White papers are wonderful tools for helping educate and enlighten your target audiences. The reason they have not been very successful in the past is that too many people use them as brochure-like advertisements, forgetting what the true goal of a white paper is. Created properly, they serve as a document that provides timely information about your industry and which contains valuable knowledge that positions your company in a positive light for being so helpful.

Here are 10 tips for making the most of this kind of public relations tool:

1. Choose a topic in your industry that is a timely or hot one, and pick a side. For example, if you are in the petroleum industry, a timely white paper right now would be the value of proper drilling equipment.  
2. Choose a title and subhead that clearly describe what your target audience will learn as a result of reading the white paper.   Will they learn the pros and cons of a current industry issue? Will they learn how to do their job better?
3. Leverage a lot of outside research, both paid and unpaid, to substantiate your position – industry articles, independent consultants, and analyst groups are all good authorities to quote.
4. Also as part of the research, conduct a survey of your customer base to get a read on their opinions or where they are at on a particular project. For example, as part of a white paper on Y2K when the issue was uppermost in people’s minds, we surveyed the customer base to find out how far along they were with their Y2K assessment projects.   Your customers always want to find out where they stand in terms of other people in their industry, and analysts as well value this customer base data.
5. Represent the research stats that you have gathered as graphics in your white paper to help better illustrate the data.
6. Tone is extremely important – strike an easy-to-read, informative but not promotional tone. Think of a tone that is similar to an annual report in terms of its factual nature, but slightly easier and more interesting to read.  Leave out the promotional adjectives and sales copy.   Remember, the goal is to inform, and by factually informing you end up promoting your company as a knowledgeable resource. This is much more effective than trying to create ad copy.
7. Strike for a length that enables you to thoroughly explain the issue for your readers. Too many white papers are too brief and too fluffy, or are designed in PowerPoint format. If you don’t provide information of substance, your customers won’t come back to read more.
8. A helpful component is including a photo of and Q&A with one of your experienced executives at the end. Keeping with the petroleum industry example, you could include a Q&A with the product manager of equipment that your company manufactures that is helpful for oil drilling. Typical questions could include: Why do you feel so many organizations are not familiar with all the necessary components of oil drilling? As a result of the BP incident, do you see a change in the ways that companies will approach the manufacturing and marketing of their equipment? How has your company changed its marketing strategy? How should companies evaluate the multitude of oil drilling equipment in the marketplace today?
9. Create a format for the white paper that strikes an even balance between the current trend in free downloadable ebooks, which are a bit too cartoony and very light on information of substance, and the old stodgy format of traditional media, which was very text-heavy.  
10. Make it easy for readers to access your document. Don’t require registration, just make it available for free download from your website and include mention of it in all your marketing materials.

White papers, if properly written, are extremely valuable tools for educating all of the constituents who might want to purchase your product or service or write/tweet/blog about it.

I first met Marion a little over a year ago, when I limped into an Arizona Book Publishing Association meeting and grabbed a seat in the back. I was just starting to get out and about after struggling with piriformis syndrome. She came over immediately to greet me and welcomed me to the association.

I’ve gotten to know her better since then, and admire her mission and commitment to “giving voice” to others. She told me, “I have always been fascinated by who people are and where they come from, and why they live one side of the street instead of the other.  Imagine my surprise when I met a group of women who chose to live on no street at all. What started out as a desire ‘to give voice’ to these women, wound up with a www.togivevoice.com website and an audio CD and then a book.”

Marion is a great example that you can be any age and from any walk of life to write a book that resonates with the public and exemplifies your passion.   Over the past few years, she has given voice to these women in a variety of formats, including the book, the website, and through recorded interviews to help bring them alive. She has begun Internet-based marketing with blogs, podcasts and a Buy page on the website.   Throughout the journey, she has relied on the Arizona Book Publishing Association to help her understand this new world of self-publishing.

“A mentor recommended in 2007 that I join the association,” says Marion. “The members have quietly guided my publishing growth while challenging my marketing focus. They honor my passion ‘to give voice’ while reminding me that I’m not crazy.”

I admire her because she hasn’t stopped there.  Her next project is  a new book called “The Noble Art of the Printed Book Through Social Media Publishing,” (the working title) which is being developed this summer.  She is interviewing different experts to articulate the unique value not only of the tangible, printed book in a world where electronic formats are gaining more and more prominence, but the value as well of authors seeking outside help during their publishing journey, and not going it alone.

Her five-year plan is to transition back into the Arizona East Valley RV lifestyle. According to Marion, there is no retiring from her life’s passion, but a continuing commitment to give voice to those who want to be heard at this point in their lives.

To find out more about Marion and her work in progress, visit her website at www.togivevoice.com.

Is there something or someone in your life that you want to give voice to? It’s never too late.

