The 2.0 Communicator

Last week I had a chance to talk with Matt Langan, a seasoned PR pro I’ve had the pleasure of working with in the past. What I was struck by was how Matt mirrored larger trends affecting PR and work in general, so here I am writing this post.

At the onset, let me say I was already a big fan before we spoke. What I didn’t know was the full story about how Matt and his wife Ana left DC behind for a new home in beautiful Manchester, Vermont for themselves and their twin daughters. Matt’s the epitome of the free agent professional — as long as you have a decent broadband connection, your home base can be anywhere.

Of course you also need the smarts and the experience. Matt’s 15 years of technology PR experience with agencies like Euro RSCG Magnet and DBC PR had given him that, plus the discipline to run his own shop. Even though he launched in June 2008, right at the start of a severe recession, L&R Communications is thriving.

Just like Strategic, Matt is finding that more of his work is in the area of social media. “Social media work is more resistant to economic pressures,” he shares. “When you’ve got a vision and a track record of success, socmed work will be in demand.“

Another 2.0 trend Matt reminded me of is the changing nature of who is an influencer. For over 15 years Matt pitched the media as part of media outreach for clients. Now because of a really interesting engagement, he is the media.

“One of my clients is the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation,” Matt told me. “Basically they are the foundation for imaging and data mapping in the intelligence community. They are a forward looking organization that saw the need for new channels to reach their members, and for a way to differentiate themselves from others in the GIS mapping space.” The result was got geoint?, a blog/community site Matt helped design and serves as editor-in-chief. The content is served hot, fresh and good three times daily, which I can attest is an real achievement.

So here’s the role reversal part. gotgeoint? has become a must-have placement in the geospatial community, and Matt finds himself getting pitched all the time for executive interviews and company profiles. And of course as a PR pro, he can spot the good ones from the bad. “It’s been a great experience being on the other side. As long as the pitch is clear, logical and shows that the organization is reading gotgeoint? I’m almost always open and can find some time. Some of the ones that aren’t make me very empathetic to what traditional reporters and editors go through!”

Personally I found Matt’s success really encouraging. Having been in this industry a long time as well, it’s great to see that experience and having been there/done that still counts for a lot. As long as you are adapting and accommodating the tremendous 2.0 changes that are sweeping public relations and communications in general.

If you want more Matt info, here’s his LinkedIn profile. And if you’re ever in Manchester, try to catch one of his rock band’s performances. The Battenkillers are well know throughout the state.

Now That’s Thinking with Your Dipstick — DIY Oil Change

Over the weekend I changed the oil in my ‘99 M3. It was actually pretty easy, since I didn’t have to go under the car at all. I used an fluid extractor that I picked up from Griot’s Garage. It siphons the oil out via the dipstick column.

I don’t have access to a lift, and when I first heard about the extractor I checked it out on the boards. Others had used it successfully, so I pulled the trigger. As far as the filter goes, BMW uncharacteristically made that easy if you can believe it. Instead of on the side or below the engine, the filter is right there front and center when you open the hood. So I bought a Mann filter, seven liters of Royal Purple 5×30 — BMWs are very thirsty — and tackled the job Sunday.

Saw a couple of neighbors looking and probably wondering what the??

Takes about 15 minutes to get all the oil out, but after a few pumps it keeps going on it’s own. The new filter looked different than the Mahle filter in there, hard exterior versus soft filter. But slid in easily after removing the canister top with a 13mm wrench. Car took a little over six and a half liters of oil.

I had a little drama when I started the car after I thought I was done — lost some oil out of the canister top. It was because I hadn’t seated the rubber O-ring properly, just removed and fixed easily.

Guess you can tell old vs. new

Will drop off the used oil at my local garage Hollin Hall Automotive, good guys. Next up is changing the manual transmission fluid, although I may wait until spring. Read online the extractor can be used for that too, must find more information…

Roger and Me

Yesterday I had lunch with Roger Hughlett, assistant managing editor for the Washington Business Journal. It was past time we caught up. I first met Roger over a decade ago, when he was tech reporter for the Baltimore Biz Journal and I was with the startup that became Advertising.com.

I had been looking forward to lunch not only because Roger is a great guy and committed news pro, but also to get his take on social media. Being with the Bizjournals group for so long, I was interested to hear what a “traditional media” guy had to say about the seismic changes in how consumers get their news.

