The youthful service rep studied my phone from a safe distance, as one would any dinosaur, then bravely picked it up and placed a test call. “Works fine,” he said, “Let me see you try.” I did. Same problem as before. “Aha! What did I tell you?!” I snorted. The rep just smiled. “Sir, you’re pushing the wrong button.”

I knew that (not). Okay, so I’m probably not ready for a smart phone and may never be. Even relatively low IQ feature phones bedevil me at times. Ineptitude aside, I have a valid reason for sticking with my clunky feature phone, even if doing so subjects me to the sneers of the over-educated, under-employed, 4 roommate-per-dwelling-unit Millennial snots who staff and/or habituate tech stores. I refer to privacy concerns which pose a threat to the public — and a PR UXB (unexploded bomb) waiting to detonate beneath their instigators: Apple and Google.

Unless you’ve slept under a log the last year, you should recall last April’s “Invasiongate,” wherein British researchers revealed that iPhones and many iPads contain a file that tracks the user’s precise geographic coordinates, adding a time stamp so that someone — who?, one wonders — can see exactly where you’ve been and when you’ve been there. Further, when either device is sync’d up with an Apple computer, the location data is transferred.

At the time, Android users hooted that their smart phones didn’t subject users to the same location snooping. But now Android customers — and for that matter, anyone who uses Google services — can no longer feel superior to Apple where privacy matters are concerned.

As of this week, Google has changed its privacy policies so that the company can track users as they move across Google’s web sites, including the main search engine, Gmail and YouTube. Google stressed that the change only applies to customers who are signed on to their Google accounts, which seems obvious enough. Here’s the catch: Customers who use Google’s Android OS for their smart phones and tablets are always signed on. Otherwise the devices would not work as intended — you can hardly use the smart features of your Android-powered phone without first logging in, right?

Net net, Google now will be able to track what Android users do on the phone, and blend that data with what it already knows about these customers from their visits to Google sites.

As usual, Google justifies its action in the name of better understanding its users, providing a superior experience, and not incidentally, adding to its power to build exquisitely detailed customer profiles, the better to sell targeted advertising. Some customers might squawk over the inability to opt out. After all, many use their smart phones in both their business and personal lives. As of now, though, Google won’t distinguish between the two. They “got ya” and they “know all about ya” — whether you like it or not.

For whatever reason — apathy maybe — the above violations of personal privacy are no big deal to most iPhone and Android users. To date, few other than journalists and those who monitor privacy issues have paid any mind to mobile location data caching or Google’s quest to be the Web’s version of the almighty Eye in The Sky. Giving Google a free pass is something of a habit. Two years ago, when bloggers caught Google gobbling Wi-Fi network names as its vehicles roamed the world snapping Street View photos, hardly a soul complained, even when Google snatched up user names and passwords.

How long will it be before Apple and Google wear out their welcome in our personal lives? At some point it’s just possible that either or both companies will cross the line and commit some privacy blunder that alienates even the most ardent fans. Remember the uproar over the U.S. Department of Transportation’s airport scanners that produced “clothes-less” views of airline passengers at security checkpoints? Something similar could happen to everyone’s favorite pair of tech companies, too, depending on just how far and hard they’re willing to push.

I’m not waiting for that day. To me, the app has not yet been invented that makes it worthwhile to give any company or anyone “Peeping Tom” status in the lives and businesses of others. I’ve already opted out.

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

The other day I got a call from Peggy, an old pal and one of the handful of ex-clients who’s managed to evade employment here. But never mind that for now.  She had a legit question:

PEGGY: “I have an event coming up in Boise, Idaho and want to make sure my news gets to all the top business reporters within a 200 mile radius. The problem is I’m on a limited budget.  Do you know of any free services that can identify these people and get our news out to them more cheaply than Business Wire and PR Newswire?”

