It’s a Pod, Pod, Pod, Pod World – What does this mean for Your PR?

Posted on October 10, 2024 by rgeller

It is interesting to note that much of the buzz around Kamala Harris’s media blitz this week centered on her Call Her Daddy podcast appearance.

Why was this angle so hot, and what does it say about the state of the media? My go to news “splainers” Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher of The Pivot podcast had this to say on Tuesday’s episode:

Kara: With a month to go before the election, Vice President Kamala Harris is embarking on a media blitz this week. She kicked things off with an interview on the podcast Call Her Daddy, and is set to appear on 60 Minutes, The View, Stephen Colbert, and the Howard Stern over the next few days.

Most of these will be light and friendly interviews. Some will be more hard-hitting. Is this a good idea or is it too little, too late, or what’s the strategy here?”

Scott: Well, the thing that struck me about it is just that how much the world has changed in four years, where the presidential candidates’ big news event… is not that they’re going on 60 Minutes tonight, it’s that they’re going on this podcast. It really speaks to how podcasts have become such an important medium…

Kara: But will it matter for her? Because no matter how many she does, it’s not enough for the press. And the fact that she’s not doing a big New York Times interview, I think is really interesting. That to me is the most interesting is that what they’re not doing, offense.

They went on to discuss other implications of podcasting, e.g. when an author with a new book comes on The Pivot, there is a noticeable jump in book sales.  They thought it would be a great idea for Kamala to go on the Joe Rogan show. Kara implied that traditional media, like the New York Times, feel sidelined and frustrated in their efforts to interview the most sought after sources.

And it is not just politicans. In fact, Mike Isaac of the Times wrote about tech CEOs favoring podcasts, citing Mark Zuckerberg’s appearance on the Acquired podcast.

If it sounds strange that a podcast managed to land some of the world’s highest-profile business leaders, you may not have been paying attention. In recent years, billionaires and top executives in Silicon Valley…. have started to opt out of sitting only for traditional media interviews.

Instead, they increasingly prefer to tell their own stories in the friendly spaces of podcasts and YouTube streams, where they often have more leeway to expound… on their pursuits and passions. Many of the interviews are like fireside chats…

Mike Isaacs, NY Times

The article quoted Jules Terpak, a digital culture analyst and podcaster:

“The democratization of media has allowed everyone to have a personal talk show, and now, those in powerful positions have a wide array of options to choose from when they want to get the word out to the public.”

Jules Terpak, Digital Culture Analyst

The takeaways for PR are to work pdocasts and other forms of democratized media into the mix (if you haven’t already; most in our field have, I believe).

You might also want to consider launching a CEO podcast for your employer or client. That might sound expensive, complicated and scary, but it really isn’t. Check out our podcast, PR, Done and Doner, on the topic, where Saul Marquez of marketing firm Outcomes Rocket broke it down pretty well.

Posted in Campaign Analysis, In the News, Podcast | Tagged | Comments Off on It’s a Pod, Pod, Pod, Pod World – What does this mean for Your PR?

How Much is that Puff Piece in the Window?

Posted on September 30, 2024 by rgeller

My post What to Do When PR Hits a Paywall covered the growing number of ways PR folks get hit up for fees when working the media. 

That post was seven years ago. I am writing again because the issue remains very relevant. In fact, our team reports back weekly about the new and creative ways that media are finding to flip the pitch on PR.  Below, I repeat the list from 2017 and add the more recent offers we have gotten.

20172024
– The publication has decided to charge for that byline, as part of their new native advertising arm.
– Worse, said arm is an embedded agency that competes with yours.
– Product reviews, once a PR staple, are no longer free in many cases.
– The “reporter” we pitched for CES is – charging to take briefings.
– Another one makes a heavy pitch to sponsor their exclusive newsletter.
– The TV spot comes with a “production fee.”
– That brand page that used to get great organic reach needs a paid boost to get the same results.		– Charging for inclusion in a Lumascape-style infographic.
– Social posts about news for a price.
– Some make you pay for inclusion in their “People on the Move” section.
– Trade outlets say they’ll post a press release for a fee.
– There’s a ton of pay-for-play for ranking lists/awards: some charge to be considered for the lists or to improve ranking.
– “Come on my podcast, throw me a few bucks, will also work you into an article.”

