Life Moves Pretty Fast

by John Lonsdorf, R&J Public Relations

One of the great modern-day philosophers, Ferris Bueller twice said (at the beginning and at the end of the iconic 1986 movie, so it must be important), “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

The same can be said generally about all businesses. But in particular, the Public Relations business has moved incredibly fast.

When I started R&J back in 1986, the same year that Ferris gave us his great advice about life, I had an IBM Selectric typewriter on my desk, and the only Gekko we ever heard from was Gordon, who was telling us (convincingly) that “greed is good.” We didn’t even have a fax machine; they were just then gaining widespread utilization. Back in that time, our role as public relations practitioners was clear and simple: to get publicity – and lots of it – for our clients. We did this by writing lots and lots of press releases (and mailing – yes mailing – them out to the media, usually with 5” X 7” glossy photo prints), establishing personal relationships with journalists (and there were a lot more of those covering much narrower “beats” back then), and pitching like crazy. It was a great business – fun and rewarding in so many ways.

But a funny thing happened along the way. Life moved pretty fast.
Business changed, and with that change, came the need for a far greater degree of strategic, forward-looking business counsel and strategic thinking. To accommodate these business needs, the public relations industry also underwent tremendous change. And the transformation of our business and our industry that was necessary to stay ahead of our clients’ needs has been incredible – often happening at break-neck speed.

Today’s successful PR firm is far more than a publicity shop. Today, we often play a central role in brand development, market strategy and business-building for our clients. We’re called in at the beginning of discussions on positioning, market strategy and brand personality. We consult on the ins-and-outs, and the potential ramifications of every communication tactic – both traditional and in social media. We prepare, and when needed, execute crisis management plans. In short, we are important counselors and marketing partners for our clients, and not simply “publicists” (although publicity is still a very important deliverable for many of our clients).

Firms like ours welcome this never-ending change. We thrive on it, and look forward to engaging with new media channels and outlets, and new techniques. It’s actually become fun to learn how express a full marketing thought in 140 characters or less! And I am very fortunate to have surrounded myself with a lot of smart, curious and insightful people, who don’t hesitate to remind me how fast things change, and how if we aren’t riding the wave, then we risk being swallowed up by it.

Yes, Ferris had it right: Life does, indeed, move pretty fast. We are happy to have evolved along the way, and to have helped our clients through many of these changes. We continue to look ahead for the next inevitable round of changes.

Riding the Social Media Wave

The wave of social media options is very real and connected. Why would you blog... unless your insights might change the thoughts and patterns of behaviors, generating traffic to your offering.

Why would you need a podcast... unless you are a speaker and your off the cuff presentations go undocumented. Why would you want to tweet... unless your prospective customers are identifying themselves with quick keywords showing their need. Why do you need a youtube video... unless your sincerity and knowledge, whit and humor transcend the attention-span of an over-saturated audience. People like the spontaneity, accessibility and control of the Web. the ability to click where they want... surfing in a seemingly random pattern.

...But we know the truth about the Internet. True randomness evaporates under the crush of data-driven marketing and user pattern identifiers. If you doubt that randomness is gone, think about the google of yesteryear. When you used to be able to search something and get various papers, and expert opinions from academia, researchers, and government resources. Now, paid placement exerts its muscle, racking up the first 500,000 organic returned searches. (Oh, it's not 'paid' as in, 'I bought an ad'... but certainly paid to an individual or firm that specializes in ranking.)

You might think, in reading this, that I object. Not a chance. For every media that becomes commercialized, my work evolves. My company's offerings are adapted to meet the constantly evolving needs of marketers for strategy, design and technology combinations that accurately convey their offerings to their audiences. Marketing plans are more diverse, integrated, and results-driven. In a very short time, marketers have changed from asking, "How do I get a Content Management System (CMS) for my Website?" to asking "How can my CMS drive my mobile, print and eNewsletter promotions?"

Social media marketing supports sales basics. Like, trust, use. It takes the giant funnel of people and, based on data, drives the connections to the ones who might use your product or service. the creativity, language and design allow an individual to like the offer (or the person). The virtual connections and validity of network can demonstrate a foundation on which transactional trust can exist. The online user is lulled into thinking they ever had a choice which way the current was headed... Truly strategic marketers have taken this into consideration. Money once spent on prime time advertising has been diverted to virtual currents.

I'm certain the next wave is rapidly approaching.

Wendy Flanagan
Co-President
Murray
http://www.murraymedia.com
908-362-8174 x111