online makeover: as technology changes, so should your web site

Public relations agency Cohn & Wolfe had had it with its Web site. Its bland, static pres-ence didn’t quite communicate C&W’s year-old messaging that touts the agency as bold and innovative. “Our site didn’t say that at all,” says Jill Tannenbaum, chief marketing officer at Cohn & Wolfe. So the New York-based agency

set about a total overhaul of cohnwolfe.com, one that would make it stand out from the competition.

That’s a move that’s becoming common across industries and organizations, says Chris Gee, managing director of Proof Digital Media, the interactive arm of Burson-Marsteller.

“What’s happening is that organizations are starting to reevaluate their Web sites,” says Gee. Because while sites are still the digital centerpiece of the

brand, “they are now also part of a growing com-plex ecosystem of digital and social properties,” he continues, which necessitates changes.

“A few years ago site visi-tors were encouraged to click into a site and stay there,” says Gee. “Today they may stay for a while, but they can also go join a conversation about your brand somewhere outside of the site.”

The problem for organiza-tions, says Gee, is that while today’s social tools are easily

adapted for use, making whole-sale changes to a Web site, which often includes cumber-some content management and back-end systems, can be difficult.

CYBER TRENDSIn thinking about making those changes, however, it’s important to note key trends that have taken hold in the interactive world, according to Gee. They include:

Online Makeover: As Technology Changes, So Should Your Web Site

BrandingDigital PR

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September 20, 2010 prnewsonline.com Issue 36 Vol. 66 Contents!!Pop Quiz Test Your Media Relations Mojo 3

!Case Study Insects, Influencers Drive Rebranding 4

!Image Patrol Charts Target vs. PG&E 6

!Tip Sheet Writing vs. Reporting 8

Page 2 !

As a continuous student of crises, it still amazes me when companies don’t learn from their peers’ mistakes. When the egg recall crisis began this past summer, I wasn’t at all surprised to find notorious Don Decoster, owner of the egg farm currently under inves-tigation, in the headlines. He ran a scandal-plagued chicken farm in Maine that I covered in these pages back in 1997, ques-tioning whether the Decoster brand would survive. It hasn’t in fact —the Decoster brand disappeared shortly thereafter, replaced with a series of benign sounding corporate brands.

So, when the seemingly invincible Target brand was tar-

nished by a $150,000 political donation to anti-gay conserva-tive Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, I was stunned. Up until this summer, Target has managed to avoid all the anti-big box controversy that plagues its rival Wal-Mart by essentially following the classic crisis avoidance rule: don’t do stupid things, and if you do and get caught, do something to make it right. Through corporate donations and policies, Target has culti-vated a hip, gay-friendly image, and the donation was inconsis-tent with that image.

Adding fuel to the fire, the donation was the most visible early test of last winter’s contro-

versial Supreme Court ruling that allowed corporations to be treated as citizens. While Target quickly saw the error of its ways and issued an apology, in this case, “we’re sorry” wasn’t enough.

Target customers turned to their social networks to get the word out, with nearly 100,000 people becoming fans of mul-tiple Boycott Target pages on Facebook and some 1.3 million watching the “Target Ain’t People” YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FhMMmqzbD8). Protestors demanded that Target either take the money

Target Is Anything But On, While Post-Explosion, PG&E Does Its Best

BY KATIE PAINE! Image Patrol

Page 6 !

Seven Things You WillLearn in This Week’s

Issue of PR News 1. Target’s political donation to an anti-gay gubernatorial can-didate got the company into a heap of controversy. (p. 1)

2. If your bounce rate is 70% or more, you need a better Web site. (p. 2)

3. A new study of minority consumers shows the need for companies to develop commu-nity CSR and cause-marketing programs. (p. 3)

4. For its rebranding campaign, Grasshopper spent nearly $19,000 on the production of a showcase video. (p. 4)

5. One person gets credit for popularizing pitching the media via Twitter (p. 5)

6. PG&E established a $100 mil-lion victim compensation fund after a gas-pipe explosion in California. (p, 7)

7. Good reporting by PR pros makes content more relevant and compelling to target audi-ences. (p, 8)

(DID YOU KNOW?)

