There used to be a time when working for a PR agency meant your main responsibility was simply to act as a conduit between media and your client. However today, especially in Australia, working for a PR agency is something altogether different.
At Zing, we're fortunate that our client base is one that really understands that PR in 2007 isn't just about a press release. It's a mix of things - fantastic media relations, on-the-ground activity, promotions, and corporate identity - among the rest. At our agency, the zeitgeist of PR from ages ago has been updated with a newer, fresher take on representing clients.
The fact is, if we weren't constantly updating and embracing the new, there would be no blogs, no emails, no mobile phones or DVDs. We'd all probably still be sitting in our lounge rooms rewinding our Beta Tapes and waiting for the kettle to boil.
You could describe what we do now as taking a holistic approach. We present clients, present and future, with a plan that incorporates traditional PR elements with new and adventurous online and digital solutions such as the social media release (SMR), search engine optimisation (SEO) and link building in order to improve search engine rankings. It’s our job to know these things – to present our client with every possible avenue for a successful campaign.
More often than not, I find it’s vitally important to include non-traditional elements to a launch campaign in order to effectively reach the target market and to get the client’s messages heard above the ‘noise’ that permeates the Internet these days.
If your PR agency is not suggesting these new online methods of communication and information sharing for your campaigns then maybe it’s time to look for one that does.
For when it’s done correctly the impact and exposure can have amazing results. It's 2007, the lines have blurred between what PR is and what it isn't - and thank god for that.
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