Airfoil Public Relations

Twitter: The Worldwide News Leader

During a conference call the other day, my colleague stood up and walked over to me with an expression on his face that was a mix of pure joy and complete confusion. That’s when he showed me the text message he had just received that stated: “Prince Fielder to the Tigers for nine years.”

Before even fully processing this information, I immediately went to ESPN.com, where the top stories included Joe Paterno’s funeral and the Super Bowl, but nothing about a perennial MVP candidate signing a major deal with the Detroit Tigers.

After a few more Google searches, I was left with zero confirmation, other than outdate MLB.com trade rumor articles that left me yearning to know if “Big Daddy’s” offspring was coming to the Motor City or not.

That’s when I realized I had overlooked a less-obvious choice: Twitter. After all, Twitter has quickly left traditional media outlets in the dust when it comes to breaking news. Sure enough, the top national and local reporters were tweeting that Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers had agreed on a staggering nine-year, $214 million deal.

If you’re ESPN, can you still call yourself the Worldwide Leaders in Sports if you don’t allow your reporters to break stories?

Lesson learned. The next time I hear rumors that something has happened with one of my favorite sports teams, I’m going straight to Twitter to confirm. That is, unless it involves Denard Robinson doing something awesome, in which case confirmation is not needed.

-- Dave Niemiec is an account coordinator at Airfoil Public Relations, a high tech PR agency with offices in Silicon Valley and Detroit.

20 Interview Tips for Writers

Any journalist will tell you that the most crucial factor in writing a successful article is the interview. Whether you’re a reporter asking questions of one source or a public relations executive interviewing a suite full of leaders, the way you prepare for and conduct fact-finding interviews will determine your success. Just as fancy editing really can’t disguise bad videography, fancy words and phrases won’t be able to cover up a poor job of reporting, where important facts have been overlooked during the interview and key avenues have been left unexplored.

Keep the following 20 recommendations in mind to prepare yourself properly for the interview, and the actual writing will become an easy final step in the journalistic process:

1. Research the topic to understand underlying issues and terminology.
2. Always develop questions in advance. Don’t go into an interview to hold a conversation or you’ll end up with small talk. Take the time to develop the questions that will lead to the information you seek.
3. Ask open-ended questions, not those that can be answered only by a yes or no. Use a who, what, where, when, why and how framework to cover the topic.
4. Of these questions, how and why usually are the most important, because they get to causes, motivations and solutions. Look at every aspect of each of these elements to develop questions like:
   • Why is the company doing this?
   • Why does the market need this product?
   • Why now?
   • Why should people care about this?
   • How are you going to do this?
   • How does your product differ from those of competitors?
   • How are you going to structure your company to achieve this?
   • How can people use your product?
   • How will your product change the way people work, live or play?
5. Don’t be afraid to offer your own theory or the theories of others in developing questions for your interview subject to comment on.
6. Ensure your questions relate to newsworthy topics.
7. Develop questions that have built-in newsworthiness: firsts, successes, trends, controversy.
8. Relate questions to other things happening in the industry or in the world to obtain answers that have meaningful context and that become inherently newsworthy.
9. Be pro-active. Don’t simply ask the questions on your sheet and record the answers. Start with the questions, but ask follow-up questions if the response is unclear, incomplete or open to other interpretations.
10. Guide the source to appropriate areas, but be open to his or her view of what’s important.
11. Don’t just ask the source to “talk about” the subject, unless you don’t have enough information to formulate questions. You may use this as a preliminary information-gathering technique, but you should have questions in mind to pursue subsequently.
12. Focus the questioning to get to what you need.
13. Don’t be afraid to ask “stupid questions,” but preface the interview by saying, “I know some of the information I’ll be requesting from you, but I want to get it in your voice. So forgive any ‘stupid questions’—I just want to get it right and in your terms.”
14. The biggest content problem with writing is failing to obtain or understand the basic information from the interviewee’s perspective. If you don’t understand what something means, ask for an explanation or clarification.
15. If your source says something that you don’t understand or that raises questions, state your interpretation of what he means and ask for verification.
16. Be a good listener. Don’t get so involved in your note-taking that you overlook clues and implications from the interviewee’s responses. Likewise, offer your own interpretation, point of view or analogy to see if it correlates with the source’s thinking.
17. Use questions to explore new trends, facts or opinions for which your interviewee may be the source.
18. Ask open-ended questions that give the interviewee a chance to interpret, explain or express an opinion on something.
19. Always follow up to elicit additional information that may be relevant but not immediately apparent. For example, offer refutations to or questions about the interviewee’s interpretation or opinion. Then obtain his or her responses. Don’t engage in a debate, however; instead, present refutations or doubts that have been expressed by a third party: “Some industry executives are saying…,” “Folks on the other side of the issue might claim…,” “We’re reading that…..”
20. Find out everything you can about your source’s credentials for the claims he or she makes—education, projects, offices, inventions, awards, personal experiences.