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Mobile is booming. “IPads, Androids and iPhones are forcing organizations to think about how they develop Web content,” says Gee. “Before, our clients would make the Web site the No. 1 priority, with mobile second. Now they’re asking themselves if their CEO will be viewing the site on his iPad.”Flash may be fading. “With mobile growing, Flash is taking a big hit. There’s a seismic shift in terms of way we’ve thought about interac-tive and rich media content,” says Gee.Social is sizzling. “More sites are integrating social media, with Facebook ‘Like’ buttons, for instance,” he says. “Content like press releases and corporate blogs integrate one-click ‘chiclets’ to share that content virally. This has caused a change in mind-set, as these tools take the visitor away from the Web site.”Customization is king. “Sites now allow visitors to customize content, so they can dictate what they want to see, and when,” says Gee.

But for organizations like Cohn & Wolfe, a change was necessary, and a big change at that. Creativity and innova-tion were the hallmarks of the redo. “For that, we didn’t go to a big digital agency,” says Tannenbaum. Instead C&W turned to Sennep, a small London digital shop that has

won its share of Webby awards. Incorporating ideas from

both the agency and Sennep, the new site certainly pushes the creativity envelope both in design and content, including features such as:

animation videos.

“sameness” of communica-tions agencies.

-tive headshots revealing two sides of the agency’s culture.

“There’s really nothing on the site that’s the same as before,” says Tannenbaum. That’s because Sennep is used to pushing boundaries, says Stuart Jackson, a partner at Sennep. “Visitors to a Web site are inherently lazy—they don’t like to read much,” says Jackson. “We wanted to present content in easily digestible way to get flavor of company without making them read three graphs of text.”

NAVIGATION Making the content easy to find is another key goal, says Mark Thomas, managing director of marketing com-munications at the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). The Newtown, Conn.-based nonprofit did a stake-holder survey about the site, and found that while visitors liked the content, they couldn’t easily find it. “You launch a site, and you notice that it starts to look like a house with additions,” says Thomas.

From the research came a goal: Visitors should be able to find information in three clicks or less. The new site divides up members’ interests into four distinct quadrants, with plenty of cross links, adds Thomas. The result? Lots of compli-ments and numbers that tell the story (see the table for pre- and post-launch metrics).

But when do you really know when your brand’s digital face needs uplifting—or a transplant? Here are some tell-tale signs from Gee:

or over, you’re in trouble. “There’s no value there,” says Gee.

navigation tool on your site.

offered in Flash. “It will be invisible to search engines, indexing and mobile plat-forms,” says Gee. PRN

[Editor’s Note: Take the PR News/BurrellesLuce Social Media Management survey at prnewsonline.com/studies/survey/50/. For more articles on digital PR, visit the PR News Subscriber Resource Center at prnewsonline.com/subscriber_resources.html.]

CONTACT:Jill Tannenbaum, [email protected]; Chris Gee, [email protected]; Stuart Jackson, [email protected]; Mark Thomas, [email protected]

Web Site Makeovers ! Page 1

National Shooting Sports Foundation Web Site Makeover—Before and AfterYear-To-Date Comparisons Aug. 2010 Aug. 2009 Monthly

Difference % YTD 2010 YTD 2009 YTD Difference

Total Visits 359,203 213,611 68.16% 2,934,483 1,833,528 60.05%Total Pages Viewed 449,843 194,776 130.95% 3,220,327 1,734,517 85.66%Unique Visitors 215,630 114,720 87.96% 1,716,444 1,037,946 65.37%Return Visitors 39,265 24,659 59.23% 321,037 208,158 54.23%

Average Time On Site 0:08:47 0:12:43 -30.93% 0:11:03 0:11:49 -6.49%

Single Page Visits 73,624 43,967 67.45% 491,721 349,198 40.81%

!Quick Study

prnewsonline.com | 9.20.10 3

PR News Pop Quiz: Time to Test Your Media Relations Mojo

True or False1. The New York Times currently

devotes a section of its online site to NYC citizen journalism.

