As I got over that thought, I started pondering all of the ways that PR has changed since I started in the industry.  This pondering led to my post last week, 10 Dead or Dying PR Tactics, about common PR tactics we practiced 10 years ago that aren’t practiced anymore.  I decided to write this sequel on common tactics practiced today that weren’t even thought of 10 years ago.  If the tactics I wrote about last week are dinosaurs, these are newborns!

Please add your own suggestions in comments!

10 Newborn PR Tactics

10) Reputation Monitoring: I understand this isn’t an entirely new tactic, but who could have imagined the WAY we’re monitoring reputations today?
10 Years Ago: In existence, but in a different form

9) Corporate Web Videos:10 years ago we sent out Beta tapes or booked satellite time to deliver client video and video news releases to journalists. Today, we create YouTube channels and make our video clips available for download in HD format from corporate websites.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent, but corporate video was available in a different form

8) Corporate Podcasting: As mentioned above, the Internet has simply changed the way we deliver our content.  10 years ago, I was known as one of the early practitioners of the simple nationwide Audio News Release (ANRs … also called Radio News Releases or RNRs).  I recorded interviews with clients through the phone, cut the audio into soundbites using a simple digital editor, and made those soundbites available through a voicemail line.  The audio quality was so-so due to the layers of telephone sound.  Today, you can record high quality sound in your office and easily make it available via the web to whoever wants it.  Much more efficient than a voicemail line!
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent, but corporate audio was available in a different form

7) Viral Marketing: Who doesn’t want their company or client content to go viral?  Getting an article, blog post, web video or whatever to spread on its own through social media sites or email is a dream!  10 years ago it WAS in existence.  It was called “word of mouth” advertising, and it’s been around since we’ve been able to talk.  The web got involved later, and changed it forever.  Per Wikipedia, the term was coined in the late 1990s and was used to describe Hotmail’s practice of appending advertisements to the end of free email accounts.  The tactic wasn’t, to my knowledge, used by any significant number of PR pros until much, much later.
10 Years Ago: Gestating

6) Corporate Blogging: For years, we’ve wanted reporters and influencers to know our executives  personally.  Ten years ago, we took those bosses or clients on meet-and-greet tours with reporters.  That’s still a valid strategy, if you can find reporters who have time for it.  Another way to achieve this goal is to launch an executive blog.  That’s just one of the myriad of uses for corporate blogging.  Others include link building and SEO, news release distribution, and as a home for podcasts and web videos.  Per Wikipedia, the term “weblog” was coined in 1997, and was first shortened to “blog” in 1999.  Corporate blogs really didn’t start to explode until a few years ago.
10 Years Ago: Gestating

5) Blogger Relations: Once there were enough bloggers out there writing about enough topics, and enough people were reading them, we PR people started to realize that … OMG, WE NEED TO PITCH BLOGGERS!  From what I can see, there’s not much rejoicing going on among bloggers about that realization.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent

4) Web Design: Sure … websites existed in 1999.  I started my first web business in 1998, and I certainly wasn’t the first one.  However, I agree with Sara Evans’ recent blog post that today’s PR pros need to have at least a basic knowledge of HTML code.  Optimizing and even simply improving the look of our postings, whether they’re on a blog, Facebook, or on a news release distribution site, is part of our job now.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent, at least as a PR tool

3) SEO PR, or PR for Search Engine Optimization: Keyword optimization has been around as long as the Yellow Pages.  Ever wonder why company names like AAA Auto Repair were chosen?  Yup … it was so they’d be at the front of the book.  SEO, meanwhile, came into being in the mid-1990s, as businesses tried to get to the top of Excite, Yahoo, and Lycos.  Using tactics like online news release distribution and keyword optimization of news releases, PR pros got into the act a handful of years ago.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent

2) Social Media News Releases: There’s still a lot of discussion going on about whether this is the best format for a release.  I’m on the side that believes the old narrative format can still be used, while at the same time using some of the elements of a social media release.  Essentially, when I write a formal news release (something I’m doing less and less) I use a hybrid, which you can check on on my news release page.  However, whether you’re a practitioner of the social media release or not, I think we can all agree that this was not a tactic we were using 10 years ago.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent

1) Social Media … anything: You can’t get away from the phrase “social media” these days.  Hard to believe it didn’t exist in any significant form 10 years ago.
10 Years Ago: Nonexistent

Honorary Mention:
Online News Release Distribution: I left this out because it’s a tool for SEO PR, but it can be used for non-SEO purposes as well.  PR Newswire has been posting its releases online for a while, but it wasn’t until the RSS feed gained wide use a few years ago that those releases could easily spread around the Internet … which is at least half of the point of posting an online news release!

