Archives for 2012

Is Seek or Shout the Holy Grail for PR, Bloggers and the Disconnected Media?

This is a guest post from Yvette Pistorio of Cision.

Two shifts have dramatically changed the way media and public relations professionals interact over the past few years: the move away from email in favor of online social channels, and the emergence of versatile, freelance content creators who are as comfortable writing magazine articles as they are blogging for brands.

For PR pros, that means media outreach will soon be more likely to take the form of a Twitter conversation with a freelance writer than an email exchange with a full-time reporter. With these shifts in mind, Cision has created a space for today?s content creator?journalists, bloggers, and PR and marketing professionals.

For those wearing multiple hats, we don?t force you to choose your role.

True Community Takes the Lead

In mid-April, Cision launched Seek or Shout, a new online community for media and PR professionals.

We built it to help journalists, bloggers, public relations, marketing professionals and other professional communicators research and promote their content while connecting with each other in a productive, relevant way. It allows you to connect directly on what is most valuable to you whether it be a story, blog post, video, podcast, etc.

You don?t have to choose a role, you can be both. The site isn?t just a listserv or dashboard, but an interactive community with photos, live comments and direct collaboration. It appeals to social and real-time sensibilities.

Inside Seek or Shout you can?

Seek?products for review, experts to interview, and research materials for an upcoming news article or blog post.?Choose to make your requests anonymously, or syndicate them to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for maximum response.
Shout?about your latest content, campaign or product. Users who follow you or the tags you place on your Shout will see them in their News Feed.
Communicate privately with other users about exclusive inquiries and offers.
Define your interests and find relevant messages from other users in your News Feed.
Maintain a profile outlining your roles and background.
Search editorial calendars, like CisionWire and PitchEngine, to spark content ideas.

Seek or Shout the Anti-Spam?

We hope the site helps alleviate the deluge of email pitches for journalists and bloggers. The ?anti-spam? if you will.

Receiving pitches through the site provides a more manageable environment to work in allowing you to see pitches easily without other correspondence cluttering your view.

Since you choose the tags you?re interested in, you are deciding what you want to see on your homepage. They can be modified to narrow or broaden your feed. They can represent the industry you cover or just the news you want to read.

?As a freelance reporter covering health, caregiving, antiques, and other topics, I?m inundated each day with pitches from PR professionals who want me to incorporate their client?s product, service, expert, or angle into a story,? says Elizabeth Hanes, freelance writer and a sponsored Ambassador for Seek or Shout.

To help clear out her inbox, she began requesting that PR professionals only pitch her through Seek or Shout.

Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich and author of Spin Sucks, agrees. ?I also really love that I can push pitches to come through there instead of to my inbox.?

More Than Just a PR and Blogger Tool

It?s been really great to see how members find new ways to use Seek or Shout and engage in ways we didn?t necessarily anticipate. There?s a diversity of users including book publishers and literary agents seeking experts and other writers.

We?ve also seen more universities and students signing up which is great since they are coming into the field and will be the new content creators. They need a tool like this because the marketplace is evolving, expects versatility from communication jobs, and helps craft a wide content experience to stay competitive.

?We?re fostering a relevant exchange between public relations professionals, journalists, and influencers who need to find sources and information quickly on deadline,? says Jay Krall, business development manager for Cision.

We want Seek or Shout to become a community, a valuable space for everyone to interact, build relationships and collaborate directly on stories, blog posts and any other project members are working on.

?It?s a lot easier to find an expert source to interview on short notice when you leverage the power of a strong community, rather than a few friends or colleagues on an email thread,? adds Krall.

About the author:
Yvette Pistorio is the social media manager for?Cision, and a blogger for?CisionBlog. She is a lover of cupcakes and HGTV, and enjoys a good laugh. You can find Yvette on?Twitter tweeting on behalf of Cision.

State of Independence

Years ago I worked in retail on both sides. I started out working for an electrical goods chain store, then moved onto a smaller local one.

Both jobs were great (at least for me), because they satisfied the tech geek in me. Surrounded by home theater kits and massive TV?s? Sign me up!

But as much as I loved working at the big chain store, it never felt fulfilling.

We had to pretty much stick to a sales script and only if we were lucky could we occasionally offer our own take.

We weren?t encouraged to be ourselves.

Same went for special promotions. If a brand was paying to be highlighted that month, you had to sell toward that brand, even if another product was clearly the better one for the customer. It was snake oil salesmen tactics at their worst.

Jump to the little store, however, and the difference was palpable. You actually talked with your customers; asked what they wanted; offered your advice; agreed on essentials versus luxuries; and built an understanding.

Most of all, you were talking as if you?were?the customer.

No BS; no sales crap; no false advertising. Just simple customer-to-customer selling. And it worked. And continues to do so today.

Think about it. When you last went to a record store, or DVD store, or video games store that belonged to a chain, did you come away with just a purchase or a transaction? Because there?is?a difference.

Did you feel that you had bought your purchase yourself, or had bought it because it was sold to you? And I don?t mean because the salesperson picked it up and showed you what was on sale; I mean it was really?sold?to you.

The Indie Effect

From my experiences, independent retailers score every time over the chain stores. Sure, you get the occasional bright spark at a major retailer who lets their passion shine through. But generally, it?s just a job to them.

Indie retailers, on the other hand,?love?what they?re doing. They live the atmosphere that the small store brings. They know customers by name. They know the difference between Product A and Product B because they?use?it and?learn?about it, and not because they?ve read some manufacturer spiel. Then they pass that learning on.

Sure, the major stores might get the big deals from the manufacturers, but as the collapse of some of the big brands in business show, it?s not always about the best deals. At least, not price-wise.

Instead, a lot of the success is coming from the little independent guys jumping in and making people know about their service. By talking to them. By listening to what their customers want. By?being?the customer.

Sound familiar?

Be an Independent Retailer

Social media. Marketing. PR. Advertising. Customer service. Business deals. Business building. Branding. Unbranding.

Everything you do day in, day out ? are you being a major retailer or are you being the independent retailer? Are you saying and doing what all your competitors are doing or are you doing what?you?redoing?

There?s a big difference in approach and sales time is fast approaching. So. What are you?

Your Value

Electricity is free, but we pay energy companies to harness it.

Water is free, but we pay for the privilege of filtering.

Air is free, but we pay for the solution of conditioning it for summers in our homes.

Natural gas is free, but we pay for the importance of safety in its use.

Oil is free, but we pay for the welling and distribution.

When we get down to it, all the things we could have for free we’re willing to pay for, because where needs are met, value is gained.

If you meet the needs of your audience, why would the value you bring be free?