2. The Financial Times has a standard editorial calendar copy deadline of 30 days.

3. In 2009, more than 350 magazines closed up shop.

4. It is not an accepted practice to send pitch material to more than one reporter at MarketWatch/Dow Jones.

5. CNN correspondents have come out publicly and said they prefer to be pitched via Facebook instead of Twitter.

6. Blogger Stowe Boyd is credited with popularizing media pitching via Twitter.

Multiple Choice 7. How many outlets comprise the

AP Network, the Holy Grail of syndication?a. 500b. 30,000c. 5,000d. 15,000

8. Which of the following outlets currently accepts nonexclusive embargoes?

a. TechCrunch b. Wall Street Journal c. VentureBeat d. All of the above

9. Which of the following publications did not undergo a major redesign in 2010?a. Newsweekb. Bloomberg Businessweekc. Moneyd. Fortune

10. Which topic is not addressed under the 2009 FTC guidelines concerning blogger engagement and the use of endorsements and testimonials?a. Definition of endorsementb. False or unsubstantiated statementsc. Disclosure of material connectionsd. Historical relationships

11. Which of the following publications no longer appears in hard copy?a. PC Magazineb. EE Timesc. The Economistd. CRN

12. Which blog has the highest monthly readership?a. TechCrunchb. Huffington Postc. GigaOMd. Politics Daily

Think you know everything there is to know about journalists, publications and media outreach tactics? PR News asked the team at New York- and San Francisco-based Access Communications, which specializes in media relations, to seriously test your knowledge of all things media relations. (Answers on page 5.)

CSR Important to Minority Consumers; Orgs Lag in Measuring Productivity; CMO and Corp Comm Fissure! Do-Gooder Brands: A study by VanguardComm finds that one-third of Hispanic and African-American consumers almost always choose brands because they come from com-panies with strong CSR and cause-marketing programs they believe in—compared to just one in five non-Hispanic whites. Other findings include:

and African-American respondents, respectively, agreed with the statement “companies that make sin-cere efforts to be part of the Hispanic/African-American community deserve my loy-alty.”

and African-Americans, respectively, agreed that very few brands and companies genuinely care about the state of their communities. Source: VanguardComm

! Employee Measurement: According to a study of high- and low-performing organizations issued by the The Institute for Corporate Productivity

low-performing organizations report that employees often remain in positions after their productivity has begun to wane. The same is true for only a fifth of those from high-performing

firms. Other findings from the study include:

to reach full productivity

of employees from high-performing firms said this

low-performing firms.

many companies don’t track time to full productivity. Only about six out of 10 organizations use this metric, and high performers are no more likely to use it than the average company.Source: i4cp

! Bad Alignment: More

do not see full alignment between marketing and cor-porate communications, says a survey of CMOs released by The CMO Club and Hill & Knowlton. Other findings include:

-munications plan helps:

in place report being “fully -

panies that only communi-cate on an ad hoc basis.

metrics and rewards systems

Source: The CMO Club/Hill & Knowlton

Grasshopper provides 800 and local phone numbers and other services to entrepreneurs across North America. It didn’t always have such a catchy name, though; before May

as GotVMail. Founders Siamak Taghaddos and David Hauser had long considered that name a liability. “It was hard to spell and it was not a brand name, just a product name that we could never grow with,” says Hauser. The founders talked about the name since starting

decided, this is it, we have to do a rebrand,” says Hauser.

BIG LEAPBrainstorming sessions in

Grasshopper. Why an insect? “It was a name we could brand, no one had really used in the past and the more we looked into it, a grasshopper was much

like an entrepreneur,” explains Hauser. “It’s always jumping forward, and can jump many times the size of its body.” Plus, adds Hauser, “grasshopper” is easy to spell and to remember.

Once the decision was made, the company embarked on an initiative with three goals:

name.

new brand.

target audience.

launched what it calls a “multi-sensory” campaign, the major components being a unique direct mail piece sent to 5,000 of the most influential people in North America, with a link to a video about the power of entrepreneurship.