JIM: “These are two separate issues. First, it can’t be all that hard to find the 5 or 6 reporters who fit that description — take an hour or so and look them up yourself. Second, there are a lot of free or low cost wire services, but I haven’t used them or the big guys in a long time because I think wire services are a waste of time and money. Just email your release to the reporters. If you really feel compelled to issue a story on the wire, then do it in one market only — Boise, in your case — never region-wide or nationwide. This is the Internet era, after all, so you should get the same push with the search engines wire services like to brag about reaching.”

Peggy went off to think about that. Meanwhile, since I’ve been in this business a long time I thought I’d reach out to someone less geezerly than myself for a second opinion, so I called Kate Schackai, who somehow got a job here without having been a former client. Kate just finished a stint managing in-state and national media for the Ron Paul Presidential campaign in the New Hampshire primary, so I thought she’d be pretty up to date.

JIM: “Kate, what do you think of using wire services like Business Wire and PRN for news releases? I see you guys were putting stories out day and night, weekends, too.”

KATE: “What do I think of WHO? . . .Oh, those guys. Nope, never needed ‘em.  We just emailed our releases to media.”

JIM: “But weren’t you worried about missing some key press who might not be on your media list?”

KATE: “Never happened. We built our own lists and covered just about everybody. If we did miss someone, they’d get in touch quickly and ask to be added to the list.”

Case closed, I guess. Granted there are occasions — earnings announcements and such — where SEC requirements mandate distribution of a release via a wire. When I reminded Kate of that point she wondered aloud why such an antiquated regulation is still on the books.

I don’t know the answer to that one, but I do know why I tend to “have it in” for the wire services. Having worked many years in the telecom sector, I have a good idea of what it costs to send a single document transmission across a network. Fractions of a cent, whatever the distance and however many recipients. Knowing that, I could say that charging hundreds or thousands of dollars to distribute a press release electronically is outrageous. But that wouldn’t be nice, so instead I’ll just take a flyer and encourage people to do what I always advise clients and friends: Be your own wire service.  You won’t miss a thing about the old way.

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

It won’t happen, though, at least not that often. That’s because most companies, not just tech-oriented ones, already know what customers want — or at least, think they do. After all, they spend millions of dollars on focus groups whose results supposedly tell them what aspects of a product a customer likes, or if customers even like the product at all. Based on such data, for example, several major automobile manufacturers are marketing electric vehicles in prime time TV commercials in the run-up to the Super Bowl. Never mind that customers have already voiced their opinion on EVs in the most direct way possible: low sales volumes. Basically, the buying public thinks that the battery powered car is a dog. That’s why, comparatively speaking, so few sell. Too bad nobody figured that out before factories were re-tooled to make cars that go “hum” instead of “vroom.”

In tech PR, we try to ask those questions. When a client plans to announce some major new advance they believe will change the course of history, reverse the earth’s polarity, lead to eternal life (and similar claims), we conduct what I call a “rude Q&A” session wherein we grill the hapless product or marketing director, sort of as follows:

• What exactly are you announcing?
• So what? – Who cares?
• What makes it so important? — What will this do for customers that nothing/no one has ever done before?
• Why will customers jump out of their chairs and run over their mothers if they get in the way to be first in line to buy this?
• How do you know that? — Have you actually asked any customers what they think?

Victims of this verbal mugging can get pretty steamed by the time the session ends. They want to know what kind of agency has the nerve to subject clients to such abrasive interrogation. That’s easy: the kind that understands reporters. You know: those guys who make a living asking questions, and who take a perverse delight in lampooning companies that don’t bother.

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

The first comes from the founder and leader of a local tech meetup group. What exactly he’s promoting other than his own vain self, who knows? The colorful note opens with a friendly “Hi All!” then rapidly descends to a bullet point list of his and his company’s accomplishments for the year, followed by a reminder that he’ll be out of town for much of the Spring and Summer, thus may be tough to reach (thank you, God!), but if you want to try, good luck. Alongside the closing signature is a mugshot of his handsome self — from the look of things, a man in desperate need of diet, exercise, a trim and a tailor. Love is blind, they say. Evidently, that goes for self-love. too.

