Today is Thursday, May 17, 2012

Public Relations

Colorado Auto Dealers Assn. fights onerous regulations that would slow the economy

Tim Jackson, president of the Colorado Auto Dealers Assn., posted a link to his executive memo to dealers on Facebook. It’s interesting because it shows how trade association executives communicate with their members and try to recruit more members to support their efforts to make their voices heard in Denver and Washington. 

When I was a member of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and on the Colorado Assn. of Commerce and Industry’s (CACI) health care committee, I got to watch Jackson use the backing of his some 13,000 Colorado NFIB members to gain influence on key issues with state legislators. Having watched a lot of trade association executives over the years, I think Jackson’s one of the best and hardest working guys in the association management profession. Many auto dealers are small businesses, and others are regional and national companies. If you want to understand a little more about “special interersts,” lobbyists and the political process, take the time to read Jackson’s letter.

Will GE sell all or part of its PR departments, NBC, CNBC and MSNBC?

Rumors that General Electric (GE) will sell all or part of NBC Universal if its joint partner, Vivendi SA, wants out are important not only to GE’s employees and shareholders, but also to the company’s critics who see its NBC, CNBC and MSNBC networks as extensions of its government relations and public relations departments.

GE is a vocal backer of President Obama’s climate control and green initiatives because the company stands to make billions if it wins government contracts generated by politically charged programs designed to spread pork and green jobs around the country.

The company’s use of MSNBC and CNBC to advance these causes and butter up the Obama administration is particularly blatant in the eyes of most critics.

Click on head for rest of the story.

Independent banks reassure, appeal to small business owners

While the mega banks like Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and J. P. Morgan Chase (JPM) buy up their failing competitors like Countrywide, Merrill Lynch (MER), Washington Mutual and Wachovia (WB), small independent bankers are trying to retain their small business customers.

Indeed, with the increase in FDIC protection for bank customers to $250,000 on savings and checking accounts as well as certificates of deposit, independent banks may win some small business clients away from the big, impersonal national chains. It’s well known that the financial conglomerates like Citigroup (C) haven’t been particularly successful, to put it mildly.

Therefore, the recent and pending acquisitions by BAC, WFC and JPM may not only make them less attractive to investors but also to small businesses and wealthy individuals.

But, then, these companies didn’t get where they are by serving only big organizations. And they may actually win a greater share of the small business market. It’s hard to predict.

As an owner of a small business, I felt better dealing with an independent bank than I did when I banked with a couple of the national and regional banks.

Here’s an example of the public relations efforts small, independent banks are waging to retain and win over owners of small businesses.

Jay Davidson, CEO of First American State Bank, Greenwood Village, CO, placed this article in a local business magazine.

I don’t own any of the above stocks. Their daily charts are here. Click on a chart to see a variety of charts.

For educational purposes only. Investigate before you speculate.

Apple’s (AAPL) Steve Jobs leaks news his cancer hasn’t come back, but he has other health problems

Look for Apple’s stock to jump a few bucks Monday on the news leaked to the New York Times by Steve Jobs himself that his rare form of pancreatic cancer hasn’t returned as rumored. But he confirmed to the Times’ Joe Nocera that he has had surgery for some kind of stomach problems and and some post operation complications that people noticed when he appeared in public last month. The story is here.

After recounting the rumors about Jobs’ health, the speculation that Apple’s stock (AAPL) would drop as much as 25% if he were to leave unexpectedly and a little history of how other CEOs have disclosed and not told shareholders about their serious illnesses, Nocera drops the bomb in these concluding graphs:

On Thursday afternoon, several hours after I’d gotten my final “Steve’s health is a private matter” — and much to my amazement — Mr. Jobs called me. “This is Steve Jobs,” he began. “You think I’m an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he’s above the law, and I think you’re a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong.” After that rather arresting opening, he went on to say that he would give me some details about his recent health problems, but only if I would agree to keep them off the record. I tried to argue him out of it, but he said he wouldn’t talk if I insisted on an on-the-record conversation. So I agreed.

Because the conversation was off the record, I cannot disclose what Mr. Jobs told me. Suffice it to say that I didn’t hear anything that contradicted the reporting that John Markoff and I did this week. While his health problems amounted to a good deal more than “a common bug,” they weren’t life-threatening and he doesn’t have a recurrence of cancer. After he hung up the phone, it occurred to me that I had just been handed, by Mr. Jobs himself, the very information he was refusing to share with the shareholders who have entrusted him with their money.

You would think he’d want them to know before me. But apparently not.

Nocera does a good job of covering the ethics of Jobs’ secretiveness about his health. He doesn’t discuss the ethics of allowing Jobs to go off the record with him, and he doesn’t directly discuss the deal they made that allowed him to break his big scoop.

Having been in such situations as a reporter and as a source, but not anywhere near as important stories as this one, I can speculate about how the conversation probably went.

Jobs said he wanted to talk off the record. No reporter wants to go off the record, but many do, as Nocera did in this case.

Off the record means none of the information disclosed can be reported. The reporter is supposed to use the information to help him dig into the story and to keep his facts straight.

Not for attribution means a reporter can use the information disclosed without attributing it to the person who is being interviewed.

Nocera’s interview with Jobs was both off the record and not for attribution. They obviously agreed on what would be off the record, and what would be disclosed but not directly attributed to Jobs. During the interview, Jobs obviously shot down the rumors that his pancreatic cancer has returned, and he confirmed that he’s had surgery and suffered from some complications.

