Tom Forensky ponders a big think question: why is the mainstream PR sector booming as the mainstream media sector is fading fast?
The answer is that the PR agencies are slowly adapting to a Long Tail media environment. Agencies don’t knee-jerk into “big game hunting” strategies as much as they used to. We look beyond the Times and Journal and across the total media universe to hammer home the right message to the right audience at the right time. This micro-targeting approach drives sales, Tom. Otherwise, we couldn’t support our retainers.
So the rub is PR has changed. Sometimes, our “theater” of operations is the newspapers. Other times it’s TV or in online news outlets like CNET. Last but not least, we’re increasingly zeroing in on the blogosphere, Digg, memorandum and even Google as we migrate towards direct-to-audience conversational PR programs. The media pie hasn’t shrunk. It enlarged and with it so did PR.
If you need a glimpse of the future, take a look at what Greg Jarboe at SEO PR does. SEO’s services and success are indicative of how the PR industry adapted faster than much of the media did.
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
