PR Communications

Why Content Marketing Favors Rock Stars, And Engagement Marketing Favors Rock Star Ideas

Being a long time blogger, I remember the early days of marketing and PR related blogging, then everyone was new. The climate was very much one of exploration, dialogue and conversation. In fact those early days gave the pioneers an advantage, we really did not have any rock stars, except maybe Dave Winer, and because the playing field was so level, everyone was in the same boat learning from one another, and the climate of ideas prevailed. In that environment the process of dialogue, engagement and conversation was strong. I believe that’s one reason why the cluetrain manifesto resonated so strongly with all of us early newbie’s.

Mack Collier wrote an article about social media needing fewer rockstars and more rockstar ideas. He wrote that he found more ideas from non-rockstars at a recent conference, and gave three ideas for increasing the number of ideas in the community. Really if you are on board with the idea of crowd sourcing, it makes sense that the majority of new good ideas will come from those people who are perceived to have less influence, why, there’s more of them, and crowsourcing is all about getting ideas from everyone in the community.

Mack's point about rockstar ascendancy has given me pause for thought about the whole concept of content marketing and inbound marketing. I'm not saying that content marketing is completely associated with the cult of the personality, the basic concept that writing good content that provides value is a good one, and comes directly from Search Engine Marketing. However, I suspect the goal of most content marketing strategies is to be the most influential, the winner in the race for high SEO ranking, the rock star if you will.

Though don’t get me wrong I think a good content marketing strategy has its place, after all I was very happy working as Director of Marketing for a good content marketing agency like ideaLaunch.

What I shy away from in the concept of content marketing is focusing on promotion from the marketing mix to the detriment of product, price and place. The ability to create content online gives everyone the chance to develop their own website. That ability gives companies an opportunity where instead of content creation being solely about publishing your own content, the interactive nature of the web means you can engage your audience where they write their content. Reading what people write on their site, really listening to what is said and learning from your audience and as a result taking action to make a better product, better price, better location, and even better promotion.

Without an outreach strategy, a company misses the opportunity to conduct a dialogue with the community where its members are building their content. To me engagement is the answer to the problem of finding rock star ideas, and bringing rock stars down to earth. But engagement is tough; it means you have to read even more content. Engagement means you have to interact with people even though you don’t have the opportunity to sell your ideas, but instead learn from others. And for a company engagement means building a workflow process where listening, triage, response and action are fully supported. Some companies have concentrated on building a great engagement infrastructure, Dell, Comcast and General Motors come to mind here. Other companies focus on content and becoming rockstars.

Today new people entering Twitterville, the Blogosphere, and Social Media land see a different landscape from just a few short years ago. Instead of finding a group of pioneers all building the road ahead, people see towering personalities pointing the way and its easy to imagine the new people looking around believe the right path is content marketing to achieve fame. Actually, I have to admit they would be right in part. But what’s easy to miss is that the really successful companies are not just about messaging or content, but having a product that people want and need, and you only discover those rock star ideas by engaging your customers.

#tnl Asks Is HR The New PR?

Last night I participated in the #talentnet online discussion between recruiters. The topic was "Is HR the New PR."

I thought the question required a review of PR.

I wrote that, “PR strategy is the process of understanding what's unique about you, listening to the community, finding current conversations and applying what's unique about you to those current conversations.”

A good example of finding a current industry discussion in HR is Gen Y and the big demographic shift. Aaron Strout and I wrote an article, "Beware the Age Wave" on this topic. If a company can address how your company & HR will build a company that manages the shift and addresses Gen Y concerns there’s an opportunity to generate stories in the media around that topic that increase the volume of candidate inquires because of the publicity.

I thought that HR should work with PR as counsel, just as PR is changing its role across the enterprise, so the role of HR changes. HR can influence the public's perception of a company online because candidates have the opportunity to relate their HR experiences about a company online.

I think HR is not the new PR, but HR can use social media to build relationships, and manage crisis communications related to HR. The new reality means that HR has to be more aware than ever before that the actions they take will influence candidates and as a consequence affect a company's brand. This means when recruiting for a job it’s not just about filling the job but also making sure you treat a candidate in the right way.

