Cleveland — Sept. 28, 2008 — PR 20/20 is set to make a move this fall, as construction continues on the PR firm’s new downtown Cleveland headquarters in the historic Gateway District. The 2,900-square-foot space is located on the seventh floor of the Caxton Building at 812 Huron Rd., which has been home to PR 20/20 since March 2006.
The PR industry is in the midst of an identity crisis, fueled by a mass-market revolution that threatens to make traditional PR agencies obsolete, and spawn a new generation of industry leaders and influentials.
In a wildly competitive and cluttered media landscape, one that is increasingly being dominated by the social Web of mass collaboration, consumer-generated content and social networks, innovative PR firms are emerging to meet growing demand for Internet-based expertise and services.
These organizations, which are being informally referred to as “wired PR firms,” “digital PR firms” and “Internet PR firms,” will redefine the industry, and, in the process, give birth to a new category of agency — the inbound marketing agency.
Technology and the Social Web.
Technology has made it possible to create remarkably efficient management systems (e.g. time tracking, project management, CRM, professional development) that significantly lower operating costs.
As a result, agencies can shift to a less restrictive value-based pricing model that reaches the mass market with lower prices, while increasing profit margins.
At the same time, the social Web (aka Web 2.0) has given savvy PR firms the ability to dramatically expand their service offerings in the areas of content publishing, social media, blogging, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, Website development and analytics.
In essence, traditional PR agencies have been built on the ability to generate editorial coverage (or publicity) through mainstream media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines).
However, mainstream media (MSM) outlets are shrinking. And while still essential vehicles to reach and influence publics, MSM is challenged to retain the readers, viewers and listeners needed to generate revenue and maintain future stability and influence.
Plus, most traditional PR agencies are small — the average firm has six employees, and 92 percent of the nearly 25,000 firms do less than $1 million per year in revenue [1] — and most likely are not positioned to invest significant time and financial resources in evolving their model.
First coined by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, co-founders of HubSpot, inbound marketing refers to permission-based marketing strategies in which consumers choose to learn more about you by conducting a keyword search online, subscribing to your RSS feed, downloading your white paper, opting into your email newsletter, watching your videos, listening to your podcasts, visiting your social network or commenting on your blog.
So, rather than interrupt the unqualified masses with outbound marketing strategies such as direct mail, telemarketing, advertising and email spamming, you connect with qualified consumers online when they are actively looking for what you offer.
Inbound marketing is powered by content. In order to grow smarter and faster than the competition, organizations must continually publish great content online through blogs, podcasts, videos, optimized press releases, case studies, white papers, eBooks and by-lined articles.
Thus, the advent of the inbound marketing agency. Here’s a profile of what a typical inbound marketing agency will look like:
I was in Boston on Sept. 8, 2008 for the Inbound Marketing Summit. I knew that the one-day event would be well attended and educational, but what I witnessed was the start of an industry revolution. The inaugural Summit drew more than 300 attendees (which was a sell out), 1,300 live stream viewers, 10,000 Website visitors, and 100,000 social media connections.
If you’re a PR firm, you can’t ignore or resist where the market is taking us. It’s time to expand our knowledge and services. Think critically about the value we deliver to clients. Consider the state of MSM, and the future of our industry.
And for businesses, ask yourselves, when was the last time you responded to a direct mail piece, answered the call-to-action in a print ad, or were sold by a telemarketer? Now ask yourselves what you’re going to do to break through the clutter, and grow smarter and faster than your competitors.
Welcome to the age of inbound marketing. The time is now to get started.
Paul Roetzer is founder and president of PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. He can be found on Twitter @PaulRoetzer.
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[1] http://www.entrepreneur.com/benchmark/details72.html
I consider myself a fairly intelligent individual, someone who if put in a locked room and given the key, would eventually find my way out after the claustrophobic panic screams subsided. Well, during the 2008 Inbound Marketing Summit I had the pleasure of sitting through a session about Optimizing Landing Pages that made me question this assumption.
The session was hosted by David Reske, managing director of Nowspeed Marketing and he discussed several best practices on how to structure a landing page to encourage more visitors to take the desired call to action.
There were three points he talked about that left me scratching my head. Not in the “I’m confused” or “my shampoo doesn’t moisturize” kind of way, but in the “Why didn’t I think of that?” kind of way. They are genius in their simplicity and now that I’m aware of them, completely obvious.
I didn’t really appreciate the impact of this tactic until I saw an example (below). The example site was promoting a white paper, and included an image of the white paper with a quick, clear call to action (Free White Paper) on a button. The image (the only one on the screen) immediately caught my attention. Within 2 seconds I knew exactly how to get to the white paper.
[Note the white paper image in the top left.]
How often are you on a web page with a lot happening, when you get distracted from the reason you went to that page and click on an unrelated link?