Finally, do a reality check of your notes after the interview and before you leave. Do you have newsworthy information? What additional questions do you need to ask to get the news you feel is in this story? What questions do you need to revisit to get more explanation? Looking at your notes as a whole, does a new trend or development emerge that you should explore? Who else should you interview to fill gaps or obtain important information?

With a determination to ask the right questions in the right way, your reporting assignment will prepare you well for the writing the article.

-- Steve Friedman is the director of marketing communications at Airfoil Public Relations, a high tech PR agency with offices in Detroit and Silicon Valley.

Day two at the Consumer Electronics Show: From supremely simple to seriously high-tech

We expect to be dazzled by the parade of innovations at CES each year, but we what we didn’t expect is how there is truly something for every consumer along the tech-savvy spectrum at CES 2012.

Refreshingly, many of products we’ve seen on the show floor are both limit-testing enough to make the most jaded technophile drool, yet practically and economically accessible for the average consumer wanting to use tech to make life run more smoothly.

Standouts in this regard are:

• Tagg the Pet Tracker: A CES 2012 Design and Engineering Awards honoree, this wallet-friendly GPS-enabled device allows you to ping your dog’s collar tracker anytime from your PC or smartphone in order to figure out where the heck he ran off to…this time.
• Gracenote MoodGrid: An intuitive way for drivers and passengers to navigate music collections on the open road with technology that lets them find and play songs to match their moods.
• WarpiaTV:  What do you get when you combine a WarpiaTV browser with a seven-function motion controller? Instant access to services like Facebook, Twitter and Netflix, as well as anything else lurking around on a user’s hard drive. Couch potato tech at an accessible price point.
• TelyHD: A Skype-specific device for TV integration, TelyHD is a unique webcam in that it’s powered by Android and simply plugs into any existing TV with a HDMI port.

We love imagining how much easier (not to mention, infinitely cooler) our lives would be if we had these – and all the other cool gadgets and applications on the show floor – in our own homes and offices. Next year, we’re bringing a shopping cart and a big, fat checkbook! How about you – which of these products would make your life better (and, yes, cooler)?

Day one at the Consumer Electronics Show: It’s all about the power (consumption)

Day two of CES is well under way but first we wanted to provide a quick recap of a few things we found while exploring the show floor during the first show days of CES. (See our previous post on pre-CES news.)

Power consumption, energy and eco-friendly products are gaining steam at this year’s show. For example, xi3 creates computers that only need 20 watts of electricity to operate vs. the standard 100-400 watts for most personal computers. The xi3 also announced new software that lets two users work off a single computer.

NRG Energy’s booth featured sustainable energy solutions for the home (including an installation of bicycles that could be pedaled to generate money for charity and also produce enough energy to power several lightbulbs for every minute spend pedaling) and an electric-powered DeLorean capable of 125 miles per hour – a different spin on Back to the Future

Several other exhibitors showed energy-efficient devices such as solar-powered chargers and netbooks, as well as USB power sockets.

What will day two bring? We’re already seeing many new trends and gadgets. Stay tuned and follow our updates at @airfoilpr.

Your Tech Brand’s Greatest Asset in 2012? Thought.

For many of us, the changing of the calendar from one year to the next is our opportunity to re-focus priorities and re-energize actions around the things that matter – both personally and professionally. Of course, being in the tech industry, we don’t enjoy the luxury of “introspection” just once a year – especially considering the competitive landscape and how fast things are moving forward.