Dread Not The Un-Happy PR Story Beginning

Good stories require drama, struggle even conflict. Yet communications people spend much of their time working to get good stories told in media. Maybe there is room for a story with an un-happy beginning?

Doc Searls and David Weinberger certainly thought so in the Cluetrain Manifesto. In chapter four on Markets are Conversations they write:

PR Folks are paid to hate stories, even though stories are precisely what the press -- PR's "consumers"-most wants. The fundamental appeal of stories is conflict, struggle, and complexity. Stories never begin with "happily ever after," but press releases always do, because that's the kind of story PR's real market-the companies who pay for public relations-demands. The PR version of the Titanic story would be headlined 705 DELIGHTED PASSENGERS ARRIVE AFTER THE TITANTIC'S MADIAN VOYAGE. Page two might mention some "shakedown glitches inevitable whenever a magnificent new ship is launched." Releases have no room for the very elements that might actually interest a journalist.

What's a PR professional to do?

Doc and David continue;

The Best of the people in PR are not PR types at all. They understand that they aren't censors; they're the company's best conversationalists. Their job- their craft- is to discern stories the market actually wants to hear, to help journalists write stories that tell the truth, to bring people into conversation rather than protect them from it.

Dell Hell is a great social media story with an un-happy beginning because of the frustration of customers, and the subsequent response by Dell. Dell made changes to customer service, product development and using social media to engage customers directly. The story is one of disaster, but also of redemption, not because social media saved Dell, rather, Dell listened to customers using social media, took action and as a consequence moved Dell in the right direction. Instead of running from a bad beginning, Dell embraces the story and is rewarded.

I thought Dell was the biggest social media story of 2007, in 2008 the election was the big story, Obama struggled against the odds, but used social media to recruit and motivate a legion of supporters who raised funds and helped win the election. The next big social media story is the American automobile industry, the scene is set, disastrous sales, bankruptcy, and criticism because of a deaf ear to customers. The company that demonstrates it is taking action because of listening, and not be afraid to say how bad thing were, will gain the most because it is the best story.

What does an un-happy beginning mean for you? Focus on the problem in the industry you are solving, describe how other companies don’t solve the problem and why. Don’t create conflict but describe the reality of what you see around you. If you have a problem be open about that issue, but tell people what you are doing to solve the problem and make a happy ending.

Pitching PR & Digital Marketing Rationally

Confused.com, a UK car insurance pricing comparison site, as reported by PR Week, recently paid several losing PR agencies a fee for the ideas those agencies pitched them during their account pitching process.

Mark Pinsent wrote a post describing the incident in the UK, and his thoughts about the whole PR pitch process in his post, "Stop the PR pitch madness." Mark as the title of the post describes believes PR agencies should not pitch ideas to clients.

I had three reactions.

One, I was thinking that if the expectation in the industry is that client expect you to pitch them with ideas. Maybe every agency should just work on one pitch, though you might have alternative ideas for different verticals. Instead of working on the ideas, agencies could work on incrementally improving the same pitch over time.

You could start the pitch off by stating that you don't give ideas away for free.

Two, many of the interactive agencies I’ve worked at will provide digital marketing ideas, but where those agencies were most successful was to pitch for an assessment of the client’s marketplace before coming up with any ideas. And we were paid for the assessments.

Three, one of my landlords had a reputation for paying his bills on time without hassle. One of the vendors told me he was a pleasure to do business with, and every time he called or left a message even for a minor issue, the vendor would jump to make sure he was extremely satisfied. Some would even say, paying bills early is bad business, but for that landlord he always had good service from his vendors.

I'm wondering if the practice of paying the losing agencies a fee for their ideas is very similar to the story about the landlord. Confused.com gets a reputation as a client that's worth working for because the company has proven it values your advice and work. I'm sure the next time Confused.com asks for bids people will be falling over themselves with good ideas, because confused.com has demonstrated the company plays more than straight with you. To me this is a great public relations strategy, one that extends the company's reputation in the PR world. I am sure Confused.com can expect great service from any PR agency that wins their business, plus, as this discussion proves the effort so out of character has put Confused.com at the center of conversation in the PR industry.

