Facttactic's online PR journal

Due to a much needed mid-winter break, the Facttactic journal has been inactive for the past month but look forward to new posts coming soon.

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Anyone remember Sweetwaters?

Back in the day, it used to pretty much be the only music festival in the country. These days, outdoor summer music festivals are cropping up everywhere: from the highly lauded low-key, lo-fi Camp A Low Hum in the hills behind Wainuiomata to the increasingly mainstream sounds coming from Gisborne’s popular Rhythm and Vines and a myriad of other events of all musical flavours. Choosing your dates and saving your dollars for your favourite events must be no small decision for festival fans.

And it’s the same in the UK where the behemoth that is Glastonbury is now rivaled by a summer calendar packed full of outdoor events. Attracting the punters in such a crowded market place means concert promoters must be as adept at marketing as they are at finding the right sounds.

Which is way I like the concept of this festival - Indietracks: a mix of indie bands and steam trains, and quite possibly the mostly the most eccentric festival theme ever. I wouldn’t want to go to it but as an example of a niche product and a fund raising event (for steam train restoration) finding and connecting with an audience, I like it.

(0) Comments | Tags: Branding, Marketing, Music

A Chicago woman made derogatory comments on Twitter about her landlord and her rented property. The landlord reportedly went straight to court to sue the woman.

The citizens of cyberspace are Tweeting and blogging like crazy about it. Messages for and against both parties.

The woman may or may not have the best intentions. The landlord may or may not be the world’s best landlord. But who’s right? Who’s wrong?

It doesn’t really matter anymore. The lid has been lifted, the genie’s out. Damage control will be difficult to put in place. Take care how you project and protect your corporate reputation!

(0) Comments | Tags: Customers, Reputation management, Social media, Twitter

When I first got the internet at home 12 or so years back, I remember the Actrix ISP guy telling me to make the most of it because, sooner rather than later, we’d all have to pay to view anything on the web.

Today, thankfully, I’m still waiting for that, and savvy businesses are making more and more online stuff free - many getting rich doing it.

Wired editor Chris Anderson for one firmly believes things are only going to get freer on the internet. In his new book, Free: the Future of a Radical Price, Anderson says, “In the digital realm you can try to keep Free at bay with laws and locks, but eventually the force of economic gravity will win.”

Tomorrow, though, the National Business Review starts to charge for ‘premium’ content on its website. The move comes as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation also ponders widespread charges for reading its news websites. So far, reportedly, it has more than one million paid up subscribers to its Wall St Journal online service. Which way, if at all, things will tip is still pretty unclear.

And will this trend extend beyond the grumpy old  men of newspapers? It appears unlikely. The free internet has been a huge tool for smart PR campaigns (think the best job on the world) using free content and, of course, for the free spread of ideas and thought, in general.

UPDATE: I visited the NBR site Friday morning. Most of the top stories have Subscriber content next to them, and you must sign-on and pay to access them. Did I do this? No. Do I miss not getting the content? Yes. Is the content crucial for my work or life? No. Has the website now become a bit unhelpful for me? Yes. Does it make the site less worth visiting? Yes. Will the site lose a visitor and NBR advertisers a potential customer? Looks like it.

(0) Comments | Tags: Internet, Journalism

What price publicity?! A small UK design firm that has seen about half its staff made redundant recently has encouraged the rest of its staff to go naked in the office, with the managing director reported saying he thought it would be good for business.

Staff say they weren’t forced into it, but — while we can’t deny the publicity success of the stunt  — it seems that people who had just seen half their colleagues lose their jobs would be unlikely to say no to the boss!

And group nudity … it gets everyone looking I guess; but 12 years after The Full Monty (and 22 years after NZ’s own Ladies’ Night), it’s about time for a new idea.

(0) Comments | Tags: Marketing, Public Relations, Viral advertising

With blogs fast becoming authoritative sources of news in their own right, the avenues you need to reach to get comprehensive publicity coverage can sometimes appear infinite. But you do need to communicate with far more than just traditional media outlets.

Spend a bit of time online researching who is writing the most authoritative and informed blogs on topics relevant to your business. You will easily be able to find the blogs you should be talking to.

People in your industry will be aware of leading blogs. The Technorati website shows who the most popular global blog sites are. Google’s Blog Search works well if you type ‘New Zealand’ after whatever topic search you are after.

