Global PR Blog Week 2.0

By Niall Cook, Netcoms, Hill & Knowlton | Marketing Technology
EDITORS’ CHOICE | PR Agencies & New Media

Online consumers are a fickle bunch at the best of times. But give them a blog and they need no excuse whatsoever to start savaging a car company or PC manufacturer, initially for poor customer service and then for failing to acknowledge or engage with their medium.

And they won’t stop at consumer-facing companies. Anyone who dares to make money advising blog-blinkered clients without visibly demonstrating their permalinked credentials is met with a trackback right in the eye.

Every new blogging consultant, and particularly those marketing agencies adding consumer-generated media to their suite of services, is greeted with a critical assessment of their credentials. In the world of blogging, peers – not clients – now decide whether you have the credibility to advise. Hence the likes of MWW, Ketchum and others have been received with either acclaim or disapproval as a direct result of how they have handled their launches in the medium they purport to know so well.

Ketchum seemed to have the worst ride, with criticism from many directions not only for their initial announcement but their apparent lack of participation in the ensuing debate. Constantin Basturea – one of the chief protaganists – put together a timeline of posts on the topic. Almost all ask why the firm isn’t practising what it preaches.

Then, following the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s (WOMMA) conference in Chicago this year, Matt Galloway started a conversation about how many of the organisations presenting weren’t practising what they preached, advising: “If you expect your customers to buy into this stuff, shouldn’t you?�

In the comments, he continues: “Companies who are pitching to the WOM [Word of Mouth] crowd that aren’t actively participating in blog conversations simply aren’t equipped to even discuss the medium intelligently – much less measure it. Furthermore, by not particpating, these companies are indicating that they don’t fundamentally understand how rich with ‘Influentials’ the blogosphere is. From the perspective of a prospect evaluating WOM vendors, this should be disturbing. WOM does not favor the unmotivated, uninformed laggard. While these companies may be completely on the the ball, they appear to be laggards which might be enough to tip the scale.â€?

At the time, I commented that the companies that were “actively participating� would probably agree, and those that weren’t would say it wasn’t necessary. But why was this concept of practising what you preach causing so much debate in the blogosphere?

There is a saying that cobblers’ children never have any shoes. In the old days cobblers, although expert at making shoes for others, had neither the time nor money to make them for their own families. It is often said that this holds equally true in business today. Guy Browning, author of the Office Politics website, provides some humorous examples:

• A marketing company will take five years to produce a simple brochure that says nothing about the company
• An IT company will have a forty year old steam powered internal network that can’t handle email or any other information
• Banks and financial institutions are forever going under because of financial difficulties.

The examples are extreme, yet they still resonate.

The issue is more prevalent in some industries than others. For example, most of us would expect Microsoft employees to use Windows, Tommy Hilfiger to wear his own labels, and we certainly wouldn’t expect Richard Branson to fly British Airways. But we probably don’t care if a doctor doesn’t take the aspirin he prescribes us for his own headache, an insurance broker doesn’t bother with his own medical cover, or our PR agency doesn’t get any media coverage for themselves.

Or do we?

When it comes to professional services – and marketing-related ones in particular – does eating your own dog food really matter, and who does it actually matter to?

In a rather unscientific study conducted in August 2005, we asked people in five marketing services industries to give us their views on the topic.

Overall, it was deemed important for companies providing marketing services to practice what they preach, but there is a difference between doing it and doing it well. On the basis of our results, the choice of a web design, PR, branding, advertising or blogging consultant is influenced by the extent to which they apply their advice to themselves. Yet there are some interesting variations. The chart below shows the likelihood of respondents to consider purchasing services from companies in each industry when they demonstrate good practice, poor practice, and do not bother themselves.

Web design companies have the most to lose. All respondents said they would be more likely to consider one with a good website, and less likely to consider one with a poor site. It’s not sufficient to just not bother either, as all respondents said they would be less likely to consider a web design company with no website.

Blogging consultants face a similar reaction, with just 5% saying that the lack of a blog would have no influence on their decision. All other respondents need blog consultants to have a good blog in order to be considered and are less likely to consider those with no blog, or a poorly executed one.

Advertising agencies have the least to gain from practising what they preach. Only half of respondents said that good advertisements from these firms would make them more likely to consider. However, poor advertisments would make 84% less likely to consider them.

PR agencies have most to lose by getting negative media coverage for themselves – 82% would be less likely to consider them in this situation.

Branding agencies need a strong identity. 84% of respondents would be more likely to consider them as a result of this, and 76% would be less likely to consider those with a weak identity.

There are some caveats to the research. The sample size was small (only 38 complete responses), and respondents were recruited from the blogosphere itself which may skew the results.

That said, the message is clear. Practicing what you preach could win you business, but not bothering or doing it badly could mean you lose it.

About the author

Niall Cook heads Hill & Knowlton’s online communication practice (Netcoms) in the UK, and has worldwide responsibility for many of the firm’s internal and external business applications. He is a senior adviser to many Hill & Knowlton clients and manages a global technology portfolio that supports internal business processes, new business and marketing, and client service. He has expertise in business transformation, creative and marketing technology, enterprise portals, professional services automation, and usability and user interface design. Niall has written extensively on online PR, with articles in Revolution and the PRCA’s Frontline magazine. He has also been a guest lecturer at Syracuse University and has spoken at numerous industry events. Prior to joining Hill & Knowlton in July 2000, he worked at beenz.com, Answerthink, UBS, and Reed Elsevier.

{tags: prblogweek, pr, public+relations, agencies, blogging, consulting}