Winning More by Hating Professional PR Less
Bert Boerland just posted his take on press releases by the Drupal Association and Drupal community members. Like many developers I talk to, Bert is suspicious of professional PR and marketing. He would rather see more leveraged use of the community to get the word out about Drupal.
I think more community leverage for spreading the word about Drupal is a fine idea. We've had Kieran working hard on new and innovative ways to grease the gears of the community marketing machine to pull in people from adjacent communities. He's making good progress. I hope lots of people will step up and rally behind the initiatives he's cooking up. But that's orthogonal to PR activity. They're both needed.
Let's begin by clarifying that good PR is not about press releases. Good PR does not revolve around press releases any more than good programming revolves around readme.txt files. A PR rep or marketing person who obsesses about press releases should be enlightened or fired. If more than 1 in 10 conversations with my PR agency includes the word "press release", it would suggest to me that we have a serious problem on their side or on ours. I don't even count press release repostings as an operating metric for PR.
So if it isn't about press releases, what's good PR about? It's about generating positive awareness through media, influencers, and speaking opportunities. Good PR secures positive coverage in blogs, magazines, books, podcasts, vidcasts, radio, and TV. Good PR generates positive references among the trusted mavens who others turn to for advice and analysis. Good PR secures quality time at the podium for knowledgeable spokespeople at conferences, trade shows, and other events. And it does all of this using ethical means and a win-win mind set. If you don't have a compelling story backed by facts and substance, no amount of PR effort can save you.
This all takes time, relationships, and execution. A good PR agency knows all the bloggers and reporters and analysts you want to talk to and the organizers of the events you want to speak at. They have relationships built up over years and they know who covers what and who is working which angles. So when their client has a story to tell, they can schedule interviews with the right people - people who will listen and write something useful and insightful. Again, it has to be ethical and win-win to be good PR. No deceptive hype allowed.
It takes real time and skill to plan an announcement, set up the interviews, hone the story, conduct the interviews, and follow up. A good PR agency helps out with all this. When we did the Acquia announcements back in March, we did LOTS of 1:1 briefings generating MANY unique articles (which were then syndicated all over the place). If you just generate a press release and post it on the wire, none of the above activity happens. I was a little frustrated, but not surprised, that Drupal 6 didn't get as much coverage as it deserved.
When Drupal 7 rolls around, I hope that the Drupal Association will decide to get a professional PR agency involved and make it a priority to organize a more coordinated, high impact launch. A great product deserves a great launch PR strategy that goes WAY beyond press releases and drupal.org posts. Combined with appropriate activities to leverage our global community, we can have the most powerful open source product launch ever. I'll see that Acquia does its part. Is anybody else on board to rock the planet with Drupal goodness?
Related Topic: Tom Foremski of SiliconValleyWatcher has a classic post from 2006 entitled "Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die!". It's a good read (including the comments) if you have a few minutes.
As a long time Drupal user and member of the association I have to say that I don't think that a "professional PR agency" is where the members money should be spent. There are a couple of points to be made on this front.
Who defines what is truly a professional PR agency? I'm willing to bet that every PR agency will tell you that they are professional. Is Edelman professional? I'm sure they are pros. They've also done a horrible job of handling some of Wal-Mart's blogging efforts. So it seems that in PR you don't always get what you pay for.
Word of mouth wins over press releases in 2008. And I'm very sure that the Drupal community could put together a better viral campaign about the platform than any professional PR outfit whose expertise revolves around honing stories for media coverage and getting you a spot at the podium.
Having attended some local NYC Drupal events my perception is that Drupal has gotten this far by taking the message directly to the people and companies who need a flexible, powerful publishing and community platform. So when you pin your hopes on what a PR firm can do for you then you're left praying that some other news story (like a merger, or a disaster or a new Google product) doesn't blow the carefully honed message or your time at the podium out of the water.
The community is out there willing to support the promotion of Drupal through Drupal 7 and beyond. So the association can save their money by coming up with creative ways to activate the community so that the buzz continues long after the next version of Drupal hits the street.
I think we totally agree on the community part. That's a huge strength. As for the professional PR part, you're right that your mileage may vary. But the return on investment is very strong if you get the right firm and give them the right guidance.
