The PR profession hits a technological wall
The PR profession has hit a technological glass wall. I can see all these slick communicators pressed up against it, looking at all the weird buttons, lights and gizmos, wondering whether they’re looking at their future or their demise.
The grey haired leaders, who brought them to this point, are getting angry, like the DVD player at home, they can’t work out how to program it and are too damned long in the tooth to be bothered with these tricksy things now.
Somewhere at the back, a few youngsters have Foursquared their location and are now sending abuse to each other on Twitter. One of them says something derogatory about the MD’s lack of tech savvy and will get sacked later on.
All the while, behind the glass, in amongst the lights, cables and myriad computer screens, the rock star techies are playing warcraft and eyeing up a big pile of cash with ‘online pr’ written on it.
One of them is on the phone, you can just about hear him saying – “certainly we can provide content for the organic SEO, keyword optimised, linked to product pages, yes no problem. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn – oh yes we can do that too”.
Traditional PR is hammering on the glass now, “heh bozo, what about communication strategy, how’s that going to be interpreted by the media..what, you’re not going to tell them? Hey, this is our natural future, let us in”.
Gradually the hammering get’s fainter, a few have found a side door, many have given up and headed in a different direction. Only the wall remains.
This is an interesting take on the current state of play of many of us PR professionals. With traditional media going digital (radio morphing into iTunes and iPlayers, TV into You Tube and online newspaper channels and newspapers and magazines into websites and blogs), changes are afoot for PR land.
In order to add kudos to our newly-emerging digital expertise we need to get properly trained. The CAM are offering a couple of diplomas in Managing Digital Media and Digital Marketing, which could be a step in the right direction.
Learning from digital agencies who treat such matters as their bread and butter also helps. Combining that with our existing PR and marketing skills, strategies and social media knowledge is the true winning formula.
Interesting article Ross. I’d agree 100% that the PR/SEM circles are now overlapping in many places. We’ve even done work with events agencies, where we create a feedback cycle between the online and offline activities. Social media is particularly well set for this kind of activity. PR agencies and digital agencies have a natural fit, both are heading in the same direction.
It’s very interesting to me to see how your agency has developed in that direction over the last few years. You’re certainly on the right side of that wall!