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Where Does IM End and Online PR Begin?
I was talking to a friend with an SEO / Internet Marketing firm today about online press release distribution. Their company (and many like them) offer press release writing and distribution services basically only for the purposes of building backlinks and getting direct traffic. I won’t get into my usual rant tonight about how poor the quality tends to be of the majority of backlinks and traffic when releases are used only for those purposes, but it did bring up an issue I used to think a lot about:
Where does Internet marketing end and online PR begin… at least to you?
There’s no mistaking that there are overlaps, especially with IMs and PR folks using quite a few of the same tools (social networks, social bookmarking, social news sites / aggregators, blogs, news releases, microblogging, etc.). One of my biggest issues that repeatedly comes up is the fact that occasionally PR professionals are talking about using these tools in more of a marketing capacity than PR (while insisting it’s for a public relations function).
I may not agree with using all of these tools in general PR practices, but I may also have no problem with them whatsoever in a marketing capacity. To me, each has different goals, and different tools, tactics, and methods that should be deemed acceptable (although I wouldn’t consider “gaming” any of them acceptable on either front). Some of those tools may be the same, but I see the differences being more in how we use them (or at least how we should).
So how do you draw the line between Internet marketing and online PR, especially regarding your favorite social media tools? Do you ever cross the line from one to the other, and do you approach things any differently when you do?
Here’s my take:
I’ve seen Online PR and Internet Marketing overlap in the following area: blogger relations and link-building.
Both functions look and (should) act the same when reaching out to bloggers (i.e. do research, know the beat, build a rapport, send them personalized communications).
The key difference is that Online PR typically focuses on fewer more influential relationships (the head of the long tail), whereas Internet Marketing/SEO focuses on the “tail” (because, within reason, any link is valuable).
Where I’ve seen companies get into trouble is when they expect their agency to do the Internet Market work, OR when they don’t understand their goals.
I believe that any truly effective online PR should have internet marketing in mind. Why?
1) PR provides more value than generating awareness - now it’s more measurable
2) PR always complains about getting a seat at the table. If a company’s incoming leads increase because of a well placed link, then you’ll get that seat at the table.
3) Since being in-house, I realize that PR folks need to understand the implications for internet marketing. To not do so is so late 1990’s! =)
I do agree that PR can’t do the job of internet marketing, but it should augment it.
[...] Where Does IM Begin and PR end? – Naked PR’s Jenn Mattern on the ever-evolving merger of Internet marketing and PR. [...]
I don’t believe they overlap at all. Okay, sure, old school PR folks may disagree. But, we’re in the new age now.
Three words: Integrated Marketing Communications
Traditional PR is part of a bigger fluid effort and it’s in the interest of every PR person to understand and embrace this concept.
Of course, being a “can do it all” person, I may be biased. :)
Why, or why, can’t we all play well together?
Why does there have to be a line of demarcation between Internet Marketing and Online PR? In order to do the best job possible for our clients and employers, we need to be finding ways to blend our knowledge and thinking to get the best results. Integrated marketing communications, indeed.
My firm does integrated communications, using PR as the key platform. We created and manage a blog for a client. We’re announcing it via a news release that’s going to relevant traditional and new media outlets. So the blog is IM, right? The news release is PR, right? Both strategies go hand-in-hand in building image and credibility, a goal of both disciplines.
Thanks for thought-provoking post!
I sent my latest release out thru PRLeap and it was rejected for the reason “not in keeping with the spirit of PRLeap”. WHAT, I ask, is the “spirit” of PRLeap? I’m not a mind-reader…when I appealed and asked for a more specific definition I was summarily dismissed and my money was refunded. My release was concerning my small sightseeing tour company in New York City…Rich and Famous Tours.com; we’ve been deluged with requests from our tourists to show them the death location of Heath Ledger in SoHo, so we simply added it to our tour, along with other celebrity locations, addresses, movie/tv sites, general celeb trivia. I submitted it to several sites such as 24-7 press release and prfree and there was no problem. But it appears the morally conscious wags at PRLeap seem to have a problem with any release that concerns death.
A few other sites have a problem with our releases mentioning celebrities by name which completely submarines our business…showing people celebrity locations in and around New York City. I recently added a new celebrity location…a luxury apt. building overlooking Central Park where Armani, Vanessa Redgrave and radio host IMUS all live. We found this an amusing case of “strange bedfellows” and decided we should add it to our Rich and Famous Tour and therefore sent out a release. Several online press release outfits rejected us because we dared to mention celebrities by NAME. Ridiculous! How would People Magazine stay in business if they didn’t mention celebrities by name?
Jim Dykes
http://www.Richandfamoustours.com
[...] heard me talk about the predictable nature of Internet marketers (not all, but enough to make an impact), and how they abuse new social media tools. Will this group [...]
[...] Where Does IM Begin and PR end? – Naked PR’s Jenn Mattern on the ever-evolving merger of Internet marketing and PR. [...]