“Content is a shitty business. You listicle-making sheep are following us off the cliff!”- Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachineDespite Jarvis’ colorful warning to the crowd of PR professionals at the Council of PR Firms Critical Issues Forum, dubbed “Content Frenzy,” we PRs came to listen and learn at the feet of the media and content pundits.
The forum’s subtitle, “Holy Grail or Spam-a-lot?” pretty well sums up the PR dilemma. We’ve drunk the content Kool-Aid. No one doubts its potency, nor PR’s ownership claim, given our storytelling DNA and earned media chops. But literally every second brings a new flood of the stuff — tips lists, cat videos, white papers, parodies, inforgraphics, you name it. We’re in a frenzy to make our content bigger and stronger, but with so much out there, how to go beyond the listicle? How can we make ourselves and our clients heard?...
Dorothy Crenshaw reports on a recent conference and the blurring the lines between PR and content marketing.