Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Back in March, Edelman advisor Steve Rubeltold us that upcoming PR professionals need to “look at the bigger picture” and “orient [themselves] toward both creating and distributing content”. The firm’s newest tech advisor Burghardt Tenderichrecently gaveThe Holmes Report a more direct version of that statement:

“PR needs to grow up and become real content creators.”

...Traditionally, the ROI of PR that focused on Old Media was measured by a simple comparison of the size and number of mentions in a publication to the cost of advertising for that placement. What’s more, retaining an Old Media PR firm tended to cost upwards of $5,000 per month on a 6-month agreement with no guarantees. In short, calculating ROI for Old Media PR was crude and relied on a lot of ifs.

Enter New Media PR. With the ever-growing fragmentation in how we consume media, it only makes since for PR firms to focus on serving content in real-time via the litany of technologies that allow for media consumption. What’s more, ROI is much more easily calculable. Where Old Media PR left a lot of ifs, New Media PR offers more substance. Need to know how many people read your press release online? Wondering how many Twitter followers you gained after an Internet-based publicity stunt? Done and done, all at the drop of a hat.

Old Media PR isn’t dead, but it’s on the way out. New Media PR is the future. Adapt or die....