How not to do your PR
According to countless experts editorial endorsement is one of the most influential ways to deliver your message. Being able to answer a journalist’s questions promptly is therefore vital if you want your ‘expert opinion’ to appear in an article. However, time is often limited and other companies can usually supply comment on the same subject, meaning journalists can easily get information elsewhere.
With this in mind, we’ve been given a guest contribution from the journalist Jon Titus, here he lists his pet hates and how companies can avoid them. These are all old problems (see 2008 piece from Sally Whittle), easy to fix, but still have not been sorted. Over to Jon.
I spent several days trying to track down someone at a large microcontroller company so we could talk about on-chip-debug capabilities. That experience prompted me to list some of the most annoying aspects of trying to contact companies by email or phone. Here goes:
1. When someone in your company transfers a call, have them state that person’s name and extension number. “I’ll transfer you to Mr. Smith at extension 123.” And have everyone include their extension number and title in their outgoing voice-mail message. After going through TouchTone hell to find someone to talk with, I don’t want to go through it again to get back in touch. I’d rather call your competitor who makes phone conversations easier.
2. When you put people on hold, please tune in some music or tell them about your company. We don’t need, “Your call is very important to us…” How do you know? Why not tell callers the average wait time to talk with someone. They can decide to stay on the line or call back later. No need to tell people their call will be answered in the order in which it was received. We know that, too.
3. Ensure when someone leaves your company you have a person who can handle the email and phone messages for the departed staffer. Nothing worse for editors on deadline than finding they have left three or four voice messages and sent email to someone who’s long gone. When someone leaves, record a new message that says something like, “Melanie Ford is no longer available. We’re transferring your call to…” Set the departed person’s email account to bounce back a short message about who to use as a new contact person. Don’t let messages and email end up in “dead” accounts.
4. I’ve run into situations where a receptionist would not connect me to someone at the company because I didn’t know anyone by name. I couldn’t talk to someone in the marketing department unless I knew who I wanted to talk to. How dumb is that? I found several names on the company’s Web site and finally asked to speak to the president by name. That got me to the president’s assistant but I never got a return call. I won’t call them again.
5. If people call and identify themselves as editors or writers, everyone in your company should know how to handle the call and who they should transfer the call to. First, you get the caller to the proper person as quickly as possible. Second, you don’t have employees blabbing gossip or unofficial information to writers. If your company uses a PR agency, have an internal company contact who can provide that information–and put it on your Web site. Receptionists should have that information at their fingertips.
6. Unless you’re on your deathbed, use your voicemail or an automated email response to let callers know you are at a conference, out for the day, on vacation, sick, or otherwise not available. Then refer them to someone who can help them NOW.
7. Don’t let your voice-message box get full. Every once in a while I get a response, “This mailbox is full and cannot accept further messages.” Great. You’re the only person at the company I know to contact and I can’t leave a message for you. If you’re away for an extended time, have a backup plan so a colleague can get and handle your voice messages.
8. Include a complete “signature” in all email communications. All too often email comes with a person’s name and company, but without a phone number. I don’t want to go through a telephone menu of choices and an automated TouchTone “name lookup” to find you when I want to talk rather than email back and forth 10 times.
9. Editor and writers aren’t perfect. People at your company should ask for complete information, including a caller’s phone number, title, publication, what they want to talk about and their deadline. Avoid confusion.
10. When you leave a message–this applies to editors and writers, too–slow down. Slowly state your name, what you called about, and your phone number. You can speak much faster than I can write and when you speak quickly, words and names can run together. Then state your phone number again. It might help to note your time zone, too. You probably don’t want me to call you at midnight your time.
11. Listen first. When I try to identify myself as an editor, some receptionists don’t let me finish. They tell me they don’t talk with advertising people, don’t handle subscriptions over the phone, don’t talk with newspaper editors, and so on. Listen to what callers have to say and then respond. That goes for editors and writers, too.
June 28, 2010 at 5:38 pm | America, People | No comment
Penton relaunches EngineeringTV
Video has become increasingly important in B2B marketing. As such Penton has announced a fresh new look of its EngineeringTV website. The publishing group has partnered with Magnify.net to restructure the site, first launched in 2007.
Engineers can now browse its video libraries on specific technology topics as well as by company brands, tradeshows, or what it’s calling publication-specific video playlists. The site also gives contextually related materials within each video.
May 27, 2010 at 2:33 pm | America, Publication | No comment
Where to place advertising
The 2010 Media Power 50 has been published by B2B magazine, listing the most influential US publications and events in which to place business advertisements.
The list is topped, predictably, by the WSJ and Google. And third place went to the NFL – the American Football league. B2B stated: “In a reflection of its soaring popularity, the NFL Draft was a prime-time event for the first time this year, with the all-important first and second rounds showing on ESPN and the NFL Network two consecutive nights in April.”
The list is also broken down by sector and it’s worth noting that EE Times was listed amongst the most influential technology titles, alongside Information Week, CIO and ComputerWorld.
The complete technology list can be found on the B2B site.
May 21, 2010 at 2:56 pm | America, Publication | No comment
ESC registration at 5 year high
More than 3,800 people have signed up to attend this year’s ESC Silicon Valley event, which takes place in San Jose later this month, says TechInsights.
A press release from the organisers tells us that this number is 32 per cent higher than for the same pre-event period last year and a five year high.
