Defending Good Science

April 2, 2003

Someone is Talking About You –
Want to Know What They’re Saying?

Every now and then, I stumble across something which really grabs your attention. This is one of those “attention-grabbers…” -- the ability to find out what is being said about your company, product or industry every single day.

Checkmate Public Affairs has launched a new product, the “Checkmate Cyberalert.” It’s a robust Internet monitoring service which, I feel, delivers a huge advantage to a professional communicator.

• If a misinformed consumer claims your product is dangerous on an Internet message board, you can see the posting the very next day.
  
• If a disgruntled customer starts to complain about poor customer service at your company – you’ll see it… the very next day.
  
• If a newspaper or television station in Miami, Halifax or Alaska mentions your company or product, you’ll see it... the very next day.

I started one particular Canadian client of mine on the Checkmate Cyberalert service about three weeks ago. Since then, we’ve discovered a planned Greenpeace Protest on Canada’s Parliament Hill that we were able to respond to and minimize potential damage. We discovered a major new industry initiative that the client wasn’t even aware of in Saskatchewan, and we saw an article where a very prominent and respected individual was speaking favourably about the client’s products and industry. All in just three weeks.

In short, if it’s online, and not password-protected, we can see it and deliver it to you. It can track products, ongoing issues, activist groups, competitors – the search criteria is totally customizable.

The technology itself is rather simple to work with. Everything is delivered to a custom password-protected website, where the end-user can see each specific ‘hit,’ (called a citation.) The user can then forward each citation to a colleague, or save them into specific online folders. In the event that the link itself has disappeared, the text is saved in plain text format, and stored on our servers so the story is always accessible.

Using a Boolean search criteria, a bank of Internet servers search over 10,000 mainstream media websites every 24 hours. It filters out what isn’t new, and deliver the rest to you overnight. When you arrive at your office in the morning, you’ll see an email with a summary of the evening’s activities, and a short excerpt of each citation.

The key to successful implementation is developing the right search criteria. We work with the client to keep the number of incoming citations to a reasonable level – obviously, if you see over 100 hits a day, chances are good your search term is too broad. If you’re only getting 1 hit a day, it’s too specific. We can work with you to find a proper balance.

For example, Checkmate Public Affairs has two ‘demo’ searches operating right now. We’re tracking the keywords “Research in Motion” OR “RIM” AND BlackBerry (case specific.) We’re also using the keywords “Greenpeace” OR “Green Peace” NOT “war,” which delivers between 30 and 40 hits a day. We had to add the “not war” criteria, because with the ongoing situation in Iraq, we were getting over 100 hits a day.

The media list searched is customizable as well. For example, you can search only Canadian media, or only environmental media.

A true global search uses the entire list of over 13,000 searchable media websites, and costs under $400 per month. What it can save you or your company in terms of product or reputation management can be priceless.

If you want some more information, or would be interested in a free, two-week no-obligation trial of the Checkmate Cyberalert, call me at the numbers below, or email me at chatterton@checkmatepublicaffairs.com.

(The Plain English Disclaimer in Big Letters and Without Legalese – Yes, Checkmate Public Affairs does make money from this service. Not a whole lot, but there are some benefits to us financially. But then again, we wouldn’t promote the service if we didn’t feel it makes a valuable contribution to our clients.)

Checkmate Link of the Month

Even if you don’t live in the Greater Toronto Area, it is worth checking out one of the alternative weekly newspapers there – the Toronto Free Press. In their own words, the “Toronto Free Press TRUE GREEN REPORT keeps tabs on the myths and deceptions promoted by environmental organizations like Greenpeace.” What’s not to like about that?

Free Consultation

Bad things can happen to good companies.
When it happens, the smart companies call Checkmate Public Affairs.

Checkmate Public Affairs specializes in ‘Defending Good Science.’ We stop activists. We manage issues. And we deliver results. Checkmate is an issues management firm dedicated to assisting corporations with science-based risk & crisis communications and issues management.

Do you have any questions? Are you feeling uncomfortable about a situation? Are you on the wrong end of an attack? Why not call us? Checkmate is happy to offer a free, 100% confidential, initial consultation. Let us take you through some basic issues management. If you don’t think we can provide value added service, there’s no risk to you. If your challenge is in an area of our expertise, we’re convinced we can provide an effective solution at a competitive price.

The Checkmate Update is a service provided by Checkmate Public Affairs. Please feel free to share this newsletter with anyone who would find it useful, but have them sign up too! Our sign-up page is located at http://www.checkmatepublicaffairs.com/newsletter.

Jeff Chatterton, President
Checkmate Public Affairs

Phone (519) 342-0025
Tollfree (877) 284-7952
Fax (519) 342-1221

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