I’m restless. There’s something brewing on the blogosphere and I can’t tap it. It’s a new energy driven by bloggers who are asking questions about the status quo; they’re pushing the envelope on common thought and traditional practice, and they’re encouraging people to improve, excel, respect, and change.
I can’t begin to capture it all here, but I need to cut loose with this observation and ask, “Is anyone following this train of thought in the least?”
We can count on Gini Dietrich at Spin Sucks, to consistently be leading edge and contribute to the tipping point on all things PR and marketing. Her blog has been a hot bed of debate about whether PR’s rubber is meeting the road, or whether marketing influence is driving the mother ship regardless of the influence of PR.
At Shakirah Dawud’s house, the comments are rich and she’s expecting me to write a blog post about my rant relating to PR and measurement. Numbers have always been PR’s nemesis; it’s how we used to be trained back in the day. Today, being more marketing savvy would do many a PR person good; add business sense to that equation, and voila, a star is born.
Shonali Burke has had a two-day running post (thank goodness the comments were not as high in count as Marcus The Sales Lion who fried my hard drive almost) about a bad PR pitch that disrespected her influence and social media reach.
And, Shonali has been implementing a #BlueKey campaign for global refugees igniting social media for her cause to earn 6,000 Blue Keys by June 20. The campaign is brilliant, the metrics are already impressive and amazing, and she’s got every channel burning up. (Major kudos to this woman for her absolutely should-be award-winning campaign still in its throes.)
I got a call today from a salesperson at a major corporation. She is familiar with my brand based on the work I do, although she was unsure what exactly I do. In the back of my mind, I’ve known that sales is the final frontier for PR, yet “marketing is in the way.” Heh. I’m not truly serious, it’s just that in my opinion, sales people are a brand and they represent a brand. They need to become representative of a brand and use public relations to build it, build community, build trust, and build reputation. PR is how that’s done, more often than not.
We spoke, and I spelled out a strategy that was heavy on LinkedIn and community building along with how we might incorporate nine touches with her new clients who don’t know she exists. Is that PR or marketing?
The lines have blurred so confusingly that I ought to write a message map about my offering. There’s lots I do; there’s more I don’t and that’s where you come in. Together we make a team; each of us is helping one another achieve some sort of goal — whether it’s building confidence, learning the ropes of social media, trying to find someone to visit on your next holiday, earning an invitation to Triberr, hiring someone to round out a team (I’ve hired three people off Twitter and sent business to another).
I wrote a post awhile back, We’re All Talking to Ourselves. It got many head nods and an ouch on the hand by major blogger. I’m raising this again because we who are in debate, casual conversation or heated discussion about the aforementioned have little luck raising the bar or changing the status quo until we get business on board to chime in. We’re spinning wheels, talking in circles, passing the head nod to the next one in line, and where’s the change? Those business owners who show dissent against PR rant and rave once and then disappear; no way can they enter the lion’s den and survive (heck, no one has skin that thick!).
Can you see why I’m restless, antsy, on edge, and trying to maintain balance as we all worry if we’re a Syrian Lesbian Blogger or Weiner? (Wanted to send a bit of link love to the best headline of the week.)
What say you? I’m all over the place; there’s a lot being fired up.