The second is a mass e-mail from a former boss who started his own editorial services firm back in the 1990s and appears to be still eking out a living of sorts. He’s letting us know he’ll be on some obscure cable TV or AM radio show promoting his book, now available at a discount off of last month’s fire sale price. He, too, offers a bullet list of accomplishments before returning to the initial pitch for his broadcast appearance. “Be sure not to miss me!” he urges.  It’s such a pathetic plea for attention that I don’t have the heart to unsubscribe. “Don’t forget me!” he appeals one final time. Alas, such is the fate Time has in store for us all, some sooner than the rest.

Am I being too tough on these guys? Maybe a little. Everyone tends to self-promote, after all — it’s part of business. But the better part of customer communications — which I believe is what the above pair of missives set out to be — should focus on the customer. The stereotype of the salesperson, the notion of the company rep who talks and talks about his company and himself, is dead wrong. Great salespeople, and PR people, too, are listeners. Perhaps such modesty is, as Montaigne holds, a form of conceit. What greater sign of self-confidence than the ability to keep your mouth shut?

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

We see this phenomenon every day in the business world, where companies compete by copying products — adding some minor feature or performance boost in the name of differentiation.

The same holds true in public relations, where one agency’s services — even in specialized areas such as telecom PR or tech PR –  sound much the same as all the rest.

Companies that fall into this trap aren’t competing at all. They’re collapsing into each other and becoming more alike, making it all the harder for customers to make a buying decision based on distinct value.

Decades later, in her best-selling Different, Harvard luminary Dr. Youngme Moon describes the trend of me-tooing as “the artful packaging of meaningless distinctions as true differentiation.” Free to do as they please, competitors make their products more alike. The few that stand out are always true to what Dr. Moon calls their “meaningful groove of separation.”

The groove runs deep, never just on the surface. Think of the groove as a life decision, versus a New Year’s resolution.

This time of year, many feel compelled to make resolutions that will improve their lot. At the individual level, those who have followed the norm and gained one pound per year since their 20s suddenly resolve to go on crash diets, take up jogging or free weights, and eat more sensibly — all worthy goals.

Many companies follow a similar practice via elaborate planning processes designed to transform the business. They, too, want to trim fat and make the company fit to move in new directions — once again, all admirable.

But how much of it sticks? Whether at the personal or corporate level, most backslide to their old habits in short order. That’s a rut, not a groove.

Market leaders understand the difference. They know “the rules” of the norm well enough to break them. They’re fit for life, not merely for the brief span of a New Year’s resolution or annual corporate planning process. They have the vision to drive the business over new horizons to the golden land of constantly renewed brand differentiation. That’s their groove.

What is your company’s meaningful groove of separation from the herd? As importantly — what is your agency’s?