While building a program for a client, I came across this excellent blog post from Forrester tech marketing analyst, Stephen Davidson.  Read it here. Davidson identifies a number of key actions that brands in the tech industry should focus on in the coming year. The thing that jumped out at me from the piece was the emphasis Davidson placed on using thought leadership as a brand-building tool. When you think about it, so much of the messaging we see in the tech marketplace is product-focused. What does X product do? Why is it better than competitive products? Why should you buy it?

Here’s one question we all should consider: Who really cares? While not a bad strategy by any means, it’s still only product marketing where there is an inherent credibility gap when dealing with today’s savvy consumers.

I’ve read a lot of marketing babble regarding the definition of thought leadership and here is one from Eric Wittlake that I think is worth pondering: http://www.thoughtleadershipstrategy.net/category/definitions-of-thought-leadership/

“Thought leadership is about sharing insights and content that meets a known or unmet demand, challenge or issue in your audiences’ lives.”

As Davidson suggests, a better resolution for your brand in 2012 is to create differentiation in the marketplace through thought leadership. Use your marketing and communications efforts to provoke interest and dialogue among all audience stakeholders versus simply pushing out content about product features.  I know it may seem basic on the face of it but I think a reminder serves us all well.

Something to add to your “to-do” list for 2012! 

-- Janet Tyler is the president at Airfoil Public Relations, a high tech PR agencywith offices in Silicon Valley and Detroit.

Airfoil clients are the life of the CES pre-party

For every party worth its salt, there’s some pre-partying going on (refer back to photos from college dorm room festivities for a refresher on this idea). It’s completely understandable – folks are excited about everyone getting together to have a good time and connecting with new and old friends.

CES 2012 pre-event activities kicked off Monday, a full day before the show doors opened, and Airfoil’s clients did their part to get the party started:

• Microsoft: With Microsoft recently announcing that CES 2012 would be its last for the foreseeable future, all eyes were on Monday’s corporate keynote...and Microsoft didn’t disappoint. Steve Ballmer made a surprise appearance to recap the strong year Microsoft had in 2011 and discuss the company’s core consumer-facing products moving into 2012, including Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox and more. But wait…super-secret, double surprise! American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest took the stage to interview Steve, host guests onstage – including, yes, a tweet choir –  facilitate demos, and provide commentary and perspective throughout the speech.  
• NVIDIA press conference: CEO Jen Hsun Huang spoke to a crowd of more than 500, comparing tablets to the car industry: just because the Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all time doesn’t mean everyone wants one. He talked about the fact that a new breed of innovations that accommodate diverse platforms – from Android tablets that meet a variety of needs through a variety of shapes and sizes to Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich OS that spans both smart phones and tablets – are the new standard. 
• Parrot's Asteroid launch:  Parrot unveiled three connected solutions for cars based upon its ASTEROID platform: the ASTEROID CK (telephony+music+Internet), the Parrot ASTEROID NAV (telephony+music+Internet+navigation) and the Parrot ASTEROID 2DIN (telephony+music+ tuner+Internet+navigation). These are the first Android based in-car products from Parrot that have Internet connectivity.

The CES shindig officially began today, but we think the buzz created by our clients during yesterday’s “pre-party” set a vibrant tone for the phenomenal event it’s proving to be. All that fun…and the cops didn’t even get called. 

 

Technology Coming to a Museum Near You

I recently visited the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. and was slightly disturbed that I can now see things from my childhood featured in a museum. Seriously, I am not that old! Big cell phones, tapes and the first DVD players were all featured in a wonderful display case showing the dead technologies of our past. Looking at these gadgets made think of the things that will be featured in this display 10 years from now. Here are three things I expect to see in the museum in the future.