Commenting on the registration figures Dr. Jerry Krasner, of analyst firm Embedded Market Forecasters said, “Significantly higher pre-event registration for ESC Silicon Valley 2010 is a good indicator of the continued recovery of the embedded electronics industry…Embedded electronic companies are feeling much more optimistic and are investing more readily in the valuable education and skills development opportunities.”
April 15, 2010 at 8:16 pm | America, Event | No comment
Hearst releases supplier interface study results
Hearst Electronics Group has unveil the results of its fifth Supplier Interface Study, which details how engineers engage with suppliers throughout the entire product development cycle.
Run in collaboration with independent research firm, Lodestar the research highlights to companies what information electronic engineers look for and how they want to receive it.
Publitek Media News has also been informed of a social media assessment that took place in this year’s survey, examining how engineers use these resources and the value they place upon them.
April 15, 2010 at 2:23 pm | America, Publication | No comment
EE Times goes social with EE Life
The EE Times Group is set to create a social networking community for the electronics industry. Called EE Life, the site will be populated by user generated content and will be officially unveiled in Q2 of this year.
To ensure the launch and concept runs smoothly, the EE Times Group has appointed Karen Field as Vice President, Community. Karen is a former design engineer, and joins the EE Times Group from RBI.
We understand EE Life will form the core product for EE Times’ community engagement and the the EE Times group of titles will also feature user generated content throughout the wider website. This includes both news and analysis as well as new products and ‘how to’ design solutions.
March 26, 2010 at 10:27 am | America, Publication | No comment
Embedded Internet Design
The EE Times group publisher has announced a website called Embedded Internet Design.
According to the publisher, the site has been created for those developing internet-enabled systems in the wireless, automotive, digital home, industrial control, and medical industries.
The site’s press release and current Google ranking (4th, behind two Amazon and a Google Book listing) suggest it’s a work in progress. The site currently has forums, articles and product news, this content appears to be shared with EE Times. Acoording to the release, blogs should be there too, albeit, we could not find them.
Rich Nass, director of Content/Media, EE Times Group has said the site will be, “the most comprehensive source of embedded internet design information and products for engineers and developers.”
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February 25, 2010 at 9:44 am | America, New title, Publication | No comment
Canon scoops up EDN plus three Reed titles
The latest stage in the Reed publication sale was announced yesterday with Canon Communications acquiring several titles in a bid to expand its global B2B presence.
According to Canon, the purchase includes four key design engineering titles: Electronic Design News (EDN), Design News, Test & Measurement World, and Packaging Digest.
Canon, which is based in Los Angeles, is more widely known for medical and pharmaceutical publications, such as Medical Electronics Manufacturing.
In the company’s release Canon states that, “this transaction will reinforce Canon’s leading position in the advanced manufacturing sector worldwide in exhibitions, publications, and digital media.”
The acquisition of the US assets was completed today, and the acquisition of the balance of the assets is expected to close in the near future after the completion of required legal processes. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Canon’s executive VP of its publishing division, Ron Wall, has said “EDN, Design News, Test & Measurement World, and Packaging Digest are great brands with great talent. We have already begun work on integrating our new Asian assets and building more products for all Canon brands worldwide. We will also act quickly to integrate our Electronics brands with our Medical Device brands and Packaging Digest with our vertical Pharmaceutical and Medical Packaging News.”
Speaking about the motives for the purchase, Kevin O’Keefe, executive VP of Canon’s Events Division, added, “We’ll be able to accelerate the penetration of our trade shows in North America, Europe, and Asia given the incremental market access these brands provide. In fact, tying in with EDN, we are already developing medical electronics features alongside our medical manufacturing shows in Yokohama, Japan and Chicago later this year.”
February 17, 2010 at 10:14 am | America, Asia, Europe, Publication | No comment
ESC Silicon Valley goes paperless
Well, its press office has gone paperless, anyway.
The EE Times Group has announced it will host a free virtual press office (VPO) at this year’s show, being held in April at the McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, California.
VPOs typically reach a greater number of journalists and, at ESC Silicon Valley, has previously only been available for a fee. The services include: online news distribution and press office management.
According to the press release multimedia and social media releases should also be possible using the show’s VPO.
February 15, 2010 at 9:49 am | America, Event | No comment
RBI restructuring
Towards the end of last year it became clear that RBI, the parent company behind a number of magazine brands, including EDN and New Scientist, would be undergoing a sale and restructuring.
PMN has now seen a more concrete plan. In particular an internal memo to all RBI-US employees has been posted to our office. The note, which was sent on New Year’s eve states that RBI is in “advanced discussions to sell a number of titles to separate purchasers.” PMN understands that, depending on the success of this, the management will be announcing these sales in the next few months.
Because it is being sold in pieces, rather than as a whole entity, the memo states that this “unfortunately will result in title closures and job losses across the business during the first half of the new year.”
A subsequent memo, dated the 6th of January, has stated ” effective [immediately], RBI-US is closing MBT (Manufacturing Business Technology), Industrial Distribution and Video Business.”
Last year saw RBI had previously suspended ECN Asia. And it is not alone, several major titles, including Nikkei’s English language publications, have switched off their printers for the final time.
January 15, 2010 at 10:29 am | America, Closing, Publication | 2 comments