While the words of change from vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin are still ringing across newsrooms today, change continues to be the main course for what's going on with those media who have tracked and covered all things storage over the past few years. Let's revisit some fairly substantial changes over the past year alone, and some quite recent:
- Chris Mellor sells his succesful Blocks and Files to take on reporting and analysis for the Register. Filling the hole left when Ashlee Vance departed to take on a tech reporting role at the New York Times. Thankfully, we don't lose any of Chris' insight and perspective in the market.
- Deni Connor leaves her position at Network World to become a successful storage analyst at her own firm, Storage Strategies NOW. Thankfully, we still get to read her byline each week for the Network World Storage Alert Newsletter.
- Mary Jander moves over from CMP's owned Byte and Switch to CMP's Internet Evolution. Now if they can only find someone to help James Rogers out!
- Jo Maitland moves from TechTarget to Forrester.
- Tim Stammers moves from Computerwire to analyst firm Ovum.
- Brian Fonseca leaves Computerworld, making room for Todd Weiss to cover all things storage. Todd will be the first to tell you, he's still learning the intricacies and players in the storage industry.
- Jerome Wendt, DCIG, spends less time writing Tech Reports for Storage Magazine and more on blogging, storage analysis and market reports. While we lose the great insight and customer focused stories for Storage Magazine, we continue to get it daily from his own site and from Searchdatabackup.com and Computerworld.
And, that only scratches the surface. So what can we do to help? Here's a list of things I feel will not only help those who have taken over new positions or that have to deal with the 30-40 email pitches alone on a daily basis but also move our role as PR professionals into a helpful role. Some of this isn't earth shattering but serves as a good reminder.
Be smart. Don't expect any new reporter to educate you on what they need to write a story. If as many in the media continue to tell us, read the last 10 stories they have written. You'll be light years ahead of some of your PR counterparts.
Be respectful. We all have points to make. Important information to communicate. Deadlines to deal with and bosses and clients that demand answers. There are convenient times to call versus email versus IM. Be cognizant what each reporter is facing to do their own jobs first.
Be relevant. Understand what FYI outreach is versus continuing a meaningful conversation. You will be far more successful if you can provide the extra value, perspective and context for your own clients as well as what's happening in the broader market.
Be patient. Too often we lose sight of the forest from the trees and push to get answers in an unreasonable timeframe. Some of these timeframes we create for ourselves by not thinking. Some of these are outside our own control. I haven't seen many that do media relations well that carry the nickname "the Bulldog," "the Badger" or "the Bull."
Be current. If you're not in a story a reporter has written, find ways to freshen the story or offer a new perspective that helps to illustrate a point they may have made, or better yet, missed. Also, don't wait to respond. The importance of the response loses any meaning the further it is away from the story you're talking about.
Think I missed anything? Let me know. And, for those of us who live to track the comings and goings in the storage industry, this fall season is shaping up to be a busy one.