What I found was a fired up guy. Roger sounds like the point person inside WBJ working to make sure that social media tools support the Journal’s mission to serve readers. For one thing, every reporter has to be involved on Twitter, which is a great way to locate experts and solicit feedback. Surprisingly, some reporters need to be pushed a little, and some are slow to appreciate the feedback aspect of social media. I told him that sounds like some of my clients!

But the push at WBJ comes straight from the top – publisher Alex Orfinger has over 1,200 followers: http://twitter.com/AlexOrfinger

The WBJ uses a dashboard from Omniture to analyze traffic, and Twitter and Facebook are consistently in the top ten for referrer sites. Roger couldn’t give me hard numbers of course, but he did share that traffic to the site is up 40% August 2008 to August 2009.

Being a weekly, the WBJ never had the pressure to break stories like a daily newspaper, but in the past they still liked exclusives. Now, the focus is breaking news on the web site, and making sure that articles in the Friday print version add value to existing stories. Roger thinks that due to breadth of coverage the Journal has weathered the digital storm better than some publications, especially the technology trades.

Two more nuggets that might be useful for PR folks. Roger sees nothing wrong with direct tweets as a way to suggest a story or a source — but it better be a good one. And reporters at the WBJ aren’t judged primarily by how many clicks their stories get. I had heard this from some long-time tech reporters, and asked Roger how he evaluates online stories. He replied it’s subjective but he knows there are plenty of ways to fashion a story to get clicks, but that story might not be well researched or advance a reader’s understanding of an event or issue.

Any questions you would have asked? Let me know, and you can follow Roger on Twitter at http://twitter.com/rhughlett.

Goodbye Fiscal 2009

The joint was jumping last night at the End of Fiscal Year party at 1215 Connecticut Avenue. It was sponsored by a slew of local organizations including GovLoop, Young Government Leaders, Tech Bisnow, Young AFCEANs and GovDelivery. Folks were definitely partying like it was… 2010.

What was really cool was yet another confirmation that DC has become a hotbed for Web 2.0, or in this case Government 2.0.  That wasn’t just my take. I met Sandeep Bhatia of Caloroso Partners in from San Ramon, CA. He told me he wanted to help government use technology smarter and that this was the place to be for Web 2.0, not San Francisco. Don’t know if I’ve heard that before, but that’s saying something!

Many local notables of the new tech scene were on hand — Chris Dorobek of Federal News Radio and the Dorobek Insider, Mark Drapeau of National Defense University (and now GW professor), Maxine Teller, guru of socmed for the DoD.  A big theme of discussion among revelers was the merger last week of GovDelivery and GovLoop.

It’s a perfect match — the number one provider of communication technology for the public sector hooking up with the number one social network for government professionals. I’m proud to say GovDelivery is my client, and now GovLoop is as well. Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s take on the deal.

I caught up with the two principals of the deal, Scott Burns and Steve Ressler. (So did Tech Bisnow, and their picture is probably better). Lots to celebrate last night, and also lots of good things ahead in 2010. Should be a great year for both GovLoop and the DC new tech scene in general.

Scott Burns (left), and Steve Ressler

New Wine Discoveries

Recently Gabriele and I returned to Bonefish in Kingstowne for a nice dinner. We have eaten there a few times, and each time we’ve been pleased with the food.

The first time we went there, we found a very nice tasty Pinot Noir — in fact, I talked about it in the very first post on this blog.

Unfortunately, the 2007 Bridgeview Blue Moon wasn’t nearly as good as the 2006 we enjoyed that first evening.  Bonefish doesn’t have a large wine list, so unless they were pouring a 2008 Bridgeview that we liked I wasn’t anticipating having a new wine to blog on. But our server told us he had something off the menu that we would like.

He brought out a 2007 Mossback Pinot Noir, and highly recommended we have it with our meals. I like a strong suggestion from a server, so we did. It was very nice — soft, flavorable aroma that leads to a very drinkable wine. It was soft but not thin, with strong black cherry fruit with a touch of creaminess on the finish. The wine lingered on the palate longer than most Pinots. Very good – if you go to Bonefish in Alexandria suggest you ask for it. Retails for about $25.