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

1. Look the Part. Whenever I stroll up the aisle to chat with speakers at tech meet-ups, I’m amused at how the crowd of Seattle-like grungies parts before me like the Red Sea opening for Moses. Why this happens: I’m the one old guy in a suit. I look like the money. If you choose to sport tattoos, nose rings and Dr. Marten steel-toed boots like some tech version of Lisbeth Salander, that’s your choice. Personally I adore Lisbeth. Whether I’d talk business with her is another matter. If you still think Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie is business attire, grow up.
2. Corporate Image. Chances are your genius in coding or circuit boards doesn’t translate to marketing and PR savvy. Hire a boutique tech PR agency with a track record of making startups look stellar and building reputations that lead to $multi-million or $multi-billion buyouts. Pick one that knows your field as well as or better than you do. Don’t skimp.
3. The Message. Keep your story simple. Don’t get lost in industry jargon. A good agency will create a message that conveys the importance of what you do in simple English that a 15 year-old can understand. The message should be all about your company’s sterling value to the customer.
4. Begin PR With Analyst Relations. Starting out, your single most important mission is to get industry analysts on your side. Gartner, IDC, Yankee Group, Frost & Sullivan and the various specialist industry analyst organizations that cover your niche write those objective sector reports read religiously by prospective customers looking for a vendor in your space to support a business need. Before you start talking to press, always identify the key analysts on your beat and hold one-on-one briefings with them, complete with a product/service demo.
5. Secure a Customer Missionary. With a favorable analyst report or two in your hip pocket, go forth after the customer who will act as a zealot, willing to spread the word about your company’s value prop in interviews, testimonials, guest blogs, bylines, and from the podium.
6. Awards. Every industry sector has an officiating trade group that doles out annual awards for best product or service, best company, best customer deployment, etc. Make it a habit to apply for all of them every year. There are awards for everyone. You want as many as you can collect — and the snappy winner’s logos that come with them to showcase on your home page.
7. Leadership Forums. In conjunction with a major trade show — so that all the participants needed for success are already in town and available — stage your own after hours, off-site, invitation-only “leadership forum,” hosted by an analyst and confined to 10 customers and prospects, to give the event the aura of exclusivity. Purpose: bringing experts together to address a hot industry topic. This event is strictly for networking. No selling or self-promotion allowed — let the missionary customer do that for you. You’ll be astounded at how even arch market enemies/competitors open up to discuss a common problem and keep the discussion going on their own long after the event shuts down for the night. They’re talking about you.
8. Trades and Social Media Over Nationals. Everyone dreams of winning that hit in the Wall Street Journal, but if you’re a small startup don’t count on it. Focus instead on key trade and social media. Your coverage goals are breadth, depth and continuity via a stream of news, features, profiles, blogs and guest opinion pieces. That’s what the trades are for: news flow that sets your company apart and unseats the market opposition.
9. Partnerships. Single out the industry giants whose reputation, by affiliation, adds luster to your own. Partners help get you in the door with larger, stodgier prospects accustomed to dealing only with the incumbent in your space. Most importantly, the right partners provide products or services complementary to your own. Why this second point matters: Right now you’re only a step away from the buyout.
10. Let’s Get Married. Just prior to your next (and hopefully last) product upgrade, stage meetings with key partners to demo the new version. Your main leave-behind with them should be this thought: “Why weren’t we smart enough to buy these guys when they were small and cheap? Let’s make an offer and see what happens.”

Ka-ching. The big buyout. Now you can chill, crank the volume on Paramore and plan the next startup in your hoodie.

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

Today it’s Maryland’s turn to get it in the neck.

This morning I received a holiday email promo from Baltimore-based event production outfit, Extraordinary Events. Here’s how it opens:

“2011 was a year filled with extraordinary events around the world. The European debt crisis and the Arab Spring showcased how globalization and information technology are driving business.

“Locally Extarordinary Events produced and marketed the www.MDC3.org a Cyber Conferenece. . .”

No need to read any further. You get the gist.

First point: The lead is factually incorrect. The writer is out of his depth, grappling with big ideas he clearly does not understand.

It is true that globalization and IT are driving business. Whether they’re behind Europe’s debt crisis or the Arab Spring is another matter. The EU’s financial cliffhanger stems from central banks’ foolhardy decisions to bulk up on worthless sovereign debt. Other than the fact that Europe’s banks used electronic means to purchase bonds from other nations, globalization and IT had nothing to do with the Continent’s debt fiasco. The drivers cited by the author are purely ancillary to the events.

The same holds true for his assertions about the Arab Spring. The spirit of revolution was fueled by popular uprisings against the rule of tyrants. The revolts went viral and continue to gain mass through the use of social media, which is an offshoot of IT.  The Arab Spring does not in any way demonstrate how globalization and IT are “driving business.”

Am I splitting hairs? You bet I am. That’s what diligent writers and editors do: Insist on the precision of language. Anything less, particularly in the online arena, is a surefire way to showcase one’s carelessness to the world. The obvious solution for any writer is to fully school himself in the issues he chooses to address in public — or simply avoid them.

Second point: I’m unlikely to hire a company that can’t spell its name or the name of a major client event. How might they mangle my company’s name and message for the world to see? From its web site, Extraordinary Events appears to be an outstanding provider of event management services. The stellar client list proves they have the quals and track record. It’s a pity they undermined their reputation by allowing this mangled email promo out the door. The simple solution is to use spell-check software, or barring that, hire a detail-oriented granny in bifocals to proofread all copy.

