Good business practice teaches us that if you don’t cannibalize your own products, someone else will do it for you. It may be hard, it may be unpleasant but it will do you good in the long term.
The same adage can be added to the world of marketing services. If PR professionals don’t step up to the plate on understanding how the new online tools can (and just as importantly can’t) help your organization or client, then there’s a host of other marketing folks only too delighted to pick up the slack.
There’s a whole range of candidates for consideration here. Think about websites, search engine optimization and of course weblogs. All these tools are involved in communication, yet how many PR professionals drive these disciplines in their organizations? Very few I’d wager.
Angelo Fernando, author of the Hoi Polloi blog recently attended the IABC conference in Los Angeles and was surprised that Microsoft PR director Janice Kaplan talked about a whole range of online communication tools but ignored blogs.
“So I asked her if the several bloggers at Microsoft –with or without corporate approval– frustrate the PR role, or add more slings to her bow. She replied that for the moment, they are watching what bloggers can do, but have no immediate plans to incorporate blogging into their strategy. I am not so surprised, considering how Microsoft ignored the Web phenomenon for quite some time.”
Now Microsoft is a large organization but it is a little surprising that their PR folks are so reticent about blogs, particularly as we know that Microsoft already undertakes quite a bit of blog relations.
In addition to the 400 or so Microsoft employee blogs, the company has kicked off the Channel 9 blog for developers, and over two years ago, Microsoft was already targeting influential bloggers, pre-briefing them on new products and bringing them to Redmond for exclusive briefings with executives.
Of course it obviously wasn’t the Microsoft PR guys, it was the product marketing folks.
When your marketing people have a two year head start it can be difficult to catch up. Be warned….
Footnote:
Jim Horton looks at how Stonyfield Farm, an organic yoghurt firm, is using blogs to communicate with its customers. (The only downside is all the Flash on the site!)
Murphy's Law 