MarCom Professional

Current Google references to "social media experts" - 92,400,000.

That's a lot of snake oil. 

Over the last several months I’ve been involved in plenty of pitches for new business. A decent share have been successful but there have been occasions – probably half a dozen – in which the potential client has opted to go for a bit of DIY PR instead while times are tight. 

In all these instances I’ve taken an active interest in the outcome, largely because they were almost all cases where I felt that there was a great opportunity and I could see the story working in the nationals or on TV. I was also interested to see what the result of the DIY efforts would be. 

One worked reasonably well, but in all the other cases it was almost enough to make a grown man cry. 

The stories that failed did so for two reasons: More...

These are in fact, the six things that you shouldn’t do online if you find that the business you represent is caught in the midst of a row with a journalist. These apply, in my view, whether or not the journalist is right, wrong or whether there are shades of grey. What I have learned over time is that all disagreements with the media ought to be handled privately until such time as the matter is resolved or until you are clear that there is no resolution. At that point, you can review your options, having gained distance and perspective. There is no place in the rapid-fire worlds of digital media or social networking for anti-social networking. More...

A cautionary tale this time, involving Gordon Ramsay the chef. He was interviewed on one of Australia’s leading current affairs programmes recently and in the days that followed is alleged to have said some unsavoury things about the programme’s presenter.

This video is the prologue to her next programme, during which she took the opportunity to respond to Ramsay’s alleged comments. Her response has attracted the support of the Australian PM.

Whether the furore will turn Ramsay’s trip down under into more of a demotional tour than the promotional one that he had intended remains to be seen. More...

Here's a textbook example of how to handle a potentially difficult interview.  Peter Mandelson performed quite brilliantly on the Andrew Marr programme on Sunday morning. 

From the outset he was in complete control of the interview, setting the mood and the pace.  Andrew Marr is a fine interviewer and the subject matter provided much scope for confrontation, but Mandelson was controlled, precise and unflappable throughout. His use of language is forensic and he does a great job of setting the pace, asserting his right to control the length of his answers and of deflecting those questions that he chooses not to answer.  A classic. More...

Not since Sid Meier’s magnificent Civilization series of video games have we seen such an interesting manifestation of the evolution of a society as we are witnessing with San Francisco start-up Twitter, the remarkably enduring ‘next big thing’ which is now already three years old.

Twitter has reached and passed Gladwell’s Tipping Point, and today pretty much every journalist and commentator in the land is nattering about Twittering. I suspect that birds are going to have to find a new name for their voices or risk perpetual confusion with the 140 character missives of millions of two legged wingless box dwellers. It’s an appropriation we’ve not seen the likes of since More...

The Government’s announcement that it is launching an online review mechanic for public services is an interesting move. It’s an eye-catching initiative, although providing customers with a voice in relation to very specific service experiences is a risky enterprise unless handled very carefully.

The key issues are:

Authenticity – Can readers be certain that the reviews come from bona fide customers of the service? Too many online review services are prone to manipulation, bias and blatant falsehood. What is required is a closed loop system that guarantees the authenticity of the customer. Reevoo is a perfect example of this type of service and is building a widely trusted brand. More...

I’ve never met Julie Myerson. My partner has once – at a writing retreat – and one of my partner’s friends has a child at the school that the Myerson kids attend in south London. We knew of them enough, even at this rather cursory level, to spot pretty much immediately that the Guardian’s “Living with Teenagers” columns were written by her.

We enjoyed them. They chimed with many of our own experiences as parents of teenagers – but  we were also uneasy with the idea that even at this rather distant proximity we were able to identify the author without the need for forensics. It seemed to us after a while that this was a poorly concealed betrayal of the intimacies of family life. More...

Apple have made a number of cardinal errors that have combined to make a noxious cocktail in the last few weeks.

The first is in allowing too much of the value of the business over time to be vested in the CEO.

There are many other businesses, of course, that take similar risks by putting their CEO front and center at every opportunity and having he/she lead all communications with the outside world. The trouble is that when it comes to valuation, it soon becomes difficult to separate the enterprise and the leader.

It is far better for a business in the medium / long term to let people see and hear from a cross-section of talent from the leadership team. More...

Call me late to the buffet, call me a Luddite, but isn’t “social influence marketing” the expensive consultant’s new name for PR?

These days, for what must appear to be purely self-serving motives, I collar anyone who’ll listen to explain my view that conventional advertising and marketing are dying and that PR is on the rise in their wake. At the same time, a staggering number of ad agencies and marketing consultancies (with many noble and notable exceptions) are scrambling to position themselves as “social influence marketing consultancies”. More...