(Part 4 of a 4-part blog series on The Battle for Influence: Online vs. Print Media)

Shrinking newspapers. Rising job cuts. Declining circulation numbers. Shifting advertising dollars. As a PR and marketing consultant, why should I care? It’s simple: mainstream media coverage is the result of the core services I provide to my clients.

How can I offer results for my clients if newspapers and magazines are cutting sections, leaving less room for my press release, and laying off jobs, leaving me with fewer contacts with whom to build relationships and are too busy to take my call?

Listed here are some of the findings from a recent study conducted by journalist Tyler Marshall and the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, based on face-to-face interviews in 250 newsrooms across the country:

• More than half of the editors at larger papers and a third at smaller ones expect more cutbacks in the next year.

• Nearly two-thirds of papers surveyed have cut back on foreign news, more than half have trimmed national news and more than a third have reduced business coverage.

• Forty-eight percent of editors surveyed say they are conflicted by the trade-offs between the speed, depth and interactivity of the Web and what those benefits are costing in terms of accuracy and journalistic standards, while 43 percent think the Web “will be the savior of what we once thought of as newspaper newsrooms.”

Just as mainstream media is struggling to adapt its core services and survive online, the public relations industry must do the same to remain relevant.  

So what fundamental services do PR and marketing consultants require in an inbound marketing toolkit?

1. Search Engine Optimization: Increases a Website’s visibility and value in search engines through On-page Optimization, Keyword Analysis and Off-page Optimization/Link Building.
2. Pay-Per-Click Campaigns: Paid advertising through search-engine results.
3. Social Media: Websites encouraging user participation and user-generated content, including Social Bookmarking (delicious.com) and Social Networking (Linkedin.com) Websites.
4. Content Publishing: Publishing keyword-rich content online, including optimized press releases, eBooks and blogging.
5. Web Analytics: The ability to analyze user activity and measure ROI.
   

In this business — and all businesses, for that matter — adopting the new fundamentals is a key to survival.

Blog Series — The Battle for Influence: Print vs. Online Media

Part 1 — Newspapers without the Paper?

Part 2 — Views from the Mainstream

Part 3 — Print Media Is Losing

Part 4 — Public Relations: The New Fundamentals