Are you ready to rock in digital age?

By Robert Wheatley

With the public relations media strategy game in a state of transition, we expose the new media communications paradigm here. It’s time to consider new techniques and approaches as we examine how editorial media outreach now mingles with direct consumer communication.

Before Social Media (BSM)

Forever and a day, PR media activity has essentially been a “business-to-media” proposition. Whatever the material developed to showcase brand and business messaging, the end game was always to entice, cajole and convince media decision makers to use said material and sources (spokespeople) for a story.

Not unlike two-step distribution in the beverage alcohol business – beer maker to distributor to retailer – the PR chain previously originated with media gatekeepers who in turn re-purposed the material we create in their “media-to-consumer” role. This effectively left the message maker one step back from the final outcome. Message credibility? Yes. Direct input on the final story line? No.

After Social Media (ASM)

Now the audiences for news consumption have exploded to include business-to-consumer, business-to-investor, business-to-employees, and other assorted stakeholders. So the digital media revolution puts brands and businesses on a path to converse not only with editors and citizen journalists — but also directly with the end consumer. Thus bypassing the media gatekeeper and enabling face-to-face interaction with those you’re attempting to reach. Some will say this has always been true and in terms of outcome it is. But the mechanics of what went on in the “BSM” process has been squarely within a business-to-media pathway.

Digital Evolution

Valeria Maltoni, author of Conversation Agent blog is a thought leader on this subject and has contributed much to the conversation about evolving media strategy. As you tear into the implications for how news and information is assembled and distributed, Valeria has a wonderful discussion on the subject of Social Media Releases and how this impacts PR.

A Fictional Pet Food Launch

You can immediately see how the tools that are assembled for a new brand or product launch are shifting gears. Let’s use the introduction of a new pet food diet as a hypothetical example.

Say we’re launching a new seasonal fresh ingredient pet food line from a company we’ll call Natural Bounty Pet Foods. It’s a super-premium food and the brand is aimed at pet parents who see their animals as family members and dote over them. They care, they’re engaged and they’re informed. They want to know what’s in the food they feed Fido and who is behind the brand and its formulation. Credibility is an issue – so confidence in the diet looms large.

Media Message and Story Packaging

In the BSM era publicity efforts in both mainstream and digital media channels would have coalesced around a press kit and some streaming video, distributed online and used as a foundation for contacts with editors, bloggers and producers.

In the ASM world new technology allows content rich micro-site-like platforms to be created and distributed that go much, much further. While the inverted pyramid approach to copywriting may endure (because it’s THE key to good, compelling writing) the style today gets more conversational in tone. Why? Because journalists AND pet parents, employees and other stakeholders are gong to consume the content.

Essentially, for Natural Bounty we’re constructing a digital, interactive repository of information in various forms that ladders up to an immersive experience — and deep dive into the product, its development, experts behind the formulation, how it fits in the framework of innovation pet diets, plus the emotional stories of pets who’ve benefitted from eating it. What’s more, the platform is distributed not only among mainstream media but also in social media channels as well.

We could go on about Natural Bounty launch events, interactive tactics and other strategies to build awareness and preference. But the point here is simply to say there’s strategic, tactical and infrastructure changes in motion right now for PR firms and clients in how and what information is created and packaged for distribution — to inform those who will learn and buy and virally share the message with others.

The story-telling possibilities are made richer by the technology. That it can be aggregated in one location and made available to various channels of on and off-line media and other relevant audiences adjusts the equation of message content and timing. Digital media platforms may indeed inform the future of PR because of the convenience, efficiency and effectiveness they intrinsically deliver. The multi-media options – embedded video, podcasts, links — strengthen message horsepower and bring more dimensions to the story. The built-in interactivity drives real-time feedback as the Natural Bounty launch progresses. Awesome. And message delivered without filter, direct to the pet parent making a decision on pet food.

I’ll leave you with this thought: PR is indeed the new advertising and word of mouth is the new PR. This evolution in media and content strategy is THE enabler.

What do you think?