Dawn of the Inbound Marketing Agency
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.
Why Now?
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.
Traditional PR Agency Snapshot
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.
Intro to Inbound Marketing
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.
Enter the Inbound Marketing Agency
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:
- Staff: Expert copywriters (as most PR professionals are), who are trained in authentic on-page and off-page search engine optimization methodology, and function as Internet marketing consultants. All employees/consultants are heavily engaged in social media.
- Services: Content publishing, social media consulting, blogging, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, mobile marketing, Website development and analytics, as well as evolved forms of publicity, brand marketing and crisis communications.
- Pricing: Value-based with wider appeal to the mass market of small businesses.
- Results: While traditional PR firms rely on clippings, impressions and advertising equivalency for arbitrary measurements of success, inbound marketing firms consistently produce more measurable outcomes, including: inbound links, Website traffic, leads and sales.
- Leadership: Most likely founded/lead by Generation X (ages 28-43) or Generation Y (ages 18-27).
- Technology: Extremely tech-savvy. There may even be a crossover into software research and development (either in-house or outsourced) if the current industry providers do not innovate fast enough.
- Infrastructure: More agile and tolerant to risk than most traditional PR firms. Built to be highly scalable in terms of number of clients and employees, geographic markets, and revenue.
- Growth: Dramatically more aggressive growth models due to mass-market appeal. As a result, angel and venture funding of leading firms is a greater probability than with traditional PR agencies. A wave of mergers and acquisitions of complementary firms — SEO, Web developers, email marketing, mobile marketing, etc. — also is probable.
- Market Focus: The industry leaders will have a mass-market focus, and international appeal (the Internet has no borders), but like any emerging industry, there will be plenty of room for smaller agencies to prosper by concentrating on niche market segments and/or services.
The Inbound Marketing Revolution Has Begun
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 blogs here, and tweets there.
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Follow me on Twitter: @paulroetzer
[1] http://www.entrepreneur.com/benchmark/details72.html
Reader Comments
peter caputa
September 15, 2008 12:32 PM | Permalink
This post is not only awesome, Paul... it is "spot on". I've been putting a post together called, "The website design business is dead". Not only are traditional PR agencies going to have trouble adapting to the new ROI driven online inbound PR business model, so are web design firms, marketing agencies, etc. SEO/SEM consultants were the early beneficiary of "inbound marketing". But, I believe that PR firms have more of the required skills to offer the services to clients that deliver true value, especially SEO, social media marketing and blogging services. I applaud you for being at the forefront of this.Bernie Borges
September 15, 2008 8:01 PM | Permalink
I generally agree with Paul. The only respectful exception I take is that progressive SEO/SEM firms also are competent in social media and staff up with copywriters and also have a strong marketing and technology savvy leadership team.Paul Roetzer
September 15, 2008 9:01 PM | Permalink
Bernie - That's a valid point. I'm definitely looking at it from the PR firm perspective, but there is no reason that SEO/SEM firms can't evolve in a similar manner. I actually believe that much of the merger and acquisition activity will take place between SEO and PR firms, as their services are very complementary in this space.Bernie Borges
September 16, 2008 7:17 AM | Permalink
Paul - I agree with your point about the synergies and the convergence that will likely take place. We are on the same page. Keep up the good work.peter caputa
September 16, 2008 1:24 PM | Permalink
As soon as I pressed publish, Bernie, I thought of you and how you were certainly an exception to the rule. Most SEO/SEM firms are really just SEM firms who know how to do basic on page SEO. As you and Paul both know, a content creation strategy (preferably a blog strategy) is the best way to implement a solid SEO and social media strategy. As an aside, not that either of you need to, since your businesses are growing very quickly and it'd probably be a distraction, but I couldn't help but hope you two would merge :-)Brian Halligan
September 18, 2008 10:56 AM | Permalink
