What You Were Searching For in 2007

Google recently released its Zeitgest 2007, a look back at the top news stories, must-have gadgets and big events of the year that made the world’s collective Internet population sit down at its computer and search, search, search.

According to Google, the Zeitgest pulls “together interesting search trends and patterns that require both computing power and human power. Search statistics are automatically generated based on the billions of searches conducted on Google. With some help from humans, and a pigeon or two when they have time, these statistics and trends make their way from the depths of Google’s hard drives to become the Google Zeitgeist findings.”

I really wanted to write a post about the interesting Google statistics, and in talking to Ms. Lansford about the Zeitgeist she quickly remarked, “Marketing is research, and this is research.” Can’t argue with that.

The 2007 Year-End Zeitgeist displays research on top searches ranging from presidential candidates (Ron Paul) to TV shows (Heroes) and hot song lyrics (Rihanna’s Umbrella) to famous deaths (Anna Nicole Smith). It displays search trends broken up by month and reveals the fastest falling trends. Basically, it covers almost anything you’d want to know about Google search trends in 2007.

So go ahead and click the following link to take a look at what we all were searching for in 2007 (aside from the last few weeks of the year, it was released mid-December after all): Google 2007 Year-End Zeitgeist.

Politis Pointer #3: Misspellings by Journalists?

The Politis Pointer below was originally published on July 8, 2006 on DavidPolitis.com. It is re-purposed below with minor edits.

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So what should you do if you find your name (or your company name or a product/service name) misspelled in an article or editorial?

Simple, tell the author. That’s it? Yeah, that’s it.

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Want Better Media Coverage? Know the Media!

One of the keys to generating better media coverage is getting to know the media better. There are several aspects to this quest.

The right story for the right media outlet.

One of the biggest challenges that junior PR pros face is a lack of perspective — they often feel that the news release they’re writing at that very second is a “stop the presses” type of story, an idea destined to lead the network newscast that evening. More seasoned public relations professionals recognize that there are levels of newsworthiness and that often what may be perfect for one media outlet may fail miserably with another.

For example, television stations/networks are ALWAYS looking for the visible aspects of a story. Limited visible aspects to a story idea translate into limited chances that story will make the air.

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Politis Pointer #2: Sending Unsolicited Emails

This Politis Pointer first ran on June 16, 2006 on DavidPolitis.com. It is re-purposed below with a few minor changes.

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Back to this same unsolicited email I received yesterday (6/16/06) from a job applicant, included in the To field were email addresses for 15 different companies, some of which are direct competitors of Politis Communications.

Nope, I’m not kidding. And in reviewing the addresses, it’s clear that this job applicant did a bit of Web digging/scraping and came up with potential employment email addresses. These included addresses beginning with contact@, employment@, info@ and resumes@.

Naturally, since I felt a lot of personal attention from this job applicant I had a lot of interest towards this person. NOT!

TIP:

If you’re going to send an unsolicited job application/inquiry to a company,

• take the time to identify a real person inside the company, and

• email that person directly.

Reading Between the Lines on News Releases

The post below first appeared on DavidPolitis.com on January 31, 2007. I believe it’s worth re-posting here for the lessons it teaches about how to understand what’s really meant by some news announcements.

I feel it’s also instructive from the standpoint of how to write (and not write) critical news releases, as well as the importance of including a PR professional when writing, editing and/or finalizing any release — even if it is about the firing or dismissal of a key executive.

So . . . with minor edits, here is the original post.

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Dell News Release Provides Clues

On the surface, the headline from today’s Dell Inc. news release (1/31/07) seems fairly straightforward: “Michael Dell Assumes Duties as Chief Executive Officer of Dell Inc.”

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Politis Pointer #1: Email Misspellings

As explained today on DavidPolitis.com, I am now going to use that blog ONLY for personal writings. Anything related to strategic marketing communications is now going to be posted here, including prior writings originally posted on DavidPolitis.com.

