DWPub Sporadic

PR and search - so close, yet so far?

There was an enthusiastic exchange at yesterday's gathering of PR, search and social media professionals at the CIPR, one of the Social Summer series of discussions set up by grass-roots CIPR members.

I won't attempt a full summary - Speed Communications' Stephen Waddington has already done that, but I will share some of the stuff I put forward at the event.

Prior to the gathering we investigated what proportion of press releases on our Response Source/SourceWire Press Release Wire come from search marketing agencies rather than PR. Looking at all releases through our system in June this year, this figure turns out to be 20 per cent. That's a significant minority, and roughly double what it was in 2007 when I wrote my whitepaper warning that search would encroach on PR activity.

When you take this figure in the context of the press release embedded links statistics I shared a few weeks ago, which found that 67 per cent of releases on our wire include embedded links, then you can extrapolate that 47 per cent of releases originating from a PR source include embedded links. This is assuming that all releases from an SEO source include links, which is reasonable.

Of course, as Will McInnes from social media marketing agency Nixon McInnes quite rightly pointed out, understanding search is a lot more than just including links in press releases, but it is an interesting barometer of SEO knowledge within the PR industry. If less than half of the PR world understands something as basic as including links in press releases than that does seem dissapointing.

One issue that cropped up during the discussion is internal client strutures and how this could be a factor in the lack of integration of PR and search. In many companies, PR is handled by a PR or communications manager and search is handled by a marketing function. The former looks after brand repuation and the other is responsible for driving sales leads. Many agree that when PR and search work together the results are very powerful, but does this need change in internal client structures for this collaboration to happen effectively?

I think it was we are social's managing director Robin Grant made the point that small to medium businesses (SMEs) are perhaps more likely to get understand the benefits of PR and search working in tandem, as the client structure in these businesses is often a single person - the marketing manager. So perhaps it will be SME sector where the innovation comes from.

PR vs search - the story continues

I'm pleased to have been invited to take part in a discussion this evening (1 July 2010) at the CIPR on whether or not PR has allowed itself to lose ground to search marketing. The event is part of the CIPR Social Summer series.

This is a topic very close to my heart as it is the crux of a whitepaper I wrote in April 2007 warning just that - that PR risked being sidelined by an increasingly imaginative search engine optimisation (SEO - now generally known as search marketing) industry. The radical predictions in that whitepaper appear to have come true, at least in part.

In my talk this evening I will reveal what proportion of press releases on our Response Source/SourceWire Press Release Wire come from search marketing agencies rather than PR, a barometer of how much search marketing has crossed over into the PR role. I will also present the press release embedded links stats I blogged about recently.

There is also another reason why I am pleased to be going up to the CIPR - it seems that at last this very important organisation is embracing the revolutionary impact of digital media on PR. Something, as a CIPR member myself, I have been advocating since 2006.

Revealing the trend for links in press releases - is it enough?

Following on from comments made by US-based technology and media commentator Tom Foremski, we've taken a look at the proportion of press releases on our wire that include embedded links.

Tom argues that including useful links in releases helps journalists do their job. He recently highlighted research by BusinessWire that showed only 13.5 per cent of releases on their wire include links.

BusinessWire's research does not indicate whether they were counting just 'raw' links - which could include the homepage web address of the client or PR agency at the end of the release, or just embedded links - text in the body of a release that links to a relevant page - or both. Either way the figure seemed very low so I decided to look at our own Response Source/SourceWire Press Release Wire.

We found that in May 2010 89 per cent of releases on the Response Source/SourceWire Press Release Wire included links of any kind. However, I think the best measure is embedded links, as it is these links that are likely to be of most use to a journalist (and of course help to drive traffic for the release submitter).

In May 2010 67 per cent of releases on our wire included embedded links. That shows an increase over previous years, up from 40 per cent in 2007.

What do these figures tell us? Well, to be honest I think 100 per cent of releases should include embedded links and I'm a little surprised the growth from 2007 isn't steeper. Including embedded links not only helps journalists but helps drive traffic. The latter alone is enough for many clued-up companies to insist all their releases are distributed online with embedded links so surely everyone should be doing it.

