Michelle Golden on the PR Benefits of Blogging
One of benefits Michelle notes toward the end is an aspect that I think anyone who's been misquoted by the media would appreciate:
"Further, through blogs, professionals can even bypass the cutting room floor, and get their message out to their target audience on their own terms. It's exciting stuff!"
Taking this one step further, Dave Winer has a policy of responding to interviews exclusively in writing, and only on his blog. I'm not sure many lawyers will go to that extreme, but the idea of clarifying your thoughts in writing before an interview takes place is a huge plus. The reporter knows where you stand on the issue, can quote directly from your post, and ask follow-up questions right away. The potential for miscommunication is greatly diminished.
And the biggest benefit? A level playing field. 1) Lawyers are in their element putting ideas to words. That may or may not be true in a verbal interview; 2) Your blog backs up your position; and 3) if you are misquoted, you have the opportunity to respond on your blog to re-clarify. No blog, no recourse.
I highly recommend Michelle's blog, BTW. Here's the RSS if you're looking to add some great marketing commentary to your feed mix.
Labels: blogging pr, dave winer, law blogs, michelle golden
posted by Steve Matthews at 5/25/2007
2 Comments:
Hey Steve, thanks so much for picking up the post and your kind words about my blog.
I love the fact that we can now be in control of how we say things publicly. It's a gigantic step in communications. Even without a blog, every firm should put its press releases, exactly as the firm wrote them, on the firm's website. That way, just as you describe with blogs, when there are misquotes, the real info is there for record.
Also, when people search for your firm, the most recent press releases are likely to come up because they are date indexed as relatively recent...something that static webpages are not.
Funny about Winer's policy you describe for responding to interviews on his blog. Only downside I can see is if a reporter wants an exclusive. Winer is, in effect, stealing their thunder. Pros and cons to that, I guess, but it could really tick off a reporter...
thanks for your continuing great work on your blog. I always enjoy reading!
Michelle
And of course, moving on-site press releases to blogging software isn't a bad idea either. The look & feel will be the same, and the RSS feed will expand their reach.
Thanks for commenting Michelle!
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