Part 2: Credibility, press releases and Grandma's wisdom

There are a lot of ad and PR agencies out there promising services they can't deliver, so how does one pick an agency in this day and age?
First go to the company's website, and if it's not first rate that will tell you right there. Then look for industry recognition awards. For example we were the Internet Agency of the year this past year and prior to that we were the best midsize agency. Look at the clients, read up on the company and then visit with the company. Because there has to be that chemistry there.

Why does the world end in 120 days on the Internet?
It ends because the one constant factor about the Internet is the speed of change. All you have to do is look at the stock market to understand that. Change is accelerated. We used to write programs that went three years out, spent a month writing it, weigh twelve pounds, and now doing that is a total waste and absurd. Our programs go thirty, sixty, ninety and one hundred and twenty days and that's it. And they tend to change every month.

What about specifics of updating your site, for instance, like keeping your press releases updated?
That's an interesting example of how techniques change and a good question, because the way we used to write press releases was in the hope of it being published.

Now we write them to get into the databases. So if someone goes to Yahoo finance or goes to a company's website and they see a lot of activity as evidenced by different press releases, that leaves a very positive impression as opposed to seeing a dearth of press releases which must mean nothing's going on with these guys.

Is it important to make your press releases entertaining or should they be straightforward?
I don't recommend that people make their press releases entertainment. It should look, appear and sound like a traditional press release. It should not come across as a marketing tool; that's the exact opposite of the impression you're trying to create.

In effect it becomes a marketing tool, but it is written for a journalist in a journalistic style, and if a consumer or another business person reads it, it should appear as it would in print.

So it's not meant to be a commercial for your company?
Exactly, it's not meant to be a small brochure. It's meant to convey an important piece of news. People read the headline and the opening paragraph generally, so those need to be handled very carefully. That's where the impact is drawn, and again it's all in context. One press release does not make a difference but five or ten do. And they will tell a story.

And how do you drive people to your site to read your story?
The best way it to get a journalist to write about it. Journalistic truth is critical and in effect it gives credibility and currency to what a company is doing. Definitely the media is primary, secondly you can do direct mail online, traditional direct mail, or sponsor games and contests on your site.

And do freebies keep people at your site longer?
Yes, free has always been the most powerful word in advertising and that will never change. There's something called website optimization where 80% of the people who go online, go to a search engine first and they type in keywords. Well, it's important when someone types in a keyword that the client's website appears prominently and early.

On the first page.
Exactly and it goes way beyond meta tags and is becoming very sophisticated, and it's not a game for amateurs. There are very sophisticated programming techniques that one can use. And you can't really cheat the system, the search engines are way beyond that. It's not programming to get around the search engines, it's the way you can respond to the needs of the search engines. You use website optimization to respond more successfully.

Tell us what your Grandma told you 100 times a day that directly applies to the Internet.
"It's not what you say, it's how you say it." And that is critical, because if you come across as arrogant, untruthful, as a huckster, you will have a notable lack of success online. You must be sincere, you must have what's called "transparency" which means a willingness to share information openly.

And who resists sharing information?
It's funny because the traditional companies are actually very willing participants. Well, it's not really an Internet phenomenon; it's a company phenomenon. There are companies whose CEO will always say, "No comment." And that's in any medium. There are companies who won't disclose financial information anywhere.

It's important to remember the Internet is another communications channel. It's unique, but there are multiple communications channels. So if someone is not going to be truthful, or shrink from getting information out, it will be in all mediums. And we try to encourage people to be candid and be open.

Speaking of candid, what's your greatest PR failure?
I was representing a major computer company called InterData (no longer in business) and they were coming out with what was then called a minicomputer. We had a major press conference planned at the Plaza Hotel and no expense was spared. The day of the press conference was the day that the shuttle blew up, and it was also a day when something huge happened in Russia.

It was a convergence of two or three huge stories. And we had people flying in, had the computers there and we had two journalists show up.

Was that humbling?
For sure, and it also reinforced what the news business is about, and that you always need to have a back-up plan. In that same vein, for example, sometimes the expectations of Internet companies are way to high. People want to hold press conferences and really journalists are so overworked now, they don't have time to attend a conference or even go to lunch.

For instance, I'm sure you have people who contact you, who understand you and know who you want to interview. And that's what public relations is still about, you can have all this high tech in the world, but it's really still about high touch.

Tell me about your book, Winning PR in the Wired World.
It was written because there is no book on this subject and we see so many kids coming out of the schools and it struck me there was a need for this. A book that is a cross between a college textbook and a conversational book to teach people how to promote themselves or their products online.

You've had an amazing response.
Yes, mind-boggling. Amazon has 5800 titles in its PR category and it's already, in three months, number ten. And that's really pleasing, and McGraw Hill are gearing up to reprint the book, and for this semester already Syracuse New House School is using it. And I'm going to address the school, and Boston University, their dean, Brent Baker is recommending the book.

It's really fun, but mostly I wrote it so people could come out with the right grounding as opposed to all the other things out there.

It's a great book and thanks for the interview!