State of Play, a gripping thriller (in DVD) set in Washington, DC features Russell Crowe as a seasoned print reporter and it has an interesting sub theme: It reveals how new online bloggers (without journalism training) might learn something from an experienced print reporter. It’s also entertaining though 2 hours long.

Messages are still important but they must be incorporated in stories or discussion and backed up with real substance and be relevant to the audience. There is nothing new about that either.

What is really different is the speed of communication and the length of times it remains available for pick up. It can be very instantaneous and can also be dug up years or even decades later. That’s way it still must be thoughtful; there must still be corporate policy, parameters and controls.

What is said at the water cooler in a physical office space versus what is said at the electronic cooler (such as Twitter) are different. One is heard only by a few, and the other has the potential to be heard by millions and around the world—word for word.

We’re monitoring blogs and online exposure to establish what people in our markets are interested in and what the media is covering. It enables us to determine issues, find rumors that need to be addressed, develop story angles and opportunities to participate in the discussions.

Why? The conversation can point back to our web sites and thus us….

• Because we want to be thought leaders…
• We want our web sites to be valued
• Our participation can lead to real opportunities—work that will pay us.
Based on what we learn we can make blog posts, adjust our pay per click ads, modify meta tags within our web site, and develop story angles for presenting or writing in the communication channels important to us and our constituents.

The challenge now is finding the swiftest ways to do this in the course of business. Anyone that was “doing” spin was not a true PR professional in the first place.

In fact, in today’s dynamic communications environment proactive public relations efforts should be a bigger top priority than ever before. In this age of social media anyone can claim to be a journalist. If this is not a major concern for the CEO, then surely the risk management officer sees the red flags. Here are five reasons why PR should be top priority now, just to start:

1. Everyone is subject to a communications crisis.
2. Anyone can be a communications channel.
3. A global media environment means opportunities can multiply worldwide.
4. Our websites and online footprint define us.
5. Your competition will use the channels to define you.

Even without a huge budget, executives can participate in forums, write articles, maintain a web site and comment on articles of interest to the company. To keep this cost effective, I recommend choosing a theme that supports your mission and focusing most communications around that theme as much as possible. This enables you to repeat stories in many formats. In essence you will be recycling information, but establishing yourself as a “thought leader” on a subject that helps define you or your organization. An editor can help to polish what is written, and even a small PR agency can ensure that your knowledge is widely delivered through online and traditional media channels.

Web sites today are designed with content management software so that anyone in your company can easily keep the content current, adding articles, press releases and notices. It is also just as easy for anyone to use free Google tools to see the number of visitors to your site and where they go and what search terms they use.

Even with the inexpensive or free online tools available today, you would be surprised at the number of companies who don’t keep their sites current and don’t know what their visitors want to read or how they search for them. That would be like opening a store and then going on a permanent vacation.

What to do:
• Establish a proactive PR plan.
• Create branding and communications protocol.
• Develop processes for managing communications flow in a crisis.
• Train spokespersons to respond to media inquiries.
• Pump up the news area of web sites and keep information online current.
• Be your own channel of information.

Unless you’re 3M or IBM, companies that have spent decades branding an odd assortment of letters and numbers, your web address should avoid that kind of “alphabet soup.”

Instead, whether you’re a new service provider in the equipment leasing and finance market, or your company has just merged with another, or you are launching a new site or corporate identity, you’d be wise to name your web site well.

Think about it. Online promotion may be limited to a banner message consisting of just a few phrases. Or, at a trade show or convention, passersby will only see the top half of your booth signage. Your web site address will be everywhere, from your business card to your give-away golf balls.

When, I launched my web site back in the pioneer days of the Internet, www.scapr.com was to stand for Susan Carol Associates Public Relations, but it was a choice I have regretted. It’s better to say who you are or what you do – World Leasing News is a good example.

Now with more than 20 years in business, my site and my company are known in the niche markets that my agency serves. When we re-brand, I will follow the advice I give clients and opt for a clearer message.

Consider:

(1) Make sure your web address is short and easy to remember. It should suggest your strengths or say in a word or two what you offer.

(2) Chances are what you think of first has already been used – a quick Google search will tell the story.

(3) Play with the words in advertising messages; consider what they will sound like on the radio. Then, make sure no others have the same site already registered and trademarked.

When branding, a fresh and creative perspective is needed. Consider consulting a marketing professional, and employing focus group research to develop a strong concept that you and your target audience will embrace for years to come.

In that same time period we have consumed far less paper and each of us only needed to reserve a room in our homes that was going to be heated or cooled anyway. While we have always kept current with technology, we have recycled computers by donating them to charitable organizations or passed them to our children for their school work.

We were doing what was good for the environment long before there was a social push for this. But that is just part of our culture. We’re a PR agency that is frequently acting in ways that are only noted in the news as trends much later. That’s pretty green. What about you?

In today’s economic environment, market research in the form of customer surveys, focus groups, and Internet surveys is more critical than ever to ensure that campaigns are well aligned with audience interests and priorities—and marketing dollars are wisely spent.

It’s also a good time to step back and evaluate your Web site to see how it can be more engaging. The Web continues to be a prime marketing tool, but only when sites are dynamic, interactive, and continually refreshed. More and more, online communities, social media, and Web 2.0 tools—from blogs to user groups—are key to promoting customer relationships, building brand awareness, and reinforcing the perceived value of your products and services.

I find myself seeking out the NBC network news at 7 with Brian Williams, or the BBC or national public television …looking for that feeling of belonging that I had watching Walter Cronkite when I was a kid. He was speaking to all of us as a united nation with common interests and desires for our common good. While I love the creativity that new media unleashes, and the opportunity it gives for expression of all kinds from anyone, anywhere, I hope that some avenues of professional journalistic reporting remain to bring us together for messages we may not want to hear but need to hear. Where will the objective reporting coming from?

Paul Saffo said it best in a recent Economist.com article…. a futurologist described as “one of the world’s most enthusiastic technophiles,” said that on the downside, “Each of us can create our own personal-media walled garden that surrounds us with comforting,
confirming information and utterly shuts out anything that conflicts with our world view,” he says. “This is social dynamite” and could lead to “the erosion of the intellectual commons holding society together…We risk huddling into tribes defined by shared prejudices.”

Aren’t we doing this already? What do you think?