Life Moves Pretty Fast

One of the great modern-day philosophers, Ferris Bueller twice said (at the beginning and at the end of the iconic 1986 movie, so it must be important), “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

The same can be said generally about all businesses. But in particular, the Public Relations business has moved incredibly fast.

When I started R&J back in 1986, the same year that Ferris gave us his great advice about life, I had an IBM Selectric typewriter on my desk, and the only Gekko we ever heard from was Gordon, who was telling us (convincingly) that “greed is good.” We didn’t even have a fax machine; they were just then gaining widespread utilization. Back in that time, our role as public relations practitioners was clear and simple: to get publicity – and lots of it – for our clients. We did this by writing lots and lots of press releases (and mailing – yes mailing – them out to the media, usually with 5” X 7” glossy photo prints), establishing personal relationships with journalists (and there were a lot more of those covering much narrower “beats” back then), and pitching like crazy. It was a great business – fun and rewarding in so many ways.

But a funny thing happened along the way. Life moved pretty fast.
Business changed, and with that change, came the need for a far greater degree of strategic, forward-looking business counsel and strategic thinking. To accommodate these business needs, the public relations industry also underwent tremendous change. And the transformation of our business and our industry that was necessary to stay ahead of our clients’ needs has been incredible – often happening at break-neck speed.

Today’s successful PR firm is far more than a publicity shop. Today, we often play a central role in brand development, market strategy and business-building for our clients. We’re called in at the beginning of discussions on positioning, market strategy and brand personality. We consult on the ins-and-outs, and the potential ramifications of every communication tactic – both traditional and in social media. We prepare, and when needed, execute crisis management plans. In short, we are important counselors and marketing partners for our clients, and not simply “publicists” (although publicity is still a very important deliverable for many of our clients).

Firms like ours welcome this never-ending change. We thrive on it, and look forward to engaging with new media channels and outlets, and new techniques. It’s actually become fun to learn how express a full marketing thought in 140 characters or less! And I am very fortunate to have surrounded myself with a lot of smart, curious and insightful people, who don’t hesitate to remind me how fast things change, and how if we aren’t riding the wave, then we risk being swallowed up by it.

Yes, Ferris had it right: Life does, indeed, move pretty fast. We are happy to have evolved along the way, and to have helped our clients through many of these changes. We continue to look ahead for the next inevitable round of changes.

Finally, to many of our clients who’ve been along with us for much of this incredible ride, as Ferris would say,Danke Schön!

Someone is Talking about YOUR Brand

Used to be, in the "good old days," it was pretty easy to keep track of who was saying what about your company or product. Sign up for one of the national clipping services, wait a few weeks for the old women up in Maine to read the papers, cut out the story that you were mentioned in, and -- Voila! -- you had a pretty good idea of where you stood.

Nowadays, with the Internet and the proliferation of blogs, you don't have the luxury of waiting weeks for an envelope chock-full of clips.

The fact is, you probably need to sign up for Google Alerts. Better yet, familiarize yourself with one or more of the social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us

Technorati is currently tracking almost 113 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. Try a Technorati search -- you may be surprised what you find!

Here's the bottom line: If someone is talking about your brand, it almost necessarily means others are listening. And you need to know what they are saying.

Social Media: It's here. Get used to it

"Social Media," one of the key components of the Web 2.0 revolution, is rapidly gaining strength and momentum, and exhibiting tremendous staying power. Not that it is a be-all/end-all, nor is it replacing the "traditional media," but nowadays if you don't have a strategy for incorporating social media into your marketing communications plan, you are missing a very large, very important and rapidly growing boat.

Just this week, Google's stock price raced through 700, due in large measure to anticipated demand for and use of new social networking applications. And last week, Microsoft handed over $240 million for a 1.6% stake in Facebook -- which works out to a perceived value of $15 billion (yes, that is BILLION with a "B") for Facebook.

The big boys are taking notice, and what they see is a very lucrative "the sky's the limit" market for the continuing surge of social media.

Need more proof? Take a look around at who is blogging these days. Around here at R&J, it's not only the old guy (me), but one of our up-and-coming superstar Account Coordinators, Crystal Decotiis. Take a look at Crystal's blog here.