If you’re one of the people who hasn’t stood in line for the premiere of “Eclipse,” or for the latest Apple iPhone, don’t feel bad. I think you might be onto something by waiting a little.

The Apple store here at the Phoenix Biltmore Fashion Square apparently had people getting in line more than 24 hours ahead of the opening. They were all waiting for the latest version of iPhone, which promised new features and new applications.   In L.A., there were also hords of people camping overnight in order to see the first showing of the movie Eclipse.

I don’t know why so many people have this need to be a lemming and follow the crowds for the first of anything. I always like to wait a little, and it usually behooves me to do so. If you have ever worked in a company with the development team, you know that marketing usually wants to trumpet the latest feature to the public way before development is ready to release it. Consequently, what happens is that a lot of what is described in the marketing literature really doesn’t ring true with reality. There is always this delta between what the literature promises and what the features can actually do.

For that reason, I won’t be the person to stand in line for Eclipse or for the iPhone 4.   I’ll wait until the product stabilizes, and I’ll wait until the movie lines disperse. Most likely, I’ll watch Eclipse on Netflix or cable.

It’s always possible to wait too long and miss the boat, but it hasn’t happened to me yet. I love technology and innovation, but I also hate wasting money. I’ve delayed my purchase of an e-book reader for that reason.

Is there anything you’ve bought right out of the gate that you wish you hadn’t? Have you ever stood in line to be the first for something?  Is it the thrill of having the latest gadget or the comraderie of others?

Whether your product is a book, a software application, or an association, there comes a time when you realize that you can’t improve what you can’t measure.   That is where a PR audit comes in.

I’m grateful to Cindy Kim for asking me to contribute to her blog, The Marketing Journalist, on the subject of PR audits.  Here’s a snapshot of just a few of the Q&A, and check out her post for a wonderful analysis of audits, including reference to my friend Katie Paine, the “Queen of Measurement.” 

 Is PR auditing right for every organization? Why is PR auditing important to an organization when you can simply measure impressions from a monitoring tool?

The problem with a monitoring tool is that you can’t always dig down into the whys and wherefores of a particular impression. To supplement automated tools, it’s useful to have conversations in real time with the various audience segments to better understand how they are thinking, as well as to probe for deeper insights. Any company can benefit from a PR audit, regardless of its industry. Particularly in this age of PR 2.0 and conversations, it’s important to understand what people think about you and what is being said about you.

How does a PR audit affect your organization’s share of voice in the market?

I have found that many companies think they know what their share of voice is, and what their key messages are, only to learn from the audit that the perceptions are very different. Having a complete PR audit with a written analysis helps you implement customized strategies and tactics knowing that they are based on sound, hard data and not just a gut feeling.  It helps management budget dollars where they are most needed and most effective.

Let’s break it down – what are the key steps, or checklist items, to obtain a comprehensive PR audit?

Here is a loose set of steps for a comprehensive PR audit: 

• Buy-in from management, so they understand why it is being conducted
• A personal tour of the company or facilities to get a feel for the “culture”
• Compilation of all the various PR materials, including Web and hardcopy, any and all clippings, summary of events that have occurred to date such as open houses, etc.
• Formal facilitation meeting conducted with key personnel – these usually take a half-day to a whole day, and review key questions from corporate goals to competitive positioning.
• Separate select phone interviews with subject matter experts from the company and related personnel, and influencers (media, customers) for 360-degree feedback.   The influencers’ feedback must be anonymous, i.e. any publication of their comments must not be attributed to the original source when included in the final analysis.
• Written analysis based on the formal audit, interviews and review materials, with recommended strategies going forward.   The time elapsed between #1 and #6 usually ranges from 6-8 weeks, depending on how responsive the customers and media are to requests for interviews.
• Formal presentation of the results, with follow-up meetings if needed.

How often should you do a PR audit? Should you outsource or do it in-house?

Audits are helpful every few years, or when there is a major change in an organization, such as a merger or acquisition. They can be performed successfully in-house, but the value of bringing in an outside person or agency is that you then free up the PR contacts to focus on their core responsibilities, as audits are time-consuming. By using an outside person, you also ensure that no one thinks the PR contact has an ax to grind, and many of the target audiences, such as bloggers, customers and reporters, are able to speak more freely and honestly with an outside contact.  They will paint situations and opinions in much more glowing terms when speaking to a company representative.

____________________

Cindy Kim is a journalist by trade turned PR / Corp Comm professional.  Her passion, she says, is telling good, interesting stories from a journalist perspective to capture the imagination and the heart of the reader.  Her blog always contains insightful analysis on the issues of the day.

Photo from Biking Nikon PDX, Creative Commons License

Wistful about not having an MBA? Not so fast. It may not be the best investment of time and money for you. This excellent article by Steve Blank puts it into clear perspective.