A few other wines we’ve found in the past couple of months. Do you someone who says they hate Chianti? Gabriele was not a fan, having had some poor ones in the past. We recently found a winner at Total Wine, the Massanera Chianti Classico 2006, $17 retail. Very smooth wine, not thin at all, slight pucker on the finish. It will be a hit with those who don’t like big, huge reds and who don’t think they like Chianti.

Another winner was the 2006 Veramonte Primus, a Chilean blend. It combines Cabernet, Syrah, Merlot and Carmenere. It’s a big, bold wine that feels full in your mouth, inky in color and with a long finish. It tastes a lot more expensive than it is; we paid $24 in DC but can be found for less.

Finally, after all the GSMs we’ve been drinking I’m happy to write about a nice, affordable Rhone. It is the 2004 Feraud Brunel Cotes du Rhone Rasteau. A blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault, it’s sharp but fruity, tart and very balanced. $21 at Total Wine. It passed the toughest test for a French wine — Gabriele liked it!

So if you’re looking to try some new wine this fall, give these a try. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did. And if you don’t, drop me a comment!

Fun Little DYI Projects

Last weekend I got a couple of quick, fun DIY projects acccomplished. In my previous wheels post I said I needed to give the M3 some attention, but again these were focused on the 530.

A little BMW esoterica — the 2001 530 was the first class of BMW car that came with the now ubiquitious “angel eyes” lights. They don’t accomplish anything, but they look good. Today’s models have angel eyes that are very bright and white, matching the Xenon/HID (high intensity discharge) headlight color. The earlier models had angel eyes that were noticeably dimmer and more yellow than the headlights.

Of course, there’s a kit you can buy that fixes that right up. EuroDyne sells two LED batteries that replace the stock halogen ones, making a big difference in color tone. It was ridiculously easy to install — you don’t have to mess with the headlights at all, just remove and replace the angel eye bulbs. The results shown below.

Another characteristic of modern BMWs is a propensity to draw battery power when they are not driven every day. In fact, it’s possible to drain a battery by letting the car sit for as few as 10 days without it being driven, unless you hook up a battery tender. My 530 has been a lot worse than my M3 in this department, having totally drained the battery twice, although one time it was due to a malfunctioning fuse.

A place called Griot’s Garage sells a cool little battery disconnect switch. You simply install it between the negative battery terminal and the car. Then when you go on a trip or just can’t drive the car for a length of time, you turn a small wheel and disconnect the battery easily. It’s also an effective theft deterrent, and all you need to do after you re-connect and start the car is reset the clock.

Easy little mods that can make a big difference — the perfect weekend DIY!

Angel Eyes -- Old Color

Angel Eyes -- New Color

Battery Disconnect

When Does PR Become Digital Marketing?

Earlier this month there was an excellent guest post in the PR 2.0 blog written by Brian Solis. Its theme is how social media is making successful PR today a lot more like digital marketing. While not focused on the b2b market, it’s an excellent read: http://bit.ly/3QWjJy

As I say it’s a good read, but the majority of my b2b clients would have a tough time adopting all of the recommendations listed.  Most of them are offering technology solutions that are not purchased based on a search engine result. And they are certainly not ready to abandon “traditional” PR and put all their eggs in the social media basket.

And that’s — OK. No agency right now (at least in the b2b space) can succeed as just a tradition or social media agency — you need to do both well, and Strategic certainly does. Clients don’t need a terribly high level of IT sophistication to begin making sure their PR efforts are in synch with online marketing. I’ve had a lot of success with clients starting with these basic tenets:

• Repurpose content – every company has lots of quality content in multiple forms. Word docs, powerpoint presentations, white papers, etc. The key is tweaking that content as necessary and using it for social media purposes — blog content, Twitter tweets, distribution via user generated areas of publications like Fast Company and CIO.
• Find your audience — the great thing about social media is audiences self identify. In vertical and horizontal social communities, they clearly state what they are interested in. Most companies have a good profile of the target customer, but not necessarily where they there are online. A social media audit is essential to establish how to reach your target buyer.
• Establish a baseline — to get an idea of how many people you’re engaging via social media, get a baseline level of your typical web site or community traffic prior to a new PR program. It doesn’t need to be expensive — for many clients Google Analytics can suffice. You just need a picture of traffic level and where the referrals are coming from.
• Optimize — this isn’t some black magic that only a few can decipher. What we often do is get a list of the keywords clients are bidding on when we start an engagement. Then we look to work these words and phrases into our social media content, gradually improving the client’s organic search results. And eventually, lowering their paid search spend.
• Stick with it — Here’s where the right PR firm can really help. It’s not easy to consistently churn out quality content that engages, educates and entertains. It’s hard work, and having a firm with a track record of success launching social media campaigns for other clients is essential.

