Blogosphere PR Research
I’m doing some research today for SnapNames on the bloggers who are influencing the domain name industry. It’s a fun process, following blogrolls and searching Technorati for their “influencer status.”
For me, that simply involves typing in a blog URL and getting the number of inbound links - checking their tag clouds, etc.
I ran across an interesting thread about Johnson & Johnson buying up negative domain names in order to protect their Splenda product line -
splendasucks.net, .org, .biz, .info
splendakills.net, .org, biz .info
splendatruth.com , .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendapoison.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
thedangersofsplenda.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
thefactsaboutsplenda.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
thesplendadangers.com, .net, .org, .biz, .inf
Sahar Sarid thinks they were smart to do so. But in a chillingly titled “Splenda Killed My Dog” post (a title that seems to be spreading pretty quickly through the blogosphere) Rene Connor disagrees - saying they left too many names (splendakilledmydog.com was still available last week - I’ll bet it’s not any more!) on the table, and called too much attention to themselves.
I am a firm believer in protecting your brands using domain names. As the practice becomes more ubiquitous for marketers, we’ll all learn more about just how many we should buy to protect ourselves.
And we’ll just know that someone will always come up with a workaround.
stuff they missed.
http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2007/03/hey_splenda_you_missed_splendasuckscom.asp
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/03/more_failed_eff.html
http://www.sustainableisgood.com/blog/2007/03/image_is_everyt.html
Hi Alan,
So what do you think? Should J&J have registered more or fewer? You’ve been blogging forever, and know the power people have to bend reputations… what would you have advised?
Janet,
J&J tossed their money down a rathole. If their goal is to prevent “reputation terrorism”, or “determined detractors”, there is probably something in the dark, that may or may not be important to folks.
It doesn’t matter how many domain names they buy, somebody will find one that will accomplish the same result and get traction. This seige mentality is a waste of time.
Under the best case, if there are no skeletons, why bother? Somebody is selling fear and making a killing. It makes them look bad even before the get out of the gate.
This is defensive marketing, which PR firms are shoveling as the “Next Big Thing” Also known as “Crisis Management”, it comes down to presenting an argument based on an assumption that somehow folks are not smart enough to evaluate information and reach a conclusion.
We are way beyond that now.
Some of the things that companies especially in the consumer sector fail to realize are:
We can ‘fact check your ass’ before your flash presentation finishes loading,
We can search faster than you can issue press releases,
We can smell BS at longer and longer distances.
Here is my view from the cheap seats.
The nature of marketing and public relations is changing profoundly. Broadcast is all but gone, Monologue is dying a slow and tortuous death as anybody with the price of an internet connection can be heard.
Online has moved from Monologue to Dialogue.
Chris Willis at the Hypergend Media Blog wrote this:
”On the web you don’t control your message, but you’re welcome participate in the conversation you’ve started.”
This is the only marketing advice companies need.
The problem here is that it is drop dead simple. It is also real hard to charge a company 10 grand for something that can be written in big letters in the back of a business card.
One of the other more interesting things that seige marketeers do is search for the negative, sort of like the old Yellow Pages Marketing Scheme.
“When You answer the phone, ask them how they found your number. The Yellow Pages? See? It works!”
Notice that your yellow pages have beeb recycled about a week after you got them, unless you have children and use them as booster seats?
Searching for the positive is fraught with peril, as folks who like your product, and are your best advertising are swept under the rug to continue the Seige Marketing meme.
At the end of the day, Honesty, Humility and humanity will sell more product that any amount of spin or or seige marketing.