Dance With Strangers

This blog has gone so far beyond the world of PR in the past few years, but I can’t bring myself to move the site to a new URL. I was thinking this past weekend why I feel so emotionally invested in “Engage In PR” and it dawned on me that my entire marketing career has had PR as it’s nexus.

In the beginning, PR was media relations, it expanded into communications, evolved to add social media and now encompasses all facets of traditional and non-traditional marketing (hell, my title is Director of Marketing). Yet, if someone asks, I will most likely tell them I’m a PR guy. This may not be the best way to start a conversation since PR does not have the best reputation these days, but the belief in PUBLIC Relations drives every one of my marketing activities and it should drive yours. My belief has always been that PR people are the most capable to drive strategic marketing initiatives.

Read that again you PR naysayers: PR people are the most capable to drive strategic marketing initiatives.. Yep, that’s right, I’m telling you that you need to learn PR to be good at marketing. But when I say this I mean PR in it’s rawest sense; the idyllic interaction between a company and it’s public. Media relations is one part of this equation and in fact the best place to start for anyone looking at getting into marketing, particularly into social media. The best PR folks expand these skills overtime and the best of them have:

• The ability to properly communicate in a variety of mediums including email, phone, IM, social networks and more;
• Research abilities on par with the great Nancy Drew;
• Tough skin from more rejections than success;
• An innate ability to understand a business model and craft messaging that the public can relate to;
• Measuring the business success of all of your activities to the best of your ability (yeah, ROI people, deal with it);
• Having a balanced mind that can be one part strategic, one part tactical and one part analytical;
• Feeding your inner demon who is constantly asking for more information about the product and the customers;
• Know how to manage large and fast moving projects and keep all parties involved and in-line;
• Know when you need help;

I read this list over a few times and this is how I would also write up my current job description. PR will never leave my blood because it is my foundation in marketing and it makes me better at my job. As I look for marketing minds who know how to think and how to do, I look for PR people first.