What is news on a blog?

How does news develop and grow in the online age, where blogs are taking on papers in the news-breaking game and often winning? American journalist and new media expert Jeff Jarvis defines it as  “product versus process journalism.”

“Newspaper people see their articles as finished products of their work. Bloggers see their posts as part of the process of learning.”

The way blogs work  include “collaboration, transparency, letting readers into the process, and trying to say what we don’t know when we publish – as caveats – rather than afterward – as corrections,” Jarvis says.

Traditional news outlets like to project the impression that their story is the definitive version .

Whereas, as the Irish Independent reports, journalism – as practised by bloggers – exposes the workings of a scoop. “[High-profile technology blog] TechCrunch, for instance, publishes the beginnings of a story that may only be a rumour. The responses to that rumour, often from reliable sources, generate updates to the story, which is polished with the help of readers to get closer to the whole truth.”

“This is journalism as beta,” Jarvis writes. “Every time Google releases a beta, it is saying that the product is incomplete and imperfect. It’s a call to collaborate.”

And that call to collaborate is drawing millions of blog readers and comment writers. If you want your company to be where the word-of-mouth action is, you need  to be noticed in the blogosphere.

… And, lastly, just to add to the proliferation of news sources you need to pay attention to: Is Twitter the news outlet for the 21st century?

(0) Comments | Tags: Blogs, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, Social media

iPhone and computer company Apple has made an art out of getting huge publicity by saying nothing at all. Where others work their butt off to get their business noticed in the media, Apple has the silent, cool guy role down perfectly, getting non-stop media that other companies can only dream about.

One of the standard rules of PR is to fill an information void with your own messages before others fill it with their version of what your message might be. Apple’s skill is in embracing the void and letting PR messages find their own path.

It helps, of course, that they have absolutely world-beating products such as the iPod and iPhone; and when they do decide to advertise something their messages are as well-crafted as any-one’s; but we like them for their confidence to take on the market by saying nothing at all.

Unconventional approaches to PR can only be good in a hugely crowded market place.

The other unconventional approach to PR that we have enjoyed this year is the Unites States food-PR guy who lets the media actually choose if they want to receive information from him, rather than hammering with them with press releases and phone calls. Like Apple, he has enough confidence in his offering that he reasons people will come to him to find out more.

Could you publicise your product or service by saying … nothing at all about it?!

(0) Comments | Tags: Branding, Marketing, PR, Public Relations

Seems like us Kiwis trust people with a medal. Similarly, if you can get external recognition for your products or services it can be a helpful differentiator in the market.

Though not, it seems, for much longer in the United States if you are claiming green credentials: 98% of supposedly environmentally friendly products in US supermarkets reportedly make false or confusing claims.

(0) Comments | Tags: Branding, Marketing, Reputation management

Newspapers moan that Google steals their content and displays it for free. Google points to the fact that it sends a billion clicks a month to newspaper websites and pays newspaper billions of dollars annually for hosting Google advertising.

Google says newpapers would do well in the new world if they learnt from sites such as such as video site YouTube and the online shopping site Amazon that build their content so there is always more to buy or more to watch.

Google says linking to more information, engaging readers in dialogue and making the content more interactive are “web fundamentals” that could be used to build a product much different from news online today.

Find out more here.

(0) Comments | Tags: Journalism

Former, high-profile, newspaper gossip columnist Bridget Saunders appeared on a TV current affairs show recently expressing surprise that comments she had made earlier to other journos, off-the-record she thought, were broadcast - putting her in a pretty unflattering light.

So, if a hard-bitten and experienced hack can’t sort out what’s on- or off-the-record, then maybe it’s not as simple as it seems. But, really, it is: If you don’t want the media to publish/broadcast something - don’t tell them it! Easy.

Having said that if you are not generally in the media glare, journos will likely give you a bit of leeway, if the issue is not major.  But if you are regularly in the media commenting on stuff, you’re ‘fair game’. Reporters are talking to you to get a story not to make friends!

Last night’s Media 7 show had four senior journalists on the panel discussing what is off- and on-the-record. It’s invaluable watching for all people and companies wanting to understand the nuances of dealing with reporters. Find the Media 7 show here.

(0) Comments | Tags: Journalism, Media release, PR