I just added some links to a number of blog search engines. You’ll find them in the Suggested Links sidebar.
These are some interesting ones you might want to look at if you’re trying to learn more about what blogging is all about.
Another reason to link there is that it improves the priority your blog receives when they crawl and search for you!
It’s almost a too late to post this but I think it’s only right to honor the men and women farmers of America who provide such abundance!
National Agriculture Day is coordinated by the Agriculture Council of America and it kicks off National Ag Week.
We should all be grateful for our safe, abundant food supply.
I’m going to periodically post feedback we receive from reporters because I think it’s a good idea to see what reporters tell us regarding Talking News Releases. I plan to post the good and the bad without edits.
The reporter in this post was responding to an email request for feedback on a series of releases we sent over the last couple months for the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service about their ARMS Survey. We really prefer not to send out requests because we know reporters hate taking the time to respond but we will do so and in this case we received more than the normal number of responses.
This post is from Bob Priddy, News Director for the Missourinet, a statewide news radio network, owned by Learfield Communications, where I used to work as manager of the Brownfield Network. Bob is a past president of the Radio, Television News Directors Association.
As you might recall from your days of living in the same room with us, the Missourinet is pretty cruel to people who offer canned tape. It’s easy to be cruel to strangers who call on the phone and offer comments from the head of the National Association of Left-handed Arc-Welders about the problems of the pasta manufacturing industry in an era of low-carb diets, especially since that person lives in New Hampshire.
We tell those folks we don’t take nor do we use canned tape. If we can’t do the interview ourselves and ask our own questions and the necessary follow-up questions, we’re not interested.
That has generally been the case with the Taking News Releases. We haven’t used them on the air. But in the case of the work you guys are doing, the situation is a little different. It’s different because you’re working with Missouri entities and dispensing Missouri information. So the ZimmCom product becomes a tip service for us. If the subject is something we’re interested in, we can follow up with the angle or the issue we want to pursue.
In the case of the ARMS survey, I don’t know if we would have known about it without the material you have sent us. I don’t recall any direct contact from the people behind the survey.
It seems to me the value of the kinds of service you folks are providing—from our standpoint—is that it offers your clients exposure. The ultimate decision on the value of the news from your client will always be made in the newsroom of whatever outlet gets this material. The important thing, however, is that the material is being put before the eyes of reporters and editors. Whether they use it exactly as you send it to them or whether they use the material to build their own stories, with our without the people you use, is secondary to the fact that they get to see the information, evaluate it, and pursue the issue.
You are providing your clients with a valuable service, using your expertise to enhance their outreach opportunities. You cannot order me to use the material but you can package it in such a way that I find it attractive enough to develop it for my newsroom’s use if I find it editorially valuable. And I think that’s about as much as your clients can ask for, at least from us.
Good luck with the Talking News Releases. Keep us on your list.
Bob Priddy
Thanks Bob for your feedback. We fully intend to keep sending you our Talking News Releases for the benefit of our clients and as a service to reporters like yourself!
Although I planned to blog my way through the upcoming NAMA convention in Phoenix I didn’t plan to have a booth there.
That changed today, so AgriMarketing Pros is now an exhibitor!
My plan is to be set up with my work station (computer, mixer, microphone, recorder) and conduct interviews throughout the event with other exhibitors, attendees and speakers. I’ll post audio, pictures and other information as I find it.
If you’re planning on exhibiting and want to contact me ahead of time I’ll be happy to do an over the phone interview and post it before we get there. Call me to discuss what your company will be promoting!
I have to make a comment on how convention centers really rip off exhibitors though. I called the Phoenix Civic Plaza today to ask about high speed internet access. They don’t offer wireless in the trade show area, only in some of the meeting rooms. But for $450 I can get a wire to a cable modem in the trade show area. That amounts to $150/day for a 3 day convention and that’s a rip-off. I don’t know how they can even justify it. We’ll see what happens because I need the speed!
Blazin’ Horizons on the way to Phoenix!
Cindy was able to spend some time on the phone with Mike Johanns, our newest Secretary of Agriculture. We thought you might want to hear the latest from Washington straight from the main man! In the interview he talks about the budget, beef trade, CAFTA, Cuba and National Agriculture Day (March 20). The interview is about 11 1/2 minutes long in mp3 file format. You can listen to it here: Mike Johanns Interview.
Stories from Cindy’s interview can be heard on Southeast AgNet.
We think Mike will do a good job for agriculture in Washington, DC. He’s very media friendly, meaning that he seems to enjoy speaking to the press and is comfortable doing so.
I remember when he became governor of Nebraska. At the time I was the farm director for the Brownfield Network. I had called his office and left a message that I would like to interview him. A little later I got a call and when I answered it I heard, “Hi Chuck, this is Governor Johanns.” Not many politicians I’ve ever had any experience with would handle that call like that. Usually you get some press aide who calls and then turns the phone over after you’re on the line and been waiting a few minutes.
Hope you enjoy the interview and we look forward to working with Mike in the coming years.
Yes. This ag dude got selected to take a blogging trip to Switzerland.
I wrote about IFAJ on a recent post. It’s the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.
They have their annual conference this year in Thun/Bern, Switzerland August 31 – September 4. I applied for one of the stipends they award to 3 U-S journalists and was informed yesterday that they awarded me one!
So, I’ll be writing about the trip before, during and after right here.
Maybe you already know this and I’m behind the times. I first saw this on a post on the Engadget site.
So I had to look it up and sure enough they not only make these things but you can watch video of them in action!
Or perhaps I should ask, “Are farmers unwired?”
In this week’s ZimmCast, Steve Mays and I talk about this issue and we’ve concluded that farmers are very technology savvy and internet connected.
Then, lo and behold, I was on The Meyocks Group website and watched a tv spot they created for one of their clients – I-Wireless and in it there’s a picture of a farmer using his wireless phone on his combine! You can see the commercial for yourself. Pretty cool, eh?
This evening the Missouri Department of Agriculture hosted its annual legislative reception. Normally this consists of booths by commodity groups who serve food from their commodity. I know other states do this.
One of the winners of the competition was the Missouri Soybean Association for their soy-based Pony Express green beer. Another winner was the Missouri Wine Industry which created a great Irish Stew and served red and white wines made here in MO. I sampled the Norton varieties from the 4 different vineyards presented.
The whole idea of the night was to bring in the law makers. The Missouri State Fair had Elvis there as evidenced by this picture:
Our newest ZimmCast is now available. I’m going to post a link to the mp3 file here: ZimmCast
Normally you’ll find this in the sidebar where there’s a link to it and a podcast file that you can subscribe to if you use a program like iPodder.
This week it’s the second part of my interview with Steve Mays, VP of Learfield Communications. Enjoy.
Next week I’ll feature an interview with the leader of a student NAMA competition team, talking about putting together their presentation and competing.
