Discussion Tech PR / Social Media / Branded Content to technical writers and marcom teams in Israel

1. TECH PR / THE SOCIAL WEB /
BRANDED CONTENT
MEGAComm Conference
Tel Aviv - 20 February 2011

2. WHO’S IN THE ROOM?
• Asking for five volunteers to introduce themselves.... one minute
each....
• what do you do?
• challenges you are facing?

3. DURING THE DISCUSSION...
• Ask questions
• Tweet us up
• @alanweinkrantz - let’s follow each other :)
• #MEGAComm2011

4. PURPOSE
• Learn, share, network with your peers
• Realize you are not alone in the challenges you may face
• Apply what we share today and take a few steps in a new
direction, particularly in the area of branded content
• Demystify and disrupt your communications mindsets
• Avoid the possibility of being disrupted in your role a a tech writer

5. CAVEAT
• Presentation is based on experience and belief sets of where
things are going forward
•I try things out and like to experiment
• Not everything I do & how to help clients works, but the barriers
to entry and experimenting are nil - other than time

6. ABOUT...
• PR guy for 25 years
• Variety of Israeli tech companies for 15 years
• “Social Media” for the last 6 years
• Shifting to Branded Content
• Work with Jeff Pulver on Sponsorships for #140Conf events

7. WAVES OF INNOVATION
• PCs based on 8088 / 286 / 386 / 486
• The networked PC
• Early Internet Cafes
• The cell phone and related data services
• WiFi
• Computer / network / application security

8. WAVES OF INNOVATION
• IP Communications & Entertainment
• Tablet / Mobile PCs - mobile platforms
• The wired home network -G.hn standard
• Disruptive Communications

9. Sampling of Israeli Tech Companies Represented

10. Sponsors

11. YESTERDAY VS. TODAY
• The media was the gateway to telling your story
• Thebarriers to having access to the media required a traditional
PR firm or having “contacts”
• You had to have a big budget to produce quality content

12. REALITIES
• Everyone has access to your news
• You don’t need a PR firm
• Your being in Israel should not deter you from being successful
• Ifyou are a technical writer, you stand an increasing possibility of
being disrupted by outsourced suppliers who can produce at
dramatically lower pricing

13. TODAY...
• Marcom / Marketing: become more valuable to your team and
disrupt your competitors
• Technical Writers- elevate your role and consider expanding your
sphere into the art of story telling

14. SPECIFIC TO ISRAEL
• Engineering driven culture
• Marketing is often an after-thought
• Particularly
to core tech suppliers.... belief set is that with only 25
core customers in the world, you don’t need “marketing”

15. SPECIFIC TO ISRAEL
• OEMs providing core technology to major brands
• Innovators and disruptors

16. TODAY....
• Tech PR first and foremost, start thinking
of your organization as a
• Social Media media company
• Branded Content

17. BUT I’M IN ISRAEL...
• Other than having the ability to interface with a journalist in real
time, geography no longer matters.

18. BASICS OF PR
• Message
• Interesting news
• Consistent outreach
• Tie
your branded content to becoming a trusted source for media
coverage

19. PR...
• Today, covering the very basics....
• Think about new ways to pitch

20. TYPES OF COVERAGE
• Hard News
• Breaking / Trends News
• Collaborative / Joint News
• Sourced News
• Populated Content from Businesswire
• Contributed Content by your CTO

21. HOW TO PITCH?
• Build a list
• ask your customers and partners what they read
• ask your sales people what your customers read

22. MESSAGE
• Establish 3 key messages and use them in everything you produce
• Be concise and easy to understand
• Make your message core to all press / collateral / online content
• All company execs should be on the same message

23. CONSISTENT OUTREACH
• If someone turns you down, it’s really ok.
• Instead of selling your story, be a trusted source of expertise

24. INTERESTING NEWS
• “Interesting” is a matter of definition...
• Make sure your news is relevant and if possible, breaking

25. Tiered Media Strategy for 2011
tech
IT / Vertical Media & Analysts
emerging
Business Media
mainstream core technology
Mainstream Media
A Thought Leadership Approach to Tech PR

26. NEW WAYS TO PITCH...
• Comment / observe articles via social profiles such as Twitter
• Have a commenting strategy in place
• Use platforms such as you’re a media
company
• YouTube
• SlideShare
• Flickr

27. www.helpareorter.com

30. Via HARO
www.helpareporter.com

31. Via.... LinkedIn

33. Sample Media - current and where we could try to
broaden coverage
Business Media
IT MEDIA BusinessWeek
CNBC
CIO Fortune
Computerworld Forbes
eWeek NYTimes
InfoWorld WSJ
InformationWeek
NetworkWorld Consumer Media
SC Magazine
USA Today
Wired

34. Blogs
Engadget
GigaOM
Gizmodo
ThreatLevel

35. BRANDED CONTENT....
• Biggest shift I am seeing:
• Content about / around your brand
• Story telling with emphasis on social conversation

36. A BODY OF WORK
• Previous news releases
• Previous media coverage
on- going outreach
• SEO on key terms and persistent
presence increases
• Company or individual Blog(s)
opportunities for
• Videos
coverage
• Social Media presence

37. static VS. active
Web Site
Brochures
Press Releases
Trade Show Booth

38. Go wide and deep
You Company Technology
Article
Blog
submissions
Facebook delicious
Twitter SlideShare Comment on other
blogs
YouTube
LinkedIn Digg
Docstoc
Slideshare

39. SOCIAL MEDIA
• Listen first. Then pitch.
• Many traditional journalists are
also bloggers
• Have a commenting strategy
in place... it’s a great way to be
found and discovered

40. BIG SHIFTS
• From pure pitching to sharing and having your content being
found
• The art of curating content
• Havingyour CTO, Tech Support and R&D team become the new
marketing department

41. Doubletree - Hilton

42. Z-Wave Alliance

43. Redbone Guitar Builds Global Online Business

44. ALAN’S RULES :)
• Have a focused and current message
• Have an up to date and easy to download press room
• Write to, and for your targeted audiences
• Give yourself six months to see this bear fruit
• Focus on a few wins... manage expectations
• Engage your management

45. study. work hard. have fun.
start
story
telling

46. stream
your
narrative

47. build a following
and new deal
flow will come
your way

48. how: > ?

49. converse
interface
broadcast
inform
share
spread you ideas
give away as much information about you as you can

50. The Social Web

51. If you populate the social web
with great and relevant content
about yourself, you’ll be found,
and it will serve its purpose in
whatever you want to do after
you graduate from Trinity

52. How I’ve used the power of social web to get
media coverage, gain credibility and
demonstrate thought leadership as a pro-
active consumer of AT&T’s three screen
service offering

53. trade business/financial broadcast radio

55. YouTube -great way to pitch the media

56. Re-purposing content...
Industry leaders
demonstrate
N-trig technology

57. Industry leaders demonstrate
N-trig applications & product
differentiation

58. How To: How I watch Internet TV - U-verse and Internet TV

62. PRESENTATION
• online - www.alanweinkrantz.com
• www.slideshare.net/alanweinkrantz
• copy and share with others
• this is what I believe and seems to work
• your mileage may vary

63. CONCLUSION
• Be a media company
• Think like a journalist
• Help grow your industry and be a trusted source in the space
• Stop selling and start story telling

64. REALITIES
• Culture
• Where to start
• listen
• follow
• engage

65. CONTACT
• Alan Weinkrantz
• alan@weinkrantz.com
• Twitter: @alanweinkrantz
• Facebook & LinkedIn
google.com/profiles/alanweinkrantz

66. THANK YOU
• please share :)