1. The laptop: The laptop has been around since 1969 and while it has advanced tremendously over the years, I believe it is only a matter of time before the laptop finds its place in the museum.  Even technologies like the Ultrabook, which is expected to be everywhere at CES 2012, isn’t a mind blowing innovation. According to a Fast Company article titled “Is the laptop dead? Yup.,” the Ultrabook is “proof that the laptop is now an evolutionary dead end in computer history.” With the advancements being made in cloud computing and tablets, laptops may very soon be replaced by these devices.
2. “Big” smartphones: My first cell phone was on the larger side and I soon transitioned to the Motorola Razr. As I moved into the world of smartphones, I purchased the smaller BlackBerry Pearl and as touch screen technology became more prevalent I upgraded to the larger, bulky BlackBerry Storm. A few smartphones later including Androids and the iPhone, one thing stays consistent: they are just BIG. While today we enjoy the large screens and capabilities, I predict that much like the traditional cell phone went from big and bulky to a small razor thin phone, the smartphone will also become small and sleek with all the functionality we enjoy today and more. I personally am looking forward to the credit card sized gadget featured in the “Productivity Future Vision” video from Microsoft.
3. Portable GPS and navigation devices: With the technology available on every smartphone and smartphones becoming more and more prevalent in the market, the future for aftermarket GPS and navigation devices doesn’t seem very bright. Even those that don’t have smartphones will likely have this technology available directly in their vehicles through technology integrated by the OEMs like Ford Sync.

While it may take some time for these technologies to die out, I do envision seeing these innovations in a future visit to the museum. What technologies do you think will die?  

-- Deana Goodrich is a senior account executive at Airfoil Public Relations, a high tech PR agency with offices in Detroit and Silicon Valley.

Seven Ways to Make Your Writing Edgier

The mantra of the current high-intensity, high-tech age seems to be “edgy.” Those with an edgy self-image demand that their lyrics be defiant; their TV dramas, tense; and their recreation, risky. Needless to say, these folks are easily bored. Standard writing techniques will repel them faster than a Perry Como infomercial. 

So how can we compete with the thrill-a-minute venues of YouTube, iTunes and virtual rock climbing? We can start by making some adjustments to the ways we approach our writing style and our audience. Here are seven strategies to keep in mind when trying to hold the attention of consumers who can’t sit through a movie without texting, surfing and videogame breaks.

1. Forget logic—focus on impact. Those in the edgy crowd don’t have time to listen to your rationale—they just want to know the results and, most important, what’s in it for them. What ammunition can you give them to gain an edge on a friend, a foe or a competitor? Deliver content tools and weapons, not arguments.
2. Draft shorter sentences. We speak in a 140-character town hall, and complex sentences with tailgating adjectives will just get drowned out by the flash mobs. Study Ernest Hemingway as a model for tightly written story-telling that shuns modifiers.
3. Be conversational. Contractions, idioms and slang are fine. Just be certain that you’re up to date (read that, up to the minute) in the way you use them. Remember when “dope” meant “cool” and “shizzle” meant “sure”? That’s so-o-o 2002.
4. Be controversial. Edginess inherently requires bold statements that express a strong point of view. When racing down the edgy road, the further your writing travels from conventional opinion, the more successful your trip will be. That’s not to say that you should just invent some outlandish opinion; you must be prepared to demonstrate the impact that your point of view can have (see strategy #1) on the topic at hand.
5. Sharpen your verbs until they’re dangerous to handle without gloves. Avoid weak verbs, such as forms of “to be” or “to have,” and overused buzzword verbs, like “leverage,” “drive” and “interface.” Instead, choose verbs that paint a picture of an action or provoke an emotion, such as, “gnaw,” “melt,” “snivel,” “embrace,” “bellow” and “obliterate.”
6. Be ironic and even sarcastic (but not mean) in setting up your thesis. Promulgating a strong point of view often requires that you adopt a ‘tude. The most concise expression of this stance that I have encountered appeared on a shopper’s T-shirt in the mall.  It read:

National Sarcasm Society: “Like we really need your help.”

1. Offer links on the edge. Find edgy communications—videos, cartoons, music clips-- from like-minded individuals who support and/or extend your point of view, and include links to their work. “Occupy Wall Street” initially was an edgy demonstration, but links to websites and social media rapidly transformed it into a national movement.

That’s it. You can do it or not. What do I care? I’m gonna throw a Red Bull off the roof and see how high it’ll splatter.

-- Steve Friedman is the director of marketing communications at Airfoil Public Relations, a high tech PR agency with offices in Detroit and Silicon Valley.

The hype of no 3DTV hype at the Consumer Electronics Show

Two years ago, it was all the rage – 3DTVs will be taking over your home. Except – no one liked the glasses, you had to have a 3D Blu-ray player and there were dire warnings of staring at the screen for too long. CNN listed other reasons, such as 3D content that was rushed to market and therefore lacking as another reason for mild adoption.

