Archive for December, 2007
Blogging – more than just a marketing tool
December 29th, 2007
A piece in the New York Times caught my eye. Titled: ‘Blogging’s a Low-Cost, High Return marketing tool’ it was never one that I was going to skip over in my RSS feeds.
The piece by Marcia Alboher, confirms the power of blogging as a marketing tool for small businesses, and features comment from well known business commentators such as Guy Kawasaki.
Overall the piece introduces the concept of small business blogging well, but it would have been more interesting, and perhaps more useful, to take the conversation a little further.
Agreed, blogging is a good marketing tool in the right circumstances. Agreed, the piece is written from a small business perspective rather than a social media perspective, but I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t go further by looking at the advantages and opportunities beyond marketing, such as opening up a two-way communication with your audience, and learning and sharing information, etc.
Some may think I’m being a little harsh, but I think its time we started to look beyond the skin deep advantages of blogging and social media if we’re to keep moving forward. Understanding, especially in a business environment – large or small, must be improved.
I can appreciate that small business bloggers are in the minority, the piece confirms American Express’ figures of the less than 5% in the US, so education from the ground up is vital. That’s fine, but let’s also build the story beyond the start line and start changing gear. Let’s look at the bigger picture and begin to understand where blogging fits into the bigger social media picture, and where the future for business communications lies. Some of the commentary in the piece hooked onto wider issues such as ‘a source of commentary on regulatory issues’ and ‘focusing on the customer’, but left these as side issues.
I don’t mean to highlight this piece especially, but I do feel that overall the commentary on social media issues needs to step up a gear if we are to continue progressing.
This is something that we at Liberate Media will be addressing in 2008.
Technorati tags: small+business, blogging, new+york+times
Children’s Ark Project at Christmas
December 21st, 2007
As it’s the last day before we close the office for Christmas, I wanted to put my excitement to one side for a moment and get onto the serious issue of gifts!
This year, we at Liberate Media have decided not to send chocolates, wine, or naff corporate gifts. Like many other responsible companies we’ve decided to make a donation to charity, which some of you will have been made aware of in our Christmas cards. As part of that donation we’d like to offer a bit of publicity, which seems apt for a PR company, starting with this post.
I hope you’ll forgive the shameless plug on this occasion.
The cause that we’ve selected is something very close to our hearts. It’s called the Children’s Ark Project and its purpose is to fund, establish and run a Montessori nursery for young children belonging to child-headed households in Kigali, Rwanda.
Designs for the school building are complete, and the charity is currently focused on raising sufficient funds for the build, which is where our donation will go. Once built, the nursery’s principal objective will be to restore a piece of childhood to young children who have lost their parents during the genocide, through subsequent imprisonment of through HIV/AIDS or TB.
More information on the charity is available at the Children’s Ark Project Website, and if you would like to make a donation, here’s the Just giving link.
Thanks for your interest and from all of us at Liberate Media have a wonderful Christmas and new year.
Technorati tags: childrens+ark+project, kigali, rwanda, charity, christmas
2008 – can you feel it in the air?
December 19th, 2007
Hello there, long time no see, how are you? Ready for Christmas?..Forgive my recent silence, but it’s been hectic to say the least. It feels like January is already here, what with all the planning and futurology both client-focused and here at Liberate Media.
Call it youthful exuberance, (young company – not me) but 2008 is certainly stoking the fire of creativity, and speaking to our clients it seems we’re not alone. Last night I dropped in on Napster’s Christmas drinks, thanks for the warm welcome Rob and Ian, and they are as excited about 2008 as we are, and so they should be.
The future of digital is bright, and it seems that everyone in the industry is full of anticipation for the year ahead. Bless I hear you say, every year is like that.. But is it? Sure, you usually get a mixture of optimists and pessimists, but I’m just finding evidence of the former on my travels.
We’re no different, at a recent company meeting the ever growing LM team was full of big ideas for the year ahead. The difference being that the ideas were realistic and the enthusiasm justifiable. And before you say it, this post isn’t a self-promotional tool, but a tip of the hat, or recognition of the positive flood that is engulfing the digital industry.
Are we being led down another dead-end? Will the credit crisis bring us back to reality? Maybe, but while optimism is the order of the day I say embrace this positivity and make those big ideas happen.
No I haven’t been at the Christmas booze early, I just wanted to share some positivity for a change, which you are welcome to dismiss, take on board or ridicule as you will.
I look forward to backing up this enthusiasm with a healthy dose of delivery in the new year.
Technorati tags: 2008, future, digital+industry
December 12th, 2007
“Liberate Media knows exactly how a relationship should be between a PR and journalist. Wendy’s journalist background obviously helps, and they both have a really good understanding of news and what a journalist needs to do their job effectively. I tell all of my reporters to take their calls, and their good reputation extends far beyond NMA.”
Justin Pearce, Editor, NMA
Photographic storytelling through social media
December 11th, 2007
Isn’t it lovely when you see social media being used in a beautiful and original way?