Either way, if you are in the marketing and communications business I'd heartily recommend reading Mark Pinsent's post and the more than 30 responses from communications professionals in the industry.

Employers Look For PR & Social Media Counsel: Lindsay Olson’s Interview On The Global PR Blog Week

Looking back in time, even if its only five years ago can give you a perspective on where you are today. And that’s what I’ve been doing while celebrating the 5th anniversary of the Global PR blog week by interviewing a number of the alumni of the event. The blog week was a virtual conference of PR bloggers. But the event did not just attract PR professionals, as we discover in today’s interview with Lindsay Olson, as Lindsay is a recruiter in the PR industry. Not only did I ask Lindsay questions about the conference but also some questions about her thoughts about the importance of social media but also how important social media skills are today for today’s communications candidates. 

Lindsay’s story about the global pr blog week is not just a professional story, the event has great personal consequences as she met her husband through the event.

John: What did you learn from the Global PR Blog Week?

Lindsay: This event brought together many of the early PR bloggers' ideas and experiences into a week of interesting online discussions, which helped me get a better grasp on industry trends. Although I'd always been an active follower of what was happening in the PR field, this event helped shape my views on the importance of having a strong online presence. At that time, I wasn't blogging and even though I was aware of its growing importance, it still took me a few years to come around. The event laid the groundwork for where I am today.

John: Reviewing the post(s) you wrote for the Global PR Blog week, what has changed? What has not changed since you wrote your post?

Lindsay: Social media has continued to grow and the tools PR professionals use are expanding beyond just blogs. The main point of my post was how PR professionals may be viewed in the eyes of a potential recruiter through their online presence. This has become a growing concern for most as Facebook is opening up to the general public and Twitter is becoming a more mainstream tool. Not just bloggers, but everyone, are becoming much more aware of how their tone and the subject they tend to write or tweet about shape their online presence and may affect their career.

John: Recruiting and PR have been two professions that became immersed in blogging early on. From your perspective as a recruiter for the PR industry, why do you think the communications profession got involved so early on with blogging?

Lindsay: Well, communicators love to talk and spread their ideas. Blogging gave communications professionals another platform to quickly distribute their messages to a broader audience - something very appealing to anyone who is in the profession and loves to write.  As blogging and social media gained momentum and the communications industry began to feel the pressure to counsel their companies/clients on how to deal and communicate in a new environment, it grew increasingly necessary to become familiar with and aware of these new types of tools.

John: Looking back over the past five years, how has social media become important to employers and candidates, both for skills needed for employment and for using social media to demonstrate expertise?

Lindsay: More and more of our clients are asking for candidates who are well-versed in social media. Employers expect communications professionals to be able to counsel them about why they should (or shouldn't) be involved in social media. So much has developed over the past five years. Four or five years ago, it was all about blogs and now we have a whole assortment of tools to learn and use to communicate. Knowing when and why to deploy these tools is becoming a concern for organizations. While social media is becoming much more important, it's necessary to note that employers value a well-rounded communications professional. Those candidates who can demonstrate they have both traditional and digital skills are highly valued in the current market.

John: Give an update on what you've been doing in the last five years. What you are doing now?

Lindsay: I've continued to run my public relations staffing agency, Paradigm Staffing. I've moved from New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina and work remotely here with a small team supporting the hiring needs our U.S. and European clients.

As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't blogging at the time of this event, but I finally put an end to that in mid-2008 and launched a blog (http://LindsayOlson.com) about PR and recruiting and to help advise job seekers and companies on the best hiring practices. I'm also very active on Twitter (@PRjobs) and Facebook, and I write a bi-monthly guest column on MediaBistro's PRNewser blog.

On a personal note (yet very relevant to PR Global Blog Week), I got married in February 2008 to Matias Dutto (a 2004 and 2005 participant). We met the week of the 2005 event because of the connection and we were both living in Buenos Aires.  A few years later, we married and we're now expecting our first child in September!

