On the crest of a new wave

No other industry is going to see as much revolutionary change as that of public relations in the coming years. And it's all because of you. Yes, you. Mr Blogger. Mr Blog Reader. Mr Anti-establishment-who-doesn't-trust-newspapers-anymore.

It's no longer going to be enough to stick five PR people in a media monitoring room every morning, flipping through major newspapers for news concerning their clients. Because the nature of news is that it deliberately excludes the personal voice, values conciseness and treasures timeliness.

Now, they are waking up to the fact that people want to hear the personal voice and not that of the establishment; that people want to read what they want to read; that people want to be more involved in the news than ever before.

And I'm glad that where I am, people are taking the initiative to remain on top of this wave. Because they can see beyond an extra hour of work or research today that will be invaluable tomorrow. Because they're curious. Because they like being on top. (or maybe because its the geek's default mentality to question)

What PR firms can do to stay ahead of the Web 2.0 wave, which has already claimed some victims, is to begin spreading their tentacles online, as well as off. Begin by monitoring sites with a direct influence on your client's audience. Follow up by making contact with these bloggers and influentials. Profile them. Treat them like journalists.

Because, like it or not (this is also for all the journos reading), the requirement to be a scribe fell astronomically when Web 2.0 came along. MrBrown is a better journalist than many ST journos, I reckon, because he gives his audience exactly what they want.

And what do they want? They want not only to be told the news, but for the journalist to make sense of the news for them. Critically, they want to be told the news, the unvarnished news. Non-edited, save for grammar, written as it is spoken, off-the-cuff and full of heart, the anti-thesis of news-writing, in summary.

Most of all, they crave for truth. Truth they now don't trust the major papers to report. Can it sometimes get out of hand? Yes. It can. But that is not the point of this entry.

The point is, that the job of a PR executive just got harder. Or, from a positive (some might say PR) perspective, challenging. It's no longer enough to understand the journalist. To think like a journalist. What goes into a story? How do I help him with his pitch? How can I help the client make his event more newsworthy? What is the return on investment for the client?

These are questions that have to be answered with the blogger in mind. Because blogging is here to stay. For us, it means re-interpreting what it means to be in PR. and at the top of the game.

The winds of change are blowing. Will you fly?

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Yes, I know that was a complete 180degree (thanks M.) deviation from the usual, but I was thinking while I was running. Yes. Two things you can't imagine me doing. Together.