"Quick! Hurry! The internet is here and everything has changed. We need to throw out whatever we've learned about public relations and start again," said the newly self-proclaimed Web PR guru in his Ecko T-shirt, Evisu Jeans, and retro Adidas.
"Not so fast, son," said the pipe-smoking VP 30-year veteran of the giant international public relations firm, dressed in shiny black Gucci loafers and a Brooks Brothers tie. "All this Facebook and blog stuff are just new-fangled forms of the media that we have been helping clients deal with for years; the technology is new but the proven tactics still work."
So, who's right? Well, they are both 50 percent right, and therefore also half wrong. The dynamics of hyper-connected, internet-powered communications are different, with an exponential number of voices and variables piling up to shape public opinion, and an almost complete disintermediation from the traditional editorial media "gatekeepers."
Just as companies in Asia Pacific were becoming good at "old school" public relations, communications itself began transforming. As consumers and business decision-makers increasingly turn online for news, communication and entertainment, traditional media -- from national TV to trade and technical magazines -- are challenged to hold onto audiences. That means tighter resources for editorial teams, and ultimately fewer outlets for corporate and product stories.
And, online channels are offering multiple ways to communicate to customers and stakeholders directly and digitally. Few have even begun to grasp how to measure the effectiveness of these tools, much less how much of their tight marketing budgets to devote to them, and the pace of change is accelerating.
While the public relations industry debates within itself how to respond, what can businesspeople do now, and with confidence? Upstream recommends five rules to navigate through the tricky waters of the marketing communications mix:
1. Talk "up" to your audience
Your customers and stakeholders are invariably not only smart, but also increasingly marketing-savvy. Make sure the tone of your communications is right for your smartest customers -- the dumbest will take care of themselves.
2. Have a point of view
The key to a customer relationship is engagement. Today, as individual consumers, we all know when we're being sold to, and we disengage accordingly. Instead of sell, sell, sell, address relevant topics with original, insightful and objective viewpoints. Most companies have amazing communicators within their ranks: find these storytellers, and utilize them.
3. Engage with communities
Word-of-mouth has never been more powerful, as a means of awareness and endorsement -- or as a means for bad news to spread. By engaging with communities of relevant stakeholders and customers, you'll be better placed to encourage the positive -- and address the negatives if the worst comes to the worst.
4. Be discoverable
Search technologies mean that anyone, whether they are existing or future customers, employees, analysts, media or other influencers, can research easily to find you online. Make sure your resources are up-to-date and easy to find online, with proper meta tags and search engine optimization.
5. Measure and experiment… and measure again
New tools also mean more ways to measure. So be unafraid to try new communications techniques but don't forget to measure effectiveness.
The good news is that, even in this new and fast-changing environment, as the man with the pipe said, most of these "old rules" are even more applicable today, but for new reasons the guy in Ecko T-shirt can explain to us.
You don't necessarily have to start a blog, choose between Facebook and MySpace, or know how to set up an RSS feed. By staying focused on the essentials, communications has more potential to deliver business value and competitive advantage than ever before.
David Ketchum is CEO of Upstream Asia.
