AJ Feuerman

Publicist | Social Media Strategist | Brunch Fanatic

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What’s In My Pocket Friday

May 22, 2015 By AJ Leave a Comment

The Best of the web

I save things in my pocket all week long and look forward to sharing the highlights with you every Friday!

Pocket enables users to save something they find online for later. I find it especially handy as a Google Chrome extension — I only have to click a button to immediately save something to my pocket. Once something is saved, the content is visible on any device — phone, tablet, computer, and even offline.

Pocket Fridays - Best of the Web

  • Neville Longbottom is winning at life.
  • David Letterman retired. Great last episode but I’m not gonna lie about it — I’ve never been a huge fan of his. But again, great final episode. And the Foo Fighters crushed it.

  • The Ethical Thinker explains why she abandoned her popular social media profiles.
  • I very much enjoy Jason Derulo’s new single.
  • Do you know who Pete Davidson is? He’s the youngest SNL cast member — he just celebrated his 21st birthday, in fact. The other night he spontaneously live tweeted a Harry Potter movie and it was fantastic. Entertainment Weekly ended up covering it but I felt pretty cool having discovered it in real time.

Draco tried to rat out Harry and the gang for goin to Hagrids but ended up getting detention as well. Professor McGonagall is a true G.

— Pete Davidson (@petedavidson) May 21, 2015

    • I seem to keep finding blog posts about why blogging is cool. Or why not blogging is ok. I liked this one from Chronicles of Nothing, too.

 

  • Here are 49 reasons why “Center Stage” is the best dance movie ever. It’s a compelling argument. I love that movie.

 

 

Earlier this week…

    • I broke down public relations, marketing and adveritsing

 

  • I discovered a new vodka brand.

 

 

  • My friend let me come over and play with her new kittens.

 

 

 

OH COME ON! #Allofthecute #catsofinstagram #kittens 😻😻😻 A photo posted by AJ (@ajfeuerman) on May 17, 2015 at 4:08pm PDT

Filed Under: Pocket Fridays Tagged With: David Letterman, Foo Fighters, Harry Potter, Jason Derulo, Kittens, Pete Davidson, Public relations, SNL, vodka

Public Relations vs. Marketing vs. Advertising

May 21, 2015 By AJ 1 Comment

Public relations vs. marketing vs. advertising. It’s an old, tiring discussion. I’m asked about it often. Especially since often times, though I practice public relations, I report to a VP or Senior VP of marketing. “FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, AJ, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARKETING AND PR?”

Ok, maybe I’m not asked precisely like that. But I know how to read through the lines.

Public Relations vs. Marketing vs. Advertising

There is definitely a difference but it’s still a fair question. And I find that typically, when a person starts explaining marketing, questions about advertising follow. And there they are. These three mysteries of business. Public relations, marketing and advertising.

The goal of all three is really the same. They are all geared to generate engagement, drive brand awareness and more often than not, generate revenue. They are all things you strategize, develop, execute and analyze. I personally find all three require partnerships and supporters; a tribe of colleagues. Sometimes I find practicing PR alone is super stressful and lonely — who wants that? So yes, a tribe. Preferably one smarter and wiser than I am.

All three require results. Otherwise, what’s the point?

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Some might agree that of the three amigos, PR is the hardest to prove value for. Why? Because it deals primarily in earned media. And what does that mean? “Earned media” refers to publicity gained through efforts that do not cost money. In short, as a publicist, I pitched you my idea, my story, my angle and you — “you” being press, blogger or influencer — provided coverage in some form or another without receiving any financial compensation. I earned your attention. (P.S. Bloggers, this is also why when you ask a publicist if they have budget for a sponsored post, a lot of the time they’ll say they do not. Maybe it’s smarter to ask if there’s a marketing budget…)

But I can’t really put a finite value on what I’ve done nor can I provide a finite revenue stream as a result of my efforts. It’s a little hard to swallow for some. It’s become a little easier, mind you, now that we can track links and follow people around who shop online. But who’s to say that if I get a reporter to review a movie I’m working on that his favorable review directly impacted ticket sales at the local theater? We continue on, though, because when all is said and done, it’s a very safe assumption. Because here’s what we can do: We bring the awareness. We craft an image, improve an image or repair an image. We can read the comments, the social media, and make real-time changes because a lot of the time, we don’t have to wait for budget approvals… we can plan events and run red carpets and follow the coverage… we can develop meaningful relationships with media and phone in favors. We can totally tell you the best person to pitch that random line of toe-socks at the Cleveland Plain Dealer because you remember this time you pitched them this story about an actor who…. Never mind. We just know a lot of random shit.

