Pop music star Sting held a news conference at a New York Apple store on Nov. 15 to announce his Sting 25 “appumentary,” an iPad app with historical interviews, music videos and concert footage promoting a career-spanning CD box set of the same name.

Similarly, Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc.’s iHeartRadio app repurposes audio and commercial messages from 750 U.S. radio stations, extending its traditional content to a more interactive format.

The app era is in full swing, from mainstream to niche. Online searches show an abundance of apps spanning business, entertainment, news, productivity and lifestyle categories. Apps are even getting age-based ratings this year, like those used to rate video game content.

Half of all U.S. adult mobile phone owners have apps on their phones, according to a study by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. The study reveals that 74 percent of adult app users download news-oriented apps, including those updating weather, sports and investments, followed by 67 percent who download apps to communicate with family and friends.

Another Pew study (in collaboration with The Economist Group) regarding tablet news consumption says that 11 percent of Americans have purchased tablets in the less than two years the iPad has existed. Fifty-three percent of them read news on tablets daily, with 33 percent read from sources that they did not previously consider and 41 percent read articles that they tagged for later.

Fanfare for the common man

Much of this app-tivity, so to speak, lends itself to public relations.  You don’t have to be a music mogul or global brand to use apps as a communications medium. Development cost estimates range from a few thousand dollars for simple apps to tens of thousands for elaborate apps. Communicators typically have strong relationships with creatives and design experts, so tap your networks for possible cost advantages.

Communication strategist David Meerman Scott developed his own iPhone and iPad apps with Newstex, a real-time content technology company, which include his blog posts, Twitter updates, videos and links to his Amazon bookstore profile. A perfect content marketing activity for someone who makes a living teaching such tactics.

Apps can support many messages and purposes. Hunter Public Relations of New York created its “Faceboo” app, allowing users to simulate Halloween-themed press releases while generating agency awareness.

The Roberts Group, a health care communications agency in Waukesha, Wisc., helps client Saint Francis Medical Center of Missouri populate its Saint Francis Medical Partners app. Created by Dr. Edward Bender, the app helps patients locate offices and learn about their physicians’ specialties, medical school affiliations and residencies.

“Technology is helping people take better control of their health care,” says Katie Stensberg, emerging media specialist for The Roberts Group. “Apps that successfully create awareness and communicate with an audience benefit from a focus on basic human needs.”

This post also appears as the January “Digital Dialogue” column of the PR Tactics Journal published by the Public Relations Society of America.

(C) 2010 McDonald's

McDonald’s McRib stormed back into our lives this week, and I for one am doing my part to ensure the pork-like novelty sandwich’s seasonal success. It’s humbling to compete with a  sandwich for attention, yet the McRib buzz has me thinking about my PR Tactics column this week which highlights David Meerman Scott’s new book “Real-Time Marketing & PR.”

The McRib may not be a perfect example of Scott’s real-time mindset, but its digital media ingredients spark some possibilities. Many real-time communications examples involve reacting almost instantly to news, be it a blog post offering additional perspective to insert oneself into a developing story, or creating a product based on what has occurred (and in the case of Oakley and the Chilean Miners, placing a product).

McRib, being a known entity, is perhaps a bit different. It was here last year, it’s here now, and there’s little need for Vegas odds on whether we’ll see it again next year.

Knowing an event or piece of news is coming can be a luxury, perhaps especially when you’re the one creating it.

McDonald’s and most notably McRib fans have set the table for significant word-of-mouth awareness. McDonald’s has generated a few tweets and some spot advertising including localized radio ads reminding us that “the legendary sandwich is only here for a few short weeks,” plus some web content. Social networks pick it up from here with the McRib Locator being among the unique fan-generated offerings that keep the buzz going.

So in addition to sitting back and selling sandwiches, McDonald’s finds itself in the enviable position of nurturing a cult favorite with what appears to be only minimal effort. Nothing wrong with that in a “by the people, for the people” scenario, and it appears the brand is taking advantage of the opportunities it has created to engage customers online and in stores. Check out “The Legends of McRib” crowdsourced video promotion for example.

For additional rib-related reading check out Blake Bowyer’s McRib observations on Ogilvy’s Fresh Influence blog and my own October bit on Ribzilla.

