This presentation should give PR and marketing practitioners food for thought.

Central to public relations is great content, and while all of this presentation is not always completely relevant to PR there is certainly some interesting concepts in here. What is especially relevant is how we consume content on the go.

Full service marketers take note.

Econsultancy is undertaking an experiment to see what happens if its readers link to their latest internet marketing strategy paper, which is available for free on its website. I will be blogging more about this subject on the blog of my new Manchester PR agency, PR Agency One.

The blog encourages its readers to link to the page where the paper is hosted using the anchor text ‘internet marketing strategy.’ (as I have done here).

For those of you not au fait with SEO, the idea is that, all things being equal, by linking and using this anchor text, Google will rank this page higher in its SERPs than other similar pages from competing websites.

I’ve linked to this content because I always encourage my clients to use on site content as a way to improve SEO and drive on site traffic. What is more, this is a compelling case study to share with client-side marketers and to demonstrate how PR content can be used to improve SEO.

Are you a Marketing, PR or Digital professional living in Chorlton or Didsbury? If so then you probably should join this small LinkedIn community.

The group, catchily called Chorlton and Manchester Marketing, PR and Digital People, has one single purpose: to help professionals in the area connect, share ideas and the odd drink.

I don’t know if this group is a good idea, or if it will work, but after a bit of banter on Twitter I’ve been goaded into action by Jon Clements.

Please join the group and post updates and content. I promise not to spam you with thousands of updates. Perhaps if enough people join we will organise a meet up at a local pub or bar.

Download now or preview on posterous

Proud to Remember.pdf (199 KB)

A colleague has just received the email below which uses Armistice Day to sell properties.  It was sent just after 11am on 11 November while many were observing a minutes silence…  Classy!

The PDF post above is a copy the direct marketing email from the Manchester-based estate agent.  Have a look.

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Curation of the news is one of the most exciting innovations on the internet.  The internet is an enlightening place to keep up to date with current affairs and news, but now with news curation sites we can access, sort, consume and share thousands of news sources from around the world.

Fernando Rizo, a digital PR chap at Ketchum who I’ve met and respect, says he thinks that Google Reader is everything he could ever need.  See his post:

http://fernandorizo.typepad.com/blog/2009/05/google-reader-is-all-the-social-network-that-i-need.html  

However, I think I need my news in a more consumable format, so here are my three favourite ways to consume news (in no particular order):

-          www.popurls.com

The site recommends top content from all the main international sites, networks and blogs and aggregates it for you.  OK, so the content is far too US centric, but I find the layout excellent and the content engaging.  I’m also fascinated by the US, so the nature of the content doesn’t bother me.  It also presents images and video in a simple and visual way.

-          http://my.alltop.com/jameswdcrawford

Alltop.com is tremendous and above is a link to my Alltop list.  The great thing about Alltop is the user can choose the news sites and blogs from which they want updates.  The site also makes sharing incredibly easy.  One criticism is that if a user only turned to their alltop.com profile for news then they might never find out what is happening on, say Fox News, or another media channel, which they wouldn’t normally give a second glance.  

-          http://www.twittertim.es/jamescrawford

Twitter Times is a bit clunky still, but I love the way it curates news from my Twitter Network and provides it in an engaging way.  I can also see uses for this for my clients, say for example internal communications (for example a way for an MD to keep his staff up to speed on industry topics).  I also think Twitter Times is an intriguing insight into a person and their network.

I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has any better sites, or other curation tools which they think are more useful, or just different.

MARIAN SALZMAN – OPINION FORMER

We all know the term metrosexual, but how do these trends become popularised and a part of the everyday British lexicon?  One reason:  Marian Salzman, a American colleague of mine, and a pioneer of opinion-forming and trend spotting.  

Don’t take my word for it.  She’s been pretty much on every news channel known to man:

You may not realize it, but Marian Salzman has already had a major influence on your life. … Salzman is a charismatic power blonde (think Carrie Bradshaw mixed with Hillary Clinton). —The Observer (U.K.)

A one-stop oracle, it is her job to predict the social trends—and thus marketing opportunities for her clients—just around the corner. —Sky.com

Marian Salzman has recently been appointed President, Public Relations, North America, Euro RSCG Worldwide.  A company she is rejoining after a short hiatus to pursue her own professional objectives.  I think she holds a legendary status within our company, so I asked her to take time out to answer a few questions for me and these are her responses.

1- Everyone knows the word Metrosexual, but not everyone knows that you coined the term (or at least I think you did)  How did this come about?   

I didn’t coin the term, Mark Simpson did. But I found it via Matt Donovan, a Euro colleague, based in Sydney. He popped it off to me- an article from the Wellington, NZ newspaper- that featured the word, and I took it and ran with it, and popularized it. 

2- What work are you most proud of? 

Proudest of the global Tweetup I just sorted for Pepsico, probably the first big corporate meeting on Twitter (held April 1st). Second most Tweeted event that day – all the corporate walls fell down virtually. Or maybe of the “It’s Like This” spots I co-created for Pepsi almost 20 years ago – with real teens. Or Esprit’s What Would You Do? Again real people. Notice reality is a big theme for my pride. 

3- What is the difference between media in the UK and the US? 

The media in the UK is more cynical and literary and more likely to take the piss out, but also more likely to spend the time to write a story, in part because there is more newspaper space or it feels that way, at least at the national and urban level. In terms of broadcast, US media is more chatty, you have to be Carrie Bradshaw as guest to be invited back; in UK they’d prefer Arianna Huffington (JC: co-founder of the Huffington Post) versus fluff. 

4- Are you more creative or strategic? 

I am more creative, with a very manipulative eye – that is I create solutions and zero in on the best and easiest way to succeed. I love easy. And I have a sixth sense on what will win. But I am not strategic like a brilliant account planner. 

5 – What is the future for PR? 

Future of PR is rosy if PR people get bigger balls and stop speaking in corporate jargon and start talking in real speak. We need to be smart risk-takers and straight shooters and fight for our share of the marketing and public affairs budgets. 

6 – Have you ever been to the North of England?  What do you know about the City of Manchester? 

Not only have I been there, I spent 4-5 summers living in Minworth, outside of Birmingham. Stop laughing, I can still remember the smell of the HP sauce.  And I flew in an out of Manchester Airport more than once (first time overseas was on a BOAC flight to Manchester from JFK in the 1970s and I landed and couldn’t understand a word). 

[This was the first in an occasional series of interviews with major influences in my professional and personal life.]

((tag: PR, Marketing, Media, News, Marian Salzman, Euro RSCG, )). 

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© James Crawford’s PR and Media Blog.  2009