Reske suggests that you take away the distraction and limit the visitors’ ability to go to another page by limiting the links on the page. On specific product or service pages, only include a link to the home page and your call to action. If they want to go to a different page, they still have the back button, or can go to the home page, which includes links to all the site’s other pages.
If you’re like me, you’re a little hesitant to freely give away your information, especially credit card information, to a Website that you know relatively nothing about. The thoughts of “spam emails” and “identity theft” scamper through your brain, giggling their mischievous little giggles.
Why not put your customers at ease by including your Privacy Statement clearly on the page that asks for their information. As soon as you get their business, hopefully your customer relations and product service will keep them coming back, but that first sale is going to be the hardest. Take every step possible to help them trust you.
Inbound marketing masterminds and thought-leaders converged at the first Inbound Marketing Summit Sept. 8 at the Boston Marriott Cambridge, and the entire office of PR 20/20 was fortunate enough to be a part of it.
Hubspot, creator of the industry's leading inbound marketing system and WebsiteGrader.com, organized the event, garnering 300 guests in attendance and reaching nearly 100,000 people through social media connections. Click here to visit the stream page with Summit activity throughout the Web.
PR 20/20 joined a host of companies that sponsored the one-day event filled with educational presentations, networking opportunities, ideas exchange and more.
Highlighted by keynote speakers David Meerman Scott and Seth Godin in the morning and afternoon sessions respectively, PR 20/20 marketing consultants spent their day attending seminars, and sharing information and insights. Check out the full Flickr slideshow for pictures of the keynote speakers.
We'd highly recommend planning to attend a future Inbound Marketing Summit and checking out the resources available at www.InboundMarketingSummit.com.
Paul discussing a slide in his "Blogging for Business" presentation.
PR 20/20 consultants Keith and Lyndsey at the table during a session break.
(Part 4 of a 5-part blog series on Selling to the Future)
Teenagers and young professionals of Generation Y are the true ambassadors of the blogosphere. Not only are blogs vital for a strong inbound marketing campaign - increasing your search engine visibility through inbound links to your Websites – but also a great way to share content and create discussions.
A 2007 report, Teens and Social Media, highlights creative content sharing as a growing trend. The report is based on a national phone survey of 935 youth ages 12-17 conducted in November 2006.
Making Blogs Work For You
Blogs thrive on two-way communication – publishing interesting content, and communicating directly through comments, linkbacks, and social bookmarking through StumbleUpon, digg and more.
In a Seth Godin blog post titled “The wealthy gardener,” he states:
“The best bloggers make money, but mostly as a side effect, not as a direct result of setting out to use a blog to make a profit…If it makes you happy (and your readers happy) it's a great place to start. Step by step you get better at it, and then you discover the ancillary benefits. But the benefits kick in best when you don't set out to achieve them...”
A great place to start is to search where your target markets are hanging out in the blogosphere by doing a blog search on Technorati or Google Blogs. This will help you get a feel for what’s already being said and where you can fit in.
In addition to using blogs to connect with customers, corporations are also seeing the benefits of internal blogs as employee communication tools.
How organizations are using blogs in business
Not sure if blogging is right for your business?
Check out the Corporate Blog Creative Brief posted on the PR 20/20 Blog, or contact a PR 20/20 Internet marketing consultant today.
With 1.4 blogs created each second, and 22 of the top 100 Websites being blogs, maybe it’s time your business thought about blogging.
Part 3 - Facebook is life for college students and beyond
Part 4 - Blogging in business
Part 5 - Don't call us, we'll text u (coming soon)
Thinking about launching a corporate blog? Here are some basics we've compiled at PR 20/20 to help clients establish a blog strategy before taking the leap:
1. Audiences: Whom do you plan to reach and influence with your blog?
2. Objectives: What do you intend to achieve with your blog?
3. Content Outline: What relevant, timely topics do you plan to publish?
4. Frequency: How often do you plan to post?
5. Comment Policy: Will the corporation allow, block and/or screen comments?
6. Controversial Issues: What is the policy for addressing controversial issues?
7. Links: What sites, blogs and forums will the corporate blog link to?
8. Promotion: How will the blog be promoted?
For additional insight on corporate blogs, check out Debbie Weil's blog. Debbie is author of The Corporate Blogging Book.
Business keeps getting in the way of blogging, but we've got some public relations and marketing posts in the works to help grow your business in new and innovative ways.
Here's a peek at some of the public relations and marketing trends, news, resources and technologies we're working on:
Also, stay tuned for the Social Media for Communicators Conference blog series. We'll be blogging live from Vegas in early March on more than a dozen social media topics.
If you've got a topic you'd like to see covered in a future blog post, contact us anytime, or just post your comments below.
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