I don’t begrudge our journalist friends, reporting is an increasingly tough business and way to make a living.  The trend does show, however, the increasing erosion of the church and state wall that has separated the editorial and business sides.

Perhaps it is time for another wall to come down – the psychological one separating how we view earned and paid media. It should not be that big a barrier, but I find that many in our field struggle with it, as if paid media or advertsing is beneath us.

True, we are not ad folk, but we too are in the business of steering client stories to the right audiences. While it may be outside of our comfort zones, the ability to vet paid media opps is growing in importance.  PR pros should not be afraid of questions like: what paid media opportunities would you recommend? Is it worth paying X (above and beyond your PR fee) to get Y result?

With knowledge of the strength of the media brand, the audience they reach, and the value of exposure, there’s no reason we can’t learn to sift the wheat paid opps from the chaff BS. Forward thinking PR pros will factor this cost of doing business into our plans, budgets and client recommendations.

Posted in Campaign Analysis, Paid media, PR, Public Relations | Comments Off on How Much is that Puff Piece in the Window?

Scott and Kara Chime in on the State of Media and big PR Reveals

Posted on September 19, 2024 by rgeller

I really enjoy tuning into the Pivot podcast, hosted by Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, twice weekly. The two have a great rapport, and cover tech, media and poltical news in a fun and entertaining way.

If the names are not familiar, Kara is a legend in tech reporting. She worked side-by-side with Walt Mossberg at WSJ for years. Mossberg is another name that should be familiar if you have labored in the tech PR and marketing trenches (he has retired, but Kara is going strong with her podcasts and CNN commentator gig among many other pursuits). I just finished reading Burn Book, Kara’s no-holds-barred account of her years covering the tech industry luminaries and innovators; a great read.

Scott is her sidekick and often irritates Kara with his adolescent humor. He is a serial entrepreneur, author, speaker and professor of marketing. Scott ran a branding agency and is pretty sharp on all issues about entrepreneurship, VC, governance, crisis management, Wall Street, and the tech industry in general.

Not that they care what I think, but I have two small complaints. Kara and Scott open the show with small talk, often yammering about all their fab appearances, big name celeb meetings, lush travels, important keynotes, and that can get tiresome and exhausting quickly. Yeah, we get it, you’re both living the life. Also, it would be great if they spent more time covering promising startups and up-and-coming business leaders (OK, you got me, our clients) vs. obsessing over big tech, Musk, Zuckerberg, Murdoch et al.

Apart from these quibbles, it is a great show. Sometimes the two get into it about PR, and I enjoy hearing their take on things. They’ve pretty much seen it all; Kara, in her role as a gumshoe tech journo who worked in Silicon Valley for decades, and Scott as a marketing practitioner and academic.

Last week they discussed Apple’s product launch and the Google antitrust lawsuits. It was interesting to hear Scott and Kara discuss PR related to these events, although it seems Scott has a jaded view of the field. I share excerpts from the transcript below.

Apple Launch, State of Big Reveals, In-person PR Events

Kara: I’m going to the Apple event today after this, going down to Cupertino…

Scott: Oh, another headset? [FYI the two often joust about Apple’s V/R headset – this is Scott’s sarcasm at play]

Kara: It’s a new phone,

Scott: How new is it?

Kara: We’ll see. I am very excited, actually. I used to go to Apple events all the time when Steve Jobs was around, and I haven’t been to one in a long, long time. They’re actually very fun to see what happens. There’s not too many in-person anything anymore. I’ll be visiting some of their executives, it should be fun.

Scott: My 14-year-old – next to football games, it’s the event he’s the most excited about.

They really have done an amazing job of turning it [into a spectacle]… Auto companies used to be really good at creating announcements… they pull a silk thing off it with some hot girl and an old white guy…. “Here’s the new Lebaron!”

