One thing that’s become apparent in the advent of online communications is the amalgamation of the various communication professions. Is SEO a stand-alone discipline or should it belong to PR? Does blogger outreach really belong to PR when there are one or two online marketing agencies doing a mighty fine job of it already?
Should there actually be such phrases as Online PR, Online Marketing, SEO etc? Or should they all just come under one name which encapsulates each discipline together? I remember having a telephone conversation with Ged not too long ago about this very same topic.
There’s actually no right or wrong answer (for the moment) but one thing I have noticed in the last few months is that some online marketing agencies (including one or two of the big ones) are offering “Online PR” as a service.
As a PR person you might think you have cause to worry. Dig a bit deeper though and what you’ll find is that these agencies offer a small segment of online PR which usually involves generating backlinks and increasing traffic. Yes, both backlinks and traffic do have a PR element to them, but both are generally byproducts of a much larger strategic initiative.
And, besides, backlinks and traffic are more of a marketer’s concern given their objectives usually involve large numbers and eyeballs, and less about changing attitudes and enhancing reputation.
Then it occurred to me. PR doesn’t face losing the online PR battle against marketers as I initially thought (read the comment by me from last year on Drew B’s blog to prove it) but what it does face though is losing the battle among marketers of what the definition of real online PR actually is.
And it certainly ain’t just about backlinks and traffic that’s for sure.
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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Brandon Carlos
Backlinks, traffic and SEO aside (because the argument could be made that these belong to IT more than they do PR), one part of “online PR” that is uniquely PR is blogger relations.
The term online PR is a question of semantics and I suspect it’ll disappear overtime as, once again, PR undergoes an evolutionary shift.
Stephen
“Backlinks, traffic and SEO aside (because the argument could be made that these belong to IT more than they do PR)”
That’s the point I’ve tried to get across in my opening paras … except not sure what your definition of IT is?
“one part of “online PR†that is uniquely PR is blogger relations”
Um, not really. Again, as I’ve said in the blog post, “Does blogger outreach really belong to PR when there are one or two online marketing agencies doing a mighty fine job of it already?”
“once again, PR undergoes an evolutionary shift.”
I don’t know of any time in history when PR has gone through an evolutionary shift. Even today, the majority of PR being done is by the usual way. Online PR people/initiatives are few and far between in comparison.
Brandon Carlos
A mighty fine job? The best blogger relations are done with no sales undertone. Why? Because they build trust and add value. Marketers can achieve good blogger relations IF they have something to offer the crowd (knowledge, a laugh, whatever). The reality is that good blogger relations, like any relationship, takes time and trust– neither of which marketing can trump PR.
PR has undergone evolutionary shifts: from a focus on persuasion and manipulation (think Bernays) to an almost entire focus on media relations to where we are now (largely influenced by the internet).
C’mon Stephen, even this conversation between two PR professionals would not have been possible 10 years ago.
Stephen
Brandon. In my blogger capacity I’ve personally been involved in two blogger outreach initiatives by a marketing company. In my opinion they did everything right.
Although the outreach finished some time ago I still correspond with the marketers involved and we’ve arranged to meet up next time we both have time. I’d say we’ve developed a good relationship.
I’m really don’t think Bernays/Lee were manipulators. Ivy Lee’s Declaration of Principles backs up the notion:
http://pr.wikia.com/wiki/Declaration_of_Principles
“even this conversation between two PR professionals would not have been possible 10 years ago.”
Email?
Mihaela V
It’s really not that complicated.
SEO is a tool. Just like a pen, a blog, or even a news release, it can be used for marketing or PR.
What differentiates marketing for PR is a way of thinking. Marketing is mainly about products, brands, and consumers – even long-term relationships with them.
PR is about long-term relationships with several categories of publics, consumers included.
But that doesn’t make marketing a subset of PR or the other way round, although the PRomotion part of PR is an important overlap.
A few differences between PR & marketing:
- Marketing is involved in product development, packaging, pricing. PR is not.
- Marketing focuses mainly on consumers. PR deals with communities (located in physical or attitudinal proximity), investors, government, media, etc. – several other publics besides consumers.
- Marketing does coupons and other sales promotions; Those are not historically considered PR tools.
Now move the conversation online. You change the context, change some of the tools. But still, marketing is ultimately about… markets (products, sales) and PR is ultimately about… relationships with publics.
Administratively and politically things get much more complicated (who gets the budget?!), but in theory they’re not that bad.
I think of marketing and PR as 2 body parts – a hand and a leg. They still need to work together for the body to function, but a hand is not a leg and a leg is not a hand.
Santiago Martinez
Interesting post! Interesting Opportunities.
Eamon
Hi. Just to let you know included two of your blog posts in spotlightideas.co.uk – Top 250 blog posts, advertising, marketing, media & PR.
Helena Makhotlova
I have long said that one of the consequences of web 2.0 will be the blurring of the distinctions between marketing and PR.