Public Relations vs. Marketing vs. Advertising

Here’s when the lines have blurred. Because as it turns out, some publicists have come to wear many hats. And often times, though we practice publicity, we dip our toes in marketing. We do sometimes pay bloggers for sponsored content. We talk to brands about partnerships and product placements that sometimes cost money. We pay for a block of advertising so that a talk show host gives our product away on air to the whole audience. Some might call this marketing. I’d agree with them….

Marketing

Marketing includes a lot of financial components and is probably a little more measurable. At the very least, when I can’t tell you results, I can tell you what the exposure is valued at. But nothing is clear cut here either. “Marketing” means a lot of things. It means traditional marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, inbound marketing, content marketing, email marketing… I could write a single post on marketing alone but I honestly don’t know enough about it, nor do I have the patience. I have the utmost respect for marketers. Marketing serves to educate the public so not only do you know about the product, now you also want to go buy it. (And you might say my job is to keep you wanting it. PR is a much more long-term endeavor.)

Marketing is also, I believe, the originator of owned media. What is that? It is media that you own internally. More often than not it’s media you create — or, at the very least, supervise the creation of. Your assets, your collateral. Your website, your graphics, your video, your social media channels. Marketing is not the singular controller of owned media anymore, but it starts here.

There may be a little more analysis and data capture in marketing. Before you can get to PR, the marketing team is likely responsible for identifying a product’s target customer, researching the market and setting a budget for launch. They’re the consummate middle-man because their information directs public relations and advertising. Marketers also have to be psychics. Because you can’t afford to run out of customers — you have to be able to identify who your future clients are as well.

A lot of folks will also tell you that marketing is proactive while PR is reactive. I think that can be true but I’m not convinced it’s a universal truth.

And dare I add, leaning back on the final bit from above under public relations, that marketing works in paid media as well. Have you ever heard someone say “marketing spend?” When you see Ellen handing out watches to her audience, while lovely, she’s not doing it out of the kindness of her heart. There’s a marketing spend behind it.

But isn’t that advertising? Well…. yes. A little. (Did I mention blurred lines?)

Advertising

Maybe this is the easy one because you probably know advertising when you see it. Commercials, billboards, print ads, posters, postcards, pamphlets, brochures… It’s the method of persuading your targeted audience to buy something. Advertising is 100% paid media. I give a platform or outlet X amount of money, they post my ad, and I know X amount of people are going to see it and for precisely how long a period of time. There are a few more certain variables at play here.

What isn’t certain? The perception. Once that ad is out there, it’s out there. So this is when marketers and publicists come in handy. It’s not enough to put a billboard up. Sometimes you have to shape the way people see it. Sometimes you need to find a celebrity to endorse your product and be on said billboard. Sometimes the market tells you your ad isn’t working and it’s back to the drawing board you go. Sometimes the conversation on social media is that the billboard is hugely offensive…

Public Relations vs. Marketing vs. AdvertisingYou see how this is going. No team is an island.

Do you know why Louis Vuitton can charge thousands of dollars for a purse? It’s not just the materials, folks. It’s because a marketer identified who would pay for it, an advertiser put an ad where that audience would see it, and a publicist makes sure the public perception is that this is a high end bag only the most wealthy and classy people carry.

Public Relations vs. Marketing vs. Advertising

So, have I answered any questions or created more of them?

In the end, with all these intricacies, similarities and differences, the over-arching point is that you do whatever you can to act in the best interest of your client/company/brand/etc. And if all that doesn’t clear it up, I sometimes like to put it this way. Advertising makes you aware of a product. Marketing makes  you want the product. Public relations makes you believe you need the product. As the old saying goes, “Advertising is what you PAY for, publicity is what you PRAY for.”

Go out and buy something you need. I’ll be praying you do and I bet It’ll make you feel good. 😉

Filed Under: Pro Tips Tagged With: advertising, Marketing, marketing versus PR, PR, Public relations, publicist, publicity

PR Fail: Waiting Too Long To Send Product

March 15, 2015 By AJ 2 Comments

How long is too long? Let’s talk about this PR Fail…

On July 2, 2014, a brand representative who shall remain nameless (as will the brand) reached out to me and said their company had a lot of exciting things in the works, coming off a successful Kickstarter, and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing one or more of their new products (for my other blog).

I took a look at the links. I replied that yes, I would be interested. I loved the product line’s aesthetic and was excited to try it. I included my address to make it easy.

A few days later, I’d not heard back so I checked in. A few days after that, the rep got back to me. Product would not actually be available until the Fall but would I mind just posting about the product anyway? She included a discount code for my readers to purchase the product as “incentive.” (So they had product for my readers to buy but not one for me to review?) I immediately replied that this would be considered advertising, or a “sponsored post” and I would charge a small fee to execute that. (This is common practice for bloggers and in all honesty, my sponsored post fees are comparably low because blogging is not my full-time job.)