Kara: Microsoft used to do it

Scott: Yeah. But they haven’t done a very good job of that anymore. I’m trying to think of another company that figures out a way….

Kara: Well, Tesla’s about to do one at a Hollywood studio with their Robo Taxi that doesn’t exist. You know, they’re trying to do like, “look at us” kind of stuff. Tesla does quite a few of them, but-

Scott: Actually, you know who does a really good job is the shoe industry with their drops; and fashion a little bit.

Kara: Oh, the drops.

Takeaways: It sounds like some longing for the spectacle of big product reveals. These and other kinds of in-person events were more popular before Covid hit. Of course, only the biggest brands, especially consumer-facing ones, can pull these off.

Scott Don’t Need no Stinkin’ PR Pitches

Scott and Kara brought up the latest anti-trust lawsuit against Google. They hosts discussed proper remedies, and Google’s impact on the publishing AKA news indutry. This gave Scott a chance to rant a bit:

Scott: But again, the meta news here is that people are, what has happened in the last 30 years? The number of journalists has been substantially reduced, and the number of PR comms execs who now come up to me and interrupt me all fucking day long at the Democratic National Convention to introduce me to some VP at a fascinating new technology company, or can get me a few minutes with the CEO of a ride hailing company.

Why the fuck would I want to meet with this person who brightens up a room by leaving it? The ratio of spin and bullshit and our impression that these companies are noble and really concerned about the world and proud of their progress and want to make the world a better place, the jig is up.

Kara: Yeah, I think the worm has certainly turned. We’ll see if it continues to turn.

Takeaways; Sounds like a hard no to PR pitches! We get it, Scott. Take it easy, I won’t harsh your mellow at the next fab event you’re gracing your presence with.

Posted in Podcast, Politics, PR, PR Tech, Tech | Comments Off on Scott and Kara Chime in on the State of Media and big PR Reveals

Our Songs and Your Tech News – Not So Different

Posted on August 14, 2024 by rgeller

It’s been a fun experience, starting a band (Bobby G and the Bohemians) with friends over the past few years – but it hasn’t been without its challenges.

One can best be explained in an anecdote. In my effort to line up gigs, I ran into an interesting request from a local dive bar I was pitching (I say this affectionately, it really is a cool little venue on the main drag of Tarrytown, one of the more happening towns in Westchester County, NY, near where I live).

The owner had no quibble over our fee. But he asked that we just play cover songs, vs. the originals that are our bread and butter.  Usually we favor these, to the tune of about 2/3 of our set lists.  Bobby G and the Bohemians aims to be fun, interesting, different – not just the same old classic rock cover band that dominates in our area.

“Definite preference is about 95% covers until you have a following at the bar.”

Bar Owner

This was a show stopper, sadly, but it made me reflect.

I could understand his request. New can be seen as risky, untested. Many venues like bands that are essentially live juke boxes. And concertgoers like established acts to play old hits.

It’s the familiarity thing; the same reason studios and moviegoers double down on existing IP, franchises and sequels (as Raechal Shewfelt wrote for Yahoo Entertainmant). It’s why cover songs are big,  and sampling, vibe snatching and interpolation are too (check out Switched on Pop episode).

You may be wondering what this has to do with your news, if you are a startup and launching a new kind of innovation that’s untethered to an established name or category.

In a busy information landscape, it is easier to care about and cover what can easily be slotted and understood.  Yeah, big, undeniably hard news helps, but can’t just be ordered up.

Does this mean you’re out of luck, if journalists at first ignore your coolest originals?

Not at all – but you have to first recognize this and then work hard and get creative to overcome the obstacles.

Posted in Branding, Campaign Analysis, Fun Stuff, PR | Tagged , | Comments Off on Our Songs and Your Tech News – Not So Different

Did PR Help Make the Beatles the GOAT Band?

Posted on July 25, 2024 by rgeller

I sometimes play a game with friends, asking “Stones or Beatles, which band rules?”