Engagement: The Next Step After Content Marketing

Beth Kanter references my post on the engagement relevancy ranking in here case study on Planned Parenthood's use of social media. She also references John Jantsch's blog post Content Creates Engagement. In that post I'd argued in the comment section that Jantsch was missing something in his article, the idea that real engagement comes from direct outreach and monitoring of the community.

In Beth's article she describes how Planned Parenthood has built an infrastructure for content creation based upon monitoring the community.

"Planned Parenthood has built the infrastructure to be successful.  Their online services department is in charge of web site presence, email messaging, and social networking.   They work in collaboration with the communications team.  As Tom Subak mentions, "But something was missing: The intersection of content that we create with what our supporters create. It doesn’t matter whether it is on our web site or somewhere else. There are millions of stories inside of Planned Parenthood – the stories are incredible. We put a human face on our work and what we’re doing. With our stories, we try to figure out how to get more people engaged and change the public’s view. We now have a department called the New Media Content team. Their job is to create, edit, repurpose, identify content across all our channels. Where does this all come together – part of the organization that is thinking about content – in the way that content exists in now. It doesn’t matter where it is or who created. Another thing to is that it doesn’t matter where the content lives – we’ve been creating widgets that can placed anywhere – not just on our site""

In the comment section I suggested companies and organizations follow three strategies when it comes to social media content creation and also direct engagement.

1) Content Marketing: You can create content that is relevant and engages people because it is valuable. Perhaps by providing a how-to, or connecting with some emotionally. The strategy for content development is based upon SEO strategy or your understanding of what valuable in the industry.

2) Content Marketing through social media monitoring: Creating content based upon the monitoring of social media, as you describe in your overview this is what planned parenthood does with its New Media Content team. The team creates, edits, repurposes, identifies content across all our channels. I differentiate this approach from strategy one, because there's a more formal system set up to monitor the community on the web.

3) Social Media Engagement: Engagement occurs when there's a team set up to engage your community on the web about your brand or organization. You answer comments on the community member’s web site; write content about them on your own website. I think there does have to be some context, such as relationship or context within the industry.

I suspect that direct engagement occurs naturally within all three strategies, but what I suggest is that there's a definite choice on the part of companies and organizations about which strategy to follow, as each strategy requires the commitment of resources.

The concepts of inbound marketing and content marketing are relatively new, and both theories focus on the idea that success in social media comes from building the infrastructure to develop a constant stream of content that’s relevant and valuable to your community. Yet I often see little discussion about creating the necessary infrastructure for engagement when discussing content marketing.

I do understand that some companies also conduct engagement as well as following a content marketing strategy, but I think it is really important for companies to understand the value of dialogue to the enterprise. Customers turn to evangelists, customers service, and product marketing.

Marketers are familiar with the concept of creating advertising or campaigns, so the approach of content marketing is an easy next step, especially when you consider that search engine optimization has always been about creating great content. In some ways, the term content marketing is all about SEO. I think if you ask most marketers what their marketing goals are online, they would say lead generation or achieving higher rankings with SEO.

Content marketing put in the context of a marketing department that understands SEO makes absolute sense. This is one reason why the concepts of inbound marketing and content marketing have grown so rapidly, the ideas are not a great leap from existing approaches in SEO and SEM.

Here I'm going to sound rather pompous I am sure, but I've been a blogger since 2003 and the PR and Marketing community five or six years ago was heavily influenced by the cluetrain manifesto and the concept of conversations. PR and marketing bloggers, people who wrote blogs and were involved in the community had come to understand the value of dialogue and conversation as well as content. Look at what the community was writing in 2004 during the Global PR blogging week to understand the focus of the community at the time.

My thinking about how companies use social media has always been put in the context of the practical, how do companies use social media for business, how do they build the necessary infrastructure to be successful? Many of the case studies that convinced me that social media was valuable for an organization described how content creation was a primary reason for starting a blog or other social media technology.

