PRWeb Public Relations Blog

Running Searchles around Google?

Searchles (pronounced circles) is an interesting concept.  I think I have seen similar things in the past couple of months along these same lines from everyone but Google.  Where are you Google?  Maybe they have something in the works.  I must confess I haven’t checked out the Labs page in a while.  Feel free to enlighten me.  This is actually really nifty stuff.

I like Searchles primarily for its promise to deliver a social media generated content index.  It’s not perfect yet, but then again Google wasn’t perfect on day one either.  Remember back that far? 

Here is what I like.  I have embraced social networks as my preferred method of gathering information.  I even contribute in my own small ways from time to time.  Social networks form what I call my “human powered search engine”.

Here is a comprehensive list of features you will find at Searchles.com:

- Automatic integration of YouTube and Google Videos
- Personal Flash tag clouds you can install on your MySpace page
- Create groups on any topic to share URL’s with like minded people
- Discuss URL’s with friends
- Save URL’s to Searchles that are accessible from anywhere
- Tag URL’s for easy recall
- Searchles automatically downloads documents and indexes them for maximum searchiness
- Connect with your friends and URL’s will be automatically shared

By the way, if you haven’t seen Dumbfind it is by the same folks.  Check them out and let me know your thoughts. 

Did you see the new Netscape Beta yet?  It looks promising too.

-- David

The Smartest Business Person I Know

I almost want to keep this one a secret, but you caught me on a generous day. So I will share this with you. Roy Williams is probably the sharpest mind in advertising and marketing, bar none. What makes someone brilliant? In my mind, it is his/her ability to assemble available information and put it to practical use. The best bakers (see how it comes back to food with me) in the world do not have an advantage because they have different ingredients. They have an advantage that comes with time, experience and the ability to combine those ingredients into something remarkable.

What's remarkable about Roy Williams is that he shares this knowledge with everyone. He teaches it at his Wizard Academy. His Monday Morning Memo is how I start my week. I recommend spending an afternoon reading through the archives. No time to read, download his podcast. I do both.

Now I did it. I just shared with you something that will change the way you approach marketing, public relations and advertising. Why did I share this with you. Because if Roy makes a recommendation I know that I better pay attention.

I attended a Wizards of Web conference in Austin last month where the topic of conversation for two days was Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?, the new book on Persuasion Architecture by the Eisenberg brothers. I have read it many times. Why, well initially because Roy recommended that I do so. Then I re-read it and made it mandetory reading at PRWeb. Don't do it because I said so. Do it because Roy recommends it.

See you at the top!

-- David

The Need for Something Other than ROI

As we set out to revamp how PRWeb reports statistics to our users -- a major overhaul of our metrics is due out shortly -- we have debated, sometimes hotly, how ROI applies to PR. My opinion on this subject runs hot. I have recommended scrapping ROI and statistical reporting altogether, largely because I believe that current measurement standards miss the mark. I know that there are folks that are tackling this head on as we speak, but here are my thoughts and opinions on the subject.

ROI (or return on investment), in my mind, is largely an artifact of accounting and company business prevention units. It heralds back to the days of Fredrick Taylor and the scientific management of business, long before the Internet. But too much focus on ROI often prevents the business from doing the right thing for their customers. I have felt this on more than one occasion at PRWeb.

For example, when we launched PRWebPodcast.com the first question I received was "how are we going to monetize this?" followed by "what is the anticipated ROI?" I made the decision not to build a business model around our podcasting product. Podcasts are free with our premium distribution. We actually lose margin with each press release that is podcast enhanced. There may be ways that we monetize part of our podcasting service in the future, but I foresee our current service remaining in force for years to come. It is the right thing for our customers and at the right time.

Some things you do just because they improve the customer experience. For example, I am a huge fan of Enterprise car rental. Ask Mick Jolly, or anyone else who has had the misfortune of booking me with a company other than Enterprise in the past, how passionate I am about Enterprise. I guess that this is partly due to my personality -- I am sure that the other rental agencies are just fine. In reflecting on my Enterprise experiences, I think they have a unique point of differentiation. If they are ROI driven they are not as transparently ROI driven as other car rental companies. As far as this renter in concerned, Enterprise focuses on the entire customer experience--and it's predictable.

For example, I am 100% certain that by offering bottled water to their customers Enterprise is reducing their gross margin. It's simple math, right. But the economics of building a customer experience offsets any loss in margin. What if someone in the Enterprise business prevention unit decided the company could save millions a year by eliminating the bottled water because it could not be measured in terms of traditional ROI? Would they lose me as a customer? Probably not. But they would remove an element of their business that improves the customer experience.

