Is the press release dead?

Well not really. But there certainly is a new wave out there – the social media press release, or SMPR, spawned by Todd Defern and the folks at SHIFT communications.

What does this mean for you? Well, when newspapers, magazines and other media go online, they are trying to create a conversation around a given article or topic they have written about. Why shouldn’t that be the case for press releases?

So I decided to get a podcast together with Todd so he could shed some light on success stories using the SMPR. Enjoy …

The Power of Social Media meets the Press Release

About Todd

Todd Defren leads client services and business development efforts for SHIFT Communications, a $10 million agency with offices in Boston and San Francisco.

Working in high-tech public relations for approximately 15 years, Defren currently specializes in social media strategies and is widely noted for creating the first template for social media news releases in 2006. He followed up with a template for social media-optimized online newsrooms in early 2007.

Prior to SHIFT, Defren was at Sterling Hager, joining in 1994 as an account manager and reaching the level of managing director of the San Francisco office in August 2000. His earlier experience included managing the strategic and tactical corporate communications at ENTEX Information Services, a $2 billion New York-based systems integrator, now part of Siemens AG.

Defren has served as a visiting professor at Emerson College in Boston, lecturing on marketing and public relations on the Internet. In 2006, Defren was named a Research Fellow and member of the Advisory Board of the Society for New Communications Research.

Full Disclosure: I have hired SHIFT Communications to help BearingPoint with our Social Media PR

Brand building and reputation management are two sides of a coin. What brand managers do to build their company’s reputation can come crashing down overnight with the keystroke of an angry blogger.

Managing a company’s reputation used to be a back-channel activity, known only to a few. Today, company reputation is available to everyone. It is radically transparent.

Fellow blogger Andy Beal of MarketingPilgrim just released a book with Dr. Judy Strauss titled Radically Transparent. It’s a how-to guide for anyone needing to manage a reputation, whether B2B, B2C or even C2C. To complement the book, Andy has launched a service called Trackur that can help you monitor and manage a reputation.

I managed to grab Andy on his way to SXSW to discuss what’s changing in reputation management. Enjoy …

Radically Transparent Reputation Management – a podcast with Andy Beal

About Andy

Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant specializing in search engine marketing, online reputation management, and business blogging. Considered one of the world’s most respected online marketing experts, Andy has worked with many top companies such as Motorola, GlaxoSmithKline, SAS, Lowes, Quicken Loans, and NBC.

Highly respected as a source of internet marketing advice, Andy Beal has had articles published around the world, including BusinessWeek Online, Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Guide, and Web Pro News. He is the co-author of an online reputation management book called Radically Transparent which can be found on Amazon.com.

Nothing focuses the sales force on sales like a quota. But what does a CEO use to focus Marketing? Can Marketing really begin to source leads for Sales? And how can you really optimize the relationship between Sales and Marketing?

This podcast is the first in a series we’ve set up along with B2B marketing software provider Marketo to examine the classic sales vs. marketing debate. To start things off, we’ve brought together Marketo’s chief executive officer and his VP of Marketing to discuss the differences in Sales and Marketing as seen from the perspective of a CEO whose company is focused on aligning sales and marketing to create a single revenue funnel, as well as what that looks like day to day from the marketing trenches.

Nothing could be scarier to a marketer than having to answer to the CEO. So I give a lot of credit to Jon Miller, who sat in the hot seat in front of his company’s top executive just for this podcast! Enjoy …

Sales is from Mars and Marketing is from Venus – a CEO’s Perspective

About Phil Fernandez
President and CEO, Marketo

Phil is a 26-year Silicon Valley veteran and has the scars (and a couple of successful IPOs) to prove it. Prior to Marketo, he was President and COO of Epiphany, a public enterprise software company known for its visionary marketing products. Before this, Phil was COO and SVP of Products and Services at Red Brick Systems, a pioneering data warehouse vendor. Earlier, he held leadership positions at Metaphor Computer Systems, Stanford University Medical Center, and Masstor Systems. Phil holds a BA from Stanford University.

About Jon Miller
VP Marketing, Marketo

Jon has the unique challenge of leading Marketing for Marketo, a company whose mission is helping other B2B marketers drive revenue and improve accountability. Jon explores best practices in demand generation, lead management, and online marketing in his popular blog, Modern B2B Marketing, and is a frequent columnist and speaker at industry events. Before co-founding Marketo, Jon was a vice president at Epiphany, a CRM strategist at Exchange Partners, and a strategic consultant for Gemini Consulting. Jon graduated Magna Cum Laude in Physics from Harvard College and has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.