I said once (well, I think I did!) that you should always keep track of who is talking about your company as you can often accrue sideline PR from sources that may have utterly nothing to do with your specific industry.

Case in point: I was running a search across Technorati and Blog Pulse today (it can be quite helpful to know what various writers are saying about trends, or companies and individuals on your watch list in the 'blogosphere') with the search terms 'thoroughbred industry'.

This one turned up on page (who knows - 40 or something):

"$2.1 Million in Mystery Mutuel Vouchers Mailed in NTRA Promotion(BloodHorse). The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) said vouchers worth $2.1 million, including a $1 million grand prize, have been mailed to more than 360,000 consumers as part of the NTRA Mystery Mutuel Voucher promotion Aug. 13. The voucher giveaway is NTRA's 11th such promotion since August 2000. The vouchers are redeemable Aug. 13 at participating racetracks and OTBs."

The source was a blog run by DirectMarketing-05.com. Is the company thoroughbred specific? Nope. Know anything about horses? I'd hazard a guess and say no. BUT the NTRA and the Bloodhorse both got a mention.

And how about this one - CatalogsCentral.com (An information and resource website about catalogs and catalog shopping):

"Keeneland catalogs record 5,110 for September yearling sale. Thoroughbred Times. With a sale-record $8-million colt and an all-time auction record of $325-million in gross receipts, last year's record-breaking Keeneland September yearling sale..."

The increasingly sophisticated nature of search tools on the Internet allows you to track what people are saying about your company/product on the Web and it's amazing discovering where information ends up isn't it?

Sometimes (not saying 'always'!) it can be worth knowing about.