I've discovered the companies that were really successful in social media also put time and effort into direct outreach to their community, and I’ve personally experienced this in my own blogging efforts, here at PR Communications or in the many blogs I've run at the companies I've worked at or helped start with clients over the years. Lastly, the concept of engagement outreach was discussed by the community five years ago in the virtual conference Global PR blogging Week.

I think content marketing can be successful and is a good next step for companies thinking about using social media. The concept makes logical sense to marketers familiar with SEO. And marketers can outsource content development to other writers. Here I think some people in the industry might criticize me for suggesting hiring a writer to create content and posting that content on a blog when the writer is not an employee of the company is unauthentic. Well you'd be right, but I think it also depends how a company represents the content, does the writer have a byline.

By the way, while I'd certainly recommend a content marketing strategy for a company website, I really think a company should not create content within social media by outsourcing that content unless they are transparent about the action. But I'd not going to spend too much time on attempting to police the industry, why? Because the floodgates are already open. The industry would be better off spending time on developing case studies that demonstrate why building engagement outreach infrastructure is the next step after content marketing.

I'd suggest while you might achieve good results from creating content, from higher SEO and some engagement, if you don't build an infrastructure for monitoring the web, discovering brand mentions, and also industry references, and then triaging those opportunities for response and engagement, no matter how big a content development infrastructure you build a company will not be prepared for crisis communications incidents without the infrastructure for successful engagement outreach in the community.

The leaders in the community of social media; Dell, Comcast etc, are not following a content marketing strategy, they are following an engagement and community management strategy. See Charlene Li's and Wet Paint's EngagementDB research and website for more evidence of why the depth of engagement influences results. Certainly start with content marketing, but move to an engagement strategy once you’ve built the case for building the necessary infrastructure.

Really social media engagement and content marketing are all a matter of resources, it’s a lot easier to hire a writer to write content, than it is to hire someone to respond and manage a community, both strategies can be successful, but the question is can you get a better ROI from engagement. I believe so.

Word Of Mouth Important For PR: Todd Defren Looks Back On PR Blog Week

Just interviewed Todd Defren from SHIFT Communications about the Global PR Blogging Week, Todd was also an Alumni of the PR Global Blog Week.

John: What did you learn about blogging (if you learned anything about blogging) from the blog week?

Todd: I learned that “blogging” was an even bigger trend – and more truly global – than I’d ever considered up til that point.  It made me realize that blogging was transformational, not just a “new media channel.”

John: How do you think the Global PR Blog week influenced you and the industry?

Todd: As excited as I was to participate and learn, I was actually disappointed by the lack of big buzz attending this event: it was probably just too new of an idea.

John: Reviewing the post(s) you wrote for the Global PR Blog week what has changed? What has not changed, since you wrote your post?

Todd: I wrote about ROI of PR – which is as frustrating an area as ever.  I do think that as more of PR goes online, what can be clicked can be tracked, and that will eventually help determine ROI in a consistent way

John: Why did PR professionals take such an early lead in writing blogs and social media?

Todd: Good PR has only ever been about relationships, context and relevance.  We also like to talk and write.  We’re communicators.  We took to Social Media like fish to water!

John: Why are PR professionals, leaders in the enterprise for the use of social media?

Todd: PR pros recognize the importance of communications in a broader context: we know the power of word of mouth – not just as a “channel” but as a means of doing business.

John: Give an update on what you've been doing in the last five years, and what you are doing now?

Todd: Just living the dream.  SHIFT was 1 year old at the time.  5 years later we’ve seen our business grow from $2M to $12M so it’s been a wild, amazing, hang-on-to-your-seats kind of ride!

John: Thanks Todd, much appreciated!

Defining Public Relations For Social Media

Marketing can be simply split into two activities; advertising and public relations, so suggests Mary White, Author of 101 Successful PR Campaign Tips.

Advertising is all paid activities where you pay to promote a product and public relations is the process of promotion of a company where you don't have to pay for a sponsorship.

I actually slightly disagree with this definition, because marketing also includes market research or customer service, where market research helps with listening to customers, and customer service covered how the product is delivered.

I think the simple split between advertising and public relations, one for paid promotion and the other for non-paid promotion does help focus what you should include in a promotional plan for a company.