I see this developement in Norway, where increasingly media- and advertising agencies embrace social media tools in their marketing efforts. PR agencies are still mostly holding back.
I think this development is logical in a way that advertising has been exploring the opportunities on the web long before PR got there, with banner ads, affiliate marketing and CEO.
I think the future brings more fusion between PR and marketing; just look how marketing theory has been changing to resemble the PR theory in the past years. As a discipline, I beleive, PR has lost online battle to marketing, if there is any battle. After all, it’s all about finding the best mix to suit the customer’s needs.
John
I am inclined to agree with Mihaela V. about SEO setc are simply tools or methods of achieving specific goals all geared towards increasing communication. However I am not sure why there needs to be such a distinct separation between online marketing and online PR, surely both are trying to increase brand/cause awareness, address target audiences and ultimately increase the bottom line?
I feel that PR practitioners are better placed than other marketeers to communicate via social media, blogs, podcasts, etc. We have been communicating via traditional methods for so long why should this be any different?
Online PR and Online Marketing are the current buzz words, being used to as an attempt to differentiate one communications company from the other. It won’t be that long before we erase the ‘online’ aspect of the phrase, simply because approaching a target audience online will be the norm and clients will just expect this to be a part of any campaign. I doubt there are many practitioners that still promote Print PR, Radio PR, and TV PR as separate entities, surely it is simply PR?
Dan Johnson
PR is the process of managing reputation: the channels of broadcasting your message (through blogger relations, independent review sites, good ol’ press coverage) will always change.
When people search for a product or service on Google they’ll click on the first links they see, so if these take them to a website or blog where there are negative comments, you’re in trouble.
Encouraging positive sentiment ‘is’ the role of PR – this is what sets us apart from online marketing agencies.
Let online marketing bods generate the traffic, and let PR people manage the reputation – and work together to get the best of both worlds.
Ashlee
This was my first time reading a public relations blog and I strongly agree with your mentality of refraining from posting negative comments. The way I found this site was through google by typing in Entertainment Pr blogs and clicked on one of the first links. I feel that instead of posting negative comments you can give a person constructive criticism instead. Also this being very public you never know who may be reading the comments. You do not want to give yourself a bad reputation, just as if you were a public relations professional representing an organization.
Lewis Webb
Good to bring up those questions… and sorry to weigh in so late! (I missed this one as I was in Amsterdam) I think agencies across the board will have a hard time defining online marketing terms and services over the next year… too narrow and you risk losing business, too broad and you risk appearing like a jack of all trades. While I don’t think there’s a land-grab on the horizon, the important thing is identifying what combination of services your clients need to help them communicate online and being able to explain them clearly.
Usaha Online
ya, we have to re-formulate our seo strategy. more backlinks, good content, do not guarantee high pr. paid content, link, or just parked domains, some of them get PR 3 or higher…
Roger Warner
Good call…. but I think you have the lense the wrong way around. You’re right that many agencies are now positioning themselves as ‘Online PR’ outfits (mine included), but this isn’t because we want to exist in a ’small (technical) segment’ of PR.
The fact is that most smart clients and agencies now recognise that SEO (and every other online marketing exercise) is built around some core ‘PR-like’ skills and disciplines – like gaining trust, improving reputations and being more social.
The driving principles here are creating great content, seeding it in the right networks, winning friends and influencing people. A byproduct of this – thanks to Google’s algorithm – is backlinks, better PageRank, and traffic – which of course is incredibly measurable and compelling to fee-paying clients…
So rather than think about digital agencies carpet-bagging some niche PR plays, I prefer to think of how SEO is disappearing as a technical discipline, and how everything we do online is simply ‘PR.’
I have no doubt that this will pass because more and more of our clients’ marketing plans will be devised web-first. And this ought to make some PR agencies a little hot under the collar if they don’t possess some web smarts…..
Graeme Davidson
Online PR is the building block of developing a dialogue between your business and your relevant Internet community. Every day there are conversations going on online about your brand and issues in which your brand will benefit by being highly visible.
Online PR is the first step of interacting with your community delivering the information that they need. Through Press Releases and Articles we give the community information they are actively searching for, seek to minimise the affect of bad online press to the client, increase backlinks and more.
Information gathering and analysis are the bedrock of any online PR campaign. The more known about you and your brand the better we will be able to locate relevant online conversation. This knowledge allows a greater online community penetration. Having high quality information ensures that a campaign will run more efficently and deliver better results.
I agree about building trust through blogging with no sales undertone. It can be hard to do though for someone in my position, although I do try my best!
usdigital web design leicester
backlinks, traffic and seo are the jobs of web design agencies not pr agencies in my opinion
Ryder Sugden
I find it annoying when you go onto web design agency websites and they say that one of their services is online PR. They don’t know the meaning of PR. SEO, and backlinks is not online PR. They are marketing tools.