The Power of Solo PR (real public relations)
This year a friend of mine was featured on Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. About a week before the airing I sat down with him, while dining with my wife. and suggested he engage a PR professional to help harness the publicity of that show. A few days before airing, Bill contacted me to pursue the use of PR. Within 10 minutes I had him connected with a real PR professional. As a news monitoring service it is very apparent to us that if an organization wants to reach the largest audience quickly, local TV, Radio, and Print are the best bets. Now of course this depends on the audience and the service or product, but generally speaking the largest audiences for a single story are found in traditional media. However, as everyone knows, magnifying placements in traditional media through the social networks is a key component of most PR efforts.
Public Relations was the perfect tool for this promotional need as the event, a Cupcake Wars episode, could easily be promoted as a “local company done good” story. But, it would require someone with real media relationships in order to rally the TV, radio, and print media quickly. With the trending power of solo PR professionals, almost any event or PR push can be managed by a single PR pro. Through the use of now more affordable tools for news monitoring and earned media measurement, these one person shops can compete on a broader stage. Such was the case for this Cupcake Ware effort. This effort utilized traditional media relations outreach, event planning, and social media engagement to promote the show.
One of the trends for 2012 is how solo PR professionals will continue to grow their ranks. Whether because of downsized agencies, or the trimming of corporate PR departments, or even news media personalities entering the public relations industry, this does seem to be more than a trend…maybe the new normal. But I digress.
Back to the cupcakes. The overall statistics were amazing.
ROI is evident by the lines now forming at Jones Bros. Cupcakes. They did a good business before, but now it is booming over there. The TV and radio coverage generated through PR was, as expected from a well formed effort, great. And even some mentions in print were earned.
This short post illustrates a classic #samerules approach was needed here, but amplified by the #newtools of social media. One of our points for the last two years, not as just a trend for 2012, is that public relations and marketing must get away from thinking in terms of traditional and social media as separate mediums. We have only media, understanding and using each medium within the greater media takes a real pro. Whether you’re an agency pro or a solo PR pro, being an expert in media relations is a primary function if you expect results. There is no faking real public relations.
Let me know if we can help you understand the impact of your PR efforts through measurement or tracking. Or better yet, give us your thoughts on how to best generate PR for an event, service, or product. Sharing the knowledge makes us all better.
Cheers!
Bingo. There is no difference between PR efforts in traditional versus social media and solo professionals can really carry a lot of clout when paired with low cost outreach. I think 2012 will bring about a much deeper understanding of how closely tied traditional and digital media have become over the last three to five years.
Dave, thanks for the comments. I know I’m preaching to the choir with you, but I think “closely tied” really describes all the mediums we have at our disposal for public relations. Cheers to you for 2012!
I saw the power of this back in 2008 when we teamed up.
Using social media for PR…it almost seems like we need a new word, or some words need to be switched around. “Public Relations” is the key to a successful social media campaign, it almost IS social media. Then, ‘publicity’ seems to be practically the same as ‘PR’ now, or at least perceived that way. ROI can be a positive reputation, monitoring can prevent negative disaster, instant fame can be planned, traffic can be exponential…blah, blah, yakkedy…
What I am saying is that you are right. From my point of view, the new tools can be whatever, but the rule is the word…”relations”. It has always been key to build relationships, no matter what business, but especially in this one.
Either that or pull out a grandiose, “all eyes on me” stunt from your rear-end every couple weeks, and from the looks of a few who have tried, even that gets boring after a while. Cheers!
Thanks for the comments, Eric. The incorporation of social media into mainstream started several years ago. The sooner we all, including PR practitioners, view it all as “the media”, the better. Yes, there are community dynamics at play, but those rules have existed forever. We now have the ability to engage a community without geographic restrictions. #SameRules #NewTools! Cheers to you!
I am currently in a class called “Social Media for PR” and found your blog to be very interesting. I will be coming back to read more as the semester progresses and I look forward to learning more!