Which PR Firms Are The Road Runners?

Tom, I agree. I'm a longtime internal AND agency PR guy. I posted some comments concerning your original post the other day but to me the agencies that survive will have:

• knowledge of community building, aka how to do it honestly


• ability to design and implement online networks/sites/apps, aka interactive/digital services


• expertise in managing social networks, aka sustaining a direct conversation


• public relations applications that integrate seamlessly into their social media programs (Facebook apps, Twitter mashups, social media newsroom templates, etc)

They will not need the traditional PR 'products'. The PR agency of today must evolve itself (quickly) and have the right talent in place, in most cases that is not your traditional media relations expert. It will be interesting to watch it shake out.

/kff

Beep, beep. :)

http://blog.ogilvypr.com/

I don't think new media is the answer to every communication problem. For this reason, I disagree that PR agencies are not pushing new media because it would lower revenue. We don't think that way. We look at the problem that needs solving and apply the solution we think most appropriate. New media is often part of the solution, and sometimes is THE solution. Not always.

We need to move away from the terms "traditional PR" and "new PR". There is only one PR. it's an integrated approach that best addresses the problem.

Welcome to PR 2.0.

I'll tell you something Tom. What PR hasn't mastered is an understanding of the journalist's customer, your audience. We're all at fault, pitching new business on our "services," "new / creative ways" to use social media to advance our clients message(s) yet, in what way and to whom? PR people need to go back to their roots. Here's some tips:

-Work backwards: profile your client's customer, asking a group of customers the same questions and test those customers to see how they react individually and in a group (the bigger, and more diverse the group, the better) Don't guess, test!

-Listen, don't talk: rather than starting with a client's web site and building a position with messages to face an audience, go to that audience and become "one of them." Understand their language, style and discourse, before starting any "proactive media relations" program.

-PR 2.0 is SO 1.0: Take what you've learned offline, attending events, parties, social gatherings of many kinds and apply that to who and how you interact with people online.

-Play by the rules, before striving to win the game: Go back in time and read (or re-read in my case) some Marshall McLuhan and other traditional media messagers to grasp an understanding of the foundation of communication, it's challenges and opportunities

Why do PR people today make everything sound so complicated? If I have re-read the responses to your post just to understand those PR people, then how will I understand them if they're communicating on behalf of one of their clients?

I think feathers are ruffled perhaps because it's true. Some PR agencies have NOT mastered the new changes hitting the landscape and further, many are afraid to dip their toe in and learn more.

Many PR agencies tout social media as a capability or strength, without little more than an understanding of how to pitch a story to a blogger. It's important to stress social media goes way beyond pitching a blogger to write about your client's' news. In fact, that's so remedial, it's not really the thinking a client is paying their agency for when they say develop a social media strategy. To pose blog relations as a social media strategy is ill advised counsel to a client. Fear of losing budget shouldn't be the concern; being a good partner and doing what is right for a client is the best thing you can do. Many agencies don't believe in this. Having EXTENSIVE experience on the agency side I know this to be true. Motivation is not what's in a client's best interest. Keeping the budget is.

For what it's worth, my two cents -- social media is engaging in the dialogue, finding out what's being said and using those insights to develop a strategy for a company to engage with and learn from their core audience (i.e. customers). It is not pitching bloggers on you client's news.

The new 2.0 tools and techniques may be low cost but executing effective campaigns still demands well-practiced and experienced public relations expetise including a solid understanding of how to recognize and craft a good story for consumption by any media.
Consider desktop publishing as a prior tech-shift example. The wonderful new computer-based tools allowed lots of people to rapidly create a lot of graphic crap. It didn't put graphic design houses out of business. The productivity tools likely helped them grow.
As always, there will be companies that hire internal talent or rent it from agencies. However, agencies very often lead in innovating new techniques and methods to remain competitive.
Lastly, media relations is but a single dimension of the imense range of communications strategies and tactics availailable to public relations pros. Whole campaigns are often successfully done without hustling media coverage. Nothing new about that.