2012 Trends Report Card, Part VII

Here's Part VII, our final set of grades of how we did with our 2012 predictions.  

Marketing Trends

1.     The press release will not die in 2012.  It did not die, even as some continue to say it will.  Grade: A.

2.     The role of CES will diminish next year. The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) continues to be important but SXSW is beginning to eclipse it. Grade: B+.

3.     Social media will play a bigger role in the marketing mix for B2B companies. Based on articles and conversations with prospective clients, we were right about this. Grade: A.

4.     Reporting and metrics will continue to be important for marketing functions. This will be true in 2013, too. Grade: A.

Overall grade: B+/A-.

We'll issue our 2013 trends starting in tomorrow's post.

Are Press Releases Dead?

Last year, I wrote that news embargoes were dead (If News Embargoes are Dead, What about Press Releases?), but that I didn't think press releases were dead.

I still think they're not dead.

Instead, there's been talk that they have or should evolve.

Most of the press releases I see online are not Web 2.0-type releases. I have not asked BusinessWire, PR Newswire or Marketwire if that fits with what they've been seeing.

Marketwire, which has improved its reporting capabilities (with more improvements due shortly, they tell me), doesn't make it easy to distribute a Web 2.0-type release. I think BusinessWire makes it easier to do so.

There are more channels by which to get out an organizations' news, such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc., but I still think there's a need for press releases.

There's a good article on press release basics, "Anatomy of a Pitch-Perfect Press Release," from the Sept. issue of New York Enterprise Report, a very good service-journalism magazine that's aimed for small businesses in New York. The article even includes a good illustration of a basic press release -- which is actually useful to me right now because we've been asked to write a press release for a client's partner, and that partner has never issued a press release before. This illustration at least will help them understand some key terms like biolerplate. The article also contains the "10 Golden Rules from the Experts." And, unlike the 10 Commandments of Social Media, which changes depending on each organization, these are pretty good commandments.

On the other hand, if you think the press release is dead, let me know. Of course, if you do, I think I know who killed it.

Invisible Banner Ads -- Sure, consumers will like them, but not the companies paying for them

There's a lot of dark out there. Dark matter -- matter in the Universe that physicists can't see. Dark pools -- of liquidity that buy-side traders can't see because it is not displayed on order books. And now, dark ads and dark press release pick-ups. (I could've mentioned the dark side of the force, for Star Wars fans, or Dark Side of the Moon for any Pink Floyd fans, but thought those were dated references. Well, Pink Floyd certainly.)

Dark ads are those that are coded to appear on sub-pages of some websites. The intent is to collect money by selling space that doesn't really exist. According to the Wall St. Journal, "Web Ads Hidden Under Cloak of Invisibility," what happens is that "software code running behind the scenes opened more than 40 Web pages, each including three ads from marketers."

The user doesn't see those ads, but the marketers are charged for them as if users had.

But because of click-through fraud, "Advertisers often buy display ads based on the number of times they are loaded onto a page, rather than the number of clicks they get."

Now, to dark press release (as opposed to dark marketing; check out my blog article on dark marketing). Part of the service you get when you distribute press releases via one of the paid services is a report showing where the press release was picked up. Sometimes the links they provide are from very well known media sites. In the pick-up report, you get the media outlet's logo and a specific URL for that press release.

Clients are often impressed with the media outlets' logos.

But when you click on that media outlet's home page to conduct a search for the client's press release -- well, you can't find it. The press release exists only on that link the distribution service provided and it is not searchable or findable any other way.

So, if you can't see these pick-ups except for when you actually have the specific links -- do they count?

I wouldn't think so -- but, on the other hand, when I searched online for two Wall St. Journal articles I had seen in the print edition, I could not find them using the Journal's search engine. However, I was able to find them using Google. So, do those articles count if they're not easily accessible using the site's search engine?

The answer: of course the articles count. They're just harder to find.

We still have to show what kind of pick-up press releases get, but we now prefer services that have improved their reporting to find pick-ups beyond the dark press release pick-ups.

In a searchable world, you have to be able to find content for it to count. The articles were found by Google, even if the Journal's engine couldn't (and they were from today's paper). The dark press releases can sometimes be found using Google, even if the media site's own search engine couldn't.

My preference: original articles, not just press release pick-ups. But in this age of smaller news staffs, we're seeing a lot more pick-ups than ever before -- albeit slightly edited.

Death to PowerPoint?

There's been a lot of discussion about whether the press release has outlived its usefulness.

I don't think the press release is dead yet. Well, the old fashioned, text-only release from a decade ago isn't doing too well, but web-enabled, multimedia press releases are doing fine.

I also read that blogging is dead.

And certainly print newspapers are dead.

Now, the Wall St. Journal, in an article entitled, "Speaking Truth to PowerPoint," suggests that PowerPoint is past its prime.

That's one item I would like to believe is past its prime.