The Whale Hunt by Jonathan Harris is a truly innovative approach to storytelling and well worth checking out. Through stunning photography, the tale of the annual whale hunt in Barrow, Alaska is told. The concept is a work of art, and deserves to be shared.
Warning: the final images may be upsetting.
Alerted to via Twitter.
Technorati tags: whalehunt, alaska, jonathan+harris, photojournalism, social+media
December 11th, 2007
“As a journalist, it’s always refreshing to deal with a PR company that is both friendly and professional without being overbearing. Liberate’s unique understanding of the digital media industry means that they know exactly what kind of stories I’m looking for and what the readers of Revolution magazine are interested in.”
Gareth Jones, Editor, <!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:”Cambria Math”; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} –> Marketing and Revolution.
December 11th, 2007
“There are many who claim to do good PR differently and then there’s Liberate Media. I found a higher degree of contacts and enthusiasm and then something far more interesting. They listened, challenged and questioned with a focus and knowledge that I’ve never experienced before.â€
Andy Mitchell, Group Commercial Director, Associated Northcliffe Digital
December 11th, 2007
Liberate Media blends online PR with offline PR expertise to form a uniquely positioned social media agency.
We bring together senior experts in PR, journalism, social media and web development, from a variety of industry sectors. Our consultants are experienced at helping brands to reach and connect with their audiences through a creative fusion of traditional and social media PR techniques.
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December 6th, 2007
As everyone in PR knows, December is the month when the world slows down, the media takes a break, and we sit back playing games and planning our Christmas holidays…Yes that was sarcasm.
Would whoever keeps proliferating this December slowdown nonsense please stop. I’ve not experienced it yet and quite honestly I feel left out. With the added bonus of at least one event to go to every night and planning for 2008, December is not a quiet month.
Anyway, I’m not here to rant, I’ll save that for later, I’m here to regale you with tales of Chinwag.
Yes, last night the Liberate Media December event tour rolled into Chinwag Live, and it was an evening of predictions for the digital marketing and advertising industries.
As a Chinwag newbie I was pleasantly surprised by the event in general, the panel debate was lively and interesting, the assembled digerati were open and friendly. I was even greeted with a beer and ushered through the crowds to a seat as soon as I walked in. (thanks to Ian Howie and the 1upSearch team!) You can’t ask for more than that.
The panel debate featured Guy Phillipson – Internet Advertising Bureau, Nikki Barton – CIMEX, Jon Bains – Lateral, Andy Hobsbawm – Agency.com & Green Thing, and Pete Robins – Agenda21.
There were some good predictions and even tips for the future, including ‘the mouse is dead’ the future of search is ‘brain implants’.
There was even some interesting PR-related comment. Not just the PR bashing that seems to be increasingly popular recently, but candid and honest appraisal of the current situation. This ranged from quotes such as ‘PR is at the top of the strategic agenda for CEOs’, and ‘there’s never been a better time to get into digital PR’, to ‘PR will disappear as digital marketing strategies continue to push towards openness’ and a threat from the floor to stop investment in PR from a client who wasn’t happy with their existing results.
Although not all good, it was encouraging to hear that the panel had mainly positive PR experiences and were supportive.
I agree that the PR industry, and more specifically digital PR, has a massive opportunity.
However, although PR has its pioneers as with any other sector, as an industry it’s quite slow moving. The top 5% are sucking up the ideas and running hard to stay abreast of the changes and opportunities in the market. But the traditional and slower moving agencies are either too busy to notice or simply can’t be bothered to get into digital until the margins are better. Unfortunately the client experiences are usually driven by the masses rather than the few.
My advice to the client who said he had wasted his money with PR and wasn’t seeing the results is not to give up but to find the right agency for the job. They are out there. In fact they weren’t a million miles away at Chinwag last night, at least four were sitting very close by.
The other thing I noted last night was something we at Liberate have been talking about for a while. In PR we’re lucky enough to work with some of the brightest and forward-thinking people in our individual sectors. The smart PRs take on that knowledge and use it to their benefit and I think this wider picture view is one strength that PRs should exploit more.
I’m not talking about giving away client secrets, instead we should be combining the lessons learnt through our clients with our strategic knowledge and build our campaigns with an open and all-encompassing approach. Yes the PR bashers have some valid points – measurement is an ongoing sore point, digital understanding has been slow to improve, but I firmly believe that the PR industry will shake this archaic ‘press releases and clippings’ approach and blossom into a more integrated digital future.
Enough for now. On the events front, today its Widgety Goodness in Brighton, it’s a good job December is a slow month…
Technorati tags: chinwag, digital+marketing, PR
December 4th, 2007
The party season is in full swing for Liberate Media. Last night we dusted off our bowling shoes, and joined ROO Media for some festive fun at All Star Lanes in Bayswater.
See the pictures after the jump