Champion brands are always careful of their name. You never see Ford Motor Company slip and stamp its vehicles with “Fard” logos. People might suspect the cars ran on gas from a different sort of internal combustion. What’s shoddy without is too often shoddy within. They’d buy a Chevy or a Toyota instead.

I own a 12-year-old Ford (not a Fard) SUV that gets 12 miles to the gallon. Leaning sideways alongside this beast sits a dilapidated 1981 Plymouth pick-up truck with a concave roof — made so by my standing on it with a chainsaw to cut tree limbs.

It’s true. We Virginians do have our antediluvian moments.

Between the two of them, these likely winners in any “ugly car” contest have logged some 400,000 miles.

I’m fairly confident they’ll still run just fine when their joint mileage reaches the 1 million mark. The quality of the brand, implicit in every detail of their original manufacture and marketing, ensures me this is so.

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

It’s a sad fact of life in our far-flung society. The average physicist specializing in particle collisions often drives miles out of his way to find a large hadron collider (LHC). Which is why, nearly 80 years afters its discovery, there’s still so little antimatter to go around.

Okay, I’m obviously kidding about the LHC, but now that I’ve got your attention, listen up: Scientists on the trail of important research do in fact have a problem — difficulty in accessing remotely located high-end equipment essential to conducting their experiments. Startup Science Exchange has the solution: a central database/marketplace/brokerage listing the location and cost of using rare and expensive scientific equipment essential to many experiments.

Going out on a limb, I’m going to coin a term for this phenomenon: “Cloud Science.”

How Science Exchange came about. Co-founder Elizabeth Iorns, PhD, herself a researcher at the University of Miami, explains that many schools maintain a “core facility” that houses specialized scientific equipment costing $1.0 million or more per unit. Often, such hardware is rarely used even by the owner/university, ergo one common sense approach to recovering costs is to turn the core facility into a “managed services” lab center. Scientists submit their request, then on-staff scientists at the core facility conduct the experiment and shoot back the results. Kind of a like a doctor shipping your blood sample off to a lab, only the work is a good deal more sophisticated.

The problem many scientists confront: Finding the right core facility outsourcer with the equipment they need can be a pain. Up until now, there has been no central database listing all the core facilities that house equipment needed for a diverse array of experiments. Also, because universities have different ways of recovering costs, the price range for outsourced lab work can vary wildly. Science Exchange’s database brings this info together in one place, and even better, they’ll the handle the whole transaction. Scientists simply key in the type of experiment they need conducted, and Science Exchange comes back with location and price options. The average experiment costs $5,000, and scientists can shop around for the best deal. Science Exchange charges a commission.

[I wonder if Science Exchange takes PayPal. I'm checking into this. Hopefully by next week I'll be blogging from my own personal black hole, the ideal place to hide from relatives during the holidays.]

Making hard-to-find scientific core facilities more accessible and economical for vital research is blindingly brilliant, and the reason why Science Exchange is this week’s Tech Star.