When discussing public relations, many people immediately assume you are talking about media relations; the process of contacting journalists or now bloggers in order to persuade them to write about your product, campaign or idea.

I asked colleagues on twitter what other activities besides media relations falls within the PR bailiwick.

@JasonKeeling Tweet answer: Other PR functions include: Internal communications, event planning/coordination, government relations, and now, PR 2.0 optimiz.

@mlhujber Tweet answer: Non-media relations functions of PR include internal relations, public affairs, issues management, development, and lobbying.

@mlhujber Tweet answer: Big parts of PR that aren't media relations are communication research, planning, implementation (can include MR) and evaluation.

@MikeDriehorst Tweet answer: Event coordination; employee communication; crisis communication (tho includes media relations); community relations; IR; #PR

There’s been much debate about who owns social media in the enterprise, given these simple definitions, the debate seems moot to me, social media is a public relations activity because it’s a non-paid activity. Of course I understand I’m talking about theory there not reality in many companies. But something to think about when developing a social media strategy look back to public relations strategy.

Tom Murphy Calls For More PR Bloggers

Continuing my series of interviews with Alumni from the Global PR Blog Week, I interviewed Tom Murphy, I think Tom’s interview was particularly fascinating because as a PR professional he has worked in agencies and now works for a global company, Microsoft, he has seen PR practiced around the work, and brings a unique perspective to global and US readers about PR and the profession. Given the recent discussion in the community about the relevancy of blogging, I think it is also interesting to see Tom encouraging PR professionals to blog and read other bloggers.

John: What did you learn from the Global PR Blog Week?

Tom: Well I am a firm believer that you never stop learning.  It’s one of the best things about PR and indeed about social media.  There’s always new insights and perspectives.  I learned a lot from the first PR Blog Week – I didn’t agree with everything I read mind you – but you had over 35 authors sharing their views on every area of Public Relations and there was a huge opportunity to learn and broaden your horizons. There still is, the content is still online and there’s some great articles there, I highly recommend it.  My biggest personal learning was that regardless of what area of the profession we are working in, PR people face many common issues. The other thing that becomes very apparent from reviewing the content is that change takes place a lot more slowly than we expect.  If you look at many of the issues that were addressed, they are the same issues we face today.  Sure some of the buzzwords and tools may have changed, but the challenges are very similar.

John: What did you learn about blogging (if you learned anything about blogging) from the blog week?

Tom: I think PR Blog Week confirmed my belief that there was a fantastic, informal global community of PR people willing to share their experience and their expertise with the broader world.  There is a fantastic online PR community and it’s growing every day.  You don’t have to agree with everyone, but it’s a fantastic resource for everyone working in this business. I would strongly recommend any PR practitioner to get online and get reading.  You’ll probably learn a lot and at the very least the authors will provoke your to think about your career and your day to day job. As I mentioned before, you never stop learning, you never stop taking on new perspectives.

John: Did the conference give you any new insights into PR, if so, what were they?

Tom: The conference covered an amazing array of topics from PR ethics to Search Engine Optimization, Measurement and Crisis Communications; every article provided compelling content.  I took insights from most of the contributors. In fact after you interviewed Trevor Cook last week, I went back to the archives and browsed many of the articles and there’s great stuff up there. The fantastic thing about the Internet is that there are opportunities to learn every single day.  The challenge for all of us is putting time aside to capture that opportunity.

John: What were the lasting effects of the Global PR Blog Week?

Tom: I think the Global PR Blog Week was a seminal moment, when the PR industry found its voice online.  I started blogging in 2002, mostly by accident and as a way of capturing the little online PR content that was available.  By the time the event took place in 2004 there was a strong PR community online.  The PR Blog Week underlined that community and put in place a network that has since grown and grown.  It’s staggering to see the number of PR blogs now online, and I am delighted to note that probably 90% of the contributors to that first week are still blogging and tweeting today.  I would love to think that many people went and read the content and took away great insight. I think it’s still valuable content today, so if you haven’t already read it, go and dive in today!

John: How did the Global PR Blog week influence you and the industry?

