Conventional public relations tactics have come a long way in the past 100 years - the press release, white paper and press kits - were conceived in the early 1900’s, the first recorded press release, printed verbatim in the New York Times was on Oct. 30, 1906 covering a serious US rail crash and in some journalistic circles a paper release is still the preferred method of communication, but times they are a changing!
In the digital era, so much more of your public relations program will be addressing non-journalistic audiences, such as sales prospects, customers, industry analysts, competitors and prospective employees.
What needs to be remembered is that these audiences are not accustomed to receiving information written in the conventional PR format, and will quickly regard it as a cumbersome and annoying advert disguised as a story. In today’s nano second world, your information has to be structured and formatted as a quick read if you want to get the message across - otherwise it just gets back clicked.
A quick review of what gets posted to “latest news” sections on most company web sites and the news wire services (which are now accessed by Internet search engines and desktop news-retrieval software) will show you that the conventional press release format is still being widely followed, meaning that the information requirements of a modern day digital audience are not being met by most press releases issued by non digital PR agencies.
Companies “Latest News” sections on websites, rarely have any specialist meta tagging or keywords tools linked to them and if the information is only being published to just one place online, then it’s the equivalent of having an unopened letter on your desk…..it’s there, but nobody can read it!
Don’t get me wrong, Digital PR would often struggle without traditional PR agencies to write the releases for them, but it’s the new distribution and technological skills of the digital agencies that impress the clients and will give both types of PR agencies and their clients the new lease of life they seek online as well as in the press, radio and TV.
The clock on the traditional PR agency model is ticking and their owners are eager to form alliances and partnerships with Digital PR companies to protect their own futures. 2009 is going to be an interesting time for the whole of the PR world as clients will want more for their money and additional Digital PR services could offer that sanctuary in a stormy business climate.
