Blog homeLets say you want to get your latest news published in the trade press. How would you go about it?
In this modern world the press don’t want to cover boring new product launches - so in order to “spice it up” (and make it publishable) companies often spill the details on how a product will work. I am not completely clear that this is a great idea. I have a scrap book of functionality that has been made public this way.
Lets have a look at some recent examples that I have kept:
Opodo incorporates “a little personal touch” to bookings
Passengers booking flights through Opdoo will now receive a handy text ahead of their trip containing their booking reference number, flight number, flight departure time and a weather summary at their chosen holiday destination. The text is sent to bookers in the UK the day before they fly. To receive the Tarmac Text, customers optionally supply their mobile phone number at the booking stage online or over the phone.
Great. Opodo may as well have published the functional specification. Thanks Opodo. Next time I do a project based on pre-flight information I know exactly what the text needs to contain.
Freedom Direct SMS case study (Travel Weekly July 2008)
….. now generating SMS messages at several key stages - including initial booking confirmation, balance reminders, overdue balance notification, pre-departure advice and ‘welcome back from your holiday’ messages.
Thanks Comtec. I was wondering how others incorporate SMS into their reservation systems. Now I know. We will have this in the next few months.
HotelConnect anticipates 40% increase in paid search revenue following agency switch
Working with Jellyfish we will have improved landing pages built for generic search terms, which engage the customer blah blah blah….. This agreement will allow us to find new space in the CPC landscape, which is crucial to the continued success of paid search.
If it is that crucial - don’t you think you shouldn’t have mentioned exactly what your strategy is? Don’t you think your competitors read your press releases? With PPC being so competitive even the slightest idea about what your competitors are working on is valuable information.
Why is this a problem?
Learning about functionality on competitor websites can be quite tricky. You think you could just go to the website and see it - but sometimes functionality only becomes apparent when certain situations occur. Also quite a lot of this functionality is “behind the scenes” so never visible unless exposed by the PR team.
I guess the PR people working at travel companies don’t realise what competitive advantage can be gained from clever functionality. If I was in charge I wouldn’t let functionality based press releases take place. I would also stop agencies doing “new customer acquisition” press releases on your behalf as they often give away exactly what the agency has been requested to deliver. Bad idea.
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Hi Alex,
For once, I have to disagree with your arguments.
in the 21st century, I think there is no real justification why companies should hide their functionilities or “key competencies”. To the contrary, we’ve learned that by announcing new things make the product more attractive and may shift customers to try other products. If your competitors see that you have some nice functionalities, it doesn’t mean they will work on these features next time with their development team. “Me too” don’t work all the time. Sometimes it is by being different that you can attract new customers. We have even seen some companies who decided to make a product simpler and with less features (Google Chrome vs. Explorer for instance). I even think companies should embrace blogs to preview and announce features on their product. Microsoft does it for a long time now. Do they see that as big threat from potential competitors (Google, Apple or any software developers really)? What about people showcasing products they bought on YouTube? Is that a threat for companies?
Cheers,
Guillaume
Hi Guillaume
I will give you an example. I worked for an online hotel distribution company. We released a piece of functionality that was very neat - but only generated 50 bookings a month (a very small number in comparison to the main volume). However it was 50 more than before the functionality was released.
I am NDAd with that company so I can’t discuss it - however if I see a mention of it in the press - then I know that I can then discuss it with other companies - because it is no longer under the terms of my NDA as it is public.
I agree with what you say about the perils of “me too” developments. Larger companies tend to approach a problem by first looking at business requirements, user requirements, functional specification etc. i.e. build from new each time. Small and medium sized business though tend to just “copy” what is already seen to be working as they don’t have the expertise to design from the ground up.
I think highlighting VISIBLE functionaltiy for PR purposes is OK perhaps….. but exposing behind the scenes functionality has all sorts of downsides.
Regarding being disagreed with. Thank goodness. At last. I know I am not right on many things and I want this blog to be a 2 way conversation rather than me in “broadcast” mode.
I should also say that with TourCMS - http://www.tourcms.com - we publish all our manuals and new release notes online - available to everyone and anyone.
But this is because we have “gone online” for different reasons……… not for PR purposes! I.e. we have done it as a conscious decision - but I am sure the PR guys have not.
It’s a little like stealing your tag lines huh Alex
I think if your competition are eager enough to find out what your company offers then they will spend the time doing so themselves, without the need of a press release. I do think that PR agencies are really struggling to get their releases mentioned by editors that they want to add something unique that will attract their attention.
I am a small independent blog and I get a truck load of them each day!
So to rap up; 1) I think if your competitors wants to find out info, they are ways and means to do that 2) PR agencies want to get their clients noticed so are trying to be unique (not very well IMO!)
Hi Darren
Big companies spend hundreds of thousands of pounds (dollars) investing in primary research to find out how best to design functionality for their purposes. Then someone in PR goes and gives it all away!
It is difficult from the outside to “guess” the functionality - for example if you have devised something that only works for a certain group of people - in a specific situation - this will not be evident - unless disclosed either by your technology supplier - or by your PR team…… (I know I am being unkind to PR people…… it isn’t just PR people who disclose important business processes)