2. Quick Flash on …
• Simone Droll: expert in Corporate Marketing, Communications & PR
• +20 years of experience in communications and marketing for international IT, Internet and Industrial
companies (Microsoft, Netscape, Thales, Alstom…)
• 10 years working experience in France
• Since 2009 based in Munich – commuting between Paris and Munich
• www.simonedroll.com
• Client references in NTIC, Retail & Services, Industry & Security, digital
marketing markets
• IT/ Telco: Brainloop (DCM), Microsoft, (consumer) SGT (broadcast ), snom technology (VoIP), 170 Systems (KOFAX),
Aquin (Finance), blueKiwi Software (Web 2.0)
• Retail: J2 Retail Systems, DigiPos, Pricer, SimplicIT/ ThinkSmart
• Security/ Industry: Risk&Co, tesa scribos, Thales Raytheon Systems, Alstom
• Digital Marketing: OMD show, SapientNitro
• Leveraging bigger client projects through Paris-based partner agency
Clipping (www.clipping.fr)
3. Some rules for good PR
Professional Media Relations in France follow the same rules
as in other Western countries:
• You need GOOD, RELEVANT and REGULAR NEWS
• You should use PROOF-POINT COMMUNICATIONS as often
as possible (customer references)
• You should be HIGHLY REACTIVE and AVAILABLE
4. However… to really succeed,
you should
• Be as LOCAL as possible
• Communicate in FRENCH (and possibly not in English)
• Have a LOCAL SPOKESPERSON (who understands local
specificities)
• Use max of LOCAL REFERENCES AND STORIES
• Try to calm down a bit between July 15 and August 15…
• … and understand that sometimes it takes a little bit longer
and at least one lunch meeting to get to where you want…
5. Specificities of the French
media landscape
• Media landscape reflects centralized
organization of France
• National papers are strongly dominating public opinion
• Dailies with focus on business/ economic issues: Les Echos, La
Tribune…
• Dailies with focus on political, social, cultural issues: Le Monde,
Le Figaro, Libération, …
• Business weeklies: le Nouvel Obs, Challenges, Capital
• Regional media uses political, social & economic news
produced by national papers.
6. The crisis of the print media
Drop in circulation and number of
print titles in the technical/ IT press
6
7. IT B2B Media:
the big shake-up in 2007
… shifting most print publications online.
8. Trend towards „Online“
Number of weekly visitors of all websites monitored by OJD
8
Number of weekly visitors in million
Number of websites and online medias
Source: http://observatoire.ojd.com
9. The key B2B NTIC publications
PRINT:
ONLINE:
IT CHANNEL MEDIA (mainly online):
9
10. Dealing with „Special Interest”
media
• Less and less editors in-house
• Pressure for advertising placement increases
• PR for „unknown brands“ with low budgets become more and
more difficult (tendency goes more and more to “paid” PR)
• Without local customer references, interest of journalists to
cover the news is close to zero
10
11. The typical PR tools…
• Basic press kit / backgrounder – an absolute must!
• Press releases, interviews, press tours, PR events, …
• Customer stories and case studies (local!!!)
• By-lined articles (article placement is still a problem in France)
• Updated PR section on website is a must!
… and not to forget our working tools:
• A focused press distribution list (PR newswire services do not really work in
France)
• Upcoming feature tracking calendar
• Upcoming press release calendar/ PR strategy!
• Clipping service (e.g. PressIndex, l´Argus de la Presse)
12. … The Dos and Don´ts
Dos:
•Communicate in French
•Use relevant and valuable news for the
French target audience
•Be as local as possible
Don´ts:
•Don’t try to impose non-local, irrelevant news to journalists
•Don´t SPAM
•Avoid one-shot press release distribution –
it´s a waste of money and time
•Don´t believe that French journalists really work
between July 14th and August 15th …
13. PR 2.0 – Creating the Buzz
networks
Wiki flux RSS
social
PR 2.0
collaboration
LinkedIn
business
Viadeo
traitdunion
Mapping
YouTube Facebook
magazine
WebXing
SharePoint buzz
Press release Radio
Features
Opinion influencer
Twitter interview expertise
Blog
clients
Cartographie
produits
FlickR télévision
journaliste Plaxo e-réputation
communautés
opinion forum
RSS Feeds
viral clipping
bookmarking Netvibes
monitoring
14. Media paradigm changes
• Blog, social networks & micro blogging allows UGC (user
generated content): Consumers become influencers rather
than influenced
• Potentially, in France, 40 million web users can publish (blog
& micro blog, note (comment, sharing websites), transmit
(social links), comment (blog) and exchange (social networks,
social medias)
• Today, REPUTATION is more important than
COMMUNICATIONS
• Ergo: Social media is different from traditional media - it’s a
new approach based on listening and interaction
15. Making PR 2.0 a reality for our
customers
• Enhancing the online presence and e-reputation of clients
• Offering a comprehensive set of PR 2.0 tools and services, e.g.
• Monitoring & Mapping (Who talks about you/ your topics?)
• Ensure an increased & controlled online presence by managing your
online profile (on social networks/ community sites, such as Facebook,
Wikipedia, …)
• Working with the influencers on the web to build up your online
reputation (active presence in blogs, discussion forums, …)
• Viral PR and controlled key word referencing (on Google,…)
• Animation of client’s own blog and dissemination of RSS feeds
16. Some final recommendations
• Check first whether the news is interesting and valid
for French media (and readers)
• Check first whether you have sufficient news
(quantitative and qualitative) to fill a regular news
pipeline
• Use a smart combination of different
communications tools & channels to increase the
impact of your PR (web communications, events,
advertising…)
• Be aware that PR is just „one line“ in the whole
communications and marketing mix
Thank you !
17. Contact
Simone Droll
Rosenheimer Straße 83
81667 München
Germany
Fon +49 89 18 95 40 77
Cell DE +49 151 230 48 645
Cell FR +33 6 72 05 46 46
Mail sd@simonedroll.com
www.simonedroll.com
