Some of you might be scandalized to here me urge you to turn marketing into PR. I mean, I have a reputation as someone who is constantly advising people to measure everything they do in terms of sales–the direct marketing playbook–and it’s very hard to do that in public relations. But measurement is only one part of what digital marketing requires. Digital marketing also forces you to confront a reality that PR people live with every day, but traditional marketers rarely do. Which is why you need to embrace a PR point of view in your messaging.
Traditional marketers have never had to create messages that people will voluntarily spend their time with. All they needed to do was open their wallet and buy advertising. They picked the message and they shoved it in front of as many people as possible.
But digital marketing has reduced dramatically the ability for marketers to buy their way in. Except for paid search, just about every other form of digital advertising seems to be less effective than free means of getting your message out there. And that’s why marketers must embrace public relations as a new way to think about their messaging.
You see, PR people have always had to deal with a different reality–they couldn’t pay anyone to get their message out. They had to have a message that people wanted to voluntarily spend their time with. This simple idea makes PR people perfect as the message crafters for the new digital marketing.
And some smart companies are showing you they believe this. Did you know that IBM’s marketing chief is a longtime leader in their Communications department? Expect other companies to start making the same kind of moves. PR people can be the new marketers because their approach to messaging works better in the digital age.
