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What B2B Marketers Can Learn From the Crocs Catfight
Written by: Wendy MarxArticle Overview: Verbal weaponry on the new final frontier: The Blogosphere.
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Free Download - What B2B Marketers Can Learn From the Crocs Catfight By Wendy Marx |
What B2B Marketers Can Learn From the Crocs Catfight
Call it the shoe heard round the world.
Recently, there's been a bit of a hullabaloo raised online about a Crocs social media guy who had a run-in with a Mommy blogger and blogged about it. Who knew shoes could be so inflammatory?
On the surface it's a case of a blogger threatening a company with bad press if she doesn't get free product, in this case, shoes; and the Crocs employee in turn getting up on his high horse and threatening to hurt the blogger's reputation.
On a very minor scale, it reminds me of the Gates-Crowley imbroglio. Not because race was involved - there was none that I am aware of here - but that it was a power struggle between two different authorities. Here, the blogger thought she had the power of her blog to demand free shoes. Meanwhile, the Crocs social media guy, George Smith Jr,feeling unfairly attacked quickly asserted his power to reduce the blogger to a "nobody." Can't you hear the egos battling in the conversation?
It all reminds me of the fact that as the blogosphere continues to expand its influence, we are entering a wild west in terms of behavior and professionalism. Anything goes. Unlike mainstream journalism where there is an implied agreement that both public relations professionals and the media will adhere to certain rules. Certainly, any mainstream reporter would be penalized, if not promptly fired, if he or she bribed a source. Similarly, a company PR representative who threatened to damage a reporter's reputation would not remain unscathed.
Meanwhile, bloggers, unless they are paid to blog for someone, have no higher authority than themselves and the court of public opinion.
To help you navigate these unchartered waters, here hare some standards for b2b marketers to follow:
Treat bloggers respectfully. But don't sink to the level of tit for tat - where you bribe bloggers in exchange for a favorable review.
Don't expect bloggers to act as traditional journalists. Many journalists operate under a code of ethics that among other things forbids their accepting gifts. Bloggers won't necessarily honor embargoes and other traditional public relations-mainstream media practices..
Listen to bloggers and engage them. Don't simply ask a blogger to do something for you but first read the blogger and develop a relationship.
Remember the street goes both ways. If at the end of the day, you don't like what a blogger said, feel free to comment/respond. Unlike traditional media, we all now have megaphones. Just be sure to use yours judiciously.
Article Tags: b2b marketers, blogged, blogger, blogosphere, company pr, crowley, egos, free shoes, george smith, high horse, hullabaloo, imbroglio, mainstream journalism, power struggle, pr representative, professionalism, public opinion, public relations professionals, unchartered waters, wild west
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About the Author: Wendy Marx RSS for Wendy's articles - Visit Wendy's website Wendy Marx is an award-winning public relations and marketing communications executive who helps B2B companies and executives become well-known brands. Wendy planned and executed the original public relations strategy that helped fuel the spectacular growth of Peppers and Rogers Group, the world's preeminent customer relationship firm. For the last 16 years, she has served as president of Marx Communications, which has helped numerous companies become well-known industry brands. Her firms� PR efforts have directly let to companies inking major partnership deals with Dow Jones, The NASDAQ and other major organizations. Her firm has recently developed an innovative PR 3.0 strategy for B2B companies that directly ties PR efforts to sales and generates trackable sales leads. The program is designed to increase online visibility and drive sales leads using PR as the sales engine. Wendy is a founding member of PR Boutiques International, www.prboutiquesinternational.com, a global network of select boutique PR agencies. Her technology and business articles have appeared in a number of publications, including The New York Times, Computerworld, InformationWeek, Brandweek and Advertising Age. She has also written advertorials for Fortune and Forbes on a variety of management topics. Her writing skills earned her a position teaching business writing at the University of Michigan Business School. She currently writes a blog on personal branding for Fast Company Before founding Marx Communications in 1993, Wendy worked for AT&T and GE Capital in marketing and public relations management positions and helped develop the communications strategy behind the highly successful AT&T Universal Card. She and her firm always handle at least one pro bono project as a way of giving back to the community. A pro bono project she did for the organization �Jane Doe No More,� www.janedoenomore.org, resulted in its founder being featured on Dateline NBC. Wendy serves on �Jane Do No More�s� advisory board. She is a cum laude graduate of Brandeis University, holds an MBA from the University of Michigan and a master�s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Click here to visit Wendy's website Personal Branding The New World of Online Advertising B2B PR How The Times Are A Changin Forget Last Rites The New Opportunity for Publishers in Online Advertising Harnessing the Power of Social Media Tools What B2B Marketers Can Learn From the Crocs Catfight |
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