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Dead duck or rising phoenix?

A controversial article by Paul Boutin came out on the Wired Website yesterday. In a nutshell, it pretty much said blogging is no longer relevant; all the cool kids have headed to greener pastures like twitter and facebook and those of us who are hoping to use blogs for markeitng purposes should pack up our tents and go home. His main beef was that the blogosphere is no longer “a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought.” Instead, it has been hijacked by marketers and commercial enterprises with professional writers that have turned them into online magazines.

On the one hand, he’s got a point. Clearly blogging isn’t what it used to be back in the day. But is that a bad thing? I find a lot of value in some of the blogs on Technorati’s top 100 list like treehugger, engadget and various New York Times blogs. Obviously a lot of other people find these next-generation, more professionally-written blogs beneficial as well – that’s why they are on top. From a PR and marketing standpoint, this is a good thing.

Perhaps most interesting is that the article itself, as it appears on Wired.com (complete with an RSS feed and a place to provide comments) is nearly indistinguishable from a blog post. Granted, this is one of Paul’s points, but the whether the piece is an online magazine article or a blog post doesn’t really matter. What is important is the impact the story has. In this case, only a few hours after it was written the article was e-mailed to me by an associate.  Moments later, I came across a mention of it on a former colleague’s Facebook page, where he directed readers to his own blog. There he discusses the piece at length. A quick online search shows that plenty of other bloggers are writing about it as well. In my mind, this demonstrates the viability of blogging AND online magazines.

Of course, for marketers who want to stay on the cutting edge, we mustn’t dismiss the point that Paul is really making – that things are always in a state of flux.  We constantly need to keep track of where all the cool kids have gone and we need to figure out appropriate and “authentic” ways to follow them. This is what helps make PR and marketing in today’s world so exciting. Yes, it can be confusing. Yes, the penalty is high if you are among the first to commit a major new media blunder. But the rewards are equally great.

To get the right answers you need to ask the right questions -- a great RFP can make all the difference

The use of outside public relations counsel can help build your brand and raise your company’s profile quickly and cost-effectively. Bringing a new agency on board can be a significant investment and deserves a fair amount of investigation. Since PR is a practice more difficult to define and quantify than many other types of services, this can become a daunting process. Sometimes, the best solution is to create a formal request for proposal (RFP) that is answered in writing, presented in person or both.

The trick is developing an RFP that will help you find an agency to enable you to meet your marketing objectives and provide maximum return on investment. In addition, it should help you identify a team that is able to work within your corporate culture and one you will enjoy spending time with. Below are some suggestions for putting together an RFP that will allow you find a firm to best fit your needs while making the process easier on you and your team and setting a positive tone for your new working relationship.

Define your needs

Developing an RPP for a PR agency can be a challenge. Before you begin your search, have a clear understanding of the business objectives you are trying to achieve and how a PR program might be used to help reach them. Communicate this clearly to the prospective agency. This will ensure that the recommendations they make will map to your needs and will help the agency focus its strategic and creative thinking. If your company has not yet clearly defined its business objectives, this may be a sign that it is too early to engage an agency.

Nondisclosure

A good agency will insist on learning all about your company before providing recommendations. Understanding the good, the bad and the ugly is critical from the beginning. Before you share your dirty laundry with an outside company, make sure they sign a nondisclosure agreement. Once this is signed, share everything.

Define the scope

Be realistic about the scope of the PR program you want to develop and be up front about your budget. If you have specific ideas about the PR program you want to implement, a quick conversation with a prospective agency should be able to provide a ballpark idea of what it might cost.

Even if you are unsure about the specifics of the program, providing a budget range will help the agency prioritize recommendations and develop programs and campaigns that you can realistically implement. It is also helpful because it allows the agency to build the right team for your needs from the outset.

Discovering at the end of the review process that you and a prospective agency do not agree on a budget can waste tremendous amounts of your time, your executives’ time and the agency’s time.