I think everybody agrees with that.
A great product deserves a great launch PR strategy that goes WAY beyond press releases and drupal.org posts.
Drupal is not a "product". It's an open source software. If you don't know the difference, you should be enlightened or fired.
I don't want this corporate nonsense take over the Drupal world. It'll cost us a lot and bring in nothing.
I guess we disagree about the definition of the word "product". Fine. No problem. Call the thing that will get released at the end of the Drupal 7 release cycle an"X".
If X is good, the world beyond the existing Drupal community should know about it. Professional PR can be one of several things that the community does to achieve that. It's clear that you're suspicious of this approach. To help me understand why, please explain which of the specific activities mentioned in the original post you disagree with.
You pack a lot of ignorance into 4 lines. There is no dichotomy between a product an open source software. One can be both, and often is. Is Firefox a product or open source software? Apache?
Anyway, it can be useful at times to consider Drupal a product. Thats especially true when we discuss how best to market it. When I see "market", I mean how best to spread the good word that Drupal can solve their needs. We all love Drupal, and want to see it grow. Growing Drupal is indeed a core mission of the Drupal Association. Thats one the activities people are voting for and expecting when they donate to us. It is in the by-laws. Thus, it is perfectly reasonable and expected to discuss how best to launch Drupal 7. You don't have to participate in that discussion, but don't declare like it shouldn't happen. We're long past that decision.
I don't really know how to respond to your use of the phrase "corporate nonsense". It suggests to me that you have no appreciation for immense good that can come from organized activity that also has a profit component. Some of us have meditated for quite some time and found work to do on this planet that benefits people and still makes money.
FYI, I do not work for Acquia. I just came across your comment and felt like replying.
So "it is perfectly reasonable and expected to discuss how best to launch Drupal 7" - unless you happen to dislike the commercial tone and practices adopted by the Association. In that case you are "ignorant" and should just shut up.
"FYI, I do not work for Acquia."
Fine, but it's irrelevant. The discussion is about the PR activities of the Drupal Association, not of Acquia. I was under the impression that these 2 are separate entities. I have no problem with commercial organizations, as long as they declare themselves as such. If Aquia and the other main consultancies wish to have an outlet that is focused on "product launches" and promotes Drupal for the business sector, fine. But they should not use the DA for this purpose. The DA should remain representative of the community and concern itself with community efforts.
I'm not aware of the Apache foundation employing professional PR consultants. Firefox is very different from Drupal as there aren't that many businesses offering Firefox-based commercial software.
A better example would be Linux and that's where the Drupal community should look for best practices. Even though Red Hat and the other distributors could legitimately argue that selling Linux to corporate America is good for Linux as a whole, for some reason they are not using the funds of Linux user organizations to finance these messages.
I think I get it now. You are worried that I might be trying to leech off of the Drupal Association budget with my proposal. Trying to pull a fast one and get something for nothing.
I grew up in a small farming town and worked my way through college, so I may be too dense to follow your logic. But here's how I see it:
1) The Drupal Association's reason for existence is to promote Drupal and help it. It's on their home page and in their charter. Check it out.
2) There is broad consensus among professional marketers that good PR (remember my definition above) is the most cost effective marketing vehicle there is. It only takes you so far. You shouldn't over-invest. It shouldn't be the ONLY thing you do. But it normally should be the FIRST thing you do.
3) The Drupal Association does not currently do professional PR beyond posting press releases.
4) This year, for the first time, I think the Drupal Association is going to have the money to invest in real marketing.
5) It would be a good idea for the Drupal Association to at least consider professional PR as part of the marketing mix for launching Drupal 7.
Now (1) may be news to you and/or you may disagree with that mission. But the charter of the organization is what it is. Neither you nor I get to fiddle with it.
You may also argue that (2) is invalid because you know better than the marketing establishment. And you could be right, but in that case you have to point to an alternate marketing vehicle (remember the charter) that provides better ROI. So what would that be?
(3) is an undisputable fact.
I'm pretty sure (4) is true, because the company where I work is writing a BIG check to the Association to hand over the all the profits on the DrupalCon Boston conference.
