With online marketing and social media becoming more and more powerful, traditional PR is more important than ever. Although many confuse Internet marketing with traditional public relations, there is a world of difference between the two. But used effectively, they can meld seamlessly and the combination can create one of the most powerful marketing tools available.
The reason that traditional Public Relations is so powerful is because it enables you be featured in the media, and you become the news. You have sidestepped the advertising section of the media and jumped to the editorial section. You are the news and with that comes credibility and validation. You not only reach your target market, you’re positioned as an expert. Unlike any other form of marketing, effective PR can establish you as an expert in your field and showcase you, your business, your talent and/or product. And it can do so locally, nationally and internationally. You are the story! That has always been what’s made PR such a powerful marketing tool. The validation and credibility factors cannot be overstated. Other forms of marketing, whether they be advertising, direct marketing or online marketing cannot offer you the basic trust factor that comes from being featured in the media.
But now with the capability of the Internet to make the local global, you can take a small, regional newspaper story and magnify it. By utilizing online techniques and social media you can amplify that local article in a way that, not that long ago, would have been impossible. A local newspaper article can suddenly become a national or international story. The same is true with a TV interview or segment that you’re featured in. You can take that segment and through the online video sites such as YouTube, Flicker and a host of others, you can turn a local story into an international one. Because of the power of the Internet, a local TV segment can now receive worldwide coverage.
And it doesn’t stop there, the interaction between Internet marketing and traditional PR is a two way street, just as you can use the Internet to magnify the power of a local or regional PR story, you can also use traditional PR to focus on an Internet phenomena and turn that into a mainstream news story. More and more we’re seeing instances where a savvy entrepreneur or business owner or rock band has started a buzz on Twitter, FaceBook or MySpace, and turned that buzz into a mainstream news story. In fact Twitter, Facebook and MySpace all grew exponentially because of the mainstream media coverage that drove countless new visitors to those sites. L.A.’s Twitter-fueled Kogi Korean taco truck is a prime example. The Kogi trucks announced where they would be via Twitter. Huge lines began to show up, causing a wait of over an hour for a Korean taco; that phenomena started a buzz and before you know it, the LA Times, Newsweek, the BBC, New York Times and other media were carrying the story and a success story was born.
This is a brave new world of communications. As ways of connecting change and become more fluid, it is important to understand the value of combining new and traditional forms of communication and marketing to create innovative and powerful promotional tools that can not only reach your target market, but present you as the story – as the news.
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