By on February 27, 2010

Cup of Joe: Kick It Up a Notch & Take It Offline!

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So you got your client on the front page of Digg. With your SEO skills you pushed them to the top of the rankings for all their key terms. You have optimized their PPC campaigns and have drastically improved their ROI.

You are a rock star and everyone knows it!

But the question now is, what’s left? Don’t get me wrong there is never an end to internet marketing, it’s always an ongoing process. But with all of your mad skills are you missing something? There’s got to be something that you don’t know but if you did, it would drastically improve your services. What is this one thing that I am talking about? Public Relations.

Most internet marketers have no history in public relations. For some really weird reason PR and internet marketing (IM) have always kinda existed in separate worlds. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some really amazing agencies out there that do an awesome job at combining the two. But quite honestly the rule tends to be PR people and IM people rarely mix. Most of the home grown IM professionals started out through doing business online, few went from a career in PR to IM.

So you are probably thinking, Why the heck do I need to understand PR? How is PR going to help with all of the things I have to do? Offline media exposure can dramatically impact your online efforts. TV and newspaper mentions can help build a strong brand and drive traffic to your web properties. Offline media exposure can shift ideas and opinions that can favor your companies agenda. You can even build a better reputation offline to counter an online reputation crisis.

So what kind of skills does a PR guru have?

  • Learn to write a killer press release.
  • Learn how to successfully pitch a story to local media outlets.
  • Build lasting and meaningful relationships with producers and writers.
  • Oh, and um most importantly, learn how to communicate offline…..seriously, some of you IM gurus are really bad face to face communicators. :P

If you can master all of the above and be open to learning more, then you are on your way to becoming a PR guru! So try getting out from behind that keyboard and making your clients shine offline!


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11 comments on “Cup of Joe: Kick It Up a Notch & Take It Offline!”

  1. Janet Thaeler Says:

    February 27th, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    Joe,
    Thanks for the link! A lot of marketers don’t think about PR. They’re missing a huge opp. I’d much rather know IM and pick up some PR savvy (or hire someone & trade or send each other referrals). I’ve seen the 2 merge more than ever in the last few years. At OrangeSoda I do the PR for clients (online only though). I love doing both. PR is more collaborative (wish it was even more) and that’s the part of IM that I don’t like as well.

    The question I have for you is – what is that picture of?? cake and chalk?

    Blog on
    Janet

    Gail Russo Reply:
    February 27th, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    Chalk & cheese – as in, “as different as…”

    Joe Hall Reply:
    February 27th, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    Yep! Thats it, chalk and cheese!

  2. James Says:

    February 28th, 2010 at 4:46 am

    I want it!

  3. Mark Aaron Murnahan Says:

    February 28th, 2010 at 2:46 pm

    I agree that it is important to have both skills. Online skills are clearly the most valuable, but I still list press release production and distribution as one of my services. The target market seldom only exists in only one venue.

    Something I notice about really good Internet marketers is that they are beyond confident and become arrogant. That makes them pretty hard to deal with in offline encounters. This is not to stereotype, but I have seen it pretty often that the strongest IM get a big ego, which turns many people off.

    P.S.

    This never happened to me. I just went straight to “totally insane” and skipped the arrogant step. :-D
    .-= Mark Aaron Murnahan´s last blog ..Polarize Your Audience and Stop Making Everybody Happy =-.

  4. Publicity Can Help Your SEO Efforts : : SEO Central Says:

    February 28th, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    [...] Hall from Marketing Pilgrim makes a really good point about publicity and online marketing. Most online marketers don’t really look at PR as an additional marketing channel, but it can [...]

  5. Thando Webmaster Says:

    March 1st, 2010 at 6:38 am

    That is so true Joe. I actually do both, I started by also writing PR articles for my clients and submitting them to various directories online. I thereafter took it offline aswell as I felt confident over my writing skills. This approach has made me grow into an all-round marketing tool as I use more communication channels to get my clients’ brands known. :-)

    Thanks for the great article.

  6. Marketing Model Says:

    March 1st, 2010 at 10:35 pm

    Wow! This is so true! My personal experience is in the world of offline marketing. I have owned a couple of businesses and had to deal a lot with the media and people. My new business venture, Internet marketing has increased because I have combined the two…

    All that begin said you have just helped me make a turn in my business by bringing light to this subject.

    Thank you
    .-= Marketing Model´s last blog ..Do You Have an Entrepreneur or Employee Mentality =-.

  7. Kristina Allen Says:

    March 3rd, 2010 at 10:34 am

    As a PR professional it’s so nice to see PR getting some love on marketing pilgrim! Your starter list is nice, and I think it’s important to add that learning how to craft social media releases (along with the traditional press release) is beneficial to online marketers. Social media is something that both PR pros and marketers like to claim, and the social media release is a great space for both professions to collide.

    -Kristina, @ion_interactive

  8. Blogging: “Are you Human”? | Wordpress Automatic Blog Content Plugin Says:

    March 7th, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    [...] Cup of Joe: Kick It Up a Notch & Take It Offline! (marketingpilgrim.com) [...]

  9. Gerry Seymour Says:

    March 11th, 2010 at 8:10 am

    The program today and the conversation about the great voucher schools in New York was interesting. A year ago Obama shut down the voucher program in Washington, DC and it didn’t get the publicity that NY is getting.