Tom: This was the first time (in my memory) that a group of PR people came together to share their knowledge and expertise freely online – where anyone could come and read it.  When you look at the breadth of the subject matter, there was something for everyone.  I would love to think that people took the time to read the content and to be honest I think the vast majority of it is still relevant today.  Many of the issues being discussed back in 2004 are the same issues we’re facing today.

John: Was the conference truly global? What was the influence of the conference in Ireland?  Did your global perspective about PR change after the global conference?

Tom: Yes I think it was global.  We had contributors from all across North America, Europe and Australia.  No doubt if you held it today you could build an even broader geographic spread, but that’s pretty global for a grassroots online event. I’m not sure what the influence was in Ireland, we had two Irish-based contributors (myself and Bernie Goldbach), and I know many PR people in Ireland followed the event.  I think when you live in a small country you have a pretty global outlook because you are influenced by larger countries. Personally speaking I have been working around Europe and the US since 1995 so I had a pretty solid international outlook! That said it’s up to people whether they took the time to read it or not. I think any PR practitioner or student would get value from it.

John: Reviewing the post(s) you wrote for the Global PR Blog week what has changed? What has not changed, since you wrote your post?

Tom: Nothing has changed since I wrote my post.  The PR profession is still struggling with the same issues then as now.  Our profession operates in every country, language and economic and social sector in the world.  The practice of PR differs widely – even inside the same country and sector.  We are still struggling with balancing new and traditional tools and we still haven’t got a single, agreed form of measurement. As I’ve always said, as long of PR agencies view measurement as a “strategic differentiator” we’re in trouble. Last week I read the New York Times piece on Spinning the Web and it brought me right back to 2004.  I’d love to know how many PR practitioners read that and thought that doesn’t resemble my day job in any way shape or form?  That was my reaction. The variety of PR is one of its strengths but also one if its weaknesses. I don’t have the solution but I think social media is raising the issue of transparency and that’s probably a good thing. The more we read the perspectives of other practitioners, the more we can understand them and see the common ground.  That’s why the ever growing number of PR bloggers is not only great – it’s important.

John: Give an update on what you've been doing in the last five years, and what you are doing now?

Tom: Back in 2004 I was working for a small software company called Cape Clear Software (now part of WorkDay).  Then in the summer of 2005 I moved to Microsoft in Dublin where I ran the company’s PR and Corporate Social Responsibility programs in Ireland. Earlier this year I moved my family to the Pacific Northwest, to Redmond Washington where I’m now working in Microsoft’s Corporate Communications team looking after our global Citizenship and Community Affairs programs.  All change, all good!

John: Thanks Tom! Great insights!

Boston Pride For Zoo New England

The Governor of Massachusetts recently reduced Zoo New England's state budget from $6.5m to $2.5m, out of a total Zoo budget of around $11m. Governor Patrick argues that financially things are tight in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and every public supported institution needs to tighten its belt.

The Zoo reacted by suggesting if their budget was cut, the zoo would have to close and responsibility for the closing the Zoos would fall to the State, who may have to euthanize 20% of the animals. Critics and the Governor came back and suggested this would not happen. But importantly, the state legislature decided to remove the cuts, so at the moment the Zoo is saved. However, the PR tactics used by the Zoo now mean that the relationship between the Governor's office and the Zoo may be strained. Doug Haslam gave some PR insights into how to navigate the next course of action for both the Zoo and Governor Patrick.

I was thinking that perhaps both the Governor and Zoo New England would benefit from presenting their cases to the public for budget tightening or budget increases with numbers in hand. Not just the zoo numbers but a comparison of financial data with other Zoos across the United States.

Just to be open about my writing about the zoo budget, my interest is to see the State funding for Zoo New England continue, as I argued in my first blog post about the public relations around the potential zoo closure, the discussion about the zoo should be about financials, what's the ROI of the Zoos to the wider economy, especially if the State is arguing that the reason for the reduction in budget is for budgetary reasons. If the Zoo can prove it is having a good economic impact there's less reason to reduce the budget.

