Effective PR and Marketing in the Age of Google
By Gail Z. Martin The Internet has changed everything for Marketing and PR. While traditional media outlets (newspapers, magazines, TV and radio) remain prominent online media venues grow daily in importance. The Do-It-Yourself Consumer Going Around the Gatekeepers Budgeting Time and Money (Excerpted from the brand new book 30 Days to Online PR and Marketing Success: The 30 Day Results Guide to Making the Most of Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and Blogging to Grab Headlines and Get Clients by Gail Z. Martin)
Over the last few years, many well-established newspapers and magazines have either ceased publication or gone to online-only editions. This is a reflection of many trends, including a slump in advertiser spending, a shift to online media consumption, and the realities surrounding the cost of creating and distributing traditional print media.
We live in a do-it-yourself society. We pump our own gas, scan and bag our own groceries, and serve ourselves at cafeterias. So it should come as no surprise that today’s consumers have begun to take a do-it-yourself to media.
Today’s consumer isn’t limited by the choices presented by local radio stations. He or she can listen to hundreds of highly targeted satellite channels, play a CD or plug in a customized playlist on an iPod. TV watchers can choose from over a thousand cable channels, pop in a DVD, TiVo a show from a few days ago or download video from Netflix. Print consumers can read news online without waiting for the 6 p.m. broadcast or the next morning’s paper. Consumers have become accustomed to getting what they want when they want it.
Google (and the other search engines) changed the world by enabling anyone with a computer to search the Internet in the blink of an eye. Consumers today often start with an Internet search for what they want, and look to more traditional media for validation. So a consumer in the market for a product may start with searches on EBay or Amazon to see what’s available, and then look at a ratings magazine, ratings Web site or user blog to check reliability and satisfaction.
This do-it-yourself approach has created a world where content is highly customized and personalized. No one else has your iPod playlist. You may create a “portal” page for yourself with links to all of your favorite blogs and Web sites, creating a customized stream of news, entertainment and information. Each of the thousands of cable and satellite TV channels reaches an increasingly targeted consumer, far different from in the days when all of America watched one of three broadcast channels. Satellite radio can focus on a single artist or entertainer as well as a segmented style of music, news or comedy. It has become essential for anyone trying to reach consumers to speak with the same pinpoint segmentation.
The Internet has given consumers a huge amount of new information, mostly by going around the traditional gatekeepers. The good and bad news about the Internet is that anyone can post information, and the search engines will find it. Unless the person posting is breaking a law, there is no one to keep them from making their information available. Search engines select results based on relevancy, but say nothing about legitimacy. Consumers have access to a wealth of information, but they also increasingly feel the pressure of information overload.
This shift has caused online media and offline media to re-think their relationship beyond being competitors. In reality, they often form a continuum that permits the consumer-researcher to go as deeply into a topic as he or she desires. The Internet has also created a 24/7 market for information of all kinds, fueling a need for a vast amount of content, some of which comes in the form of press releases. At the same time, overwhelmed consumers still value trusted blogs, online magazines and other “branded” outlets to deliver information that has been verified to some degree and to weed out the junk.
The need for news never ends. In order to stay fresh, blogs, Web sites and online publications (as well as video sites and Internet radio) must continually release new content. The capacity to consume that content far outstrips what any individual or news team can produce alone. Web sites, blogs and online/traditional radio and TV could not possibly fill all their space or hours of programming without press release-generated news and lifestyle information.
Reporters, bloggers, TV and radio hosts use press releases to find story ideas, discover interesting people to interview and find new products and events to feature. An increasing number of sites, including CNN, encourage readers to upload their own video. Sites like BlogTalkRadio.com enable anyone to become an Internet radio host and develop programming with a narrowly targeted audience.
This creates an unprecedented opportunity for companies that are adept at positioning their information to inform and entertain highly targeted audiences.
The other big shift is that the Internet and the search engines have put the “public” back in Public Relations. Traditional PR could only reach the public through media gatekeepers. Today’s companies can take their message straight to consumers via the Internet, and as we’ll see in the next chapter, that requires changes to the traditional format of the press release, PR’s workhorse tool. By reaching the public directly, a company can create demand for a product when consumers request it from retailers. Companies can share more product details than magazines or blogs are likely to cover. When coupled with social media and the interactive tools available online, companies have an unprecedented opportunity to get user feedback and satisfy complaints, potentially increasing satisfaction and strengthening their reputation.
It takes a deft touch (and a detailed understanding of your target audience) to create PR campaigns that satisfy both consumers and the media, but it is worth the effort. The Internet blurs the line between reporter and citizen-journalist. Many individual bloggers have huge followings that “traditional” newspapers and magazines can only envy. Most consumers read and listen to a blend of “professional” news and citizen-journalist offerings, gathering what they need from both. Companies who ignore online PR opportunities presented by blogs, forums, Web sites, Web video and Internet radio do so at their peril. Huge numbers of consumers make the Internet their first stop for information, making it essential for companies to learn how to be part of the flow, or risk being left behind.
Pre-Internet, a PR budget was mainly for paper, envelopes, postage and fancy fliers. Today, most press releases are sent via email, and extra information is posted on a Web site and sent via a hyperlink.
PR budgets require a mix of time and money. Time is required to gather the demographic and psychographic information about your customer, as well as to track online and offline media consumption patterns. You’ll also need to budget enough time to research the appropriate traditional and new media you want to target—the blogs, Web sites, online/offline newspapers and magazines, TV, Web video and Internet/broadcast radio outlets best suited to reaching your consumer.
Time is also required to put together well-written press releases and to distribute them in a way that reporters will read. (I’ll cover more on the details of how to do that in future chapters). You’ll also need to know the media’s deadlines, which can range from nearly instantaneous to six months (or more) in advance. Online and offline promotional tools also take time to create, but add significant value in terms of exposure and engagement.
Today’s promotional tools may include traditional standards like posters, signage, brochures and flyers. Modern companies also recognize that Web sites, Web banners, Facebook ads, online contests and give-aways, free downloadable samples and specialized social media pages are a vital part of PR that reaches the wired consumer.
The good news is that effective online and traditional PR can be done with more elbow grease than cash. Sites like Vistaprint.com enable you to print materials very inexpensively, while email newsletter providers like Constant Contact make it possible to create your own online direct mail campaign. If you have the internal resources (or are comfortable doing it yourself), it’s possible to create your own Web sites, downloads and social media. If that’s outside of your comfort zone or beyond your time budget, you’ll need to consider budgeting money for assistance, or bartering for skills.
One of the best things about online PR and marketing is the ability to trace visits, clicks, impressions, page openings and forwards in real time. You’re no longer dependent on an expensive clipping service. Instead, free programs like Google Alerts make it possible for you to find every time your name, keyword, product or event is mentioned anywhere on the Internet. This makes it very easy to see which media venues are receptive to your information, and where you may need to re-think your approach.
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