WebInkNow.com

What good is information if you don’t use it in a timely manner?  This is a major premise of author and communication strategist David Meerman Scott’s latest book, published today by John Wiley & Sons, “Real-Time Marketing and PR.”

Real-time business opportunities happen right now — not in an hour or so. Accessible information is your most valuable commodity for discovering them and responding, according to Scott — who ought to know, having worked in financial markets during the 1980s.

On the trading floor, Scott observed how split-second decisions based on real-time information could generate millions of dollars if acted upon. He sees market-like patterns in public relations. With “Real-Time,” he endeavors to help communicators turn those “ifs” into business realities.

I contacted Scott to learn more, and noticed some common themes throughout our discussion.

Roles and readiness
Scott says that giving PR professionals leeway to seize real-time opportunities is their greatest obstacle. He suggests that practitioners and their supervisors adopt a “first responder” mindset, monitoring direct and tangential markets for ways to influence news cycles in real time.

Opportunities don’t always occur in a convenient weekday, 9-to-5 time frame. They can pop up over the weekend or on holidays, and you may need to personally take action without the aid of colleagues and in-depth analysis, or risk missing out on stories entirely.

When Boston’s water supply was deemed unfit to drink one Sunday in May, Scott noticed the clever door-to-door and reverse 911 call methods the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority used to alert citizens. He immediately blogged about the PR implications. The Boston Globe’s post-crisis analysis included Scott’s quotes on the front page.

“Carve out time each day to just be online and absorb what is happening. This practice will bring to the surface activities weekly that can get you more ink than all your other efforts combined,” Scott says.

Since you can’t accurately predict what the market and your industry will experience next week, concentrate on what it is doing now.  And although you can’t specify plans for unique opportunities, Scott says you can prepare for them with basic guidelines. He suggests taking a cue from crisis planning, albeit with a positive slant, to develop real-time opportunity plans.

Your plan should designate chief real-time officers who can act on opportunities without the required permissions that often result in missing chances.

Establish who is allowed to speak and outline protocol, including who is ideal for what topics.

Audience and format
Scott and I are both fans of companies that issue news online via blogs or newsrooms, especially timely news detailed with information like graphs and videos. (See October’s Digital Dialogue column on brand journalism.)

Says Scott, “If you have a new product announcement, then why tell a press release service before you tell your clients?”

Scott advocates alerting your best fans first — including customers, partners, Twitter followers and blog readers.  Doing this can better engage your brand with your audience.

While press releases are valuable in certain instances, Scott insists that sharing information with people directly in a human way can yield the most results — and opportunities.

This post also appears as the November “Digital Dialogue” column in the PR Tactics Journal, published by the Public Relations Society of America.

Author David Meerman Scott and HubSpot co-founder Brian Halligan hosted a fun Webinar yesterday for marketing and communication professionals entitled “Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead” (Replay Here).

I’m an easy sell when a classic rock or jam band theme is afoot and, besides, the hosts were putting their respective “World Wide Rave” and “Inbound Marketing” mantras into practice by providing valuable content at no cost to their audience.

Both gents did a nice job relating characteristics of the Grateful Dead with communication and content marketing concepts; even noting that, just as The Dead improvised during their long concert jams, they too were creating much of Thursday’s Webinar as the went along.

The most interesting thing about the Grateful Dead is their unique sound – tapping jazz, blues and psychedelic era influences – and the way they distribute and share it. While the band occasionally released studio albums until the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, their live shows are what made them remarkable according to Halligan. I agree, and although I’m not a Dead Head to the core I’ve certainly learned to appreciate the band’s music through its live recordings.

(Musical interlude #1 – I don’t think the band’s 1980’s studio album output – my era of introduction – was that bad either. Removing official live album releases you have “Go To Heaven” (’80) “In The Dark” (’87) and “Built To Last (’89). “In The Dark” alone gave us great songs including “Touch of Grey,” “Hell In a Bucket” and “Throwing Stones.” You may recall the “Touch of Grey” video that gave the band a brief MTV run.)