More than a few choose the Rolling Stones; I am solidly in the Beatles camp. They always impressed me as the best hit makers, with original songs that are not as blues-influenced. Beatles’ songs are more interesting and resonant as they evoke a range of feelings and emotions, vs. mostly harder edge and darker Stones. (don’t get me wrong, I do love the blues and the Stones, but bands that come from that tradition are more commonplace).

But how, really, can you judge the best and more important band? Sure, it takes talent, persistence and yes, great songs. Are these enough? What else counts?

I watched a YouTube video recently that asked that very same question. James Hargreaves discusses the criteria and makes a very compelling case for the Beatles, and the role of PR in propelling them into a global phenomenon and arguably the GOAT rock band.

I summarize it here, share my thoughts, and encourage you to watch his YouTube (Bigger Than the Beatles? Why No-one Has Done it – Yet) and subscribe to his channel to get the full picture. James really makes a good case in a well-reasoned, well-spoken and cogent way.

Is Anyone Bigger than the Beatles?

James starts out by asking the same kind of question as above, except instead of the Rolling Stones, he wonders if Michael Jackson or Taylor Swift ever achieved Beatles-like status. And are there objective measures to judge the most important?

E.g., does it get down to better songs (totally subjective)? More album sales or concert crowds (others had more than the Beatles)?

Taking all these things into account, Hargreaves says: “Somehow, culturally speaking, the Beatles worldwide do seem to have the advantage.”

He then outlines the stages acts go through as their stars rise:

  • Level 1, Buzz and hype
  • Level 2, Build a serious following around their music

Many accomplish the first two. But very few, he says, move onto the next stage: 

  • Level 3, Obsession and hysteria.

“You can see that the big difference between the Beatles and all other musical acts was this: it wasn’t just the music, it wasn’t just the album sales, it wasn’t just the live concerts, even though they had all those things. It was the level of hype, excitement, momentum and reverence attached to the entity the Beatles,” according to James.

He says that the Beatles ascended to a fourth stage that no other band has

  • Level 4, Objects of worship.

Everywhere they went, people tried to touch them and get their autographs. The sick and disabled got close with the hopes for a cure. Some may recall John Lennon’s infamous quote, that the Beatles are bigger than Jesus (which thus handed them a PR crisis).

James continues: “How did they go from complete unknowns in the early 60s to objects of global hysteria and literally worship in just a few years, as they were young, handsome and talented, but so were loads of bands?”

Enter the Powers of Context, Social Proof and PR 

He posits that your reaction to a song can be influenced by the backstory around it and how it’s perceived by others. Would people react to a Beatles song the same way if they didn’t know it was the Beatles, if the band played under a pseudonym?

The answer, clearly, is that these things do play a role. Success begets more success, and feeds on itself. Context counts.

James says: “There is almost always a kind of filter between the music and your ear which affects how you kind of see the song… It’s also massively affected by what everyone else seems to be saying about the artist as well… that’s why bands and their public relations teams work so incredibly hard to monitor and control what is being said about them in the public sphere, whether online today or in the main music publications back in the day.”

It’s also about FOMO and the influence of the “majority verdict.” Or, as we say in the marketing world, the powers of brand and social proof. Conversely, if we hold a dissenting view, we may wonder if we are wrong about the band or song.

Enter the PR Puppet Master

According to James, the playbook to achieving the Beatles’ vaunted status was to create an impression of a bandwagon that people are jumping on. This then takes on a life and momentum of its own.

Hargreaves says, “If it’s managed and manipulated properly, what started out as hype, buzz and excitement gives way to dedication and love. And if there is an absolute master at the wheel of the bandwagon, this can be pushed and pushed and pushed right up into obsession, hysteria and then worship.”

From here, James introduces the role of Beatles manager Brian Epstein, whom he calls the Leonardo da Vinci of PR. James relates how Epstein stormed NYC like he owned the place, when he was setting the stage for the Beatles’s US invasion.

He managed to arrange a meeting with TV host Ed Sullivan and negotiated getting the band top billing on the show, an appearance that went down in history.

