Sometimes I wish the PR profession would get out of its own way.
Let me explain. Last week, I was asked to give a speech explaining what “Modern PR” is for the Fairfield County Technology, Environment, Entertainment and Marketing (FairCo TEEM) meet-up. My co-presenter Randy Savicky ably explained some of the converging trends, from the challenging media landscape to the new role for consumers.
In my comments, I shared five ways that PR is evolving. But as I began to speak, I found myself thinking of how many PR firms might disagree with me:
1. PR is becoming content: I’ve blogged about this before, but I can’t stress enough how this one simple change has affected nearly every client, prospect or employee meeting I have on a daily basis. As a PR profession, we have to rely on greatest strength: storytelling. But we have to tell those stories using different packaging, such as an infographic or video channel.
2. PR is becoming analytics: Please trust me on this – your job is now to marry math and marketing. Using Google Analytics to understand your website traffic is only the beginning. As I shared on my buddy Arik Hanson’s blog, there is a “new math” on the horizon for every one of us in the PR profession. But there are very, very few of us talking about this topic, let alone helping clients to identify quantitative insights.
3. PR is becoming tools: There is a powerful barrage of free and paid tools that allow communications professionals to gather intelligence, compete more effectively and calibrate message penetration more precisely. Now, I admit, it’s easy to get lost in the tools clutter. But there are secret weapons you need to embrace. Take the powerful site “Which Test Won.” For little time and no money, you can begin to understand how to think about A/B testing. Why would you want to do that? Simply put, if you haven’t been speaking with a client about their website, then you are going to be marginalized.
4. PR is becoming Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Now this one should be easier to understand. Since our profession has its roots in words, it stands to reason that we should be able to understand and weave keywords into our copy. Amazingly, there are still very few firms that actively embrace this as a daily routine. That’s okay, you’ll just lose your next RFP to someone like my smart friend Chris Baldwin, whose brand new agency True Digital is already winning business from you by leveraging the intersection between SEO and PR.
5. PR is becoming social search: What’s old is new again. Ego matters. Remember how clients wanted to hire your firm so they could get in The Wall Street Journal? You can still help them with that, but how much time are you devoting to help them understand that they are now required to have a personal brand online? Do they know that Google will drop them lower in search ranking without it? Are you structuring your 2011 plans to start countering that weakness?
If you want to see my slides from this presentation, click here. Or you can see the video here.
Here’s what I don’t understand. Why are PR folks so happy to embrace social media, but so shortsighted that they can’t recognize the larger opportunity and threat of digital? What do you think?
To reach Elizabeth:
Phone: 212.840.0017
Email: elizabeth@blisspr.com
Twitter: @elizabethsosnow
LinkedIn: Elizabeth Sosnow
03/26/2011 at 11:52 AM Permalink
My brilliant comment has been eaten twice now so I give up. In summary: I AGREE.
03/28/2011 at 9:51 AM Permalink
I’ve been a PR guy for most of my 30-year career, Elizabeth, and I wouldn’t disagree with much of what you have written, although I would share your wish that the profession get out of its own way.
The only real objection I would sound is that in my view, PR has always been about content. I, too, spoke recently on how PR is enduring and evolving in this brave new social media world and my key contention was that content remains the core deliverable and that new social media channels are just that, new channels worthy of consideration in the overall mix we plan for our clients.
A corollary of this might be that if content development is done properly, effective search-engine optimisation is the natural and unforced outcome. So at our shop, it’s not so much that we feel the need to “embrace” SEO any more than we would feel the need to embrace breathing; both are unavoidable parts of our daily lives. What we do need to do, though, is to make sure our clients understand this.
03/28/2011 at 10:50 AM Permalink
Hello Francis:
I don’t think we’re in disagreement at all, actually. I agree content is the basis for everything. Some may call it different names (stories, POV, ideas, etc.) but it powers everything in communications. In this post, I actually link to a piece I wrote in January that explores the that point in much more detail.
I did separate out SEO since I notice that most people (and agencies) are still struggling to understand how it fits into PR. But at our agency, we’re already “breathing” and monetizing it
So, since we are in wild agreement, come back and tell me how we get the rest of the PR profession to pay attention? A thornier problem, and one that I’m not sure at all how to solve…
03/28/2011 at 10:51 AM Permalink
I am both delighted to see your avatar and depressed that your comment got eaten, Miss Gini. Thanks for the visit and the agreement, in any case!
03/28/2011 at 11:52 AM Permalink
Hi, Elizabeth.
Even as I pushed “Submit comment,” I regretted my use of the word “objection.” “Refinement” might have been more accurate as I don’t think we’re really in disagreement, either.
As to how we get the rest of the profession to pay attention? I would be perfectly happy to let them wander about in confused ignorance so long as our clients were able to distinguish between them what know what they’re doing and them what don’t! Regrettably, I don’t think that’s the case.
03/29/2011 at 1:30 PM Permalink
Some PR folks are afraid of change. The internet is constantly evolving and so are the ways of marketing. PR firms that are not evolving with the way people search for information are risking being left behind by their competitors. Many people turn to the internet for their news and information. Both social media and SEO play a large role in where and how people find and share information. In order for PR people to evolve, they need to understand this.
03/30/2011 at 11:01 AM Permalink
I so agree it’s important for the PR industry to get over their fear of change, especially now with so many case studies that demonstrate change is both inevitable and (shocking!) can actually be beneficial. But fear makes people — and professionals — behave in unpredictable and illogical ways…
03/30/2011 at 11:02 AM Permalink
And yet another point we agree on…;)