As I mentioned before I had the honor of participating in a panel discussion at the Capital City Communicators Spring Seminar. We had a great discussion about how web 2.0 is changing the dialogue between journalists and marketing communications professionals. The panel featured; Greg Stielstra author of Pyromarketing, Rick Carpenter Publisher of the Idaho Business Review, Mark Danielson Executive News Director at KTVB channel 7, Bill Manny Managing Editor Idaho Statesman, Craig Carter Practice Group Marketing Director at Peyron & Associates, Justin Foster of Blueline Marketing and myself.
Because of time restraints we were not able to cover all the topics that were given to us prior to the seminar. I thought this would be a nice way for us to discuss a couple of those topics. The first topic or question I would like to tackle is; in the era of new media, what role do PR people play in creating and sustaining conversation between companies/clients and their customers?
I believe that this new era of web communication has the potential of making companies much more accessible to their customers. It is the PR person’s job to convince the company and the company’s legal department that this is a good thing. Yes it is true that if you (the company) want to talk directly to your customer you should let them talk back.
Company CEO: Well if we start a blog our customers and god forbid our competitors, will be able to post bad things about us. We don’t want that.
PR/Marketing Pro: Yes exactly. Don’t you want to know what your customers and competitors are saying about you and your products? You will now have an opportunity to answer those tough questions and comments directly. You will be able to point out exactly why your company is the better choice over your competitors. You will be able to make improvements to your products based on customer input. And you know what? The entire world to see positive comments by your customers praising you for the positive change your product made in their lives.
Some times communicating is a scary thing. Public speaking can be terrifying. I would rather speak to 500 people at one time than walk up to one complete stranger and engage them in a conversation. It is scary when a company opens itself up to the world like that. But it is also a wonderful opportunity for a company to become a valuable resource for their customers not just for their products and services but for information about the industry they are in.
Today’s consumers are arming themselves with information to help them make their purchase decisions. Companies should be taking advantage of the new media & web 2.0 tools such as blogs and podcasts to engage the consumer. These tools make it easy for companies to tell their story, respond to customer comments and it allows customers to be evangelists for the companies.
It’s our job to convince them that by utilizing some of these tools will have a positive effect on the bottom line.
-Jarred
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