Insist on meeting the account team

Meet the team that will be staffing your account – particularly your day-to-day contacts and account managers. If you are asking an agency to do anything more than a basic capabilities overview, you should expect the account team be involved from the start.

Assess the right skills

Do you want to be entertained or do you want to find the best agency?

There are a number of skills the people on your account team should possess. These include interpersonal communications, attention to detail, follow up, writing, creative thinking, strategic thinking and thinking on the fly.

Think about how to assess these skills before, during and after the presentation. The ability to develop and deliver a creative, polished and snazzy presentation is great, but a much wider skill set is required to deliver reasonable results. Consider the complete process, not just the presentation.

What are your first impressions of the people? Would you enjoy working with them? How did they prepare for the pitch? Did they ask insightful questions? Did they uncover good information? Did they do their homework before the first meeting? How about follow-up?

If you would like to see what it will be like to partner with the agency, bring them in for a working meeting to discuss an issue, campaign, new product launch or a specific idea. See how they react to an interactive discussion and what kind of ideas they have on the spot. Then what they come up with after a day or two to think about it and conduct additional research.

Prepare your decision-makers

Let the decision-makers know ahead of time the scope of the RFP and what you have asked the agency to discuss so that they can understand the full context and scope of what is being recommended or presented.

Also, if it is a presentation, make sure the people in the room are committed to being there. Consider limiting presentations to one a day. This makes it easier for your executives to give each presentation their full attention. Also, consider asking that all cell phones, lap tops, PDAs, and other devices be turned off.

A PR program requires a strong commitment from the client in order to be successful. Keep in mind that a the best agencies are selective about the type of clients they work with. They need to make sure that a strong partnership can be forged and are using the RFP process as a way to evaluate whether or not they want to work with you and your team.

Play fair

Even the most modest RFP response or new business proposal can be extremely time consuming and expensive for an agency to put together. In addition to various hard costs, thousands of dollars worth of staff time goes into every one. The costs for a large and competitive pitch can be staggering.

While this cost is admittedly a cost of doing business, it is only fair that an agency asked to come up with ideas and recommendations for your company should be able to expect the possibility of seeing a return on that investment.

Conducting an RFP for the sole purpose of gathering research, insights and creative ideas, or intentionally misleading a prospective agency in regards to potential budget, is dishonest and can reflect poorly on your company.

Finding the right agency can have a positive impact on your business. Getting the RFP right is an excellent step toward that goal.

This post is long and has absolutely nothing to do with PR or marketing. Regardless, it is something that is extremely important to me and millions of other people. If you or someone you know suffers from Obstructive Sleep Apnea, you might find it worthwhile.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a very bad thing. In fact, it is lethal. Since being diagnosed with sleep apnea a few years ago, I’ve tried a couple of different treatments. I’m pleased to say I’ve finally found one that I can live with (literally). Unfortunately, this treatment isn’t one the medical community seems to have embraced. Nor is it something that is regularly recommended or even frequently discussed by the sleep medicine community. Frankly, I think this is criminal. For those who would prefer to get straight to the punch line, the treatment is an oral appliance that I got from the good folks at the Sleep Medicine Network in Portland, Oregon. The device has changed – and most likely extended – my life.  Suffice it to say that the folks at SMN have quickly become my new BFFs.

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted during sleep due to a blockage of the airway usually caused when the soft tissue in the back of the neck collapses as the muscles relax during sleep. People with sleep apnea actually stop breathing, often for a minute or longer and as many as hundreds of times during a single night. When the airway closes and breathing stops, the body eventually recognizes a significant decrease in blood oxygen and the sleeper awakens to begin breathing again. The arousal from sleep only lasts a few seconds and the person is never really conscious of being awake, but awake they are. This makes it very difficult for them to get REM sleep, which means what little sleep they actually do get isn’t terribly rejuvenating.

All of this is extremely hard on the body and the mind. The frequent drops in oxygen levels trigger the release of stress hormones. These hormones raise the heart rate and increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, diabetes, stroke, irregular heartbeat and heart failure. In fact, the overwhelming majority of those who suffer from these conditions have OSA. Sleeplessness can also be a major cause of depression. People who have any of these conditions or are overweight or snore profusely are taking an unnecessary risk with their health if they don’t get checked for OSA.

