High Tech - High Touch Panel Discussion

Lynn Schneider, APR, CRPC; Tina Haisman, APR, CPRC and Newt Barrett addressing several issues, and answering questions. We'll try to get them all in here!

Q: If and when should PR jump into the conversation online?
Lynn: She says "The same old PR skills still apply!" Gave a real-life example about answering a negative comment on a public forum utilizing a personal approach and PR skills. Never argue opinion, just correct factual information when appropriate.

Q. Tell us about the "Million Dollar Coupon Campaign" and strategies to use.
Tina: The goal was to create buzz, the coupon wasn't expected to "sell" the house. Initially was going to use a traditional approach, but came across PRWeb.com and decided to use the service as an experiment. When it hit the web Tina set up a Twitter account for the client and tweeted the headlines as they appeared. Tina emailed David Meerman Scott to thank him for his book "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" which inspired this approach. Scott replied and asked permission to use the project as an example on his blog and in the next edition of his book!

Q. Tell us more about how content marketing affects public relations.
Newt: Get a mental image of a book cover - "The Tale of Two Cities"..."It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". That's where we are now. Ten years ago the media controlled access to the public. Today you can go directly to the public. PR and content publishers are inextricably intertwined. Must think like publishers - discover what problems the target market is experiencing and create compelling, relevant information for them.

Other thoughts from panel?
Lynn: All of us are looking to build relationships. To do that find the affinity between you and your publics.
Tina: Some tech info - I chose the media visibility package from PRWeb because they distribute to the Associated Press.
Newt: Used a couple of examples of local folk using blogs to build a web-like internet presence, free marketing!

Lynn: For us, the number one source of quality leads is still through resident referals. Need to go back to the quantity vs. quality discussion. If I have x number of hours to devote to cultivating leads, where do I spend them?

For Newt: Once you build your blog, how do you get it "out there"?
Newt: The single most important thing is to understand who your target market is and that you market exclusively to that market. Combine timeless content with timely content, continually adding to the timely content. Be precise about what you write about. If the content is there you will be found!