To be kind, because I still very much wanted to try the product, I threw out a couple tweets about it and sent the links to the brand rep.

They never replied. Silence. Oh well.

PR Fail: Waiting Too Long To Send Product

Then in November I received an email from a totally different brand rep. We will call this one BR2. BR2 informed me that three types of their product were en route to my address for review that week. Oh, and also, they had just secured $1M in funding!

I replied that while I appreciated them doing their due diligence, albeit quite delayed, I didn’t even live at that address anymore. BR2 said it was not a problem to update the system and they could still send me the items.

Maybe this is where it becomes my fault. It was a slow week; I said “fine.” As this was a new person, perhaps the previous one had made some kind of error and had been let go. Maybe BR2 deserved renewed hope. I’m a publicist, too, after all, and I was still genuinely impressed by what I knew of their brand and a $1M investment is nothing to sneeze at, so I still went along with it.

That said, when nothing ever came, I kind of didn’t care and mentally decided I was done with these people.

A month later, this email to me:

I emailed you a few weeks ago that we were getting ready to ship you a [redacted] and [redacted]. I’m sorry for the delay but we are making changes to the [redacted] which require a few extra weeks of manufacturing time. We want to send you the improved version so please keep an eye out for the package in Mid-January. We’ll follow-up with tracking information then!

I did not even reply. I probably should have, if only to separate myself from these people once and for all, except I had let go of hope long ago and did not expect to ever hear form them or ever see the product. Perhaps part of me was still morbidly curious about the product as well. Who knows.

Cut to February. (Note: Not “Mid-January.”) I get an email from a third brand rep (yes, now BR3) with the subject line “YOUR [REDACTED] HAS SHIPPED” complete with tracking number.

Five days later, BR3 followed up with a recap of what they’d sent and a link to a press kit that was, I’m afraid, the most uninformative, basic press kit I’ve ever seen. I glazed over with boredom. How did these people get a $1M investment?

The product arrived soon after. The packaging was pretty but kind of hard to open. Furthermore, there was nothing else in the box. No note, no business card, no one-sheet, no brochure. I’m not an idiot – I can go to the website – but I thought that was kind of a lazy presentation. I put the product aside. They had sent it without even asking if I was still interested and given the history, I certainly felt no urgent obligation to bother.

I heard from BR3 again asking when I would post a review. I replied that since I’d expected the product seven months prior, that frankly, I would get to it when I felt like it. BR3 quickly responded that they were so sorry for the repeated delays — they were just trying to get the product in its best shape before sending. Which begs the question, why were you even pitching a sub-par product? (Also, where were the first two brand reps I dealt with? At this point, I was kind of concerned they’d fallen down a hole in a factory or something, and no one was competent enough to rescue them.)

The other day I was bored so I finally tried out the items. To be kind, they did not work well. And I know the women will share my annoyance – I broke two nails trying to use one of them… It is possible my expectations were deeply, severely low by now and there was going to be no way to please me but so be it. There was no question I should have cut them off ages ago and that the parade of reps I’d dealt with had mismanaged this campaign. All I felt about the whole thing now was awkward.

BR3 was persistent and followed up again. At last, I was really done. I replied:

Thanks for writing.  I’m going to be honest with you.

I waited and waited for these items (seriously, correspondence began in July 2014) and I pretty much gave up hope. I was told on more than one occasion something was finally coming and every time but this time, nothing ever came. So credibility was out the window leaving me with a sour taste in my mouth about it all. 

That said, initially, I was excited to check them out so I was clinging to a glimmer of hope that the product would blow me away and all would be forgiven.

Instead, I’m even more let down. First of all, the products came in lovely packaging with absolutely no descriptions, No fact sheet. No explanations. So I had to go to the website. I suppose that’s fine, but as I’m a publicist in my full-time career, I would never send product out that way. Especially when it’s been waited on for more than half a year. 

As for the product itself, ….. [TACTFUL EXPLANATION OF WHY THE PRODUCT DOESN’T SUCCEED REDACTED]

I wish you a lot of luck in your future endeavors. Sadly, this was just not for me and I’ll simply pass on writing up a review.

Thank you and best wishes…

Well, bloggers? What do you think? Has anything like this ever happened to you? How would you have handled it?

Publicists, brand reps, marketers, what say ye? Empathy? Apathy? Shakey fists?

PR Fail: Waiting Too Long To Send Product

Filed Under: Pro Tips Tagged With: blogger relations, PR Fail, Public relations, publicist fail, publicity

"Today I will be classy and elegant. Or, I will spill on my shirt and trip over things."

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