Whoa. Creating a contact list of the most influential people in America? Sounds like a tall order. Jeremy Butler, Grasshopper’s director of mar-keting, describes the process:

“We had interns take every big news outlet there is, and research people who made their front pages or covers,” says Butler. “We’d also target the person who wrote the article, and who took that person’s photo.” Repeating this process led to a pretty big list. “We also sent them to every senator, the president and tons of “celeb-rity entrepreneurs,” including P Diddy and Oprah Winfrey. Butler adds that they received calls from national security departments asking why they targeted every U.S. senator.

COCO CRITTERSBut how would the team attract the attention of movers and shakers? A FedEx package would be delivered to each influencer. Inside the package would be a smaller package that put the brand name front and center—inside would be five chocolate-covered grass-hoppers. Yes, real ready-to-eat

Butler and the team knew that FedEx packages often side-step office gatekeepers, who

usually don’t open FedEx pack-ages for their bosses—they just put them on their desks. As for the contents, Butler knew it was a gamble. “Some people could be disgusted and offended, but the opportunity to garner buzz was too great not to do it,” he says. The grasshoppers reinforced the brand and were controversial enough to spark conversation, added Butler.

So, a supplier of grass-hoppers was found, and Grasshopper the company picked a particular type of green-colored chocolate to coat

packages were sent to the list of influencers. Once opened, targets found a glossy white bag with an attached hang tag. The hang tag had a URL that directed recipients to a landing page, where they could click on a video made to inspire entre-preneurs (see sidebar for more on the video). The copy on the packaging appealed to the “risk-taking” spirit of entrepreneurs, says Butler. It also urged them to take an unconventional risk and try eating the grasshoppers.

Company: GrasshopperTimeframe: May - August 2009Budget: $68,103

!Case Study


Don’t Cut Corners, and Other Key Online Video StrategiesWhile phone system designer Grasshopper delivered chocolate-covered insects to get influencers’ attention during its rebranding effort, the more traditional video component was key, says Jonathan Kay, the company’s ambassador of buzz. The video, featured on both the Grasshopper site and YouTube drew on the history of entrepreneurship, and suggested that entrepreneurs had the power to serve as innovators. At its peak, the video drew over 8,000 views per day. Here are some key video strategies from Kay:

Promote the video before the campaign hits. Kay personally reached out to bloggers a week before the packages were sent.

Make sure your viewers are quickly drawn in. Grasshopper’s video was not just visually appealing. Carly Comando, who has written music for the NBA, wrote music specifically for the video.

Don’t skimp on the production. The video cost Grasshopper $18,708 to produce; the company considers it money well spent.

Bugging your audience: Recipients of Grasshopper’s direct mail piece found a culinary surprise inside, along with a link to a video.

Grasshopper’s ‘Multi-Sensory’ Campaign Grows by Leaps And Bounds, Creating Big Buzz Around Rebranding

Photo courtesy G

rasshopper

Media RelationsSocial MediaBranding


BUZZ DOES ITIt was at this point in the cam-paign where communications came to the forefront. Jonathan Kay, Grasshopper’s ambassador of buzz, went to work reaching out to the influencers, and reacting to people who were already talking about the grass-hoppers.

“Balancing my time between the two was really a challenge,” says Kay. Yet finding that balance, he continues, is what allowed Grasshopper to keep the conversation going for months.

MEDIA MUNCHERSGrasshoppers were sent to every media outlet in the U.S. con-sidered to be influential. Not surprisingly, says Kay, “some ignored it while others really had fun with it.” Kay contacted nearly every ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS local affiliate and “egged them on to have their news anchors eat them,” he says. Kay says seven or eight news anchors ended up eating grass-hoppers live on the air.

SOCIAL SPREADBut it was social media, says Kay, that was most responsible for the campaign’s viral success. Upon receiving the package, recipients did not know who sent it or why, which drove people to start asking questions via Twitter and Facebook like “Did anyone else get chocolate-covered grasshoppers?” or “I

just got a FedEx with chocolate grasshoppers—should I eat them?” Entrepreneurial guru Guy Kawasaki and Internet legends Kevin Rose and Jason Calacanis commented on the grasshoppers to nearly a mil-lion of their followers.