James related how they went on from there to conquer the US without doing the hard work of touring and building a name here first, like Led Zeppelin, the Stones and many other acts had to do; how they exploded on the scene.

The image James Hargreaves paints of a master PR craftsman like Brian Epstein is that of a savvy image maker, brash wheeler and dealer, and media manipulator.

Sure, it sounds like an old school, stereotypical take on PR. Plus, the media is a much different animal today. It would be hard to pull off the same feat in our fragmented hyper-distracted media world.

But I found James Hargeaves’s view to be pretty convincing. Brian Epstein sounds like a fascinating, larger than life character – I previously did not know much about him or his role in the rise of the Beatles.

James mentions Brian Epstein’s book, A Cellarful of Noise, which seems a must read if you are in PR. It is on my list for sure.

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Help! The AI Ate my Web Search! Will SEO Ever be the Same?

Posted on July 2, 2024 by rgeller

Your company has fought long and hard to climb in the search engine results. But SEO is changing, driven by AI and new ways in which we find info and answers online.

Is it time to panic? How can companies prepare for the coming disruption without losing ground in influencing search (and now, AI chat) results?

To find out, we invited our friend, VP at seoClarity and SEO guru Mark Traphagen back onto the podcast.

It was a great conversation. In 20 minutes, Mark shed light on these areas:

  • How big a deal is AI for search and SEO?
  • The state of Google AI Overviews
  • How it works, compared with traditional Google search and ranking
  • Can ChatGPT results be optimized?
  • Short and long term impact
  • Next steps for big brands and niche players
  • PR that can assist optimization efforts

You can watch a video of the interview here.

Check it out on Spotify and other podcasting channels.

Thanks for reading; and thank you, Mark, for sharing your insight.

Posted in Podcast | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tech CEO Reputation and Impact: Top Takeaways from Shahar Silbershatz Interview

Posted on June 11, 2024 by rgeller

I had a great chat recently with Shahar Silbershatz, CEO of reputation management and analytics firm Calber. He joined the podcast to discuss the impact of executive brands on company reputation and business. That was the just the main course; the 30 minutes were crammed with useful info across a number of topics that should be of great interest to comms pros. We discussed:

  • Comparison of brand measurement methods.
  • The emergence of always on, real-time surveys and panels.
  • Connection between CEO and company reputation.
  • How to convert data into PR results.
  • The decline of the tech and CEO brands, and what to do about it.
  • How to be an effective and visible thought leader in today’s hyper-polarized, perilous world.

Shahar shared interesting case studies, especially around a PR campaign regarding Elon Musk and Tesla’s business performance that got covered in Reuters, CNN and others. I wrote about this more in my previous post. Spoiler alert: yes, the data seem to show a connection between Musk’s reputational issues and recent struggles of the EV manufacturer.

Here are some of the top quotes and takeaways from our chat:

  • X/Twitter’s reputation took a dive after Musk took over.
  • Most people surveyed coudn’t connect the tech CEOs with their respective companies. Musk and Zuckerberg were the exceptions.
  • Regarding highly visible CEOs, it used be more positive than today. Superstars like Richard Branson and Steve Jobs had halos that rubbed off on the companies.
  • Today it’s probably a liability to have a highly visible CEO… being visible often means pissing someone off.
  • The tech sector has its own problems; it used to be highly reputable compared with other industries, in terms of public opinion.
  • In most cases, CEOs had a lower TLS (trust and like score) than their companies; except for Uber and Alphabet.
  • There were certain leaders whose reputations were very negative, like Jeff Bezos – the real difference here is that the reputation of Amazon (unlike some of the other big techs) is stellar.
  • If you’re going to take a public stance or put yourself out there, you have to watch what you talk about and and make sure you don’t get into any controversy that’s connected to your company.

It’s a world where you have to be a lot more careful; but also pretty fast to react to what’s happening, rather than trying to keep a low profile. Because that’s also not a good strategy.

Shahar Silbershatz, Caliber

Some of his observations come from a study documented in a blog post on Caliber’s site: In Tech we Trust?

Thank you, Shahar, for joining and sharing your insight.

