It was My Good Finds that informed me of this in the form of a comment. I actually do not know the repercussions of becoming a “featured blog” as I surmise that the lottery draw for this is completely random. Now, a front page Digg .. now that’s something. Nonetheless, it’s nice to get some attention from the guys at Technorati. 🙂
I think the true feat here is being informed that you were on the front page, since being able to catch someone you know on the featured blogs list is quite a one in a thousand thing. 🙂
In the communications industry, advertising in magazines is one effective means of getting your message across. Placing a one page advertisment on the right newspaper or magazine can most probably get the message to your target demographic. However, there is always a back door to getting published without having to pay a cent. Welcome to the strategy known as the press release – a means to get your message through without having to pay P100,000.00 for an ad space.
I was part of a panel last week at the “PR Rocks” PRSP Summit together with Ms. Pennie Azarcon-dela Cruz of Sunday Inquirer Magazine and Jones Campos of Globe Corporate PR. We discussed the Malu Fernandez controversy from an editorial perspective, corporate transparency to consumers, and tips on how to pitch to the media. Ms. Pennie, an award winning editor, gave some tips on how to make the editor’s job easier in choosing which press release to place.
Are you a PR or marketing practitioner? Here are some effective ways to get your press released published. You have to bear in mind that dozens of press releases make it to the inbox of newspaper and magazine editors every day. How does the editor pick the really good ones to publish? How do you make your piece of paper stand out from the rest of the stack? Here is a compiled list from Ms. Penny with some of my notes:
Although the term is widely used, I must give credit to Joey Climaco for lobbying the term nation building whenever we dialogue about advocacy campaigns.
Back in June, I volunteered my time with the Coca Cola Foundation for a project that made use of blogs as tools for documenting effective ways to help save the environment. This project is currently running as part of a contest for Coke Barkada, which involves the participation of 100+ college organizations across Metro Manila. Meaningful blogging is but one of the measures for this contest outcome as the students have to undergo tasks ala Amazing Race to determine the winners. Here is one of the examples of the blog of the UP Sandigan Organization maintained by Efriel Hazel Leynes:
The following events take place within the last six months.
A public relations agency called me up after I posted a review of their client’s product x. The account executive was a little careful with the words coming out of her mouth and she was asking if I could “improve on what I wrote.” I stopped dead on my tracks (actually I didn’t really stop because I remember clearly that I was on an escalator at Rockwell) and asked her,
“What do you mean by … improve?”
It may be true that bloggers are now being tapped by PR agencies to test consumer products and services. Because of the nature of our content management system, we can edit our entries anytime. But I highly doubt that bloggers are becoming tools of PR. I think it is quite the opposite. Yesterday, I gave a short presentation to marketing and communications students at the PR Rocks Conference sponsored by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines. I told them that bloggers, though they may not be journalists are passionate individuals who hang on to their credibility. They, I would like to believe, do not sell out.
Out of politeness and still bearing the shock of not knowing what to say, I told this person, “Let me see what I can do…”
I texted her immediately after putting the phone down and told her that I was greatly disturbed by that request. She understood deeply as I have been in touch with this person since my editor / writer days at Hinge-Inquirer – as the request was truly odd. I read my review once more and it was no different in style to the dozens of reviews I have written since 2003. I am always fair and want to give products a fighting chance in the market. I didn’t see why I had to “improve” on it. What I have written, I have written.
Take everything away from me, but please don’t take away my credibility. I understand that the PR fellow was just doing her job but it is also our duty to educate remind PR practitioners that we need to set criteria. Sometimes they get too engrossed in their work. 🙂
On bad products
I have a personal opinion about REALLY bad products – I never review products that don’t make sense to consumers (VERY iffy market / VERY sub par features / VERY horrendous pricing scheme) because I know that such types of products will die a natural death. Giving a bad product a bad review is like kicking someone when he’s already down. In the case of this scenario I just outlined, the product was not bad. I gave a fair perspective on the strengths and weaknesses.
So what is the purpose of this post? Because of this incident, I would like to reveal the 8th characteristic of Blog and Soul (only 7 are posted), something which I never really wanted to talk about because I felt that it was unnecessary. The 8th pointer of the Blog and Soul Movement is to protect bloggers from sacrificing their credibility to PR. This does not happen intentionally, but I tell you that it does happen. I have dealt with several PR and ad agencies in the past – Ogilvy, GMCI, Strategic Edge, Bridges, Dominguez, Stratworks, etc and know that they are all composed of very good and upright people whom I respect and love. But we, as bloggers, must always be on guard just in case. Just in case.
The last thing you want to happen is to realize that you’ve sold out without knowing it.
There’s a new men’s magazine in town. From the guys who created Manifesto (Jose Mari Ugarte, Miguel Mari, and pals) under the C! group, Rogue is their new brainchild under a different publishing group. Here’s the Press Release and photo from Jim Ayson’s Philmusic:
ROGUE’s long-term mission is to accurately tell the story of our times, our people, and our culture one month at a time; and to capture the people, places, and ideas that define our modern culture. if anything, ROGUE will make a strong statement about who we are, what we do, and why we do it.
I wasn’t able to go to the grand launch at the Fort a few weeks back because I was sick. I’m sure it was a blast.
I used to love reading Manifesto as it was the closest we could get to a local version of GQ. Other magazines also came close, such as MANUAL when it was being handled by Adel Gabot a couple of years back – thus showing how an editor in chief is the true lifeblood of a magazine. MANUAL’s current EIC is RJ Ledesma, who bring a lot of his Men’s Room antics into the magazine. If Rogue is anything like Manifesto – and it should be – this is one good men’s title I’m looking forward to.
I have a piece in the upcoming issue of Rogue. Check the current issue in magazine stalls now.
Disclosure: I also contribute on occasion for MANUAL Magazine of MMPI.
