COMMENTS
Brian,
I think the DARCs acronym is simple and accurate. We recently did a post
10 Traits of an Emerging PR Pro to define the type of hybrid professionals we believe will take a leadership role in the evolving PR industry.
excellent article, particularly helpful are the sample questions to ask.
I think these are good points. In the section on Reach you recommend that you ask them about their Facebook, blog and Twitter grade. They may not be aware of Hubspot's tools, but even so you can enter in the urls and see the grades for yourself.
I would also ask them questions directly about how they use these tools to reach their audience. I can use those same tools to reach out to my target market, but I want to know how my agency uses them to reach out to the media and analysts - an audience I would be less likely to reach without their help.
Melissa
This is an area I'm working at improving on with a very limited budget. I'm going to get a copy of the book.
Well said, especially the section on content creation. About 10 years ago, PR people were facilitators, managing relations between clients and the media. Today, PR and marketing is much more about creating content for various channels, and traditional media is only one of those channels.
Hi Brian, Great post. I enjoyed your sample questions. The Blue Ocean one got me digging a little bit. There seems to be quite a controversy over wether to consider Blue Ocean 'strategy', or merely good marketing. For example: http://twoscenarios.typepad.com/maneuver_marketing_commun/blue_ocean_strategy/index.html
Since you're talking about blog grade and twitter grade, I already asked via Twitter but got no response,
are you working on fixing the problem with Technorati ranking? Technorati changed today (redesign, different metrics for Technorati Rank) and your graders currently retrieve no Technorati rank for blogs.
Thank you for the info. I wish our PR was higher, no matter what we do, just cant seem to get past a PR2
Brian and my other friends at HubSpot:
While I like and respect you all... Brian's recent posts prompted me to respond. See my article:
"Is Marketing Dead? Why PR should drive 'The Connection' " http://bit.ly/IsMarketingDead
Long live the conversation
--Patrick (Rafter)
Twitter @prafter
Aren't you describing a digital marketing specialist here? A good online PR exec will have the above traits but what about the value gained from having articles published in traditional media, and the ability to create good quality content that is newsworthy and interesting enough to gain some third party credibilty which is what good PRs can do?
Great post. This would be very helpful.
Thanks.
RT @PaulRoetzer I had a quick read of his article and I think it is better than my criteria. Worth reading: http://www.pr2020.com/page/10-traits-of-an-emerging-pr-pro
@Melissa Yes, I recommend asking them how they do in things like blog.grader or twitter.grader. If they are unfamiliar with those tools, you can ask what their Technorati rank is for the blog and how many followers they have on Twitter. I always ask folks I interview about how they do in HubSpot's Grader tools b/c I want to see if they did their homework.
@abbott I wasn't aware of the controversy surrounding Blue Ocean Strategy. Thanks for forwarding that link. All I can say is that it helped me think through HubSpot's strategy and I feel like we have created a relatively "blue ocean" for ourselves that is relatively defendable at this point. I'm a fan.
@Nadine I guess I think the role of the PR person is really evolving from someone who is well connected in the "traditional media" world to someone who is half marketing strategy ninja and half "digital marketing specialist." ...I had a conversation today on the phone with Scott Kirsner, a columnist for the Boston Globe ("traditional media") who says he gets about 125 "pitches" per week from PR people and on average he writes covers 0/125 per week. He may be unusual because he is a very tech savvy journalist who knows how to use tools like Twitter and Google alerts very well to find his own news, but I think he is emblematic of where journalism is heading. ...I tend to think ahead of where the market is today and where things are going, so I may be too far out in the future here for you, but I guess I think this is "where the puck is going."
@Patrick I responded on your blog directly.
You have informed about some nice sign of a Modern PR person.
That person should have good analytical capacity to produce good result.
Great tips - I am very big on outsourcing, but the right outsourcing is tough to come by. I will definitely try to follow your advice.
Your Net Biz System
Dear Brian,
Recently i am concerning our PR to promote the new technology product to the local market. After reading your article it help me a lot on what is the criteria and new way that we can do from good to great.
Thanks and Best Regards
Good, fresh perspective. Social media understanding is clearly critical, but remember -- so are a lot of other "traditional" skills too. It's what I call Fusion-PR ... injecting the new into the traditional for spectacular results. That's the future.
Brian:
Vive la conversation!
Thanks for your considered reply to my “Is Marketing Dead” response to your “Is PR Dead" post.
The fact that we’re conducting a constructive, interactive exchange (over the blogosphere) is proof positive that PR and marketing are evolving, and moving in the right direction.
You know I’m a HUGE fan of HubSpot and regularly give props to you as the originator and “best practices” provider for Inbound Marketing!
No one does it better.
Through its vision, free and for fee products, proactive education and evangelism, articulate thought leadership and “practice what we preach” example--- HubSpot is the vanguard of inbound marketing.
Companies who adopt inbound marketing and PR 2.0 approaches and practices will better connect with those who see their relevance and value. I look forward to helping you spread the word to help reform PR and marketing into superior new industries/practices that deliver value for all concerned.
Respect
--Patrick
Patrick Rafter
Rafter Communications/Intrastand
I would also ask them questions directly about how they use these tools to reach their audience. I can use those same tools to reach out to my target market, but I want to know how my agency uses them to reach out to the media and analysts - an audience I would be less likely to reach without their help.
I recently to visit your blog, reading, I very much enjoy, and above the content is great.
Thank you very much. I am wonderring if I can share your article in the bookmarks of society.
Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.
Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared, but I am wondering if you can explain the difference between Digital Marketing spe and PR as it looks the same in your article.
As I know PR is more involved in external communications and corporates side , could you correct it if my knowledge is false.
Thanks
I think this is a fantastic article in not only the content but the many links it provides for continued research/reading on the subject. As a partner in a recently started marketing agency hoping to leverage social media this is all VERY relevant information when it comes to our strategies and decisions regarding PR. Both myself and my partner have our background in marketing and not PR so any illusions we held about being able to translate one into the other has been outright crushed through reading this article and related links. It's given us a lot to think about as we decide on how we're going to proceed with PR and what sort of criteria we should be looking for in an agent should we choose to hire one.
oh,good post.I think HubSpot Recognized is One of the Most Promising Start-ups too,as the
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