So how do I measure ROI? I have always measured ROI in terms of gross revenue and margin at the end of the month, not by any one component of our business process. I am sure that if I had taken the ROI measurement approach, I could not have justified more than half of the enhancements that we have made to the PRWeb platform. I would have thought they were bad for business.

The Internet bubble burst not because a lack of focus on ROI. We had measurement back then. I think it was more because some companies didn't provide value. Companies with high customer value propositions survived while the rest of the industry imploded.

So help me out -- where do we go with ROI? I would like to see some measure that provides more insight on the long tail effects of product enhancements, word of mouth, messaging and branding.

Interview with Lee Odden

Lee Odden interviewed me for his Online Marketing Blog. For those interested in some good background on PRWeb and future of press release industry as defined by PRWeb it is probably worth the read. Lee tried hard to get me to spill the beans on new initiatives we are working on here at PRWeb. I am not going to say too much, but it will be GREAT.

David

Form vs. Function

Well, I haven’t heard any rumblings this week about the death of the press release so I thought I would inject something into the digital workspace.  Actually, I have watched and read most of the comments over the last few months proclaiming the death of the press release.   While I think I understand the motives of those who are eager to pronounce the death of the press release I do not agree that the press release has outlived its usefulness.  Now as the Founder and CEO of PRWeb, one of the industry's leading online press release Newswires, you would expect me to say that.  Now let me try to explain.

Back in 1997 when we officially launched PRWeb, we had tons of e-mail messages chastising us for using the term press release.  The argument was that the press release was outdated and we should call it something like “news release,” “media release” or any number of other monikers that were suggested. To this day I continue to call it a press release.  Why?  Am I hard headed?  Well perhaps, but the fact remains that press release is what the world understands.  It is what they search for on the Internet.  We still buy the terms “news release” and “media release” but they remain much less important than the term “press release.”

Now back to today. Does a person cease to be a person because he/she graduates from years of college and becomes a medical doctor?  No, that person has a new function but he/she is still a person.  Do we pronounce a father dead because he has a grandchild? No, his form (man and person) remain constant but he now has additional functionality. Is the press release dead?  No, it has evolved.  At PRWeb, we feel that we have led its evolution.  Think of all the new concepts that we have introduced to the market in the last 8 years.  Search engine optimized press releases, direct-to-consumer distribution, social bookmarking, podcasting and trackbacks are just a few of the many innovations that we have introduced to the space.

I have just finished a podcast with David Meerman Scott of Web Ink Now and Brian Clark of Coppyblogger.com where we spent thirty minutes discussing how the press release has changed and how PRWeb’s role has changed as a leader in this movement. Listen here; at PRWebPodcast.com. It’s only 30 minutes of your time and these guys know their stuff.

It is a great time to be in PR.

David

The Butler is Retired

I just sat in on the Keynote here at SES (Search Engine Strategies) New York where Barry Diller talked about the retirement of the Butler at Ask.com and the branding change from Ask Jeeves to simply Ask. 

I have got to say, this guy is likable and seems like a straight shooter.  Probably one of the things I appreciated most was his outlook on his industry because it parallels what I have always felt about PRWeb's role in the newswire space.  Basically he does not have any illusions of becoming the next Google. Instead he is focused on creating differentiators that make his company something other than Google. 

We too basically made the decision early on that we did not want to become competitors to the majors in our industry. Why would we want to become the next PR Newswire or Business Wire (the two old-timers in the press release newswire space) when we clearly have strategic advantages in our platform and distribution mode.  We made the conscious decision to become something different and the market has responded favorably.   Our focus has allowed us to enhance what makes us different and as a result we are now a layer on top of traditional wire services for many companies.  We have users that use PR Newswire and Business Wire but add PRWeb to the mix as an enhancement to these two wire services.  We let PR Newswire and Business Wire do their thing and then handle the online visibility for their clients.  Our decision was to create an environment where the choice was not a question of company A or company B but rather A + B.

Why did I just go into all of this?  First, I am excited about what we have been able to do with PRWeb.  Secondly, it illustrates what may be a brilliant move by Barry Diller-- create enough market differentiation and users will use the Ask platform as a new  search layer on top of the existing options.  (After seeing the debut of the new service I will say that it is a little AJAXY and very Sexy.)  It worked for PRWeb and I have a sense that Barry will be able to make it work for Ask.