Public Relations (PR) has long been considered a powerful and cost-effective way to promote a business. It allows a customer to feel they have made an informed and educated decision based on research or valued opinion, rather than simply being ‘sold to’ through traditional advertising.
Traditionally, PR has, and continues to involve timely placement of advice-driven articles and the release of pertinent data or research findings, not to mention identifying broadcast opportunities for clients.
However, online developments have seemingly turned offline PR on its head, and for the better.
Despite the clear benefits of embracing digital PR, the changing nature of public relations appears to be causing uncertainty throughout the marketing world. In fact, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ (CIPR) 2011 annual review seems to indicate that PR practitioners themselves are slow to adopt online PR as part of their overall strategy, with just 54 per cent of in-house practitioners stating that online reputation management is a PR function they are involved in; just a 7 per cent increase on 2010’s findings.
Online PR puts the power in the hands of the consumer. This approach is perhaps what PRs find the hardest to grapple with, and the reason why even those companies who realise the search engine optimisation (SEO) benefit of online PR find it hard to get their PR teams to assimilate their efforts.
But rather than running scared of the two approaches, we should embrace the different strengths and weakness of online and offline PR in the form of fully integrated marketing campaigns. After all, by using both channels, brands have the opportunity to hugely widen their reach.
There are huge advantages to adopting an all-encompassing PR strategy that includes publicity across the entire media spectrum (print, TV, radio, the internet). Having online PR in the mix provides a crucial avenue to reach potential customers and key influencers. By integrating online and offline PR, news generated by a company’s press office can be quickly spread through peer-to-peer networks, such as Facebook, a result that traditional editorial focused PR is hard-pressed to achieve on its own.
That does not mean to say that online PR requires any less planning that more traditional communications. Careful consideration needs to be applied to avoid overexposure.
One way in which to achieve this is to emphasise different aspects of a PR story depending on the target media outlet. For example, you might wish to keep your online communication brief and to the point. More in-depth analysis (the story behind the story) can take the form of the printed word and the human element can be emphasised with broadcast channels. All three will ensure the message is comprehensively covered without confusing the reader/viewer and will have varying emotive effects depending on the message being conveyed.
In reality, the format and production process of online and offline copy does not differ dramatically. The rules of what makes a story ‘newsworthy’ offline should be mirrored online. Press releases must always be topical, relevant and of interest and this is too easily forgotten. I’ve seen many press releases full of superfluous gestures and copious brand references so that the story becomes too diluted. This has most certainly been the case during the Olympics, with a deluge of companies making somewhat dubious connections to the Games. In fact, journalists calling for copy are refusing to write on companies trying to use the Olympics as a linchpin.
Unfortunately, with the rise of social media, there is a tendency to assume that, as the journalist is no longer the conduit for news, it is somehow not as necessary to produce targeted editorial. This massively underestimates the power of the consumer to make an educated decision based on what they read.
On or offline, a well written and optimised release with a topical subject matter will always gather more interest. However, a phrase I use frequently is that content may well be king, but knowing where and how to publish a story will always be queen!
Once distributed online, a press release can travel far and wide, but as with offline PR, identifying the right media target is crucial to make this happen. From an SEO point of view, this can offer valuable, quality links, not just from sites where the release is actively uploaded to, but from other news sites carrying the story along with bloggers and social media networks. In reality, it often only takes a few tweaks to work key search phrases into a release.
The landscape for identifying exactly what journalists are going to be writing on next is forever changing. ‘Offline’ journalists are now running their own blogs and the magazines they work for typically have a much stronger online presence. They will hunt for stories using Twitter and keenly use specific online communities to invite comment on an article/blog they are writing. Marketers and PRs alike need to embrace online public relations to stay ahead.
This is not to say that ‘editorial calendars’ are no longer used. They still form the backbone of many media outlets in terms of features, but they do not provide much in the way of a clue as to what the magazine will be focusing on from a ‘news’ angle. Quite simply, whether the journalist is working offline or online, it is absolutely essential that you follow ‘writers of interest’ – after all, some of the most influential and impactful pieces of coverage are derived from this type of engagement.
Online PR is certainly shaking up traditional marcomms, but public relations remains a key aspect to crafting successful brands; marketers just need to think a little different. Rather than shying away from the changes, companies that can successful integrate their online and offline PR have the potential for real success.
