All talk around the so-called “PR 2.0″ within the industry seems to focus on monitoring and reporting back quantatitve results of mentions or blog ‘coverage’ to clients or comms directors. The quantative element can prove important, but giving it so much prominence removes the actual essence of the digital landscape. Who really cares how many times you are quoted by some Tom, Dick and Harry through Google Blog Search?
The most memorable digital engagements are never remembered by number, but what I would consider as more tangible results - deliverables in “real” life. As the experiential marketing firm Momentum says, phygital (physical-digital) is far more effective than a siloed approach. So go for physical through digital and vice-versa! A digital campaign is not enough.
To explain this, I’m going to (rather arrogantly, I know) highlight two recent digital successes that I have been part of, that had no fancy gimmicks or virals to support them and converted real, tangible results that were extremely well received by clients.
Firstly, I recently launched a blog on Biometrics with a client of mine which has created a few very interesting opportunities for our long term goals. A day after our first post, I checked delicious.com for any interest in the post, searched for those who tagged the post in LinkedIn and then connected a client to a business decision maker at an instant - something far more valuable than mentions or tag counts.
Another extremely valuable example of non quantative results is infiltrating the traditional press through digital engagement.
For a network management client we did this by identifying the blogs of print editors in the sector and recommended our client to comment on certain relevent posts. Our client wrote a short comment, then wrote at length on their own blog and added a trackback to the original post. The content of this comment was then then quoted in the agenda-setting editor’s letter of the next issue.
Not only did we gather some digital coverage from these activities, but our clients gained benefits in the “real world”. Digital PR is an important component of PR, but running a ‘digital campaign’ without a physical element is total vapour. Clients want real benefits, and if they do not receive these, they will soon question the purpose in investing so much in a seemingly “remote” medium.
Related posts:
- Getting a move on…brands and blogging Following Karl Havard’s post on his top ten tips for...
- HowSociable is your brand? A colleague of mine at Weber Shandwick recently introduced me...
- About Lazography is the personal weblog of Daniel Lazarides, a...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
3 Comments
Totally agree with this - maybe practitioners in the industry are trying to make a speciality out of something that should be in-line with the physical campaign.
The agency I have on board do not even give digital a second look - interesting seeing as though others are focusing on it so heavily
Digital is the way forward, but like you suggest, it’s not going to replace “real-life”