That he doesn’t have cancer was the big and important news that Jobs wanted Nocera to publish on Sunday when the markets were closed without attributing it to him. Done deal.

That Jobs has had surgery and complications was rumored. Nocera already had that information. His conversation with Jobs confirmed those rumors and he reported them. Nocera probably wouldn’t have reported the rumors the way he does in this story if Jobs hadn’t given him the confidence to do so.

So this is first, a big news story about Jobs’ health. It’s a market mover.

Second, this is an ethics story. It shows how business ethics converges with journalistic ethics.

And third, this is a public relations story. Jobs is one of the most PR savvy CEOs around. He knows the PR game and how to manipulate the media, analysts, shareholders, customers, employees and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Jobs obviously concluded that the line that his health is “a private matter” could no longer stand. The pressure from investors, his advisors and his board to be more forthcoming was just too great.

But, as always, Jobs had to do it his way. He didn’t reinvent the wheel with his approach, but he certainly has made sure the world knows that he is Apple and that he’s cancer free at the moment, if not without health problems.

I don’t own AAPL.

For educational purposes only. Investigate before you speculate.

Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index (sm) will make Healthways (HWAY) a global brand

One way to make a company a global brand is to make it the source of critical, exclusive data such as the Dow Jones or S&P indexes or the J. D. Powers ratings of autos and other products. The disease management and preventive care company, Healthways Inc. (HWAY), has joined with the international polling company, Gallup, to create the Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index (sm), which will give Americans a measure of their individual and collective health and well being.

I recently profiled HWAY here.

Healthways’ president and CEO, Ben Leedle, explained

American Red Cross, blood centers handle warnings about old blood badly

The American Red Cross and trade associations representing the mostly not-for-profit blood centers are failing to respond appropriately or even ethically to a major meta study by the Cleveland Clinic researchers that found the use of “old” blood puts patients at risk. MSNBC.com’s JoNel Alecca has the best and most complete report on the study. USA Today published a a decent story, and, most impressively, provided links to more information for readers who want to dig deeper into the story. I’ve been able to find only one blog that is even mentioning this story.

American Red Cross and other blood centers are trying to

Capital One’s joinslingshot.com attracts me with an ad in the Rocky

Capital One Services Inc. (COF) has launced http://www.joinslingshot.com, “the new business marketplace designed to bring Denver business owners and customers together.”

The ad promoting the new site that

 

Should small businesses’ employees be encouraged to blog?

Corporate blogging has been discussed a few times on this blog. Lee Gomes takes a stab at explaining the pros and cons. But he doesn’t address the problem of finding employees who like to write, know how to control their opinions and know their company and how to make their bosses and company look good. For more of my opinions on this, search this site for “blogging” and “blog.”

PR, SEO, social media marketing are all pretty much the same

Steve Rubel over at Micro Persuation says, “Comparing SMM SEO and PR Tactics is Pure Poppycock.”

I don’t agree. They’re all about opening doors, and smart marketers evaluate them all for their employers and clients.

Should you publish a wiki on your web site?

What is a “wiki” and how will it help you mobilize your employees, retain clients and customers or sell equipment and supplies?

Westminister Wiki Business Consultants recently started a blog to sell their services, but isn’t doing the job. (This is my 49th post on business blogging. Search “blog” in column three.)

What’s missing?

Posts. The owners post infrequently, which means they’re not building readership.

Content. This blog appears to be written by techies who don’t know how to market their services. They don’t do a good job of defining a wikipedia or even link to one in the pioneering http://www.wikipedia.com. Nor does the blog give good examples of how a wiki might be integrated with a small business’s web site.

www.expressionengine.com is the web site for the creators of the content management system I use on this site. Back in September, 2006, I participated in this this thread on how to use a wiki.

This was my contribution (click on headline):

Creating buzz on line with guerilla marketing, social networking, payola

Some commerical web sites get surges of traffic after they are promoted by buzz artists on social networking sites, The Wall Street Journal reports. Free link.

 

When you hire a blogger for a bank or other organization, be sure the bloggers know their places

Former Sen. John Edwards, a candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, has learned the hard way that not all bloggers know their roles.

A corporate blogger must recognize the difference between being an indepdent soul and a spokes person for his employer.

Now Edwards has at least one major Catholic organization angry and vowing to turn the Catholic community against him.

And by refusing to fire the offenders, he’s revealed a basic character flaw. He doesn’t have the guts to fire incompetents, and he’s too loyal to those who fail him.

What every marketer can learn from Wal-Mart about creatilng public impressions

A PR person who advised five Democratic Party presidential candidates is helping Wal-Mart mould positive public impressions of the company.

 

Product placement in mega churches could include promos for regional banks

Do some creative thinking about how to do product placement for a bank in a mega church or any church.

 

Banks can use viral marketing, but be careful

Banks use advertising and web sites to attract new customers, and they count on word of mouth referrals to bring in new accounts as well.

Word of mouth advertising, referral advertising and viral marketing are all pretty much the same thing. That is they depend on “buzz” to bring a bank or other business to the attention of potential clients and customers.

Banks and other financial institutions, of course, are conservative marketers, because they have important reputations to promote and protect. Movie and TV program promoters, on the other hand, can take big risks, because they’re promoting events and not institutions.

With these thoughts in mind, you might want to take a look at 7 tips on viral marketing.