While PowerPoint is a significant improvement over slide shows -- cheaper, more resilient (no broken glass slides), more portable (can fit on a flash drive instead of having to lug a carousel and a slide projector), and easier to update. We've all been through too many boring presentations known as death by PowerPoint.

As it is, the highly regarded tech conference DEMO has a number of rules for presenting companies, but one of the more challenging rule is "No PowerPoint." Why, Neal Silverman, a DEMO exec, is quoted in the Sept. Fast Company, "We're looking for real products, not canned presentations." So they don't want presenters relying on PowerPoint as a crutch.

The only question: what replaces PowerPoint?

How to Write an Earnings Release? Follow Bing's Advice for Flacks & Hacks

The press release is not dead, but is evolving. But one version of the press release is alive and doing ok even as it has not evolved.

That is the earnings release for public companies. Part of the reason earning releases have not evolved is due to legal and financial constraints. Investors expect these releases to contain specific information. The SEC expects the releases to meet certain standards.

Fortune columnist Stanley Bing, who in real life heads up CBS' communications department, offers up a template to make it easier for flacks to write earnings release each quarter. Bing also offers a template for hacks to write articles on corporate earnings each quarter.

Following Bing's templates, outlined in The Mad Libs Report, would save time, minimize stress for PR pros and journalists alike.

What Are You Offering Reporters These Days?

Too many PR functions may be thinking in the past.

They're thinking about press releases that haven't changed much over the past decade.

They're thinking about print.

What they need to think about -- and we're taking steps to make sure we do each time out -- is think beyond the press release.

First, let me say I think press releases are still part of the PR toolkit. Social media hasn't eliminated the press release -- they haven't gone the way of the buggy whip.

In fact, we saw that a client quote in a recent press release was picked up in its entirety in a reputable top-tier trade outlet.

But PR functions need to think in a multimedia, interactive world. And we need to guide our internal clients to adapt that mindset.

We need to think about audio and video that can be available with the press release.

We need a website that features audio and video -- and they need to push out that audio, video and other interactive content beyond their website.

We need to offer online photo galleries and make it easier for newspapers -- yes, newspapers -- to feature video. In fact, yesterday a client asked about video for an upcoming launch to see if we thought it would help us secure broadcast coverage; and after that meeting, we realized the answer we should have given (and will, today) is that video is important today for any news organization's website.

We need to provide suggestions of other information, sites, etc. that newspaper websites can link to.

We need to consider online chats we can conduct with reporters for their websites.

Some of this isn't exactly new; I realize that. But there are a lot of organizations are not taking advantage of multimedia. They may consider it expensive, unnecessary, complicated, that they don't have the skill sets or budgets. It's becoming increasingly easy to bring multimedia to your organization or clients. We've been talking with reporters from various media outlets, and they're recognizing the shift. PR functions need to make sure our clients shift, too.

Update on when a link is not a link

So I asked BusinessWire about these virtual links -- for example, they've got Forbes.com in the URL, but you can't find them when searching Google or using the Forbes.com search bar.

The response makes some sense but is not completely satisfying: "Business Wire posts a release to over 3500 web portals and databases. If someone signs up for an RSS feed or email alert through on of these sites, your clients release will be pushed to them if your clients release fits the users criteria. This is another great way to reach more people.

"The NewsTrak Posting report that you receive is intended to provide a quick snapshot of your release as available on key portals and news sites.

"In regards to Forbes.com, your release did post to Forbes even though it is not searchable. Public company releases are searchable. "

I guess that means we should have more public companies as clients.

When is a link not a link?

A big question these days is about press release-pick up.

There are lots of spam sites that pick up parts of press releases in the hopes that web surfers (do people still use that term) who land on the page may decide to click onto one of the ads on the side of the page. If even is a small percentage of people landing on the page click on an ad, the site pays for itself.

But from a client and agency perspective, these sites are meaningless. I've discussed this before, but those sites draw random people, not potential customers for our B2B clients.

On the other hand, there are media sites that regularly pick up press releases. Media sites that range from smaller TV stations around the country to publications like Forbes. Recently, we distributed two press releases over PR Newswire for the same client; the report we got back included pickup on the Forbes site. The client was thrilled, as we've seen with other clients.

But we decided to investigate further. Going to the Forbes.com site, we entered the client's name in the search box....

The result: nothing.

No link to the client's press release, even though we had a Forbes.com URL that showed the release. In other words, the pick-up existed outside Forbes.com's search engine, and could be located only by clicking on the link provided by PR Newswire.

We are now advising clients not to get too impressed by the Forbes.com pickup of the release. Not to pick on PR Newswire or Forbes.com, I'd bet the same is true for BusinessWire, too.

One measure of a successful press release is the number of stories generated by them. But these days of smaller editorial staffs, just getting a press release picked up on relevant, meaningful, non-spam sites can be a measure of success.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean the press release has real impact.

Bottom-line: The industry needs a better way to measure the impact of a press release.