Unless your business is centrally focused on public relations
, there is a likelihood that the advertising budget has taken a turn for the worst in these depressed economic times. While it is understandable to cut back on PR, it is also a practice that may do more damage than good. In other words, don’t shoot yourself in the foot just because shoes have become too expensive.
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From the Rocky Mountain News, to the Chicago Tribune. From the Miami Herald to the New York Times. The recession is speeding up the death of newspapers.
Security expert Bruce Schneier called the Internet the greatest generation gap since rock and roll, underlining the clear-cut differences in the way that Gen X & Y get their news vs. Baby Boomers.
The hardest hit will be senior citizens, and those looking for local news. It will be increasingly easier to find out about the Mumbai terrorist attacks, or President Obama’s new policies, but all but impossible to find out what happened in your neighborhood, your kid’s school system, or to learn about a local crime wave.
Most good PR Practitioners have already prepared clients for this, and many are already using new media approaches to communicate to target audiences through company blogs, Twitter, Facebook & Myspace in place of print media.
Like global warming, we’ve been hearing about the death of print media for a long time. Now is the time to evolve before it’s too late.
I was lucky enough to attend the PRSA T3 PR Conference in New York this week. One of the best lessons learned came from Paul Gillin, former Computerworld Editor and T3 Keynoter. One of his associates in the newspaper industry had said “Newspapers aren’t dying, our readers are.” I’m sure the same could be said for evening news viewers & Buick drivers. I tend not to think of this as a funeral, but more of a re-birth. The death of the traditional newspaper industry has given rise to social networks, Twitter, blogs, and other forms of user-generated content. Paul mentioned that media hs changed more in the past 5 years, than it has in the past 50; it wil change again even more in the next 5 years. Personally, I can’t wait to see what is in store.
Peter Shankman predicts that your ‘personal friend feed’ will be similar to that of a CNN ticker, updating you each morning to what your friends have done the night before, reminding about birthdays and upcoming events. Big Friendships or Big Brother- you decide.
Lastly, we got to meet the genius behind “Will it Blend” www.willitblend.com. (Check it out- my favorite is the Chuck Norris video on Page 3 of “Do not try this at home”) I’m so inspired by what George Wright has created by thinking outside of the box. If this guy can create something so amazing with a boring kitchen appliance, we all should be able to come up out of the box ideas for our clients.
There may come a time in your career when you are faced with an opportunity to introduce yourself or your company to the people in another country or region. While a majority of the information you will relay is going to be relatively standard across the board, there are some things of which you should be aware if you plan to venture off your own turf. These things will apply whether the PR is personal or business, formal or informal.
They’re growing like weeds. The U.S. and UK still seem to be ahead of the pack when it comes to social network media but other countries are gaining speed. While people often think of Facebook and MySpace when it comes to social networks, the truth is there are many others out there, particularly when it comes to other countries.
As of right now, MySpace and Facebook are ranked as the top two sites in the U.S. in regards to repeat traffic. Projected revenues for 2008 show MySpace at $755 million; Facebook comes in a distant second with $265 million.
A May report from ComScore supports those findings; however Facebook seems to be growing much faster in overseas markets. Trend analysts report that Facebook is making a splash in the UK, China, France, and India. Orkut is still tops in India while Bebo is a hit in the UK and other parts of Europe. Perhaps AOL wasn’t so far off when they purchased Bebo for $850 million.
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