The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy is impressed. The big Cisco Partner Summit in Hawaii is still a week away, yet coverage about the event is popping up across old and new media. How did that happen? Given Cisco’s size, it’s relatively easy for the company to generate coverage. But let’s give Cisco some credit: The company understands traditional and new media, and journalism deadline cycles. He’s how Cisco works the system.

First, find a key event or news hook to rally the media around. In this case, it’s the Cisco Partner Summit in Hawaii — which runs April 8 through 11.

Second, don’t wait for the event to happen. Begin offering news, perspectives and executive access to selected media a few weeks before the event. Some prime examples of coverage that Cisco has helped to stimulate:

• Memo From Cisco: MSPs Need Mass Customization (MSPmentor)
• Cisco: Next generation services delivered collaboratively (eChannelLine)
• Cisco Partners Gather to Talk About Talent Recruitment Strategies (Network World)
• The New Network (CRN)

Third, keep new media platforms in mind. Cisco has been experimenting with its own blogs, Web video systems and social networks for more than a year. Now, the company is applying those learnings to its media strategy.

Fourth, keep journalism deadlines — old media, new media — in mind. You may have noticed that CEO John Chambers landed on CRN’s cover this past Monday (March 31). Coverage like that doesn’t happen without an aggressive journalism team working closely with a dedicated PR team.

Fifth, empower your partners with new media, and go viral with those efforts. The VAR Guy hears that Cisco will produce video clips with numerous partners at the event. The partners, in turn, will be permitted to use the video clips on their own web sites.

The VAR Guy has covered Cisco since about 1992. The company has reinvented itself multiple times over the past 16 years. But one thing has remained constant: The company’s PR efforts remain tireless and responsive, regardless of whether you’re writing positive — or negative — coverage about the company.

Rival companies should heed that lesson.