Online PR test for PR agency bosses

This was inspired by a Twitter conversation I had with Andrew Smith from escherman and Steve Earl from Speed Communications and relates to warnings I made in an online PR whitepaper over three years ago that still appear to be relevant.

True to his usual style of taking a scientific perspective to online PR Andrew Smith found that 63 per cent of PR agencies in PRWeek's top 150 listing do not have the term 'PR' in their website homepage title, and 85 per cent do not have the term 'public relations' there.

Now, page titles are quite important - one of the many little things you need to get  right to ensure your website can be found when people are searching. Many of the top 150 PR agencies tout their digital or online PR credentials, so they ought to be getting little things right like relevant keywords in their own homepage title tag. Thus my response on Twitter: "The gulf between PR and search is still wide - some PRs saying 'we do digital' but actually lack basic SEO knowledge."

Steve Earl responded by suggesting PRWeek should do a 'short test in digital for agency MDs'. What a great idea, I thought. There is clearly more to online PR than this, but here's a go at ten questions every digital-savvy PR agency boss should be able to answer in the right way:

1. Can you describe to a client the full benefits of an inbound link to their website?

2. Are you familiar with Google Page Rank and its use as a rough measure of a site's influence?

3. Do you have access to your clients' website analytics?

4. Are you aware of which of your clients have search marketing (SEO) agencies?

5. Of your clients that have search marketing agencies, do you have direct lines of communication with any of those agencies?

6. Can you be certain your team have set up at least basic online monitoring for all of your clients?

7. Do you have a separate team handling online PR or is it deliverable by everyone in your organisation?

8. Are you able to explain to a client the advantages of online coverage by a 'small' but influential blogger over that of traditional media coverage?

9. Are you personally active on social media, including your own blog?

10. Are you worried your team are wasting time on Twitter or are you proud of their online networking prowess?

How did you score?

PR for small businessess and startups - our latest whitepaper

The lastest in our series of whitepapers is one aimed squarely at owner managers and marketing managers of small businesses and startups who want to do their own public relations.

Written by small business PR consultant Jane Lee, the nine-page document 'PR for Small Businesses' gives an introduction to in-house PR and avoids media jargon (see the press release).

We're finding a lot of smaller businesses are interested in PR as a way of raising their profile and getting sales leads, but most are put off using an agency beacause of cost concerns or are reluctant to do their own PR due to unfamiliarity with PR techniques.

Although primarily aimed at those who want to do 'DIY' PR, our whitepaper 'PR for Small Businesses' also gives an idea of what PR agencies do.

Raising the debate on PR pollution

The issue of journalists being bombarded by irrelevant material is not a new one, I remember 100 press releases a day landing on one newsdesk I worked on - and they were paper. That was a big pile of dead trees every day.

But the ease of distributing press material online is causing this issue to get more serious (Mark Borkowski asked if it could be 'the new chlamydia') and as a consequence there is evidience journalists are beginning to block certain senders. Which is no good for anybody, least of all a balanced media. That's why I'm supporting Realwire's 'An Inconvenient PR Truth' campaign. I'm aware the campaign could be percieved as a little patronising but I'm behind it because it is a genuine attempt to lift the debate from the occasional journalist gripe to a decent industry discussion on the matter.

What really grabbed my interest was the research behind the campaign. It found that although journalists believe about 75 per cent of stuff sent to them is irrelevant, the consensus among them was that 50 per cent irrelevance would be acceptable. If that is the case, PR professionals don't have to reinvent what they do, it's just a matter of being a bit more precise.

SMEs are smarter than you think

More than one in four small and medium businesses in the UK use social media to market themselves. That's one of the main findings of an SME marketing survey we have just completed.

I'm really encouraged by that figure. Over 280 SMEs took part in the survey and they came from over 80 different sectors, so it was a pretty good sample - from a wide variety of companies. Social media marketing is in its infancy, but to think that 27.5 per cent of small and medium companies are engaging in social media to build their businesses already shows that UK SMEs are pretty switched-on.