Allen Nyhuis, the author of Americas Best Zoos, was kind enough to look up some Financial data from an American Zoo Association survey of zoos from 2007 (the most recent available). Allen restricted his review to the 60 major zoos in his book Americas Best Zoos, plus the 37 zoos his book classified as "Best of the Rest" (including Franklin Park). About 10% of these 97 zoos didn't answer the survey, so they are not included. This includes the big corporate zoos, Disney's Animal Kingdom and Busch Gardens.

 Here's what Allen had to say, "According to this 2007 survey, the Franklin Park Zoo had an Attendance of 266,997 in the year 2006, and they had an Operating Budget of $8.01 million. (For Stone Zoo, it's 149,254 attendance and $2.47m budget.) If these numbers are correct, that means Franklin Park is spending $30 per visitor! Of the 86 zoos in my analysis, this is the 3rd-highest expenditure on the list. Only the San Diego Zoo ($31.48) and San Diego Wild Animal Park ($32.25) were higher. The Bronx Zoo is at $27.07 ($53.25m for 1,967,033 attendance); Central Park at $7.88 ($8.12m for 1,030,741); and Providence's Roger Williams Park Zoo is at $16.50 ($8.62m for 522,539)."

However, if we combine the Franklin Park Zoo and Stone zoo attendance numbers we have some different numbers.

416,251 attendees
$10,480.000 expenditure
$25.18 cost per visitor

While a comparison of the both Zoo New England zoos indicates that Franklin Park may cost more to run than the Stone Zoo. I think you have to really look at both Zoos together.

$30 cost per visitor - Franklin Park
$16.55 cost per visitor - Stone Zoo

I contacted Zoo England and received these attendance numbers for 2009, 2008, and 2007.

Franklin Park

2009 342313
2008 326543
2007 308166

Stone Zoo

2009 266484
2008 197889
2007 213016

Also, see these recent expenditures for Zoo New England in 2007 from Guidestar financials for the zoos.

The combined total attendance for both zoos in 2007 was 521,182 while the expenditure was $11.3 million in 2007. Cost per visitor for 2007 is $21.69. That means Zoo New England lowered its costs per visitor from 2006 to 2007. It will be interesting to see the numbers for 2008. It also looks as if Zoo New England compares favorably with other zoos around the country if you look at Allen's numbers.

Here's what Allen had to say about my combination, "Combining the 2 Zoo New England zoos, that $25.18 spent per visitor is still on the high side. The Median of the 86 zoos I'm able to calculate is $13.88. In fact ZNE would be higher than all but 9 zoos (SD, SDWAP, Baltimore, Miami, Palm Beach, Bronx, Akron, Rolling Hills (Kansas), and Dallas.)"

Allen gave his assessment of how Zoo New England is doing:

"Are the zoos "doing OK"? That's hard to answer. An honest assessment would say that, for the money they are spending, they SHOULD be attracting a larger attendance. At that Median ratio of $13.88 per visitor, their $10.48m should "buy" them a combined Attendance of 755,000 to the two zoos.
 
Allen also commented on the growing attendance numbers, "Those are some nice numbers for showing an increase in Attendance. To go from 416,251 to 568,797 (2006 to 2008) is a 37% increase in just two years! They need to keep that up and they'll be fine."

I'm a Zoo New England member and my family regularly attends the Zoo now we have a three year old toddler.

What I've noticed over the last year and a half since we really started visiting the zoo is that the Zoos have been slowly been improving, new bear, otter and gibbon exhibits and a new toddler train at the Stone Zoo.

When you just look at the numbers, the Zoo has made some great progress in recent years under the current leadership. Maybe what we should really be thinking about is explaining in numbers how far the Zoo has come in recent years, and how well we compare against other Zoos. Certainly not the best, but definitely not the worst, as Allen explains.

At least we are beating our New York rivals on cost per visitor. Though sadly for New England pride if you compare the size of the budget for the New York Zoos, $285 million in operations expenditure for New York to Massachusetts at $11.3 million looks rather pitiful.  Boston pride alone should get us thinking about a better financial arrangement for Zoo NE to help the zoo compete nationally.