Traditional PR & marketing strategies are deemed by some to be no longer fit for purpose in the face of an evolving media landscape and new ways of interacting, which are challenging old business practices. This paper argues that PR skills and the use of content are actually ideally suited to this new environment.

1. PR: Positioning for the new media order
By Justin Pugsley, Principal, JJPAssociates
Traditional PR & marketing strategies are deemed by some to be no longer fit for
purpose in the face of an evolving media landscape and new ways of interacting,
which are challenging old business practices. This paper argues that PR skills and
the use of content are actually ideally suited to this new environment.
Profiting from the digital revolution
PR versus marketing, which is most effective for growing a business, has become a
familiar debate and is often characterised by some bold statements such as when the
Harvard Business Review bluntly declared last year 'that marketing is dead.'
Great news for PR professionals in the corporate pecking order as it looks like it is tilting in
their favour. But that was just the headline, because there is some bad news for PR
professionals. The opening paragraph clarified that traditional marketing including
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2. advertising, public relations, branding and corporate communications.
The reason for the demise is because the way consumers make purchasing decisions and
consume information is changing. They're even less inclined to believe claims made in
advertisements and a growing number are becoming apathetic towards marketing
messages.
At the same time numerous studies have shown falling trust in the mass media. Though
the power of the big media organisations is still something to be reckoned with as any
company on the wrong end of a negative story can testify.
As HBR suggests this has left PR and marketing professionals in something of a
quandary. The media landscape has become very liquid, therefore subject to rapid
change, leaving traditional business models exposed and vulnerable.
Meanwhile, traditional media organisations are under existential threat with some resorting
to lurid sensationalism in a bid to remain relevant and to boost flagging circulations. But in
the end they could be insuring their own decline as their credibility becomes shredded and
they're seen as malign and offering little of value. Some blogs and online publications are
also treading a similar path in a bid for fame, glory and fortune.
3 Attributes that favour PR
Yet despite these changes and the sweeping away of old certainties, this paper argues
that PR professionals have 3 key attributes, which place them in a very strong position to
thrive in this rapidly shifting media and consumer landscape.
1. They are used to building one-on-one relationships with journalists and this can be
transferred to engaging with social media influencers.
2. They understand what makes and constitutes a news story and are therefore in a
better position to create news-driven content or take older content and reposition it.
3. They understand the dynamics of the media, it's motivations and business models.
Ultimately, they know it is about boosting circulation whether for driving subscriptions or
advertising and creating content that is of greatest interest to the audiences of those
media outlets.
If anything the term 'Public Relations' may be about to truly live up to its name as
engagement moves beyond interacting with journalists.
New language
The clues to the changes in the media landscape can be summed up by some of the new
buzz words, such as engagement, sharing and connectivity. The rapid spread of web-
enabled devices and social media platforms is rapidly changing the rules of the game.
Consumers increasingly make purchasing decisions based on reviews and by requesting
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3. the experiences of their peers, which can be shared across continents at lightening speed.
Authenticity and personality are seen to trump the corporate façade, which is a turn-off to
many. For very large companies with their highly hierarchical management structures and
standardised procedures adapting to this new environment can be challenging, but not
impossible.
For highly consumer-centric companies the shift in the media landscape has proved to be
a golden opportunity as it raises the prospect of having consumers become champions for
the company and endorsements don't get much better than that.
Among the big beneficiaries of this trend are micro-entrepreneurs and sometimes even
quite traditional businesses ploughing niche markets. Consumers can be very passionate
over a favourite ale, a certain restaurant or even brand of clothing, for instance. What
attracts these consumers is the personality of these companies, their strong values and
even their 'corporate' culture, which if it is an attraction, is usually anything but corporate.
We just want to be human
The ubiquitousness of the Internet and more lately social media along with the proliferation
of web-enabled devices has made it easier to do what comes naturally to humans – to
communicate and socialise.
It makes the quest for authenticity, shared experiences, relationship-building, collaboration
and connecting with like-minded individuals easier. For the individual socialising has
moved beyond the work place and the local community in the form of the pub, local sports
club or church to being able to reach out to the whole world.
But even in this more volatile and fast moving landscape there is still a very definite role for
PR and marketing. Though media convergence is blurring the boundaries between the two
disciplines.
If advertising, traditional PR and marketing are becoming less effective then the new
paradigm is content in all its forms. Engaging and compelling content produced in a way
that informs rather than sells is what is likely to be most effective. This has given rise to the
term content-driven marketing, which is rapidly evolving into a discipline in it's own right.
Content-driven PR
If marketing is steadily capturing content creation where does that leave PR and is there
such a thing as content-driven PR? This paper argues that there is and that it can be
enormously valuable to PR professionals and their organisations who know how to create
and distribute it.
An immediate response might be to classify news releases as a form of content-driven PR
and there is indeed an element of truth in that. Though of course they're increasingly used
for marketing purposes such as for promoting favourable search engine rankings and
driving traffic to websites rather than just for generating stories in the media. Therefore, a
great number of news releases do not actually represent usable news for the media.
There's growing evidence that marketing has hijacked the humble news release for it's
own purposes. There's a trend for marketeers to use news releases as a cheaper
alternative to paying for expensive key words on Google's AdWords pay per click service.
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4. However, there's a lot more to effective content-driven PR than news releases. In a
practical sense, the terms content-driven marketing and content-driven PR are closely
related and this type of content can be especially powerful when it combines the best of
these two disciplines. But there are some key differences between the two.