Tweets and retweets abounded, as the chatter about Grasshopper increased. Once the company Grasshopper was identified as the sender of the packages, the team began receiving hundreds of unsolic-ited videos and images of people eating the grasshoppers, says Kay.

WINNING STATSBy any measure, the campaign’s numbers were impressive, including:

-

-

articles: 119

“How it Works” on

LESSONS LEARNEDWhile the numbers indicate the Grasshopper team scored well in execution, Kay says there

was one strategic oversight: “We didn’t keep our current customers in the loop about the rebrand as much as we should have,” he says. “We were so worried about keeping it a secret, that we did surprise and upset a few of them—I think we could have found a more reasonable middle ground in our outreach.”

Kay also makes a point about brainstorming ideas for viral campaigns: “Think about what is interesting to you, and what you might go home to tell a friend or relative about,” he says. And though it sounds corny, having fun with an idea “is very contagious to the people you’re trying to connect with,” says Kay.

GIMMICK OR BRAND BUILDER?While the idea of sending grasshoppers to people may have been fun, what did that tactic do to spread the busi-ness value of Grasshopper the company? Butler realizes it’s a fine line.

“Without the risky piece to it, people might not have ever had any exposure to the video

and our message,” says Butler. “But I’m sure there were some people who, upon realizing we sent them grasshoppers, never even noticed the video or our message.

Hauser makes it clear that the campaign met all of Grasshopper’s objectives. “We wanted to clearly tell the market and our customers that Grasshopper equals entrepre-neurs or entrepreneurship,” he says. “The messaging was very clear in everything we did with the rebrand, and we’re con-tinuing with that messaging.”

Hauser adds that because of the campaign, orders are up, new products are being launched and the company has greater visibility. PRN

[Editor’s Note: For other “appe-tizing” case studies, visit the PR News Subscriber Resource Center at prnewsonline.com/subscriber_resources.html.]

CONTACT:David Hauser, @dh; Jeremy Butler, @jeremyrbutler; Jonathan Kay, @grasshopperbuzz.

Source: Grasshopper

Grasshopper’s Growing Buzz

A look at the number of YouTube views of Grasshopper’s video on entrepreneurship shows the exponential growth of the company’s viral campaign. As social media mentions kicked in—with tweets from key influencers Guy Kawasaki, Jason Calacanis, Kevin Rose and others—viewership skyrocketed. Even a month after launch, the video was averaging 2,000 views per day.

Appendix B - YouTube Statistics

Exhibit� D� � � � � � � � � � � � � � YouTube Views & Campaign Timeline

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

GRASSHOPPERS ARRIVING VIA

FEDEX2K

4K

6K

8K

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

CONTINUES TO AVG2K VIEWS PER DAY

GRASSHOPPER.COM LAUNCH

FIRST BLOG POSTVIDEO GOES PUBLIC

KEVIN ROSE TWEETINC. MAGAZINE TWEET

JASON CALACANIS TWEET

GUY KAWASAKI TWEET

May 2009

Uniq

ue Vi

ews

ANSWERS TO THE PR NEWS POP QUIZ ON PAGE 3

Send your Pop Quiz ideas to: Scott Van Camp at [email protected]

1. True: The New York Times does have a NYC Citizen journalism section.

2. False.

3. True, unfortunately.

4. False: It’s OK to pitch to multiple reporters at MarketWatch/Dow Jones.

5. True: The lesson here is know journalists’ preferences.

6. True: Unfamiliar to most, Boyd is a business strategist and IT consultant.

7. d, 15,000

8. c, VentureBeat

9. c, Money underwent a redesign in 2009.

10. d, historical relationships

11. a, PC Magazine

12. b, Huffington Post


back or donate an equal amount to a progressive candidate. It did neither, and this lack of any action has tar-nished the company’s reputa-tion permanently.

