Evolution or Extinction
Posted by Jennifer on February 12, 2009
The bulk of my PR experience is in entertainment (tv, film, music) and technology. While the tech sector has raced ahead with social media releases and embraced cutting edge social media tools I still find my entertainment PR friends stuck in 1990s of PR. Clips, exclusives, covers…old media thinking. Of course I am generalizing here but I do find the mindset a bit old school. Here is my mantra to you - evolve or face extinction. The old way has passed away and now you are saddled with the burden of learning the new way and also educating the entertainment hierarchy on this ‘new way’. In other words - Dorothy you ain’t going back to Kansas. Every day I hear budgets slashed, departments ’streamlining’ and I know you are carrying an even greater workload but you must prevail or you will be extinct.
Here is what I recommend.
1. Stop thinking in terms of outlets - it’s not about placement or outlet ie. LA Times, NY Times anymore, it’s about volume and chatter. Much like consumers who search for shows rather than channels, consumer consumption of media isn’t relegated to top tier outlets to ‘bless’ your news. It’s about creating conversation and a lot of it.
2. Start working with marketing. Yep you two are gonna have to make peace and work together to stay relevant. Marketing needs PR to lay the ground work for new shows and new projects and PR needs the muscle of marketing to help build upon that awareness. Waltz on over to that no mans land and introduce yourself. It’s not that scary.
3. Think direct to consumer - You are now the QVC of product pitching. No more excuses for why Entertainment Weekly didn’t run your photo, you have a direct line to the masses and you need to use it. This also means building community and talking rather than relying on industry jargon. I’ll address this more in future posts.
4. Embrace social media - Yes you do have time to learn twitter, Digg, Yahoo Buzz, SEO. Learn them - they are your new tools for success.
5. Learn how to measure your success. Impressions, clickthroughs, reach - these are your new terms. Don’t plunk down a 3″ thick book of press clips and think your job is done. Your job has just started (see #1, 2, 3). Perhaps PR would get more respect if we regularly demonstrated that our efforts increased ratings share. (Yes, again I generalize, but right now it is the exception). That means we need to talk like marketers.
6. Use what you know. You already know how to get the word out and what makes a good story so use those hard won skills but incorporate new tools. I’ll talk more about conversing in the ecosystem but for now just say Yes I can.
7. Leverage your access. Despite what you may really think about the system - 98% of the public would trade positions with you in a heartbeat. To have a front row seat into the epicenter of entertainment is valuable and enviable. Figure out how to leverage that to accomplish the goals above. More on that in future posts as well.
My PR friends and readers, this is an exciting time. I liken it to 2000 when the possibility of what you could do with technology got a lot of early adaptor creatives really excited. (Let’s not discuss the dot com bust) This is your time to embrace the possibilities. Remember Evolution or Extinction.
