My Comments On John Crudele's O'Dwyer's Column On the Book The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR
Many people get their news from weblogs these days, rather than just traditional media. I read Deborah Branscum's all the time (buzz.weblogs.com), and I love what she writes about in her posts as much as or more than I love her Fortune.com columns. I've also managed to build relationships with various media people because we both maintain a blog, and we share information.
Many PR and advertising conglomerates have been losing money in the past couple of years because they're stuck in the past. Sure, advertising is good if you have something that's not newsworthy, but if you can't make something newsworthy then you shouldn't be doing PR in the first place. However, PR and advertising combined are more effective than using either of them alone.
Media is changing very quickly, though, and PR is definitely becoming more important. Weblogs are making media less centralized and more personal, and unlike the dot coms that fell, blogs will not fall because they're usually not for profit and they're cheap to maintain. Having a background in PR, especially media relations, is good for someone hoping to flood blogs with their message, or they can simply rely on old-fashioned "Google bombing."
Edelman made the famous mistake of not taking blogs seriously (to see what I'm talking about, go to Google and type in NUBlog+Edelman), and even though they guarantee better search engine placement for a client, many PR companies do not include them in netcom strategies.
The point I'm trying to make is this: Don't get stuck in the old glue of what's been tried and proven true. What was proven true ten years ago may not be true at all in today's world, market, etc.
Article comments
1 - meredith
as a PR major [but not working in PR, thank god], i had to read this book, just because. and well, i liked the awesome cover photograph.
but your title says it all. bravo.
2 - John Mudd
Meredith,
Thanks so much for your kind words on my review-post.
I majored in PR as well, and I graduated last year with a B.A. in mass communications with a PR specialization from the University of South Florida. Since PR jobs were scarce in Florida's Tampa Bay area, and everywhere else for that matter, I practiced PR independently for a while, but then I did something smarter.
I became a Realtor®, and I now work for Broderick & Associates, Inc. I'm the only realtor® I know of with a press kit and pre-existing media relationships, which fits nicely with part of my business plan to give any famous clients free PR who use me to buy or sell real estate. I also plan on doing free PR for anyone who uses me to buy or sell residential property of $500,000 or more, and I will provide free PR services for anyone who uses me to buy or sell commercial or investment property of $1-million or more. Unlike the PR company that tried to auction off 15 minutes of fame, I will work to get it for people free of charge, famous or not, for the right priced real estate transaction.
I also have a real estate blog and website in the works.
By the way, I love your website and your journal. I'll definitely check out your writings soon. Keep up the great work.
3 - jimmy
hi i think u r all sad o,s u mams stink off pee and your dad is a arse ole if any one wants to argue about how sad u r doing this and that when none of u can play with ya todja never mind a guitar turds s [edited email]