Note: I’m sure there are some PR pros out there who were using some of these tactics 10 years ago.  If you have, then kudos to you … you were ahead of the curve!

So, at the risk of sounding incredibly old, I present:

10 Dead or Dying PR Tactics:

10) Newspaper-based Media Relations Strategy
Newspapers are dying. Circulation is down. You can’t wrap your media relations strategy solely around trying to get print coverage anymore.
Status: Alive, but poor strategy

9) Deskside Reporter Meetings
These are the sit-down meetings where you get to know reporters and/or pitch them in person.  My friend and former boss Jon Newman recently wrote about desksides, saying they’re dying.  I agree.  In a “former life” I flew from Richmond, VA to New York City on a semi-frequent basis for these meetings.  Now, reporters (particularly the print ones) are ridiculously overtaxed and even more jaded than I remember.  You will occasionally find journalists who appreciate the face-to-face time, but there aren’t many left.
Status: Hard to find

8) Media packets
I would put this tactic in the “nearly dead” category.  You still see plenty of them.  Just one man’s opinion, but I don’t consider glossy packets a good use of money for most organizations.  I’d sooner build a micro-website or even a Facebook page.
Status: Alive, but IMHO a waste of money

7) Video news releases (VNRs)
These are still around, but they’re not nearly as popular as they were 10 years ago.  The Bush Administration essentially killed this tactic.
Status: Alive, but hard to get results

6) Audio news releases (ANRs)
This tactic, which I actually promoted as a service when EndGame PR was first founded, was always the less popular younger sister of VNRs.  While I’m not aware of the Bush Administration getting in trouble for ANRs, they basically died at the same time as VNRs.  They’ve been replaced somewhat by podcasts or web audio soundbites used in social media news releases, but you can still find stations that are willing to accept them.
Status: See #7

5) Media Map
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this tool, it was a server-based media directory.  It was horrendously expensive compared to today’s web-based directories.  I recall the president of the firm where I worked being elated when I discovered we could save about $40,000 every year by switching to the web-based Bacon’s Mediasource.  Oh yeah … I got some major brownie points that week!
Status: Replaced

4) Blast faxing
Remember when we used to pay services to send our releases out to hundreds or even thousands of news outlets?  Who faxes anymore?  I have a fax machine.  I rarely use it.
Status: Replaced

3) Mailed Newsletters
These used to be very popular, but have been replaced by email newsletters that should be backed up by a blog. You’ll likely see a trend in this list. I consider anything that involves using snail mail to be outdated.
Status: Replaced

2) Bacon’s Media Guides
I’m not talking about the online media directories.  I’m talking about the paper media guides … the books.  I believe they’re still available in some format but, really, if I have to explain why the web-based versions are better then you need to take a course on the “Internets”.
Status: Dinosaur

1) Mailed Reporter Pitches
It’s hard to believe, but if you hunt through the “pitching preferences” in the media guides (the web-based ones of course) you’ll still find some reporters who say they prefer mailed pitches. This is another way of saying, “Don’t pitch me”. However, there was a time before email was widespread when it was a legitimate way to pitch.
Status: Doornail, as in “dead as a”

Honorable Mention: Peter Shankman claims the news release itself is dead, or will be soon, with the exception of financial releases.  I disagree.  I believe the release is still alive and well, but is in a different form than it was 10 years ago.  I believe online distribution has saved the release from becoming a dinosaur.  We’ll give it a couple of years and see who is right!

Note: Plenty of people DO still use some of the above tactics.  I’m not writing this list to offend anyone.  If you’re successful … I’m not judging!

Be sure to read the follow up to this post: 10 Newborn PR Tactics!