Paul. I couldn't agree with you more. The traditional PR firm is going the way of the dinasaur. Existing PR firms to make the very tricky leap FROM helping their clients interrupt mainstream journalists to get their attention TO helping their clients "get found" by their marketplace through the "new jounalists." The "new journalists" are everyone -- many people have blogs today; many more people comment on blogs today; many people have facebook and declare "what are you doing now"; more and more people are on Twitter micro-blogging their every thought; etc; etc. It will be interesting to see the industrial make-up of the PR industry in 5 years -- whether the existing INTERRUPT-ASSISTERS will make the transition to INBOUND ENABLERS or whether there will be a disruption from a new set of players. Brian. Brian.Joe Pulizzi
September 18, 2008 12:25 PM | Permalink
Excellent article Paul. You are dead on with this. Wish I could have made the conference. Sounded like it was excellent. Best JoePaul Roetzer
September 20, 2008 9:41 AM | Permalink
As Brian preaches at HubSpot, and Joe at Junta42, it's all about creating and publishing great, multi-media content. Mainstream media isn't going to disappear, but it's definitely time that PR pros start looking at themselves as publishers. Thanks for the comments.John Flynn
October 31, 2008 1:45 PM | Permalink
And the myth that you can't prove ROI for Inbound Internet Marketing is just that...a myth. I have been in advertising for a long period of time and worked in print and radio. Finding ROI for radio and print campaigns is very hard (if not impossible). With the right Inbound Internet Marketing campaign you can have solid proof that your campaign works. Check out my site at http://www.inboundinternetmarketing.com.David Prior
December 22, 2008 9:33 AM | Permalink
This is absolutely spot on and mirrors the exact reasons why I have moved from traditional PR into online marketing.Doug Kessler
January 06, 2009 8:26 AM | Permalink
It's amazing how slow to adapt traditional PR companies have been. That's created a niche for online specialists who get it.Roger, Online PR Agency C&M
January 07, 2009 12:12 AM | Permalink
Hey Paul Nice one. I think I'm with you, and I think my agency is one of these things. Not so convinced about any distinction between 'interruption' and 'permission' and 'inbound' - why get hung up on other people's theories (Seth?)? Seems a little academic... And not a fan of 'Inbound Marketing' - lacks sizzle. no? But, yes, it's all about quality content marketing in a big way and proving to your prospective site visitors that you're the one through smart seeding and smart engagement tactics.... Typically, this is the work of a savvy PR-like hustler... The skill sets that you mention are very PR-like. It's a shame of course that the PR industry in general has its head buried in the sand when it comes to the web - as these are the folks most likely to do good work in this way - they have the noodles and the client relationships to produce great content and get it out these.Paul Roetzer
January 10, 2009 9:17 PM | Permalink
Roger, Thanks for the comments. I like your Website and your agency's positioning. You bring up valid points regarding inbound marketing, and other theories. I actually battled for months with how to define the agency in a way that encompassed the PR services we've always offered, with this emerging mix of Internet-based services. I'm not a fan of "wired," and I'm still torn on whether "Online PR" says enough. People already have perceptions of what they believe PR to be, and I just don't know that those will change. For me, and our agency, it came down to two things: 1) I believe very strongly in the people and the organization pushing the inbound marketing philosophy and message. They are building a very strong movement, and whether us in the agency world buy into it or not, the reality is that our future clients are. So do we continue to battle perceptions, and try to get the masses to believe that PR in fact is also SEO, PPC, content marketing, etc., or do we, as an industry, finally listen to the market and adapt. 2) I would rather be different, and take a risk based on something that I believe in, than continue to conform to an industry that I feel is far too slow to change and evolve. Thanks again for the comments. And best wishes with C & M.Red
February 02, 2009 6:11 PM | Permalink
Darn it! And here I wrote an e-book, "New Rules of Outsourcing B2B Marketing -- what marketing directors need in a b2b marketing partner today" and thought I'd put it to bed... now realize that it must include some quotes from this killer post and thread...paul
February 02, 2009 7:02 PM | Permalink
@Red — Thanks for the comment. Be sure to let us know when the eBook drops.Ali Hussain
June 13, 2009 1:24 AM | Permalink
Excellent Article my friend. I have subscribed by RSS so that I could keep my self updated with your blog.Comments are disabled for this post.