Not all content is created newsworthy
For a start not all content is newsworthy though it might be extremely useful to a certain
target audience. Consider for example, a set of free do it yourself video guides which help
solve a common problem for a particular audience. They might be useful, but may not
actually reveal any new information that would be of interest to a journalist or a news-
driven blogger. However, using a news release to announce these videos to the world is
still a valid strategy especially when done by a press release distribution service.
A PR person would argue that the story there is that these helpful guides now exist, but
whether that gets any traction with the media depends on a number of factors, such as the
author's fame and is it really any different from other solutions already out there. In many
cases there simply isn't story or anything that new to catch the attention of the media.
So in effect some content is newsworthy, some of it can be tweaked to be a news story,
but there is a subset, which doesn't necessarily represent anything new, but is nonetheless
useful to certain audiences.
More visibility
Yet when content, such as a report or white paper, is picked up by the media, especially by
well regarded publications, it can add a lot of credibility along with raising awareness,
particularly for smaller less known organisations. It also reinforces thought leadership,
which is critical for consultancies. They often obtain enquiries or win contracts on the basis
of their ideas and knowledge.
White papers, special reports, podcasts and short videos are the bread and butter of
marketing for many other businesses such as software companies and fund managers.
3 characteristics of PR-driven content
There are 3 key characteristics, which makes content work for PR purposes:
1. It must have news value. Explaining a trend or event with a forward looking bias
works as does content that explains why a completely new trend is about to begin.
2. It should be original and compelling, possibly based on a survey or some other
research. Positioned in this way content can now fulfil two roles of being of use for PR
and marketing purposes.
3. Another important role for content is to help build the social capital of influencers
such as bloggers. They're always on the look-out for content to pass on to their network.
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5. Many PR professionals have a background in journalism or have other media skills and
should be well suited to being able to create content or to at least manage the process.
Food for thought
In some cases it might be down to taking an older piece of content and repositioning it or
adding an update to make it relevant to a current news story. For instance, a food quality
control firm might have produced a white paper or one of its executives might have
recently given a conference speech about quality control, managing the supply chain and
verifying ingredients. That same content could be quickly updated and repositioned in light
of the recent scandal in the UK over beef being substituted with cheaper horse meat in
food products.
That may well be of interest not just to the specialist trade press, but given the magnitude
of the story, to the mass media as well. It's during a food scandal that interest in food
safety and purity will be at its highest and it is also one of the best chances a food quality
firm will have to get 'seen' and 'heard.'
Under such circumstances, the media will be searching for answers as to how a scandal
like this could happen, why it happened and how it can be avoided in future. They
inevitably turn to experts, such as a quality control firm to explain the background to the
story and the possible solutions.
At the same time retailers and food manufacturers will be looking to make sure they don't
get caught out by such a scandal again and will want to reassure customers, regulators
and the media that the labelling of their products conforms with what they contain.
Blogging the news
All companies should have some staff blogging on their behalf – if nothing else it makes
the company appear more human. And positive human qualities is what consumers are
drawn to, even in the more hard nosed B2B world.
There should be strict guidelines as to what employees can write. But at the same time the
guidelines should be balanced to allow those corporate bloggers to develop a recognisable
voice, such as being authoritative on a particular topic and even opinionated where
appropriate. That helps reinforce thought leadership and authenticity.
Blogs are also an ideal way to respond to news events and there are countless examples
of timely reactions to the latest news by bloggers being picked up by the media and other
influencers. Some journalists actually prefer quoting from a blog rather than a news
release as it looks a little more exclusive and researched.
Make it search friendly
The other point about creating content with the potential to reach the largest number of
people in a target market is to build it around key words and what people search for on the
web and this is often inspired by the big stories of the moment. Secondary relevant key
words with a longer shelf life should also be incorporated.
It's not only those impacted by the news who will be searching under specific search
phrases, but also journalists looking for sources for a story. This is where news distribution
services can be useful as some of them will get a news release into the Google News
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6. search function, which is heavily used by journalists and bloggers seeking new content
and contacts.
The power of social
As discussed earlier social media is unleashing yet another wave of change in the media
arena and in the way information is distributed. The emphasis on sharing and connectivity
makes it easier than ever before to reach target audiences directly and can by-pass the
traditional media entirely. Though in practice it is better to have the two working together
as that amplifies the message and its reach.
An article citing that content and published by a well known media outlet is likely to gain
extensive reach on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. That
certainly helps with gaining reach, visibility and credibility.
Social media channels are an excellent way to distribute all kinds of content with many
such as Youtube, Flickr, Pinterest and even Facebook and Twitter ideal for sharing visual
content. Great visuals and info-graphics have the ability to go viral very quickly.
Slideshare is a great platform for reports and speeches and a good way to demonstrate
expertise in certain areas. Content on Slideshare tends to rank quite well in web searches
and is another way to demonstrate expertise and thought leadership.
But above all content must be unique, useful and compelling, drive links from relevant and
authoritative websites, traffic and attract attention. Give a news-driven twist and that
content has an even better chance of achieving the above objectives.
Organisations should think like publishers and besides creating their own content should
also aggregate other relevant news and share it via their social media outlets as this helps
build an audience.
The PR function should be in a good position to create and distribute content. Failure to
demonstrate leadership in this area could see PR-driven content referred to as News-
driven marketing instead.
JJPAssociates is a UK-based PR, social media & content creation agency and
consultancy.
For enquiries contact: justin@jjpassociates.co.uk
For more about JJPassociates & free reports: www.jjpassociates.co.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @jjpugsley
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