Wednesday
Mar032010
Conversation on PR and Social Media
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 10:20AM Walt Boyes, Editor of Control magazine (I know, he's technically a competitor) and I met electronically with Juliann Grant, VP of Telesian Marketing, to discuss social media, PR and editors. It was an interesting conversation. Juliann's blog is here and you can listen directly to the podcast here. Comment here or on her blog. Walt and I love industry conversations, and I hope that comes through.
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Reader Comments (4)
A very interesting conversation. And I could esp. empathise with a lot of comments on the shortcomings of our friends in PR.
Just this week I received a press release detailing the NailsAsia 2010 exhibition in Singapore, complete with six delightful hi-res pictures of ladies and their colourful nail designs. Still trying to work out the Control Enginering Asia news angle on that. And this was from a reputable PR agency.
Then there was the PR guy on Tuesday urging me to use a story from PLM company Dassault Systemes for my forthcoming Device Management Software (EDDL, FDT, etc) article.
Then finally, a few weeks ago:
PR guy: "Could you send me your editorial calendar"
Me: "For which publication?"
He: Silence;
Me: "Do you know which publications we have?
He: "Er, no. Let me go and have a look at your website"
To paraphrase Woody Allen: Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym. Those who can't teach gym go into public relations (seemingly).
Nice to hear from you, Bob. You had to write about that? I've had two calls today from PR people. One had to be either an intern or telemarketer. She had no clue what was going on. Just wanted to know when (not if) I was publishing their release. Just hung up after a conversation with another PR guy asking when I was publishing his release. In neither case was the information relevant to Automation World. <sigh>
I guess times are tough for PR people, too. The pursuit of free marketing is amazing.
I enjoyed the podcast too! It's great to hear your perspectives on how suppliers can do a better job in providing you what you need to lead your Automation World magazine efforts. I shared the podcast link with Greg McMillan and Alan Babbitt, my two fellow Emerson bloggers to share your and Walt's kind words.
Bob, I hope you can make the Emerson Exchange this year in San Antonio so we can catch up again face to face.
I would just add that there are of course some good PR professionals around. It's the ones that don't make an effort to understand your business that let the side down. I mean, how difficult is it to spend some time flicking through some back issues or going to the publication website and seeing if there is a match to the client?
Gary - hope things going well for you so far in 2010. Blog's looking good.
Jim - would certainly be great to catch up again at Exchange. Really enjoyed the DC event in 2008. Have to persuade the Emerson Asia Pac guys to get me a ticket!