Posted in Politics, Public Relations | Comments Off on Tech CEO Reputation and Impact: Top Takeaways from Shahar Silbershatz Interview

What is the impact of a rock star CEO on a company’s brand?

Posted on May 2, 2024 by rgeller

In PR circles we talk about the importance of building executive profiles and visibility.  Leaders who are in the news can serve as ambassors for the company brand; and their visibility can advance the goals of the business.

But let’s take this idea to an absurd extreme, where one exec, say the CEO, singularly emblemizes the company while dominating headlines and living rent free in our minds. Further, the exec is controversial, a loose cannon. Is their high profile a good thing?

Most who long for that kind of fame (e.g., startups and their founders) might answer a resounding “Yes!!” After all, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?

An article I read counters that notion. In “What’s Wrong with Tesla,” CNN Senior Writer Peter Valdez-Dapena covered the state of the EV business amidst recent troubles at Tesla.

While some have said that the EV business is struggling, the CNN piece argued that it’s not the EV business overall that is off but Tesla’s; and its ills may well be tied to the declining reputation of Elon Musk.

The article cited survey data from Danish branding and reputation firm Caliber:

Tesla’s reputation and customer purchase consideration for its vehicles fell sharply starting around the beginning 2022 — the year Musk took over the social media platform originally called Twitter — and have continued to decline since then… While Caliber’s data doesn’t make firm connections to specific causes, the company’s reseach also uncovered low opinions of Musk, himself.

CNN

Musk and Tesla are, by far, much more closely connected in public perception than most CEOs and the companies they run.

Søren Holm, head of client services for Caliber

I found the topic fascinating, so I reached out to the company and had a nice chat with their CEO, Shahar Silbershatz. He told me more about Caliber’s work, and pointed me to another study that’s documented in their recent blog post: In Tech we Trust?

The survey provided insight into the reputations of 12 big techs and their CEOs or founders and tackled key questions such as:

  • Can Americans connect the CEO with their respective company?
  • Relative reputations of companies vs. their leaders. 
  • Attitudes about tech leaders by the respondent’s political party affiliation.
  • Which tech companies are most (and least) trusted? 
  • What’s driving or dragging down the reputation of the tech sector?

It’s a fascinating read and I highly recommend that you check it out.

I am glad to say that Shahar agreed to be a guest on PR, Done & Doner, stay tuned for an upcoming episode.

Posted in Campaign Analysis, In the News, Podcast | Comments Off on What is the impact of a rock star CEO on a company’s brand?

PR that Minor News? Research into Poltical Yard Signs Holds an Answer

Posted on April 25, 2024 by rgeller

I have been working with PR teams for over twenty years.  In all that time, some of the same questions keep coming up about press releases. No, not “is the press release dead yet?” The one I had in mind is about the value of issuing less newsworthy PRs, like awards, personnel announcements, etc.  Some avoid them because minor announcements generally don’t move the needle on media coverage.

I argue that it is the wrong way to look at the question.

First, we live in an online world.  Even if the media don’t write, there’s a chance that customers and industry players will see the news, especially if it’s sent over a respectable wire and has keywords and/or brand mentions that place the content on the radars of the right audiences.

So, people may glance at it, and quickly move on without any fuss. The media won’t stop the presses. Who cares?

Our subconscious minds do, and file it away, until the brand impressions can affect decisions that benefit the news-issuing company. 

The Power of Subliminal Ads and Repetition

In the late 1950s, Vance Packard’s book The Hidden Persuaders made waves. The journalist and social critic wrote about the power of subliminal advertising, citing examples that seemed to prove the effectiveness of hidden messsages in driving consumer attitudes and behavior. E.g. flashing an image of popcorn on a movie screen for a brief instant boosted sales at the concession stand. Another classic on the topic is Subliminal Seduction, by Wilson Bryan Key in 1974.

Also, as I wrote in my post The One Thing you Can’t Measure in PR, direct marketers understand the importance of repetition. They know that you often need to present your message with prospects several times before anything happens.

Do Political Yard Signs Work?

