The lines between PR, Marketing & Advertising are continuing to blur, especially on the web. And while there will likely always be professionals who specialize in one area or another, more and more people (especially those at smaller agencies & companies) are starting to wear multiple hats. In fact, some people are wearing all the hats. Many started out in a single role, but due to a variety of circumstances (e.g. layoffs due to the economic climate or their company wanting to jump on the social media bandwagon to name a few) they’ve found themselves the ‘go-to’ person for all things promotion. . There should be a new term for these people, someone get on that.

In the meantime, here’s a mini-guide for building buzz and traffic to a website to help out our PR pros who have found themselves thrust into the online marketing world.

1. Move your press releases online: Chances are you’re doing this already (if you aren’t you should be!). Today’s press releases need to be focused on keywords so that the search engines can find and index them easily. Many of the distribution sites allow clickable links and anchor text – Voila!, instant quality links back to your website of choice. For tips check out our post about “SEO-ify”ing your Press Release.
2. Twitter: Get a profile or, if you have one already, start updating it. Nielson has said that 60% of people who sign up for twitter post once and then never return. What’s the point? For Twitter to be a valuable strategy you have to commit to becoming a resource in your industry. This means that is it is important to ‘tweet’ information that people will actually find useful (they don’t care where you are having lunch today). Twitter pays off when you take the time to build up a group of followers who value your opinions and look to you for information, in short they trust you. The best part, it’s ok to promote yourself and clients (within reason & with disclosure).  Twitter can be a great source of traffic to the content you have elsewhere. FYI – you can follow us here: @PRChannel
3. Create a Resource List: Encouraging clients to create quality content on their website or blog is a must, and creating a resource list is a great way to do this. Examples of resources could include free tools, magazines and blogs relevant to your industry, or case studies and white papers that would be valuable to clients. Make sure that the resource list is targeted and industry specific. Not only will customers appreciate the information, chances are others in the industry will find the information valuable and link to it.
4. Article Syndication: Create great content that doesn’t go directly on the website. It sounds backwards, but writing articles on your client’s industry or products and submitting them to the plethora of article sites and directories will get you lots of links. You relinquish a bit of control on your piece, but the pay-off is worth it. Websites and online content publishers grab articles and re-publish them constantly. By submitting a quality article 2 or 3 times you can get 100 links back to your client’s site.
5. Top 10 lists: It’s called ‘link bait’ and it is good. Whether it be Top 10, 50, 100 or 5 (see what we did here) lists tend to be fan favorites when it comes to earning links. Lists can also give your client valuable ‘expert status’ when packaged correctly. They can also be a start to a series, giving you automatic ideas for future blog posts or articles. They can be about anything, and as silly or serious as your client wishes. Doesn’t matter the industry, lists are always good. Don’t believe me? Hair Salon – Top 10 Cuts for Fall. Law office – The Top 20 Craziest Lawsuits in History. Restaurant – Top 50 Things You Can Use a Spork For. People even makes lists of lists (I kid you not) Make it unique and interactive, a good discussion post will bring in comments and links for quite some time.

photo from here by Shane Michael

We’ve got a couple of great new resources that have been added to the PR Dashboard:

First up is a UK-based press release distribution service, at PressGo releases are distributed online, through RSS, Twitter and email to the UK’s largest online community of journalists.

We’ve also added Business 901, a great online pr/marketing reference site that also provides PR services.

Keep the suggestions coming!  We’ll do our best to add the links right away, with your help the PR Dashboard is becoming one of the most comprehensive public relations resource sites out there.

Social Media is like a shiny new toy for PR people.  It’s all the rage and everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon.  If you’ve read other posts on this blog then you’ll know that we are big fans of utilizing the web and various social media platforms for public relations purposes.  We’re excited these strategies are getting the attention they deserve, and to see where they take the industry.  That being said, PR Channel isn’t quite ready to jump ship on the classic PR strategies.

The gold standard for a PR person is landing your client an on-air TV appearance or interview.

When trying to land a TV interview it’s important to remember the visuals – they need to grab the viewer’s attention.  A lot of PR firms seem to forget to plan for visual content before they approach the producers/execs.  In a multi-media world PR people can’t expect to be able to rely on a well-written press release – audio and visual elements have become standard tools of the trade.

Producers across the board say that when deciding whether to give an on-air interview its a bonus when a firm includes a list of available audio or visual elements in their press kit and mention the visual strengths of each.

Think of it as a grown-up version of show and tell.  As a kid, you were way more likely to pay attention if a classmate brought in something really cool for you to look at while he talked.  PR firms would do well to remember this, because not much has changed – people still like to be presented with something visual.  Watching two talking heads is incredibly boring, and you should coach your clients on how to ’show’ while they spread their message.  Here are a few tips we’ve come across for making sure the interview is a success.

• Have something the interviewer can actually see and touch. This is a big plus, as it ads a realistic element that audiences will appreciate.  If you aren’t sure what to bring, bring everything you’ve got and ask the producers what you should include-they’ll have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t.  Just stay away from signs or brochures, its a little cliche and the audience won’t be able to read them anyway.

• Don’t get too promotional – its fair game to bring your products, but don’t wear a company shirt and constantly mention your web address etc.  If you want current promotions/issues mentioned make sure the host or interviewer brings them up, same goes with your contact information.  Audiences don’t respond well to sales pitches.

• Keep moving.  If appropriate do a demonstration,  have ’stations’ set up, have your visual elements nearby and ready etc.  Try to avoid just sitting there with nothing to do but talk.

• Know your facts.  Its part your job as a PR person to make sure your client knows the correct stats and sources to back up their statements.  The last thing you want is your client to get stumped on a question about one of their visual elements.

The terms are used almost interchangeably by some people, especially those in the growing social media/blogging for business area of expertise.  So, what exactly is the difference between public relations and marketing?

We think it boils down to the fact that marketing is all about the sale, and while this is (hopefully) an outcome of PR efforts it isn’t necessarily the main goal.   Good PR is based on the idea that any sort of success is derived from a mutual satisfaction between companies and their customers/clients.  This leads to more relationship management and conflict resolution type activities, with the PR person acting as a sort of go between for those involved, fostering goodwill along the way.

Marketing, on the other hand, is focused on the sale and ‘the bottom line’.  Remember those persuasive talks assigned in speech classes?  That’s marketing – it’s more about playing up the good, downplaying the bad, figuring out what people want and how to get them to think they want your product or service.

So why do companies focus so much time and energy on public relations if marketing’s domain is to influence actual sales?  Because when all other factors are equal consumers will buy from the company they like more, the one with the better reputation.  Some have referred to marketing as PR’s evil twin, always focused on the money and sometimes undercutting the efforts of PR – and the line between the two gets blurred when PR people start focusing on ‘image’ and the way a product is presented.

The truth is you need both, and it’s probably a better idea to keep them at least a little separate.  Marketing is essential to any business, it drives sales.  But what happens when a communications-related crisis pops up?  Personally, we’d rather have someone on deck trained in crisis management to do damage control and repair professional relationships than leave the task to a component of our sales force.

What do you think?