Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Blogs, RSS and the Press Release – Which is David; Which is Goliath

I read an email today on a listserv that addresses the impracticality of Blogs reaching reporters. I can’t agree more. They’re best used as a marketing tool. Blogs are a wonderful tool when done right and when they reach the reporters' desks. However, they're not the most practical way to deliver your targeted PR messages to a targeted PR audience - especially in 2005. It's much more effective to build and maintain relationships with key members of the media at 5-10 targeted outlets that your clients and prospects most likely read. Be a resource to those members of the media and make sure they know you so that they will open your emails and return your calls.

With regard to RSS feed, in the March 21, 2005 issue of Adweek, there is an article by Lisa Van Der Pool that discusses RSS in connection with PR tactics and journalists. One statistic that caught my eye is that "Today, only 5 percent of Web users use RSS to get news or other information from blogs and content-rich Web sites," according to a January 2005 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. That said, RSS may be the trend of the future and we should all be planning for the future but if you want your story in tomorrow's Wall Street Journal, I suggest you scrap the press release and the blog all together and pick up the telephone.