My clients are not interested in being on the bleeding edge of social media. They are interested in what works, and what can quantifiably increase customer engagement, thought leadership, lead flow and deal capture. The steps above can put them on the right path.

You’ve Got Good Content — But How Are You Presenting It?

“Content is King” — that’s long been dogma in the publishing world, and rightly so. But the maxim also holds for any web site or blog, including b2b. Most companies have large amounts of interesting information in many formats — presentations, white papers, spreadsheets — that can make for valuable online content. However, some do a better job than others in making good content easy to find.

Jeff Bezos of Amazon famously said that for every click required you lose 50% of your potential audience. I have no idea if that is backed up with statistical research, but it’s a useful benchmark when evaluating your online properties. How easy or difficult are you making it for visitors to find information? For every click, you’re losing half your potential traffic.

This week Strategic completed two projects for clients that focused on this question. For both BT and Microsoft, we helped them present their online content in easy and intuitive ways.

For BT’s Secure Thinking blog, we broke out various types of security information into channels — compliance, services, ROI, etc. This makes is far easier for users to find exactly the type of security information they’re most interested in.

Microsoft’s Bright Side of Government (their state and local group) site went for a more portal type structure. Right off the front page they make it simple to find their YouTube channel, Twitter stream, blog, customer success stories and special resources:

Front Page Screen Capture

Some of you may be saying “jeez Chris, this isn’t rocket science, it’s common sense.” Exactly! It’s like a lot of things related to social media — 20% inspiration, and 80% perspiration. It’s carrying through to completion logical extensions of your communications tactics, keeping in mind they should always reinforce your business strategy.

Take a fresh look at your corporate site/blog — how long since its been refreshed? For a first-time visitor, how easy is it for them to find the information you think is most important?

No doubt, content still is king. You just need to put some thought into its presentation, not just its creation.

Finally the 530 Gets a Facelift

Happy Labor Day to all. It’s an especially fun one for me since I’ve finally completed a project on the 2001 530. But it took an incredible amount of time, I started this project at the beginning of the summer. Here then is the story.

I have wanted to freshen up the 530 bumpers for a while. As described in previous posts, the previous owner had been easy on the car driving-wise but was neglectful in cosmetic matters. There were some dings and scratches on the bumpers, primarily on the rear. And BMW made a M Technic version bumper for my model car, which came stock on the 2003 540i. This bumper just plain looks better. It is sometimes called the “M5 bumper,” but that’s incorrect, the M5 and the M Technic bumpers are different.

M Technic Aero Kit

As usual with the aftermarket, there was a plethora of choices to weed through. There are many good quality replica kits at there, as well as original equipment (OE) parts. Luckily I was able as usual to tap the wisdom of the crowd via the bimmerfest.com and bimmerforum.com online communities. These owners usually have no shortage of valuable info and strong opinions on which way to go with most any project. Complicating my choice somewhat was my car has park distance control (PDC), which is not an option I would have chosen but one I’ve come to appreciate. There are four sensors in both the front and rear bumpers, and many of the replica kits didn’t accommodate this feature.

I decided to go with the OE BMW kit, for the PDC and the reason I wanted everything to be perfect. Even a small fit problem with a replica kit would bug me, and I figured the build quality would be better. I knew Bavarian Auto sold the OE kit, and they advertised that they matched competitor pricing. I called, and pointed out that Bekkers had a lower price for the same OE kit. BavAuto matched it, and I started getting psyched to get this done. But the adventure was just beginning.

I ordered the kit on June 25th. Part of my ordered shipped right away — some bumper strips and the new projector fog lights. Unfortunately, the main kit was out of stock, and they were sending to GERMANY for it. I wasn’t happy they didn’t tell me this over the phone when I ordered, but figured I’d stay the course. So on July 22nd, the kit is shipped to my body shop (Professional Auto Body in Alexandria, VA) and I drop the car off.

