The next big thing is small – AgencyNext gathering gets it
October 12th, 2006 by Adam
Nice to hear more and more PR agencies, analysts and consultants educating companies and marketers about the rationale for jumping into social media.
While I tend to cringe a bit at the term PR 2.0, I did enjoy AgencyNext’s gathering on Tuesday covering Transcending Legacy Marketing and Sales Models.
Laura Ramos, VP, Forrester Research issued the call to action with “B2B Marketers Need an Interactive Makeover” – today, but acknowledged that most companies aren’t ready to hand controls to buyers.
Her recent report has interesting stats comparing some corporate marketing plans/attitudes from 2005 (the dark ages?) to 2006. One take away and something we’re seeing with our clients: B2B marketers worry more about lead quality since decision makers are harder to reach. Regarding my career path, I’m glad PR is still strong for planned marketing spend; online is growing and understand that mainstream trade shows are down.
I’d suggest to Laura that search marketing isn’t the killer app for customer acquisition – rather, customers are going to welcome institutional blogging and useful corporate RSS feeds.
Still, I totally support her recommendation to use media and messages to create conversation.
All of Dave Lemont, from Lemont Consulting, “The Ten (or 11) Immutable Go To Market Laws For High Tech Start-ups” rang true with my looks at the business world.
I really needed to hear the reassurance of Law #7 “Casting a Big Shadow” especially after seeing the amazing “Thank You For Smoking” and reading this great post from Strumpette.
In Law #7, Dave stresses: PR can make you look so much bigger than you are; online traffic must be maximized (community building); treasure recommendations from others online; be everywhere a prospect or partner turns; look like a million bucks.
Sterling Hager, principal at AgencyNext presented a fast-paced, on-message “PR 2.0: Then, Now, Next.”
Clear warning in here for those that act on aparently low risk “conventional seems best.” He shared the traditional model – Everything directed to media (Old script) – dooms you to anonymity. The big guys won then and will win now.
I should go back to the PowerPoint linked above (Sterling, how did you get the stat of 30 million PowerPoints created every day?), but my BlackBerry notes on Sterling’s presentation will have to do:
When defining PR there’s a difference between Public and Private Relations.
Here are some then and now notes I scrawled …
| Then: | Now: |
|---|---|
| Focus on Influencers | Decision maker |
| One size fits all | Edge and authenticism |
| Mass | Real people |
| Vetted by media | Direct impact |
| Time intensive | Instantaneous |
| Event driven | Idea driven |
| Handlers | Uncensored |
| Safety in numbers | Safety but real numbers |
| Broadcast | Dialogue |
| Short shelf life | Extended news cycle |
| Action | Traction (Traction matters – Watch out for agencies that think activity masks reality) |
To wrap his “Then and Now” look at public relations, Sterling offered that “The next big thing is small…”
… mass marketing’s unintended creation of a national “aloneness”
… a pent up demand to find others like us
… for dialogue versus broadcast
… for communities of like-minded people with shared interests
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 12th, 2006 at 10:15 am and is filed under Media Relations, Messaging & Positioning, PR, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