This year, reporters are speculating that 3D is dead or dying because of a dearth of mentions at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

During the holidays, I was one of the consumers who helped create a surge that led 3DTVs to increase sales more than 100 percent. What prompted me to by a 3DTV? I was in the market for a larger TV for our living room, and the current TV was set to go to my husband’s new home office. I was looking for LCD, a larger size and good picture quality with a reasonable price. I had started studying various models and following deal sites after Black Friday to see what would be selling when.

My intentions were to wait until the TV sales of the Super Bowl, but then an eBay Daily Deal (eBay is a client but all deal procuring is personal) popped up that was hard to pass. The 3DTV was LCD and came bundled with a 3D Blu-ray player and four pairs of passive glasses.

My daughter received the Smurfs 3D movie for Christmas (complete with client Parrot’s AR.Drone cameo) and it looked just like the movie theater – only we were on a more comfortable couch. While I’ve only used the 3D feature a couple of times, the “regular” TV watching is crisp, clear and everything I expected.

Now, if I had only waited for 3DTV without glasses.

-- Tonja Deegan is the digital and social media director at Airfoil Public Relations, a high tech PR agency with offices in Detroit and Silicon Valley.

“Context” is the new “clutter.”

Pushing products and services to the masses, “seeing what sticks,” and flooding the customer’s world with generic advertising were default (if not strategic) practices in a pre-digital era when marketers were limited in their ability to truly contextualize communications. But a progressive breed of shrewd marketers are poised to win big in 2012, replacing clutter with context through in-text keyword advertising and more meaningfully fulfilling their roles in the B2C quid-pro-quo relationship.

In our series of 2012 prediction posts looking at the convergence of on- and offline worlds and the resulting impact on business communications, we’ve explored how “context” is emerging as the next great communications strategy. Customers don’t care whether their needs are met through retail or e-tail, or augmented reality applications…they just want their needs met. This consumer reality is also being acknowledged through online advertising techniques, such as in-text ads and social media ads, where readers receive such targeted content it’s almost personal.

In-text keyword ads allow users to click within a pop-up ad to read a brand’s Twitter messages or Facebook posts in real time, or to watch a brand’s YouTube video content, all without leaving the Web page they started at. You may have encountered such an ad – manifesting as a double-underlined word within a piece of editorial – without realizing it. Users who scroll over the keywords trigger a pop-up box, and it’s at this point that the finesse of in-text advertising becomes evident – only compelled readers link through and consent to the full-text ad/website/social channel, and the rest keep reading.

Whereas in-text gradually pulls a customer into the message, social media ads like those sold by Facebook push a message to what can be an extremely qualified, discrete audience. People openly list their demographic information, jobs, residence, and interests within their profiles, all which can be used by brands to narrow their ad placement strategy. An example of an advertising option on Facebook is the “Likes & Interests” targeting option. With this, businesses can display an ad, for example, in front of individuals that have “Liked” a competitor’s page or an event you’re planning to attend.

Airfoil and many of our clients will have a presence at CES next week, and contextual advertising has the potential to draw a strategic readership into social channels where we discuss the event or simply build brand awareness with companies that have “Liked” the event, and with whom we may want to connect on site.

Given the heightened degree to which today’s advertisers are held accountable for ROI, in-text and social media advertising can be effective not only strategically, but economically, too. Contrasting with display ads that are sold based upon how many people will see, not actively consume, them, these forms of online ads charge the advertiser per click. The consumer is not the only party that benefits from a more relevant brand interaction but the brands themselves that spend their money more wisely – on either highly motivated or qualified consumers – in a contextualized model. 

Even as social and digital platforms have evolved to enable marketers to be more precise in their outreach, less sophisticated brands are still talking at – not with – customers whenever, wherever.

But brands that embrace new ways like in-text and social media ads to right size the amount, frequency and type of information they provide consumers an experience that is a more intuitive, natural exchange of information that mimics an in-person interaction. And the line between digital and actual further blurs…

How do you feel about 2012 being the year where “the line” completely vanishes? Are you ready for it? We’d love to know…please share!