There are a lot of reasons people with OSA are never treated. First, many people who suffer from OSA don’t even know it. They aren’t conscious of waking up over and over again all night; they only know they are always tired.  The National Sleep Foundation estimates 25% of adults in the US suffer from OSA, yet 85-90% of them go undiagnosed. Second, it isn’t something primary care physicians routinely discuss with patients that aren’t reporting symptoms.

The Medical Community – How Do They Sleep at Night?

The most commonly prescribed solutions to OSA are surgery or the use of a CPAP machine. Surgery is extremely painful and often fails to solve the problem. This leaves the CPAP, which provides positive air pressure to prevent the soft tissue from collapsing as the go-to treatment used by the sleep medicine community.

My experience with the CPAP was extremely unpleasant. It sucks wearing a mask strapped to your head all night. And because I require a lot of air pressure to keep my airway open, the mask would leak and blow a high volume of air all over my face and eyes that would wake me up repeatedly throughout the night. The mask required daily cleaning.  It gave me zits.  It dried out my mouth. It was cumbersome to travel with. The rare nights when it wasn’t leaking, it filled my stomach and bowels with air. This is extremely uncomfortable, though I did take some juvenile pleasure in the fact that I was able to produce belches and flatulence with a volume, tone and resonance that one cannot achieve naturally (my wife was not amused). Most nights, I ended up taking it off after about 3 hours.

CPAP set on full blast really blows

My CPAP difficulties were far from uncommon. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 20% of people who try CPAP reject it outright and fewer than 50% stick with it for more than 4 years. Unfortunately, most sleep medicine clinics don’t have much incentive to recommend other alternatives. In fact, I actually asked my sleep medicine doctor about the oral appliance and he said that, best case scenario, it would only allow someone built like me to use a lower CPAP pressure.

In some cases this is true. In others it isn’t. With the benefit of hindsight, going to a lower pressure would have still made the device worthwhile. I ultimately discovered that much of the common wisdom regarding who will and who won’t be helped by the oral appliance is flat out wrong. The truth is, most sleep medicine professionals don’t have enough experience with the device to know what they are talking about. What makes me upset is the underlying reason that so few sleep medicine doctors don’t know much about the devices and aren’t really motivated to experiment with them – profit. The fact is that sleep medicine clinics make a tidy profit off of the ridiculously overpriced CPAP equipment.

While a patient can buy the same equipment online for a fraction of what it costs at a sleep clinic, most of the time insurance won’t cover it unless you buy it from the healthcare provider. Furthermore, you need to frequently replace CPAP parts, so there is a lot of recurring revenue. It would be nice if this sort of nonsense wasn’t so prevalent in healthcare, but it is.

Getting Oral and Loving it.

The first time I heard about the oral appliance was from a friend with mild sleep apnea. It allowed her to get rid of the CPAP entirely. Since I was under the impression that it wouldn’t allow me to do the same, it wasn’t something I decided to pursue. Fortunately, it turns out I also grind my teeth when I sleep, and my dentist insisted I begin wearing a mouth guard. I decided that if I was going to have to have to sleep with something in my mouth anyhow, it might as well be something that helps with OSA. That’s when I was referred to the Sleep Medicine Network.

The oral appliance works by moving and holding the lower jaw in a forward position, which opens the airway. There is a reason why the first step in rescue breathing/CPR is to perform a jaw thrust and this is it. If you look at the video below, you’ll see the guy’s jaw move back before he starts choking.  Keeping the jaw forward makes intuitive sense and it works. You can even try it for yourself. Simply bring your lower jaw as far toward the back of your throat as you can and make a snoring sound. It is easy to do. Now jut your lower jaw out as far as you can – it is a lot harder to make the same noise. That’s all there is to it.

