Down to Your Last Dollar? Put it on Digital Media PR

Microsoft founder Bill Gates famously once said, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.”

Not surprisingly, I agree with Bill Gates – but I would take his statement a step further. If I was down to my last dollar, I’d invest it in digital media PR.

Public relations and digital/social media are both all about relationships – traditional PR cultivated relationships with media and opinion leaders, and today, through digital communications, we build relationships directly with consumers, drawing them into engagement with our clients. How we actually build and develop those relationships are key to future success, not just current success. It’s a “pull” strategy in communicating, and not a “push” strategy.

When it comes to the age-old PR-vs.-advertising debate, digital media gives the advantage to PR because its focus has always been on factual content and credibility. PR professionals have always dealt in a world where they cannot always control what the editor writes. They’ve dealt with a paid media whose responsibility it is to provide their readers information, news they cannot get anywhere else. PR professionals, then, have always thought about the stakeholder and what he or she wants to know. Today, that stakeholder doesn’t have to wait for the media to access that information.

The challenge is to get company executives to think anew about their communications to the world. Those executives who are reluctant to change should know that their trepidation is understandable, but nobody can turn back the clock. Digital media is a part of today’s world, and if they engage in it smartly, inviting not just comment but dissent, it’s a way of saying to the market, “I’m confident enough of my own value proposition that I want to engage in this dialogue. I know a lot about what I’m doing, but I don’t pretend that I know everything. I want to learn from my customers and their influencers by opening up this dialogue.”

Another upside is that digital media PR makes it easier to battle economic uncertainty. Most of the tools employed online are free. Through these, you can reach top-tier media without the traditional media tour to New York City to pitch the company and new products, or engage with customers directly and gather great market research at the same time without waiting for media coverage.

Very broadly, you should use digital media PR based on your business objectives and budgetary constraints to:

1. Engage new and existing customers, cutting out the middle man (i.e. news, support lines, corporate walls).
2. Protect company reputations online.
3. Promote brands online.
4. Get important insight on how to improve operations, directly from what should be you most valuable audience: the customer.
5. Provide value to customers in ways that are important to them.
6. Build communities online around shared interests, providing value when it is expected most.

So, yes, my last dollar would be spent on digital media public relations.

Tags: Bill Gates, brand, credibility, digital media, digital media PR, Microsoft, pull strategy, relationships, social media, value