This corporate amnesia of successful crisis mitiga-tion happens so often that I’m actually surprised when a company actually does something right. So when

PG&E not only apologized, but immediately set up a $100 million victim relief fund after a 30-inch gas pipeline exploded in a suburb of San Francisco, I was amazed. Back in the day, when I was covering the utility for the San Jose Mercury, the company was notorious for its “no comment” policy with the media. This time it

immediately took to Twitter to get the word out and answer questions, following up its initial crisis mitigation strategy (we’re here, we’re answering questions, we’re concerned and we’re investi-gating) with the bold action of proactively setting up a “rebuild San Bruno” fund. Just goes to show you that in this topsy-turvy communica-

tions world, good guys can be bad, and bad guys can learn from others’ mistakes. PRN

CONTACT:Katie Paine is founder and CEO of KDPaine & Partners, a communications measurement agency. She can be reached at [email protected].

Image Patrol ! Page 1

Criteria Grade Comments Advice

Extent of coverage D It could have been worse. While the national papers picked up on the story, coverage was relatively short-lived. Most of the viral boycott activity was online. However, the fact that this was the first case of a corporation taking advantage of the Citizens United Supreme Court deci-sion ensured that the crisis got more than the usual level of coverage.

There are no lines between traditional and social media anymore, so assume that whatever is online will appear in traditional media and vice versa, although the intensity may vary by medium.

Effectiveness of spokespeople

D Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel wrote an apology to employees that was both self-effacing and ultimately ineffectual. He needed to do more than just apologize and then leave the scene.

Apologies alone are no longer sufficient to assuage an angry flash mob. Consumers, employees and now investors expect more than just words when a CEO makes a mistake.

Communication of key messages

C This is the one area in which Target had some success. Most of the coverage included statements about Target’s long-standing support of the LGBT community and its long history of good works.

The one silver lining in a cloud of controversy may be the length of time in which you have the attention of the press. In this case, Target used it wisely to make sure that reporters had a good understanding of the company’s culture.

Management of negative messages

F While the company’s explanation appeared in stories surrounding Steinhafel’s apology, it was subsequently lost in coverage of angry consumers. As a result, all the nega-tive messages about the boycott domi-nated the most recent news.

Just because the CEO has issued an apology doesn’t mean that the problem has gone away. Social media and search ensure that a crisis can lin-ger even after the national media has moved on.

Impact on stakeholders

F Three management firms that collectively hold $57.5 million of Target stock have asked Target’s independent board members to undertake a comprehensive review of Target’s political contributions. The stock price is only now recovering from the plunge.

Institutional investors are on Facebook, too, and they are just as easily spooked by a blog post or a Facebook thread as they might be from an article in the Minneapolis Post.

Overall score D Target’s reputation will no doubt survive, but its brand will be dragged through the mud until after the election unless they take action to counter the objections.

If corporations act like citizens they can expect to be treated to all the same mudslinging and attacks that individual candidates suffer. If you make sizable con-tributions to candidates, expect sizable repercussions.

Target


Criteria Grade Comments Advice

Extent of coverage F When one of your pipelines sends a plume of fire 1,000 feet into the air that is visible from one of the busiest airports in America, it’s hard to keep a lid on the news. What is most interesting is that many of the details were on Twitter long before they made the local news, pre-sumably provided by local residents with cell phones.

When the news is front-page head-lines around the world, there’s not much you can do but keep on top of it, preferably monitoring your Twitter search feed on a minute-by-minute basis.

Effectiveness of spokespeople

A PG&E spokespeople were out early and often doing damage control and emanating care and concern for victims. The $100 million victims’ compensation fund backed up their words with solid action.

The closer the link between words and deeds the better. The fact that it was just a matter of days between the explosion and when the fund was set up did a lot to enhance PG&E’s credibility—unlike BP, which appeared to drag its feet.

Communication of key messages

C While PG&E was on the scene and expressing concern, after a few days the major message seemed to be that the utility had old and failing gas lines that were badly in need of replacing.

In today’s crises, the truth from everyone’s perspective is just 140 characters away. A corporation can say whatever it wants, but if residents can just as easily say, and prove, the opposite, you end up with mixed messages and a damaged reputation.

Management of negative messages

C While it took a few days for the negative messages about PG&E’s deferred maintenance to surface, they will be repeated for months to come as investigations are launched, fingers are pointed and blame assigned.

The shelf life of a negative mes-sage is as long as anyone, not just the media, is following the story. So a resident of the area, a competi-tor and anyone with an agenda can keep the story going these days. Prepare for a long haul in any case.