So . . . the original post for this Politis Pointer was on June 16, 2006 at DavidPolitis.com. It is re-purposed below virtually as it appeared in its original form.

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So I get this unexpected job application yesterday afternoon. No problem; I get ‘em all the time, it just goes with the territory when you own a business.

But here’s what I found in the Subject line: “employment inguiry.”

Seriously! All lower case (which is fine), but the word “inquiry” misspelled as “inguiry?” Wow.

Is this someone you’d want to hire? Me either.

TIP:

If you care about how people preceive you, use the spellchecker in your email program before sending emails. If you really care, proofread the email before sending it too.

Establish, Nurture and Protect Your Brand

First, Merry Christmas to all the readers reading this post today or around this time of year! If you don’t celebrate Christmas, happy holidays as you’re probably enjoying some time off at this time of year regardless of the holiday you celebrate. Like most of you I’m enjoying some time off work to spend some time with my family and in-laws. Fortunately for me (and my passion for the great outdoors… and by that I mean golf), they live in Palm Springs, Calif. For a Canadian boy like me, heading south for the winter is a welcome change to the white Christmas’ I enjoyed as a child.

It is from this idilic setting that I would like to share a simple lesson about marketing that I’ve learned during this time of year: Product names are a very important feature for brand identity. So now that you’re thinking, “no duh?” let me elaborate based on a couple examples of gifts either given or received today. (more…)

How Journalists Use Web 2.0 and How We Should Respond

The Bulldog Report and TEKgroup International, Inc. recently released their 2007 Journalist Survey on Media Relations Practices: Executive Summary for free download through TEK’s web site.

The survey, conducted Oct. 4 - 10, 2007, generated more than 2,000 valid responses from journalists with the objective to “establish benchmarks for journalists who use the Internet to research, follow and report news and features materials.”

The survey produced some interesting results including

• Journalists report the single greatest change in journalism practices due to Internet technology is the ability to research corporate and other news 24 hours a day, as well as access media contact information
• Nearly half of all journalists visit a corporate Web site or online newsroom at least once a week, with more than 85% visiting at least once a month
• More than a quarter of journalists regularly read 5+ blogs to keep up with subject matter they cover
• More than half (51.5%) of journalists never seek audio or video material from corporate sites, while nearly 20% seek such material at least once a month
• 76.9% of journalists use their local newspapers to follow the news (followed by The New York Times at nearly 63%)
• 64% of journalists report using either Google or Yahoo! online news services to follow the news

Click here to view the full executive summary.

Your Second First Impression Sucked!!

Make no bones about it, we’re in the business of making impressions — good ones hopefully. The thing is, I wonder how many people realize the first impression isn’t the only one that matters.

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Annual List from BtoB Magazine Provides Media Targets for PR, Advertising & Media Pros

Not sure where to start when building a list of media outlets to target for your business-to-business public relations or advertising campaign? Try turning to BtoB Magazine.

Each year BtoB unveils its Media Power 50, the magazine’s ranking of the top media outlets for companies selling to other businesses, a.k.a. business-to-business (or B2B) marketers.

The ranking includes a breakout of media outlets in seven categories:

• Top Broadcast Shows;
• Top Business Magazines;
• Top IT Magazines;
• Top Newspapers;
• Top Out-of-home Outlets;
• Top Trades; and
• Top Web Sites.

The article also includes its overall ranking of the top 10 B2B media outlets for 2007, which you can find by clicking on the Media Power 50 link above.

This article is a great place to start for PR and ad pros looking to build a targeted B2B list for a Betty Factor-driven campaign.

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NOTE: For the record, BtoB Magazine published its Media Power 50 article back in May 2007. However, TheBettyFactor.com just got launched a month ago, so I figured it was (and is) still valuable to write about BtoB’s list here.  

In the future, as we come across other such articles, rankings and lists that we feel are valuable to our readers, we will write about them here, even if such items were originally published some time ago.   dlp