Letting fans record concerts for free is the cornerstone of the band’s strategy even today (post-Garcia iterations include The Other Ones, Phil Lesh & Friends, The Dead, and Furthur). The band has always allowed this, even staging designated recording equipment areas at their shows. This was the “original freemium model” as Halligan puts it, and it created viral, word-of-mouth marketing among fans who still spent plenty of money on concert tickets, T-shirts and posters; making album sales concerns an afterthought.

The Dead are willing to lose control of their marketing by letting fans define them and giving much of their music away for free. This has made all the difference in terms of the band’s long running success. Halligan and Meerman Scott implore marketers to engage in similar activities, creating great content that is meaningful for an audience instead of being all about products and services. Business opportunities and sales results follow as a content strategy develops awareness, reach and trust.

Meerman Scott reminds us that most organizations operate in a command and control environment with mission statements, boilerplate descriptions and processes and PR messages. “This stuff doesn’t spread much,” he said when suggesting businesses let people talk about them as they will, without dictating how they should say it. (I commented on dictation and collaboration previously in a Social CRM guest post for CRM Magazine). It’s a leap for anyone set in their ways, yet if you can accept letting prospects and customers use your information in a context that is valuable for them and their social networks, the likelihood of gaining favorability among them is infinitely better.

In The DARC

Halligan mentioned one of my favorites from his book “Inbound Marketing” with Dharmesh Shah as the hour concluded. Certain traits are desired when assembling top quality marketing and communication teams in the digital era. He and Shah offer the DARC acronym as a guideline, suggesting you seek people who are digital natives, analytical, have social reach and are content creators. (I explored this further in conversation with Halligan earlier this year.)

Several other points I liked from the Grateful Dead Marketing set:

• Halligan noted it is ok to “be worse than your competition in some ways.” The Dead were much worse at studio albums by most fan standards while better than most anybody else at live concerts. Focusing on your core competency helps you stand out.
• Modern marketing professionals are half marketer and half content creator. Your library of content stacks up over time and starts to pull people towards your business.
• Enable your fans to help spread your message. It’s simple and I like it. If you develop ebooks or whitepapers only to cage them behind lead generation forms, you’ve left most of your potential audience in the dark. Set these things free (and tag them with your contact info and social sites) – the goodness will come back to you!
• The Dead were experimenters, improvising within songs every night. No show was the same. “Sometimes they laid an egg,” says Halligan, but they failed fast and moved on to the next show. Quick cycles of experimentation work well in the new world of marketing.
• Your best fans / customers ought to get special offers and news about your new products first. Meerman Scott says most of the time marketers do just the opposite, offering special pricing to first-time buyers and subscribers while giving the rest of their customer base the shaft.

If you attended the Webinar, watched the replay, or just dig Inbound Marketing, I would enjoy hearing your perspective.

(Musical interlude #2 – Speaking of free music, I’m a big fan of Wolfgang’s Vault which features dozens of Grateful Dead shows among its thousands of free concert streams spanning the 60’s to present day. Many of the shows, including some Dead shows, were originally staged by famed concert promoter Bill Graham and have great history behind them you can read about in the Vault. My favorite Dead show in the Vault thus far is the New Year Eve ’88 show from Oakland Coliseum Arena. A good three-hour vibe. And www.deadlistening.com is another place to discover shows.)

I love when a good book finds me. This was the case with “Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, And Blogs” by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah of HubSpot. It was next up on my Amazon Wish List but then – Boom! – it came my way via a promotional copy handoff from Social CRM consultant Brent Leary.

This friendly exchange ended up being a nice example of what the book is all about; creating content (online content for the most part) and relationships that help people find you and your business. These guys are good… I called up Brian right away and he was open to sharing some additional thoughts regarding Inbound Marketing implications and opportunities. His comments became the basis of my January PR Tactics article “Welcome to the DARC side: Creating compelling content for your Web site.”

The article focuses on the authors’ DARC acronym detailing essential qualities for every communicator in the digital age (Digital Citizens, Analytical Chops, Web Reach, and Content Creators). I couldn’t fit everything from my discussion with Brian into this piece, so here are some additional insights he shared. His comment regarding Apple is timely this week given introduction of the iPad, and extension of their simplicity and ubiquitous themes. (Apple PR, by the way, is an interesting study unto itself. This New York Times article by David Carr gives further details.)