Only sexy to a perverse few

My thinking is that this device should be the FIRST – not the last – treatment someone tries for sleep apnea. It might just solve the problem outright. Even if it doesn’t, it makes the CPAP experience a lot more tolerable. It also gives you a much better option for traveling.  And, let’s face it, few chicks dig the way a CPAP looks.

Where to Go for Treatment

Another important decision is where to get the oral appliance. Since the device itself involves the teeth and jaw, it falls under the domain of the dentist. However, since OSA is a very serious medical condition, sleep apnea treatment and management is something a medical professional should oversee. The key is to find a provider who offers both. Insurance companies look at it the same way. Devices are not covered unless medical supervision is part of the solution. It goes without saying that the do-it-yourself devices advertised on TV are completely unacceptable. I understand they also don’t work.

In summary, OSA, if left untreated WILL contribute to medical issues and an untimely death. Finding the right treatment is important and, for my money, there is nothing better than the oral appliance.

Everything I really needed to know about PR I learned when I was a kid

One of our favorite PR blogs recently did a piece on flack vs. public relations. The author’s definition of flack was “to provide publicity or engage in press-agentry.” While this definition is technically correct, flack, like another popular F-word, can also be used as a noun. My definition of a flack is a PR person who is willing to represent any company, no matter how despicable or someone for whom the truth is an irrelevant inconvenience.

Unfortunately, flacks are the reason that public relations professionals are often considered to be bottom-feeding lowlifes. What’s worse is that it has somehow become accepted that people like PR professionals, lawyers, politicians and others of their ilk can, do and SHOULD lie in order to be successful.

You need look no further than the recent DNC and RNC fibfests to know what I mean. A quick stroll through www.factcheck.org will provide example after example after example.

Perhaps the fact that people are now looking to each other as one of the most trusted sources of ideas, information and opinions is a sign that the general public has had enough of being constantly barraged with lies and half-truths. This gives high-integrity companies willing to do the right thing, be transparent and engage in a direct and honest dialog with its customers a huge competitive advantage. That same advantage extends to PR and marketing people who work within this framework. It can mean a harder road to travel, but the long-term payoff makes it worthwhile.

KoiFish Communications was founded to help companies that choose to put the needs of their customers, industries and communities first gain the recognition they deserve. By working exclusively with companies we can believe in wholeheartedly, we become authentic champions and evangelists for our clients. We feel good about helping them engage in a two-way dialog with key audiences because we know that the discussion has meaning and value to everyone involved. In addition, we’ll never be asked to compromise our own integrity and we will never have to be flacks.  This is important us.

Greenwashing is more than a deception, it is bad for the environmental movement

In public relations, it is always important to make a client’s news timely and interesting. The fact that the environment is an issue that is currently front and center with the news media is a good thing for one KoiFish Communications client in particular – StalkMarket. StalkMarket makes Earth-friendly disposable tableware, utensils and food packaging out of sustainable, biodegradable and compostable plant materials. Not surprisingly, the company and its products are steadily gaining in popularity.

One of the first posts on StalkMarket’s new blog talks about the topic of greenwashing. The Greenwashing Index defines greenwashing  as something that occurs when a company or an organization spends more time and money claiming to be green through advertising and marketing than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact. The problem with greenwashing is that it quickly leads to green fatigue – a situation where the meaning of the word green becomes so eroded by marketing hype that it ceases to be meaningful.

While this is of little concern for marketeers who can just move on to the next topic de jour, it is an issue for those companies that are actually trying to provide meaningful solutions to serious problems. For the people who are really trying to help save the planet, concern for the environment is a lifestyle, not a fad.

If this isn’t enough of an incentive to seek out new angles, consider this – the backlash against companies that are misrepresenting themselves as green has already begun. This is happening with organizations such as the Greenwashing Index. It is even starting to get mainstream media attention.

The bottom line is that for companies only genuinely interested in the color green as it pertains to money, the time has come to rethink messaging strategies. If you need some assistance in developing a fresh new story, Koifish Communications is always here to help. Please don’t hesitate to give us a call.