So that's my logic. What am I missing?
happy to hear that the non-profit/open source/whatever world will start taking PR more seriously. after all, it only totally runs our lives, whether we are aware of it or not, whether we want to admit it or not.
Open Source software can be helped along by PR. GCI Group in Austin helped Pervasive Software with its Postgres open source database.
In respectful reply to your article:
If you want a product to do well, it should perform well.
(Yes I know Microsoft is a short-term exception to this rule, but they are not doing all that well.)
If you build Drupal, or any cms for that matter, to be easy to use for both end-user and developer, quick, safe and implement a well-working modular system. Then it will be an example to the community, and people will want to work with it. It should be nothing more and nothing less. Personally I don't care if Drupal ever makes it big time. I would be more than happy to have it stay a platform by developers and for developers.
Some software engineers could learn by looking at traditional engineering, and some (big) companies need to (seriously) stop making decisions based on what marketing people tell them is great software. Which every programmer knows is a hunk of junk, difficult for staff to work with, and wasting tons of money. I have been in the industry for some time, and have actually seen the quality of software overall demise instead of improve. A lot of software was finished in the eighties. But there are people who want to make a living. How many "great" developments have we seen in software in the office segment in the last two decades? Very little, too many people looking for the gold in them there hills.
By trying to compete with commercial cms's well.. There is a reason why where not using some of those. Look at software products that do well, and software products that don't do well. Exactly. It is no wonder almost every business is leaving Microsoft.
When software is done, leave it alone or create a module. Things that over a long time will be commonly accepted will find their way into the core ecosystem, others that become out of use will become a module again. This is a great philosophy, and it leaves room for improvement. Look at Debian and Ubuntu for example. Classic tortoise and hare example.
One press release delivered to the right person that leads to a solid developed product will do more than years of marketing.
Can the software industry be beneficial? Definitely. We see this everyday. And iniatives have been springing up for years, and some continue to evolve reflecting the needs of this planet. These iniatives should be encouraged. Software if done right is like a well-tailored suit, made to order, but based on a common fabric.
I'm late to the party, Jeff - so I'll just say right on, well argued and let me know how I can help. :)
I needed to weigh in on this as both a Drupal Engineer and someone trained in public relations.
Good PR is about engaging groups of people that are of interest to your organization in ways that are meaningful to both your group and also the targeted group. If the interactions aren't meaningful, they will fail. The best campaigns are of a grassroots nature and promote the type of 'let the community promote it.' activities some of the detractors have written about.
There is no marketing activity closer in alignment to open source principles than public relations. This is primarily because of the openness in communications, the collaborative nature of the conversations, and the symbiotic relationship created between the two groups. When it's done right, of course.
I think the closest comparison of what Jeff's writing about here could be with the Mozilla Foundation and the work they've done with GetFirefox campaign. The foundation, also repsonsible for promoting the software, has used professional services in getting their message to the right people (their PR firm of record in the US is Outcast Communications).
I think there's PR work that should be done by the association, and then there's work that needs to be done by each corporate entity that hangs out their Drupal shingle. The efforts should complement and learn from each other. It might, however, take time to determine where those particular divisions might lie.
Good post, Jeff!
What you named "good PR" is what we call "media relations" at InitMarketing for the exact same reasons you pointed out.
A community-driven project such as Drupal can win a lot by combining advocacy and media relations in a smart way, because this will significantly raise Drupal's visibility both for community advocates (e.g. developers) and community agnostics (e.g. economic buyers).
The point that media relations (aka "good PR") are still important is that many analysts, journalists, bloggers, thought leaders get far too many emails from people they don't know. Media relations agencies (aka PR agencies) have over the past established good relationships with them, so they trust them as a source of valuable information. In fact, good agencies serve as a kind of filter for them, because they tell them only news which would indeed be interesting to them.
The Drupal community is great, but not every potential Drupal user will join it nor like the impression that they would have to deal with a community to make successful use of Drupal. These people can best be reached via media relations aka "good PR".
In the end, it's all about positioning Drupal well in times where everyone feels overloaded by too much information - just make sure you use all the best tools available.
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