As I have been helping my soon-to-be college freshman explore the incredible breadth of college majors focusing on marketing and public relations available to her, I have seen firsthand how diversified this industry is in the digital age we now operate in. Just 10 years ago, Public Relations was more of an add-on to the main strategy but now has top billing in any solid tactical plan with the inclusion of all forms of social media and search engine opportunities.
Managing communications between a business and its audience is the traditional definition of Public Relations. And that perfectly describes how social media and SEO function in this brave new world of marketing.
The drawback however, is content-overload; sometimes companies are more focused on having constant ‘marketing touches’ to their audience and they ignore whether that message is relevant. And that is where the ‘old school’ teaching of Public Relations comes back into play – evaluate the message, rank its relevance to the audience, decide which media channel is appropriate, and examine if it even has any positive impact on the organization’s marketing presence.
“Content is king” has always been and will continue to be true, but managing all that content in a memorable, actionable and meaningful way is an art form in itself, and puts Public Relations smack in the driver’s seat.
As a follow up to last week’s post about David Ogilvy’s “How to create advertising that sells,” I wanted to share another gem from the long list of 38 tips.
For most of recent memory, panic about advertisers leaving the stalwart network and cable advertising in droves to move their budgets into social media have been the ad industry’s words of warning. However, a recent article in the New York Times tells a different story of how traditional media can successfully partner with, rather than compete with, social media.
These were the wise words from a respected boss years ago. He was speaking to the issue of improving sales, but as 
Mr. Peanut is making a comeback. For those of us seasoned enough to remember the original Mr. Peanut (hey, I had a Mr. Peanut Peanut Butter maker when I was 5) this is a nice and comfortable flashback. But will the new Mr. Peanut campaign resonate with a younger crowd? The ad firm thankfully did put a gray flannel suit on him, although being au naturale in the new millenium is not really as risque as it might have been 3o years ago.
Recession, sell-offs, layoffs, closings, bailouts – is it a reason for businesses to despair or an opportunity for a second chance? It is often said that Americans are by far one of the most optimistic cultures on the globe, although it would not necessarily seem that way if you polled a few friends these days. But even with the prolonged negative news, at some point we just have to say, “Okay, enough of this, let’s pick up the pieces and get things back on track!” It does not mean instant success or magical profitability or zero unemployment. It just means putting on a new attitude and a creating a reason to keep plugging along.