The same ideas apply to PR, and I was reminded of this when I listened to the Search Engine podcast this week (a great pod that aims to answer tough questions, none “too big or two small.”)

The question in this case was: Do Political Yard Signs Actually Do Anything? Or do they just add to the visual clutter?

P.J. Vogt, the podcast’s host said:  “I’ve always assumed that they don’t work.” The guest, Cindy Kam, a political science professor from Vanderbilt U, shared the results of her research that aimed to answer the question.

“The theory of the yard sign is name recognition,” Dr. Kam said. “The more you’re exposed to something, the more familiar it becomes; before you know it, you like it.”

Dr. Kam and her team devised an ingenious method to study the effect of yard signs on a local political campaign, by varying them along traffic routes and surveying those who passed by. Lo and behold, her research lab found that political signs have a measurable and consistent effect.

PR that Minor News

These factors support my belief that announcing minor news can help your brand and should not be so quickly dismissed.

The reasons go beyond the power of repetition and subtle brand impressions. It’s also about storytelling.

Consider the staging and sequence of your major and minor news as a narrative, one that ideally shows forward movement for your business. Industry watchers, the media, your customers hopefully take note on both conscious and subsconscious levels, and this can help long term brand building as well as influence short term consumer action and media perceptions.

Posted in Campaign Analysis, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, Reading Files | Comments Off on PR that Minor News? Research into Poltical Yard Signs Holds an Answer

Want to get PR Buzz Like Apple? Just Ask ChatGPT How

Posted on April 11, 2024 by rgeller

I saw a MarketingProfs story about the state of generative AI in PR. The article,  written by Ayaz Nanji, includes stats from a recent MuckRack survey that show growing adoption:

Some 64% of PR professionals say they are exploring the use of generative AI programs, such as ChatGPT, in their workflow, up from 28% who said the same in early 2023.

MuckRack survey via Marketing Profs

Most of the discussion about AI in PR and other creative professions is around content development: e.g., how good is the AI at generating a pitch, an article, a headline, or critiquing your press release? However, a chart in the above story showed that a good number are using it for research and for strategy & planning (58 and 43 per cent, respectively).

I have also gotten some interesting results when using ChatGPT and Bing Copilot for these things. Below I detail a few examples.

General Approach

My approach, basically, is to give AI a whirl when I find I am spending too much time on Googling and research. I usually start out thinking: “Wait, could it help here? Nah…. maybe.  OK, why not try?”

What I found with these projects was that you can get some nice insight, however time saved in finding potentially useful info can be offset by the requisite fact checking.

The AI never says “I am not 100% confident in the answer” it just spits out the response; kind of like your brash and slightly drunk friend gushing the answer to a bar bet. (That said, it is amazing how quickly ChatGPT produces very cogent answers, sometimes it seems even before I hit enter).

Also, these tools do not come up with great insights on their own.  Remember, they are just rehashing and autocompleting based on knowledge nuggets already in the LLM index. You can use them to discover insights that are already out there (immediately after writing this, I wondered if was really true; this led me to an interesting dialog with ChatGPT, which you can find here). You need to help AI help you via your prompts and dialog, hopefully, at the end of day leading to useful conclusions.

One more thing: for these projects, I used ChatGPT and Bing Copilot, although I know there are other good options.  Both yielded similar results; ChatGPT seems faster and slightly smarter, CoPilot provides useful links and citations. I started with ChatGPT and then used the same prompts with Copilot.

Finally, it is important to avoid entering proprietary or sensitive information in your prompts. Who’s to say where the private data can wind up? Always anonymize and tread carefully.

Project One: Get me Buzz Like Apple

Our client is holding a customer event with several major announcements, and they asked us to look into how Apple builds buzz and gets coverage for their product rollout events.

Obviously, it helps to be Apple, and have their brand recognition and loyalty.  Apart from that small detail, it is something that almost all consumer tech brands aspire to; perhaps something can be learned by studying their playbook.

I found I was spending a lot of time poking around on Apple’s website, and looking for announcements and press coverage around their 9/12 event last year, in which they shared news about the iPhone 15 and Apple Watch 9.

