Rage against the press release

It was kind of fun watching and listening to the Old School PR folks squirm a little during Peter Shankman's keynote talk yesterday. The idea that "people" - meaning the real folks who buy your stuff - aren't buying the PR/marketing spun "key messages" anymore. It's probably still a good exercise to develop them, but increasingly customers want to be spoken to in their own (real) language. As a fairly creative PR guy, there was nothing more frustrating than having to conjure up some useless quote for a press release from a c-level client exec, often without ever even (being able) to speak with him/her. I was once told early on that my press releases were bad because I wasn't following the formula that agency believed in. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a physical aversion to filling out (hard copy) forms by writing in those little boxes - one letter per box, please. Blech ! I say "say what you need to say, however you want to say it" But if you want what you say to actually be heard, you better say it the way your customers want it. Customers won't adapt. They will simply move on. This is true whether you are selling an iPhone App, a loaf of bread, a hotel stay, or a press release.

I'm back

Hard to believe its almost been an entire year since my last post. I've been told that if i want to continue to build the Brand of Tim, I need to be blogging more. I hope to get back on track and share some of my thoughts and opinions about the world we live in...through the lense of a short attention spanned dad in southern maine. Blog v2.0 coming up !