Impact on stakeholders

D Given the plunge in the stock price the day after the explosion, shareholders are nervous. My guess is that the stock won’t recover until the blame is apportioned.

The best approach with stockholders is to keep them informed at all times. Remember that they’re just as likely to be on Twitter as your customers.

Overall score C Under the circumstances, PG&E is managing the crisis as best as possible. But like BP, a great deal depends on the outcome of investigations and the apportionment of blame.

If nothing else, this particular crisis teaches us to use all and any media available to keep the public and all stakeholders informed.

PG&E

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to be a watershed for the evolu-tion of editorial content. Until recently, the PR profession had largely adopted a “content-is-content” attitude. This dictated that we may need to write a little more compactly for the Web or be sure to get keywords in the title and the lead; but at its foundation, the writing varied little. And it has been writing that defines content.

Every journalist under-stands, however, that writing is the last stage of creating edito-rial content. Many PR profes-sionals have all but shunted the most vital stage: reporting. Information gathered days, weeks or even months earlier is recycled into bylines, blogs, Web pages and e-newsletters, with little or no updating.

This content becomes “writing,” but it can no longer really be viewed as “news.” Often, it fails even to qualify as reflecting a trend. Search engines and sites like Google, Twitter and Yahoo publish trends in near real time and they shift over news cycles. Calling the “cloud,” “green technology” or “electronic health records” trends is wholly insufficient now. Trends build and erupt like sudden thunder-storms in the cloud.

Today’s rapidly changing content demands an increased emphasis on reporting. An examination of eight cur-

rent trends in content reveals the new essential role that reporting plays in content development:

1. Content farms: Sometimes considered a scourge because of the massive amounts of substandard articles they produce, content farms are collections of writers who develop thousands of articles every day so that “informa-tion” Web sites can sell ads around them.Content curation: Curation involves people bringing for-ward the most valuable con-tent that relates to sets of cri-teria and subject matter. The TopRank online marketing blog has this to say about content curation: “Blending a mix of new content with the filtering and management of other useful information streams is a productive … solution for providing pro-spective customers a steady stream of high-quality …content.

3. Hyper-localization: Hyper-local newspapers may print dozens or hundreds of editions, relying on the reporting of citizen journal-ists. To these publishers, reporters on the scene trump sophisticated writing skills. Real-time news streams: On blogs, reporters are posting updates on breaking news stories in real time. Some

analysts expect streaming news elements to become a crucial part of traditional news sources in the future.

5. Marketers as reporters: Marketers are producing their own print publications, often containing informa-tion on trends in a particular industry or business segment. The process begins with basic reporting and news gathering to create thought leadership.Video: Video segments are rapidly becoming as popular as written content online, not only because they are entertaining but because they provide “visual reporting” of today’s stories.

7. Smarter, more mindful readers: A revolt of sorts against hyper-consumerism is underway. Shoppers want more information about products and services so they can make more purposeful decisions. They want simpler content without the hype.

8. Keyword search: Even the process of search engine opti-mization is one of exploring the habits of individuals to find what target audi-ences are thinking—i.e., reporting—to find the most popular (trending) keywords.

Excellent writing skills are a crucial talent for any PR prac-titioner, but good writing first demands good information-gathering that is relevant to

specific audi-ences.

PR profes-sionals need to engage in more reporting if they intend for the content they produce to be relevant in a world of citizen reporters. Become the media and try the following:

Do not simply regurgitate what clients or customers feed you. Engage with and chal-lenge them the way media would to gain better insights.Take time to learn what resonates with audiences, and you’ll form greater connec-tions. Interview customers, analysts and other influ-encers to provide them with more functional information. Track digital and social placements, and monitor and respond to the resulting dialogue. Keep up with what other citizen reporters are saying, because they’re keeping up with you.

By practicing good reporting, you will generate better content—resulting in more awareness for your client or organization. PRN

CONTACT:Steve Friedman is director of marketing communications at Airfoil Public Relations. He can be reached at [email protected].

!Tip Sheet BY STEVE FRIEDMAN

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