Then I thought, what the heck, why not see if ChatGPT can be of any help.  I had low expectations, but it came back with some really useful information (I did some fact checking to make sure the suggestions were legit). Check it out, here’s a link to my initial prompt and the ensuing dialog.

Teaser campaigns play a crucial role in building anticipation and generating buzz for events like those organized by Apple. While Apple doesn’t typically issue traditional press releases hinting at what will be shown, they utilize various channels to tease their audience. Here are some common tactics

Quote from ChatGPT dialog

(It went on to list things like cryptic invitations, social media teasers, exclusive previews with select media outlest, etc.)

Project Two: Where can I place this byline?

We are working with a provider of retail tech for supermarkets.  I wanted to get smarter about which publications accept bylines from vendors, and about their contributor guidelines.

I started a dialog with ChatGPT

Me

I work for a manufacturer of retail technology solutions for supermarkets.  I am on the marketing team.  Do you understand?

ChatGPT

Yes, I understand. You work for a company that provides retail tech, and your target market is supermarkets. As a member of the marketing team, your responsibilities likely include promoting the tech to potential clients, developing marketing strategies, conducting market research, and analyzing customer feedback to improve product features and appeal. If you have any specific questions or need assistance with marketing strategies or approaches, feel free to ask!

Me

Great! We have written an article that we’d like to submit for publication to industry magazines that feature news and articles for retail and supermarket executives.  Publications like Progressive Grocer, Supermarket News, Grocery Dive and Retail Touchpoints.  Are you following?

It went on to share a list of publications that accept bylines – most were already on our list, but it did mention a few new ones. However, ChatGPT demurred when I asked it to point me to the editorial guidelines:

ChatGPT

I don’t have access to specific submission guidelines for each publication in real-time. However, I can provide you with some general advice on how to find submission guidelines.

So I tried Copilot, which did in fact point me to editorial guidlines.  It also shared tips for how to get in touch with the publications when it could not find the guidelines.

Some of the links were good, but others gave me a 404 error.  And, while both AI chatbots seemed to “understand” the idea of contributed articles, they stumbled when it came to distinguishing between vendor-written bylines vs. other kinds.

In conclusion, I found the exercise somewhat helpful in reducing time to get this info, and offering more ideas about where to place such articles.  I am not sure the AI tools saved that much time.  There is no substitute for knowing and reading these publications, and doing the work of understanding their appetites and requirements for contributed content.

Project Three: How Can I Syndicate Research Data?

Another client is a  vendor of anti-fraud technology. Their system collects data that they package into a quarterly global fraud trends report, which we announce with a press release.

I was interested in learning more about ways to get coverage for the reports, including syndication possibilites; and about out how others promote their research.

The chat sessions were kind of hit or miss, but did have some interesting information; especially in offering examples of companies that have done great jobs with branding, promoting and earning coverage for their reports (yes, being a tech giant helps).

Here is a link to the dialog on ChatGPT.  The sessions went pretty much the same on this AI and Copilot. Both at first stumbled when it came to providing examples of vendor research data, instead pointing me to industry analyst and government data.

But they responded well to my pushback and sent examples of reports from other vendors that are good examples to follow.

I also learned about the limits of the content indexed (yes, I understand that ChatGPT and possibly others feature answers based on dated info, which could be a big problem depending on what you’re looking for).

Me:

I’d like to better understand how other companies promote such research.  IBM, Microsoft, Cisco and Verizon issue security reports.  Can you tell me which of these get the most media coverage?

ChatGPT:

Determining which of the companies—IBM, Microsoft, Cisco, and Verizon—receives the most media coverage for their security reports would require access to specific data analytics or media monitoring tools that track coverage across various outlets. Without access to such tools, it’s challenging to provide a definitive answer. However, we can make some general observations based on the reputation and visibility of each company in the cybersecurity industry.

No access to media monitoring tools?  I guess Meltwater, Cision and others can rest soundly for now.  And the general observations were, well, pretty general.

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