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

1. All According to Plan. Month after month the PR and social media campaigns outlined in the 2012 Master Plan plod along, marking corporate PR rituals — trade shows, speaking gigs, product launches, etc. — with the monotonous regularity of an Aztec sun calendar. Analysts, journalists and bloggers never need to ask what you’re up to or why you’re calling. They already know. They can rewrite last year’s story on the same topic. Who will know the difference?
2. Absence of Fresh Ideas. One obvious reason for never ending sameness: Nobody dares to challenge the status quo. Common excuses: “Somebody might get offended.” Or “that’s just the way things are here.” Or “it’s too much trouble and never leads anywhere, anyway.”  Hogwash. Every business needs a “spark plug” — the person who keeps everybody and everything fired up. The one who storms into your office, slams the door behind him or her and says, “You’re wrong. Let’s junk this program, try something different and see what happens.” Your agency should have that person on your account.
3. Media Lists Cast in Stone. One of the beauties of online and social media is that new outlets open up all the time. Gone are the days when your company is at the mercy of some pig-headed editor who routinely ignores you. The new reality: For every one news site/blogger who’s not interested, there may be 10-20 other places that popped up in the last year that just might be. It’s possible they have just as big a following as Mr. Oinker’s site. Are you constantly on the hunt for these new opportunities?
4. Stale Content. Every blog sounds like an ad, and every byline like a brochure. Every announcement follows the rigid Haiku of the Press Release: the inevitable “leading provider” company descriptor; the mandatory senior executive quote; the vacuous analyst quote; and the puffed up boilerplate. How this happens: the creatives on the account are hacks. They commit every writing sin castigated by George Orwell in his Politics and the English Language, an essay I make writers read at the beginning of every new year. It’s a healthy habit for any writer or manager thereof.
5. Responding to Competitors. You’re always on the defensive. Competitors go to market first with the idea you, your department or agency had months ago, but never acted on. An editor gives an ed cal opening to your biggest market opponent, who got there first with the same or a better idea. Cover stories on your industry cover a major industry and include six out of seven major players. Guess who the seventh, omitted company is? Now, because somebody didn’t do their job, you’re in a catchup mode. Unfortunately, it’s too late: The editor isn’t revisiting this topic for another year.
6. Repeating the Same Mistake. Everybody is allowed to screw up once. Make the same mistake twice, though, and they obviously didn’t learn from the first one — or don’t care. Enough said.
7. Agency Following Up. Week after week the account team pursues an opportunity that just never materializes. It sits there in its spot on the Weekly Report, with status marked “Agency Following Up,” sometimes abbreviated to “Agency f/u.” If the practice persists or shows up too often, the latter phrase aptly describes its author. As each new opportunity crops up, give it a time line, past which it’s dropped and you move on.

Do any of the above “PR Rut Red Flags” come a little too close to home for you? There’s no need to go off the deep end and start firing staff and agencies. If you’re concerned, meet with each group and lay out your issues and your desire to break out. If you have the right internal team and agency, they’re likely to go nuts with enthusiasm. People love to do what’s new and are usually more than receptive to a different, more creative approach to the job. That kind of reaction may leave you wondering why you waited so long. If so, maybe the chief Rutmeister, all along, has been you.

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.

Too often this time of year, corporate marketing and PR departments immerse themselves in gargantuan planning processes resulting in massive spreadsheets. Every program element for the coming year finds its nook — each ad program, direct marketing project, announcement, collateral piece, trade show, social media campaign, speaking gig, webinar, and so on. Such documents remind me of the ceiling-high, pigeon-hole desk developed in the mid-19th century. It had so many compartments that people couldn’t remember where they put anything. Most such desks ended up as firewood.

Ask yourself, and answer this honestly: If you’re among those who create an annual PR plan as elaborate as the aforementioned, do you use it, and for how long? My own experience is that megaplans are cumbersome to use and quickly become obsolete.

I prefer a variant on Churchill’s idea — a one-page straw man plan for key events. No heavy text or purple prose, just a one-pager with topic headings and bullets. Here’s a basic model of what the straw man PR plan might include:

• Objective: the mission & what you hope to achieve.
• Story Line: Core message, why it matters and to whom.
• Timeline: the schedule, checked against potential conflicts.
• Media Targets: Top 3 – 5 must-have media. Who matters most?
• Spokespersons: Primary & fallback, with availability checked against the timeline.

For a look-ahead over the coming quarter — about as far as anyone can ever see — I keep a bulleted list of major upcoming activities in another document I know everybody looks at: the agency weekly report. As an event comes up, we do a straw man PR plan. Very simple.

Supporters of the multi-tab annual master plan may be horrified by my streamlined approach. If you know such folk, wait til June 2012 and ask them for a copy of the plan. A nickel bet says they’ll reply, “Oh, it’s out of date now — we have to revise it.”  Then come ask me. What I’ll say:

“Sure I have a plan — it’s called Don’t Rip Off the Client with an Annual Plan.”

Jim Crawford is the president and founder of Crawford PR and the author of Black Box Blog, where he offers hard-earned perspective on public relations for the tech and telecom industries.