As I say in the press release, this survey shows that small and medium businesses are showing real imagination when it comes to choosing marketing techniques. Companies realise the importance of being visible online and are recognising the benefits of having an up-to-date digital presence. Many are embracing social media and combining this with more traditional marketing methods.

Another interesting fact that came out from the survey was that just over 17 per cent of small and medium businesses had bought-in external PR services. Now, on the face of it that doesn't sound a huge figure but in the context of small businesses - we're talking one to 250 employees here - nearly one in five is a significant minority. When you consider there are approximately one million active small businesses in the UK, that makes for plenty of potential work for PR agencies. But beware - budgets are small. Only eight per cent spend over £100,000 a year on marketing and 55 per cent spend less than £10,000. I suspect that the 17 per cent who buy-in PR are also the ones with the biggest overall marketing budgets.

Consider also that 43 per cent of respondents said they used press release distribution services, then that extrapolates to a lot of small and medium businesses doing PR for themselves. Good on 'em.

Our small and medium businesses are a smart bunch. Let's hope they continue to apply their imagination when it comes to marketing. The SME sector is an oft-forgotten powerhouse of the UK economy.

Check out my recent column on DM Weekly - 'Social media marketing: what big brands can learn from small businesses' (login required).

Leeds Metropolitan University PR degree students embrace online PR

My series of PR degree guest lectures continued with a return trip to Leeds Metropolitan University where the audience showed probably the best understanding of the changing world of media relations I've experienced so far.

That was probably partly a function of the fact that they were a combination of final year and post-grads which meant many had some work experience. A majority of these indicated that campaigns they'd worked on had a online PR element - albeit limited in many cases. It's also due to Leeds Met taking digital PR seriously on its PR degree course, which is to be congratulated.

As I have done before I tweeted live during the lecture, asking for tips for the students. The response was fantastic. But what was new this time was a few of the students actually tweeted back during the lecture - good to see. It prompted me to make the point that no self-respecting PR person should be without a mobile device that gives them decent internet access - like an iPhone or Blackberry.

Here's the advice the students saw on screen during the lecture (many thanks to all of you who replied). @10Yetis clearly knows what he is talking about, as does @James_Hatch (perhaps speaking from experience)! The reply from @stedavies was part of another conversation, by chance he was delivering a lecture at Newcastle University on the same day (students - check out his excellent blog at www.prblogger.com).The slides for my lecture can be found here.

 

Journalists - changing behavior

I've been on the campaign trail about the importance of digital media and how the PR industry must adapt for a couple of years now.
Things have changed a lot in this time, many PR professionals are now placing greater empasis on online PR techniques and, more crucially, are educating their clients or chief executives on the value of digital coverage.
However, there are still many PR professionals out there who reatain an obsession with traditional media or believe that online PR is a box you can just tick by setting up a Facebook group.
Well, even if you ignore digital media, you can't ignore the demands of journalists, and there is a great deal of evidence that even journalists on traditional media are adopting social media to help them get their jobs done (check out this recent post from Econsultancy).
It's important to understand that what is going on in digital media - and social media in particular - is important for PR professionals on two levels. Not just with regard to identifying and influencing a wider range of digital media outlets, but also to communicate with journalists in general.

Charities - a tough PR job

I delivered a presentation on online PR yesterday at a Media Trust seminar.

The Media Trust exists to support charities in their use of media to promote what they do. Listening to the delegates it is clear that doing PR in the not-for-profit sector has its challenges - not least beacuse of the large number of stakeholders charity PR people need to keep happy. The other big challenge is budget. It seems many charities are happy to invest in 'chuggers' but not in PR, a real shame as often good comminications in charities can make a real difference - reaching out to victims and galvanising activity in addition to prompting donations.

Anyway, as I often do in my presentations I invited participation from my Twitter followers:
Many thanks @stuartbruce, @biggerpills, @lewiswebb , @justinhayward, @helenjbeckett and @ABridgewater (who tends to DM me). That link from @lewiswebb is http://bit.ly/1IMWn.

You can see my online PR presentation on Slideshare(for what it is worth, its pretty empty without me pacing around in front and adding some context).