of this, our 52nd weekly podcast (okay, so we missed one or two weeks) we convene a roundtable discussion of the new world of business communications.

The stars aligned perfectly: David was in Boston on a speaking tour and some of our best friends and colleagues from our years in media were up for a free meal and discussion. Our friends at Lois Paul & Partners kindly provided the venue (as well as two of our speakers) and our seven participants turned out to encompass a mix of media, marketing and financial disciplines.

The debate got quite spirited at points, with Bob Scheier and Steve Hall famously facing off over the ethics of fact checking. Venture capitalist Bill Frezza had the quote of the evening: “We are in the post-integrity age of journalism.” And Lois Paul and Ted Weismann of LPP recounted with resignation the frustration of convincing clients that it’s about more than just the Wall Street Journal these days.

This podcast runs 56:42, with several minutes of bonus material and the end. This week we launch “Dana’s Pick of the Podcast,” a new weekly feature in which Producer Dana Gillin spotlights the program’s best quote at the end of each episode. For those of you who have always wondered about our theme music, we offer the full version of Meet You In The Heavens by Rebel Soul Band. Enjoy. And post your comments below.

Thanks to our panel:

Lois Paul, President, Lois Paul & Partners

Ted Weismann, senior vice president, LP&P

Bob Scheier, IT/Business Writer

Bill Frezza, General Partner, Adams Capital Management

Steve Hall, Publisher Adrants

Download the podcast (56:42)

Below:

Bill Frezza          Bob Scheier

Lois Paul

Steve Hall

Paul Gillin & David Strom

46: How to find influencers

Paul’s writing a book, and he’s devoting a chapter to hands-on techniques for finding influencers online. It isn’t as simple as it sounds. Google indexes only a small percentage of online content and no search engine taps in to all the features of the various photo-sharing and social network sites. This week, Paul talks about what he learned conducting influencer searches on behalf of a mythical Quebec resort. Step one: master advanced search. It will save you a load of time. Learn how read tags. And understand that del.icio.us is actually a very powerful influencer search engine.

Download the podcast (19:26)

41: Putting search and recommendation engines in perspective

This week’s show was prompted by this amazing list of the best Internet marketing blog posts of 2007 by Tamar Weinberg.

With so much focus on search engine performance and user recommendations these days, PR pros may be tempted to spend all their time learning how to game the various traffic drivers that are sprouting up all over the Internet.  Sure, it’s always nice to get a traffic boost from Digg or StumbleUpon, but the value of that traffic may not be worth the effort.  The fundamental skills of PR — creating compelling content, building relationships and delivering on a message — are still critical in the Age of Search. This week, David and Paul try to put the recommendation engine craze in perspective.

Download the podcast here (13:04).

40: A look ahead

This being the final Tech PR War Stories podcast for 2007, David and Paul thought they’d stretch out a little and ruminate on what’s ahead for 2008. Here, in no particular order, are their predictions. It’s going to be another wild year for tech PR, but one in which savvy PR pros can elevate their status with employers and clients:

• The end of beats at technology publications. Reporters will become more generalized and contract experts will contribute more of the specialized coverage;
• Fragmentation in coverage of technology; it will come from a variety of sources;
• Google will buy Second Life and Skype. Paul sees big opportunities for the search giant to leverage those core technologies into franchise businesses;
• PR pros will have to do a better job at creating meaningful relationships with press. They’ll also have to reach out to unexpected places for coverage;
• Increasing concerns about privacy in social networks. Facebook’s Beacon was just the tip of the iceberg;
• The Wall Street Journal will become a free service. Rupert Murdoch has already made it clear that he wants to take the paper in this direction and that will have big implications for tech coverage as the Journal asserts itself as a major online news force;
• The rise of social search, addressing some of the inherent limitations of search. Mahalo and WikiaSearch are early proofs of concept of an evolution of the search utility;
• Vendors will increasingly become publishers and will need help from PR people to create useful and interesting content.

What do you think? Post your comments below and please continue to offer suggestions and sources for future Tech PR War Stories podcasts.

Download the podcast here (19:00).

9: The New Rules of Marketing and PR

In the first of a two-part podcast series, David and Paul talk with David Meerman-Scott, who has authored three books about marketing in the age of Web 2.0 and social media, including his forthcoming book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR which you can pre-order from Amazon. In this segment, David Meerman Scott tells how he has applied the principles he espouses in his books to win election to MarketingSherpa’s Viral Hall of Fame two years running. They also discuss the importance of search engine strategies to public relations and wonder why more PR professionals don’t consider the techniques that buyers use to find products and services when they create their press releases. PR isn’t just media relations any more, Scott argues. It’s all about taking the message directly to the customer. Why would you want to pass up such an opportunity?

Download the podcast here (14:40)