Steve’s advice is to think hard about what part of the company’s lifecycle you think you want to spend the rest of your career in. Do you like the startup phase, which is relatively free of structure? Or do you prefer larger, more corporate environments where you are managing a staff? And if you like more formalized companies, do you like managing projects or do you envision yourself in general management positions? All these questions help determine whether the MBA route is best for you.

If you prefer a startup environment, which I do by far, you can save your money and take an occasional course in the areas you feel you need additional help in. If however, you envision yourself in management, then an MBA is probably a good choice. I would add to that that if your goal is eventually to teach, an MBA will be a valuable and most likely required rite of passage. 

I found that out the hard way when I researched what what needed in order to teach at the Arizona community college level. Although I have a master’s degree in communications and 25 years of business experience, I am not qualified to teach any business-related courses in this state without an MBA.

This time of year, when so many MBA graduates are emerging from various schools with diploma in hand, you may be tempted to pursue a degree yourself. Read Steve’s article in its entirety first, however, and you may just save yourself thousands of dollars. Or, you may end up fulfilling your lifetime dream and pursuing the business degree you need to make it happen.

Got a book in you?  How do you set a writing schedule and stick to it?  Here’s how three authors are doing it, and it seems everyone is following her own muse.  

Patricia Brooks – http://www.brooksgoldmanpublishing.com

I get up early – write a couple hours in the morning – most days if no conflict to get out the door – I have a home office. Or at the end of the day or middle – as choices 2 or 3 – but write each day on laptop or with a pen on revisions.
I carry something with me, if not the laptop, a book bag and notebook – always have my writing on my brain no matter what I am doing. That is the only way to do it.
I write goals each year and revise each quarter and make sure they address time factors, research, organization, revisions, reading just to name a few. I have my home office set up in two parts, writing and publishing and there are overlaps, but try to have a designated writing area, plus books separated by research, pleasure and publishing, marketing – organization is the key.

Ann Videan -http://www.videanunlimited.com/  

I write:
• Myriad corporate collateral pieces
• Journalistic pieces for magazines
• My own *LINC* e-newsletter and *BizTribe* blog (http://videanunlimited.com/biztribe)
• My soon-to-publish *Rhythms & Muse* women’s fiction manuscript.

My nonfiction writing schedule is driven primarily by client deadlines. No motivation works better than the desire to protect one’s quality reputation by meeting deadlines, and to finish projects to earn fees that keep dreams moving forward.

As far as my BizTribe blog goes… My favorite topics, including word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing tips simply inspire me to write every two weeks. Plus, it allows me to happily share personal WOM experiences through my photography.

But the fiction requires a different type of commitment. When I got serious about writing my novel, I searched out a critique partner to help keep me accountable. We’ve been meeting now for more than 10 years, often twice a week. Our mantra as busy mothers, entrepreneurs and writers was “at least one paragraph every time we meet.” It may not sound like much, but sometime that was all we could eek out of our schedules. After a few years, I decided to treat my novel like a client and set aside two hours every day (at several beloved Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf locations) just to write. This dedicated writing schedule allowed me to quickly finish the final quarter of my novel in about six months!

Robin Reynolds – http://lifetomax.com/

I don’t like to box myself in with set writing schedules because I’m creative and creatives like change! However, I have an office outside of my home and I prefer to do my writing in that environment during the day. I usually start by making a list of goals to accomplish during the day and I write something every day–a blog, an article, ad copy, etc. I always write for a purpose–to solve problems for either my clients, family or myself–so when I start, my writing usually flows. When I’m not clear about my intent, I tend to struggle. Because I prefer to write on my computer and I am inspired by everyday, ordinary occurrences, I often call or send emails to myself about ideas I may want to explore.

**************

I found it helpful when writing the first edition of “Press Releases Are Not a PR Strategy” (2005) to leverage several magazine articles on PR that I had already written, and set a goal.   In my case, the goal was to have the entire manuscript written and into production by my 45th birthday.  I worked on my client writing assignments in the mornings, and on my book in the afternoons.

If you happen to subscribe to the Arizona Sunday edition, or visit the travel section at www.azcentral.com, you may have read about the father/daughter team, Mike Hayes and Maureen Nowland, who have hiked the complete Arizona Trail from Mexico to Utah.

That’s one way to get into the newspaper  - when you or one of your clients accomplishes an unusual feat.   [Side note - that's also the theme of an excellent post on Techipedia about how to get the attention of influencers - 'be epic,' says one]

It all started in April 2004 when Mike and Maureen saw an article in the travel section about a father-son team who had hiked the Arizona Trail.  Growing up,  Maureen and her family often went car camping for vacation.  She continued this tradition with her husband Steve, and on a Labor Day camping trip with her dad in 2004, they started talking about the article.  Mike threw down the gauntlet by saying, “If you’re serious, let’s put something together.”

