Thursday, May 15, 2008
Using PR 2.0 to define a unique company position or why traditional PR agencies are dead
Andrew Smith has run a fantastic series of posts recently about how free or low-cost web tools are eliminating a lot of agency grunt work. We caught up on Tuesday night at a Brodeus / A Plus reunion and chewed over how the PR industry is slow to catch-on to the application of web 2.0 to simplify PR practice.
An example that I’ve been citing to colleagues for a couple of months is how Google has made available a stack of intellectual property and search records that eliminates much of the analytical and empirical analysis associated with developing a market position for a company.
A new client is seeking to position itself as a mobile social network. The Google tools tell us that advertiser competition is low and that search volumes are also low – but rising. Given that the client operates in a growing market the current positioning is spot on but will inevitably cease to be unique over time as competitors jump into market. The new client is advised to maintain its current market position for the time-being but to constantly evaluate this and look at applications as a way of creating a unique differentiation.
A start-up in the electronics sector has developed a digital value for the precise control of oil and gas. “Digital valve” has low advertiser competition and low search volumes. The client can either seek to define this new market – an expensive exercise for an early stage company – or redefine its positioning so that it is aligned to a recognised market, issue or application.
An enterprise ERP software client is seeking to reposition itself. Google confirms that its positioning is wholly undifferentiated. Search volumes are good but the market for adwords is highly competitive. The tool throws a couple of options such as “ERP business software” and application areas where search volumes are good and advertiser competition is low but the client clearly needs help redefining its market position.
Andrew Smith has run a fantastic series of posts recently about how free or low-cost web tools are eliminating a lot of agency grunt work. We caught up on Tuesday night at a Brodeus / A Plus reunion and chewed over how the PR industry is slow to catch-on to the application of web 2.0 to simplify PR practice.An example that I’ve been citing to colleagues for a couple of months is how Google has made available a stack of intellectual property and search records that eliminates much of the analytical and empirical analysis associated with developing a market position for a company.
A new client is seeking to position itself as a mobile social network. The Google tools tell us that advertiser competition is low and that search volumes are also low – but rising. Given that the client operates in a growing market the current positioning is spot on but will inevitably cease to be unique over time as competitors jump into market. The new client is advised to maintain its current market position for the time-being but to constantly evaluate this and look at applications as a way of creating a unique differentiation.
A start-up in the electronics sector has developed a digital value for the precise control of oil and gas. “Digital valve” has low advertiser competition and low search volumes. The client can either seek to define this new market – an expensive exercise for an early stage company – or redefine its positioning so that it is aligned to a recognised market, issue or application.
An enterprise ERP software client is seeking to reposition itself. Google confirms that its positioning is wholly undifferentiated. Search volumes are good but the market for adwords is highly competitive. The tool throws a couple of options such as “ERP business software” and application areas where search volumes are good and advertiser competition is low but the client clearly needs help redefining its market position.
Labels: agency life, PR
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Comments:
Appreciate the comments! Plugging together Google's Keyword tool, Google Alerts, Google Reader and Google Trends provides a very powerful PR planning, analysis, reporting and feedback platform.
And it doesn't cost you a penny.
And I can easily see how you could integrate data from Google Analytics too to directly measure PR campaigns.
As another example of the impact of these free tools, I had lunch with the MD of a big tech PR agency a few weeks ago who was frustrated at the time and cost of running customer feedback surveys. I pointed out that they could run these for mere pounds from SurveyMonkey - or guess what? Google Docs spreadsheet has a form facility which allows you to easily create online surveys - and the data is automatically captured and saved into a Google spreadsheet for analysis or export. Again, for free.
With the cost of these support tools trending to zero, we should be able to spend clients time and money on the things that really add value. Which has to be a good thing, surely?
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And it doesn't cost you a penny.
And I can easily see how you could integrate data from Google Analytics too to directly measure PR campaigns.
As another example of the impact of these free tools, I had lunch with the MD of a big tech PR agency a few weeks ago who was frustrated at the time and cost of running customer feedback surveys. I pointed out that they could run these for mere pounds from SurveyMonkey - or guess what? Google Docs spreadsheet has a form facility which allows you to easily create online surveys - and the data is automatically captured and saved into a Google spreadsheet for analysis or export. Again, for free.
With the cost of these support tools trending to zero, we should be able to spend clients time and money on the things that really add value. Which has to be a good thing, surely?