But no! The shop calls to tell me the non-PDC bumper has been sent, with no rear bumper!? I’m pretty frustrated at this point, have to ship the bumper back, and convince customer service the rear was never sent at all. To BavAuto’s credit, they admitted the error and processed a full refund for me, minus the fogs that I kept. But still no bumpers. So I go back to Bekkers.

Call up, order the bumpers but by now wondering what will happen next. Sure enough, Bekkers calls me back a couple of hours later to say they have the front bumper for a car with PDC AND Headlight washers, which my car doesn’t have. Told me I could have the shop fill the holes in where the washers would go, no problem. No way Jose — I’m paying the $$ for OE, everything should be perfect. To Bekkers credit, they did call me with the explanation and after I said no they never processed the order. But I was still dead in the water re bumpers.

Usually dealers are the last place to go for a good price, but at this point I figured I had no other course. I remembered a few years back Pacific BMW in Glendale, CA had aggressively marketed themselves for BMW parts, then pulled back for some reason. I called, and after a few transfers got to the right person, Mark Flores. He found me a Mtech kit with PDC, surprisingly at a lower price than what I paid before.

I wasn’t quite home free — the kit was missing one important piece for the rear, and the bumper strips had to have two additional holes cut into them by the shop. But Mark is going to credit me the cost of the piece I had to buy locally, as soon as I scan my receipt and send to him. Definitely looks like Pacific has decided again to market themselves as a source for OE parts. And they are doing it via Facebook — check out Pacific’s page here.

Next, a new muffler. After getting the new Mtech bumper with the left side cut-out for an  exhaust tip, I needed to replace my old muffler. The old one was big, rusty and curved straight down, behind the bumper.  Magnaflow had some nice looking ones at very fair prices, and after some online forum research decided on the 14829, big fat single tip design that fit perfectly. Had to go to a Meineke shop on Rt. 1 south of the Walmart to get it done, since the job required some custom welding. Nice job and pretty quick, too.

Finally, I had to do something about the front place. Unfortunately VA is one of the misguided states that require a front plate — what a threat to freedom! I didn’t spend all that money on my front bumper to then drill some big holes in it for a bulky license bracket. The solution came from Skenedesign, thin brackets that require only two 1/8 inch holes underneath the bumper. The plate doesn’t even touch the front bumper surface.

So there’s the saga.  It’s done — but I didn’t think it would take all summer! Check it some pics below. If you’re a BMW owner thinking of going down this road, please contact me directly. I left out some arcane details in the interest of clarity.

Now, what should I do for the M3…

Before

After!

Before

After

Front Bracket -- Shot from top to show clearance

Magnaflow muffler -- a lot smaller and lighter than stock

Fine Dining in Beaufort, SC

Last week Gabriele and I spent a very nice vacation at Harbor Island, SC. It’s a peaceful and beautiful community just outside of Beaufort, SC: http://harborisland-sc.com/ They advertise it as a place that co-exists peacefully with nature, and it’s obvious as soon as you get there. You share space with all sorts of creatures — a huge variety of shore birds, big spiders, and the occasional alligator.

We asked around and did some online research on where to go for the nice dinner out, and decided to try Saltus River Grill. We had a really super dining experience. The restaurant just crushed it on all fronts — atmosphere, service, food and of course, wine.

We were both having seafood, so were looking at their Pinot Noirs. Our server recommended a Domaine Carneros 2005, and I agreed. I always like it when the server makes a strong rec — they should know, and it’s definitely in their interest to have us love the wine. But bummer, she came back and said they were all out.

So we went with a Gundlach Bundschu Pinot Noir, also 2005. It was a strong choice. It started with a slightly earthy, burgundy-like nose that was a bit deceiving. Because it didn’t taste of earth at all, it had really nice, smooth fruit that carried throughout the palate, not all at once then gone like some CA Pinots. I tasted a lot of cherry, and it was definitely on the assertive side for a Pinot. The vineyard web site is selling the 2006 for $34 — well worth it.

The food at Saltus was truly top notch. Gabriele had a she-crab soup that she christined the best she’s ever had, and she’s had it at a bunch of places. Steamed clams were fantastic with chorizo and onions, as was the caprese salad. Grilled lobster tails were perfectly prepared, and seas scallops were matched with a ham risotto and mascarpone cheese, a surprising touch that worked.

So if you ever check out the gators at Harbor Island, or are just driving through on your way to Hilton Head or Savannah, highly suggest you stop at Saltus River Grill.