So she and Mike started in April 2005 with the first hike.  To keep the memories of their experiences alive, Mike decided to write it down. He initially contacted the Arizona Republic about the possibility of publishing the installments, but the editor at the time turned them down, so he contacted the Kingman Daily Miner, where he lives, and they started publishing the articles. A couple of years ago, Mike contacted the Arizona Republic again and this time the editor in charge was extremely interested, as she had hiked with her dad in the past.

The Arizona Trail is approximately 810 miles, 43 segments long. From start to finish, it took Maureen and her dad 4.5 years to complete the trail. Maureen’s husband Steve helped out often with car transportation to and from the start and end points of each segment, and accompanied them on some of the hikes.

If you’re mentally prepared for it, says Maureen, you can do anything. They ran into so many beautiful vistas and mountain views that they ran out of adjectives to describe it all.  The hiking for the most part was safe, just grueling.  The only time she was nervous was when they had to set up a tent once in the middle of the Huachucas when they got off track, “since you don’t know where you are.” 

Some of the trail segments are extremely aggressive, and Maureen confesses that at one point, she lost her interest in continuing the project. Mike and Steve persuaded her not to give up, however, and they finally completed the trail in October 2009, just shy of Maureen’s 50th birthday.

Maureen and Mike did something extraordinary and finally connected with a newspaper editor to publicize it.  Or as Robert Scoble says in the Techipedia link above, to get the attention of the influencers, “Do something interesting.”

Google News is an automated news aggregator, and many companies view it as a benefit to have their press release included on the site.

Writing a press release that gets into Google News is not as straightforward as it seems, however, as I learned from a recent post on Business Wire.  Google has a list of 18 rejection reasons, but Business Wire feels there are only a few that occur repeatedly, and based on the number of releases that they send out daily on behalf of clients, they ought to know:

1. If your release contains fewer than 125 words, Google News may reject it
2. Any page larger than 256 KB may be deemed too large, and rejected
3. If the title is too short or too long, it will be flagged so it’s best to keep headlines brief – between 2-22 words
4. If your press release contains only a one-sentence paragraph or a large number of bulleted items, Google News may view this as “fragmented” and reject it

 

As if we didn’t have enough to remember already when it comes to writing press releases!  Key words, search engine optimization, Google News optimization…

It’s hard to watch the reaction of the Republicans to the signing of the health care reform bill without comparing them to a comment I heard on NPR today — schoolyard kids taking their ball and going home out of spite. They have many PR challenges ahead of them, not the least of which is the lack of a single coherent spokesperson for the party.  Who is representing the “true” party – is it the Republican National Chairman?  Is it the tea partiers?  Is it Rush Limbaugh? Is it Fox news?   And where do the moderate Republicans like Lincoln Chaffee fit in?

This isn’t a partisan rant, but more a concerned assessment of the chaos going on with their messaging. The Democrats have their own challenges, but right now the Republicans have thrust themselves into a strange spotlight by virtue of their violent, vitriolic reaction to the bill.

If I were advising the party, here’s what I would recommend:

1. Take a breather.  Bring the party together instead of letting all the junkyard dogs diffuse the focus with their separate nips and bites. 
2. Step away from the positioning that doom is imminent.   A more sound PR strategy is to emphasize your own strengths, rather than tearing down your competitors.  
3. Gather the non-emotional facts, not opinions, and use those facts as part of your fall campaign.  Leverage independent survey gathering and data analysis resources for the best credibility.

It’s human nature to scream like a wounded animal when you see your plans destroyed.  As a PR strategy, however, not such a good idea.

You can find helpful social media analysis at www.briansolis.com

Conventional wisdom in social media these days is that you should:

1) Know which demographic you’re going after

 2) Know which problem you are solving for them, and

3) Know where to reach them

Brian Solis, who writes about all things PR 2.0, has compiled some useful charts and statistics that can help you with #3 – determining which social media vehicle to use, based on the age demographic you are trying to reach.

Here are a few statistics from his latest post:

Facebook - 25% of users are 45-54 with the 35-44 group at just 20% (61% are 35 or older)

LinkedIn – less than 30% are 35-44, 20% are 45-54 and more than 15% are 55-64

MySpace – Over 30% of all users are under 17 and slightly less than 20% are 45-54

Twitter – More than 25% of users are 35-44, trailed by the 45-54 group at less than 20% (65% of all users are over the age of 35)

Interesting that the majority of Twitter users are over 35….I’m working with a college-age intern now and she confesses she has a twitter account but doesn’t use it.   She is, however, a regular Facebook user.