Marketers: It’s Time to Come out of the New Media Cave

I have been on Twitter for a year or more now. I like the tool, it allows me to interact with and get to know the media and some of my key audiences, mentors and peers. That said, is it the end all solution for PR and marketing campaigns? Well, that depends on who the audience is.

This morning, I saw some interesting stats on Twitter and other services like Facebook and MySpace. Make no mistake, these new online services are growing like wildfire, but is that enough of an indicator to make these the silver bullet that saves PR or becomes the new default means of communication with audiences?

Personally, I don’t think so.

I think being in the tech industry causes me to forget there is a world of non-techies out there, services like Twitter and so forth become a sort of echo chamber, or, as Plato might put it, the “cave.” (My dad is one of these non-techies, for years he had an Instamatic camera that he never used, and recently I suggested he use an RSS reader to get news from his favorite car blogs, his response, “not right now, maybe later.”) So it should come as no surprise when research indicates that while Twitter is growing like wildfire, it is still not being adopted on a massive consumer scale.

Which leads me to my point, I think, when planning a campaign, what should we focus on? Do we want to wow our client with the newest, latest and greatest technologies, or do we want to use the tried and true methods tools that have gotten the job done for years. I think there are advantages both ways. As PR peeps, should we be agents of change, forcing the market to adapt to us by adopting Twitter and other new fandangled online tools, or should we go to where the audiences are? How do we measure our audiences? Is it quantity or quality?

These are all good questions, that good PR people should be asking themselves as they play their next PR campaigns.

I think these tools are great and have helped me land coverage in some good publications for my clients. I have also learned a lot, been informed of world events and what some of my fellow twitterers are doing at all hours of the day. But, and this is a big but, let’s keep this in perspective. Twitter is a tactic, heck!, most of these new tools on the Internet are tactics, and part of a bigger online strategy, and as with most everything in our lives, as part of our campaigns, these tools should be balanced (moderation ring a bell to anyone?).

So, be wise, be prudent, be realistic, and for our clients’ sake, let’s come out of the cave and look around, I think we’ll be surprised.

The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday

Hizbollah keeps track of Neil MacFarquar’s birthday.

MacFarquhar is an American New York Times correspondent who reports on the lower-profile areas of the Middle East. Serious injuries he sustained in a bike accident in downtown New York City keep him from the war zones he used to cover. MacFarquhar now mostly writes about political and cultural complexities of the Middle East outside of the typical conflicts covered by U.S. media. His reporting and his book, “The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday,” are about Middle Eastern customs, everything from pop stars to humorous fatwas (religious rulings)  to Arabs’ and Iranians’ concerns about the region’s future.

Hizbollah took notice of MacFarquhar’s reporting style. Since 2003, MacFarquhar has received birthday messages from Hizbollah’s media relations department that include greetings such as, “I wish all the joy your heart can hold, all the smiles a day can bring, all the blessings life unfold.”

This story reminds me that the road of media relations isn’t one way. Hizbollah sends MacFarquar birthday cards presumably because it wants to encourage him to continue reporting the way he does. MacFarquar uses these kinds of interactions to present readers a perspective on Middle Eastern culture beyond its instances of militancy. PR people communicate to the media to ensure messages about their organization are presented accurately and fairly. Journalists, in turn, have the responsibility to write the complete story and trust the information the PR professionals provide. MacFarquhar’s perspective on the Middle East seems to complete some of the region’s untold story.

Listen to NPR’s interview with MacFarquhar.

Audi vs. BMW, a most unusual game of chess

This is what I consider creative, fun and competitive marketing at it’s finest.

In August 2008, Audi leased billboard space at the busy intersection of Santa Monica and Beverly Glen Boulevards in Los Angeles. The advertisement for the entirely new Audi A4 called out BMW to make the next move. So, how did Santa Monica BMW respond?

I’ve never doled out a Happy Betty Award before, but I think it’s about time. Well done, BMW. Well done.