PR's Next Blown Business Opportunity: Digital Marketing

October 10, 2006

Op-ed submitted by Jerry Schwartz, president and founder of G.S. Schwartz & Co.

Once again, the PR industry, specifically agencies, is about to lose a major new business opportunity, a real revenue source and strategic marketing tactic, not to mention an important image builder for the profession. That opportunity is digital marketing.

Most PR agencies are unable to provide digital marketing strategies and tactics to help promote clients' products, services and viewpoints. A number of major agencies and some smaller ones have been telling clients for the last couple of years, since the rebound from the dot-com explosion, that they offer digital marketing or interactive marketing or alternative media marketing. They really don't. What they have is the ability to create and distribute blogs and podcasts, but blogs and podcasts are to digital marketing what press releases are to public relations-merely tactics. Blogs and podcasts are the simplest, most basic, most generally boring tools. They are true commodities-overly abundant and low-priced-but fulfill an important role.

True digital marketing is so much more. It is comprised of comprehensive messages distributed on multiple platforms that reach individuals in a way that newspapers, magazines, radio and television-traditional media-can't and won't. And these new media are interactive, which seems to be the way a growing population likes to get its news and information.

Marketers are now learning that technology is purely a commodity and that creativity and content are what count. And it can be delivered through many different media. Nobody ever relied on one source and now there are dozens of distribution channels. Many agencies are going to fail when they try to deliver messages over these new media. They can't sell what they don't understand or believe. For some, publicity is cheaper and more profitable or "safer." Many will offer digital marketing purely as a defensive measure to hopefully win or keep business. Others will foolishly rely on 20-something technophiles to give good marketing counsel.

We've traveled this road many times before. Arguably, the field dropped the ball for investor relations, lobbying, crisis management, executive coaching, video production, corporate identity branding and even graphic design to other professions and industries. Why, there's even a Word of Mouth Marketing Association and an Association of Image Consultants and neither is run nor populated by public relations executives, just like the National Investor Relations Institute. We, the public relations field, fumbled ownership of these "old economy" businesses because of a lack of sophistication, knowledge and talent and most of those agencies that offer them do so primarily for competitive reasons. Many view these tactics as found money.

Proof that PR agencies are destined to lose digital marketing is evident in the field having already missed out on both website design and search engine optimization-two core elements of digital marketing that the field could have and should have owned. The few PR agencies and PR people who are really good at this stuff does not change history or the future.

Jerry Schwartz is president and founder of G.S. Schwartz & Co., an independent mid-sized public relations agency based in New York.

Copyright (c) 2006 by Infocom Group.



Digital Power and Light Hires Bloomberg Marketing Executive As Vice President



Digital Power and Light, a specialist in digital media and marketing services, announced that Roger Wu has joined the growing firm as a vice president. At Bloomberg, Roger Wu was in marketing and sales and new product development for nearly three years. He worked in New York and California marketing the Bloomberg Professional Service through various channels, including Bloomberg News, Television, Radio and Markets Magazine. Prior to that, he was a co-founder and partner at Cabot Adams, LLC, a start-up company that created a private equity marketplace for bringing together entrepreneurs and investors. And previously, was a financial and engineering analyst for Changing World Technology, which was engaged in alternative energy consulting services.

"Roger Wu's addition to our staff signals the expansion of Digital Power and Light," said Rachel Honig, COO and co-founder. "Over the last several months, clients from financial service firms to consumer packaged goods have tapped into our marketing expertise to expand current or develop new digital marketing initiatives. We're building social networks from scratch, creating micro-sites, bulletin boards, pod casts, RSS news feeds and more. Roger's start-up expertise, coupled with his pragmatic approach to client service, makes him a tremendous asset to our organization."