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by
Mark
Coker
Dovetail Public
Relations
 Introduction
This
article provides technology
marketers a simple checklist for
identifying fresh story making
opportunities. Use it as a reality
check to determine if your PR team
and your PR agency is pursuing all
available opportunities.
We'll explore the following
checklist of ideas:
- Analyst
Relations
- Application
Stories and Customer Case
Studies
- Awards
PR
- Columnist
Campaigns
- Contributed
Articles
- Editorial
Calendaring
- Editorial
Onsite Visits
- Expert
Sourcing
- Letters
to the Editor
- Lists
- Press
Releases
- Press
Tours
- Product
Reviews
- Speaking
Engagements at Industry
Conferences
- Trade
Shows and Booth Meetings
Analyst
Relations
The PR team should actively seek
to build relationships with
industry analysts who cover your
product areas. Reporters and
your customers seek out analysts
for their opinion on important
industry announcements, trends and
vendor suitability. Well-briefed
and enthusiastic analysts are
indispensable advocates for your
company.
Many analysts also publish
newsletters and reports, which are
often well-read within corporate
computing sites. The
downside to analyst relations is
that their services are often
retained by your competitors.
Remember that when you communicate
with the analyst community, you're
also communicating with your
competitors.
Application Stories and
Customer Case Studies
Your customers are your secret
weapon in PR. We usually refer to
an application story as a story
that the media writes about your
customer, and a case study as a
story that the PR team writes
about your customer. The terms are
interchangeable. Either way, the
PR team will work to locate
customers with interesting or
unique applications of your
products. Once the PR team locates
the user, the PR team will
interview them and make a
determination as to whether or not
the story is compelling and the
customer is articulate. The PR
team will also work with the
subject to secure approval for
their participation. Once the
interview is complete, the PR team
can write up a case study. Case
studies can make powerful
marketing collateral on your web
site and act as jump points for
staff-written editorial coverage
in the trades. The only downside
to case studies is that they tend
to be time consuming to produce.
An alternative to writing a
full-blown case study is to
encourage the media to cover the
story on their own. This is
usually accomplished by the PR
team pitching the story directly
to an appropriate reporter, often
as an exclusive, so that the
reporters can write their own
story. Application stories make
wonderful reprints, and carry
greater credibility that a
company-written case study. The
only disadvantage of an
application story is that your PR
team cannot exercise final control
over what the writer writes,
whereas with a case study, you
exercise total control. The
following trade publications do
application stories:
InternetWeek
Computerworld
CRM Magazine
eWeek
Government Computer News
InfoWorld
Network Magazine
Network World
One
alternative to a full blown case
study is to create a series of
brief user application profiles,
each a paragraph or two long, for
use in press materials. Yet
another way to use your customers
is to provide them to reporters as
commentators and interview sources
as part of your ongoing editorial
calendaring campaign. No matter
how we use customers, it's
important that the PR team
maintain an up-to-date list of
customers who are willing to speak
with the press.
Next page > Editorial
Calendaring > Page 1,
2, 3,
4
Mark
Coker is founder and president
of Dovetail
Public Relations, a Silicon
Valley media and analyst
relations firm. Dovetail
works with clients to create
long term, ongoing PR programs
that increase awareness and
create positive perceptions in
the marketplace.
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