You may have noticed the badge on the left hand side of this blog stating that I am PR friendly. Something I was very proud to be listed in, as I respect the work that Brendan Cooper, the creator of this index very much.
The index took an interesting twist this week. He decided to investigate which of the 100 blogs listed actually still wrote about PR. Surely they all talk about PR I hear you cry, but as Brendan says: hardly anyone writes about PR any more.
He found when he evaluated the blogs listed that they almost entirely wrote solely about social media and few discussed good old PR topics such as outreach, the media, organising events, talking to journalists and all that good stuff. Since Brendan decided to review the list it has dropped from 100 to just 37 (which still includes yours truly).
This made me think about the blog Dirk wrote the other day about how during these difficult times, are clients actually more willing to experiment with social media marketing or are they more likely to stick with what they know?
I understand that social media is sexy and something that I, in particular, am interested in, especially when trying to understand how it can be used within a PR campaign. That said, I also know that from speaking to people who buy PR that what clients are looking for when they approach a PR agency is a company that can get them column inches, introduce them to the right people and become an integral part of the marketing team. This is more important than how you can fit Twitter into a campaign.
What is clear is that social media is just a part of the mix and I think that too many PR professionals are forgetting how sexy the industry is anyway. In recent weeks at my agency we have secured countless pieces of national print, TV and radio coverage and every piece makes me realise why I love PR. Everyone in my team gets such a buzz from securing a result like this for one of our clients which I am obviously delighted about as at the end of the day this is what pays the bills.
Social media is fascinating and undoubtedly has a very exciting part to play in PR moving forward but let’s not forget the basics and understand what makes it such a great industry to be a part of.
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