Here it is:
Blogs and public relations
As competition for available media coverage tightens, in a sea of press releases and attention stealing publicity stunts, it is harder than ever for a business to gain much needed publicity. A business person is often at a complete loss as to how to get media coverage of a worthwhile business story.
Getting someone to hear the message is half the battle. Having the members of the media consider it newsworthy is the other half. Somewhere, there must be another vehicle, that can gain the attention, of an already swamped news editor. That help, for the publicity seeking business person has arrived, in the form of the blog.
A growing number of journalists and news editors are reading blogs, on a daily basis, to find new and interesting story ideas. Often faster and more efficient than reading press releases, blog entries are likely to yield targeted short and feature article material.
When teamed with an RSS news feed, which employs the same technology as stock market and weather forecasts, a blog can provide an instant pipeline directly to interested media outlets.
Blogs provide a unique and personal way to communicate with current and prospective customers. By talking to people, in a conversational manner, a blog puts a human face on a company, that is difficult to duplicate in any other way.
The more casual, and comparatively unfiltered voice of the blogger creates the image of a business as being composed of real people like you. Instead of being a nameless and faceless corporation, the blog helps the people in the company, to come alive in their posts.
Should a disaster happen, either to the business or its customers, a business blog provides an immediate and personalized vehicle to discuss the issue with the public. Instead of the “spin”, usually associated with public relations, the blog can serve as an honest and concerned pipeline, directly to the public.
By addressing the issues openly and honestly, the business can regain and even increase the public’s trust. Concerned customers, and the general public, will view the blog as giving the straight answers. Such trust will only help enhance the business’s reputation, both in the short and long run.
The value of personalization
Perhaps the single most powerful aspect of blogs, in the area of public relations, is the personalization aspect. The writer is a real person, putting a human face on what might otherwise be perceived as a unknown and distant company. By developing trust among the various readership groups, the blog writer provides a personal link to the company.
If the goal of a public relations effort is to work in coordination with sales and marketing, a blog will establish trust with current and prospective customers and clients. It’s a well known truism that people will buy from their friends and people whose word they trust. The development of a blog component to the company website will go far in achieving those trust based goals.
In the past, public relations depended upon controlling the message, that was put forward from the organization. The unspoken goal was to manipulate public opinion. The prearranged message was centralized and carefully vetted for wording and nuances. The term “spin” was born to describe the technique.
Blogging as a public opinion medium gives up that tight control, and presents a message in a conversation with the reader. In that sense, the blog cultivates public opinion. With increasing transparency, inside and outside of organizations, the best approach is one of open discussion. A blog is the ideal delivery vehicle.
Many people have begun to mistrust the traditional canned public relations approach as lacking honesty. The openness of a blog changes that perception entirely. As the philosopher Marshall McLuhan stated, “Perception is reality”. In other words, what we perceive to be true, is real in our own thoughts.
A blog can enhance that perception of honesty by delivering the straight goods on an issue. With that open approach, lacking the traditional tightly controlled message, trust in the company is enhanced. In both the short and longer terms, that trust translates into more life long customers and clients.
Getting traditional media exposure through a blog
The traditional media has begun to visit blogs, and to subscribe to blog RSS feeds, via an RSS reader. As a blog is updated, the RSS feed, usually coded in XML and Atom, sends the post or part of the post to its subscribers.
Developing and adding an RSS feed is easily activated, and is readily available with almost every blogging tool. For sites preferring their own coding, there is widely available code, that can be modified as needed to suit your personal requirements.
Your blog’s readership can easily access your posts, as they are updated, in real time. Much of that regular blog audience are members of the traditional mainstream media, consisting of newspaper, television, and radio journalists and editors.
The news media are constantly on the lookout for potential news stories. By writing about your industry, reviewing products, providing company news, and commenting on various business and economics issues, your blog is a ready source of news stories.
By writing in a style that reflects your personality, along with your expertise in the industry, journalists will consider you to be an industry expert.
As someone considered knowledgeable in your business area, you will often be called upon for news interviews, in each of the mainstream media. Not only will you be interviewed about your own company, but about issues concerning your industry as a whole.
Be certain to always make yourself available. Reporters are pressed for time, due to tight deadline schedules. If you are unavailable, they will immediately call upon other people in your industry for comment. Provide your media contacts with a telephone number and fax number, where you can be reached at all times.
That media information should be readily available on your blog, as well as conveniently placed on the company website. Include a press kit, with your biography and other background materials to help the journalists do their job. Your assistance will be appreciated, and your expertise sought more often.
Blogging through a crisis
One of the most difficult times for any company, from a public relations standpoint, is during a company or industry crisis. During those often painful moments hours, the temptation for most traditional businesses is to shut down communications to the outside.
All of their statements and reports are carefully screened, and often require many people to sign off on them prior to release to the media and the public. Those controlled message days are a thing of the past.
By posting regular and open information on your company blog, you can address the crisis, fairly and honestly. Keeping the public completely aware of where your business stands, and what is the plan going forward, helps to improve confidence from your readership.
Blogs provide an unlimited number of postings per day. You can update what is happening, during the peak of the crisis, in real time.
Instead of hiding the problems, the trust your blog has developed over time, makes it the place for people to turn, for unfiltered information. Your job is to give the public honest answers, and not traditional spin. That openness about where the company stands, and it how it plans to resolve the problem, will be reported favorably in the media.
The general public will leave your blog feeling that they are provided with straight answers. Speaking directly those affected by the disaster will increase the reputation of your company, rather than detract from it. That confidence factor can only serve to enhance your company image, while raising your personal profile within the industry.
Conclusion
Businesses seeking a public relations vehicle, that provides numerous additional benefits, should consider adding a blog component to their website. The authentic and personalized blog voice is a natural fit for any public relations effort.
A rapidly growing number of journalists and editors are reading blogs on a daily basis. It’s becoming imperative that a company start a blog to keep up with that trend. Thanks to the addition of an RSS feed, a blog’s updated post can be on a journalist’s computer in seconds.
Old style tightly controlled public relations are becoming a thing of the past.
Get into the new public relations paradigm, by adding the personalized voice of a blog.