Ryan Zuk: You cite Apple and the iPod among the inspirations for HubSpot. Are there elements here communicators can apply to help do their jobs better?

Brian Halligan: When I think of the iPod, instead of a complicated MP3 player, I think of a great experience focused less on features and more on user interface. Apple designed an alternative focused not on features but on an enjoyable experience. This is the takeaway everyone in business should consider. At HubSpot, for example, we take complicated Web concepts and simplify them for marketers. Most marketing firms wanting to do modern marketing right need to assemble SEO, blogging, lead management and Web analytics consultants. This can get rather complicated. Our Internet marketing software harnesses these elements to help businesses generate more inbound leads and convert a higher percentage of them into paying customers.

RZ: How does Inbound Marketing change business operation and communication?

BH: I was reading a comment by David Meerman Scott basically suggesting that the old-school rules of marketing focused on buying attention (advertising), begging for it (PR) or bugging people one at a time (sales). Inbound Marketing is about creating really compelling content for your Web site (videos, blogs, EBooks etc) that pulls people in to learn more about you. The people attracted include other Web site owners who link to your content, and people tweeting about your content and sharing it on other social networks. Lots of links naturally bring more people to you, and meanwhile you start ranking nicely on Google.

When you have good content it tends to snowball. More and more people start to find you. The nice thing about creating remarkable content is that it is very cumulative. You earn a few more links after each post. It’s kind of like compounding interest in your bank account.

RZ: What can we do as marketers, PR practitioners and communicators to get on board?

BH: Marketing teams and PR agencies need to help clients change their culture of content creation. Bigger, older businesses need to understand that every piece of content shouldn’t be scrutinized through legal reviews. You really need to crank out lots of good stuff, so focus on turning your clients into publishing machines. Businesses who win on the Internet are prolific publishers. Zappos and Whole Foods are a couple that come to mind.

Help your clients craft content that is right for them. Maybe it’s videos for one and blogs for another. Getting remarkable content to the masses creates an inbound flow of traffic that becomes your prospect pipeline, and eventually your paying customers.

My thanks to Brian for his time. You can find HubSpot’s free Grader resources at Grader.com if you haven’t experienced them already. The tools help evaluate and improve your Web presence as well as how you use Facebook and Twitter.

Also check out www.hubspot.tv which airs Fridays at 4:00 p.m. Eastern

My latest Public Relations Tactics article published this past week (thanks as always to the @PRSA team) and I have some side notes to share. The article is called “Social awareness: Transforming your team into social media strategists,” and to construct it I went to one of the best social media thinkers I know, Jason Baer of Convince & Convert. My thanks to Jason for the conversation and for lending his expertise, which together yielded some valuable social media adoption suggestions for PR practitioners and agencies.

I had also intended to reference two new books in the article that are well worth plugging. They are World Wide Rave by David Meerman Scott and The Media Savvy Leader by David Henderson. Word count got the better of me, and keeping the focus on the conversation with Jason ended up being best in this case. Both books offer common sense thinking that directly relates to the Social Awareness theme, and provide unique steps to help bring transformations about in organizations and the minds of their leaders. Free eBook preludes are available for both Rave and Leader.

I was also quite excited when Len Gutman of Valley PR Blog picked up on the Social Awareness article earlier this week and posted some comments with a link for his readers. ValleyPRBlog.com is an especially helpful and timely resource for communicators because different thought provokers regularly contribute.

Finally, Jennifer Leggio posted interesting survey results on her ZDNet blog last month that illustrate a strong need for PR professionals and agencies to further build out their social media knowledge. Almost 80 percent of the survey’s 541 respondents (mainly PR directors and managers) said it is extremely important for “agencies to demonstrate proven understanding of how social media strategies apply to business.” The multifaceted survey also surfaced Horn Group, Porter Novelli, and SHIFT Communications among a short list of agencies most often cited by respondents, and concluded with key takeaways for agencies and clients. Leggio plans a Part II of this study with Nicole Jordan and, since Part I caught the attention of many agencies and PR pros, we can expect healthy participation and a nice set of analysis when this current effort concludes.