For PR professionals tethered to the tradition of sending press releases by fax or through general "snail" mail, it's time to rethink that strategy. Making digital delivery a primary route to reach journalists has become a PR imperative, according to a new survey about media use of the Internet.
"This is no longer an option. It is a must," said Don Middleberg, chairman and CEO of Middleberg & Associates, New York, which released the study in tandem with Steven Ross, a journalism professor at Columbia University. "Because more and more journalists are using the Internet, we have to recognize it as a new PR tool which will no doubt become a major part of the way we do our jobs."
"The Media in Cyberspace III" survey doesn't offer any startling revelations. Still, the high number of journalists using the Internet points to a ripe opportunity for PR execs. Of the 636 responses from 2,000 magazine and newspaper reporters and editors queried in 1996, 87 percent said they have Internet access - versus 63 percent just a year ago. And two-thirds of those go online at least once a week.
The study uncovers some additional nuances for those in the PR trade. Although technology will give communicators new ways to get information to their audiences, it won't replace the well-delivered pitch or the need to establish a rapport with news journalists. So in the future, PR professionals won't only have to be technologically savvy (placing information online, setting up crisis Web sites and sending e-mails) but equally adept at knowing when one-to-one contact is needed - or when online news is preferred.
Middleberg said that although the study shows that 59 percent responded that their No. 1 preferences for story tips are sources and leads, 8 percent said they use either e-mail, the Web or Usenet newsgroups as "primary sources" for stories. And because of that, Middleberg believes that within the next five years, the Internet and e-mail will surpass other conventional PR approaches. His predictions include:
- The Internet becoming the primary medium where crisis communications is handled because it puts the control in journalists' hands - allowing them to look for updated information when they want;
- An increased reliance by the media on online archived information on companies;
- The placement of press kits and annual reports online;
- The posting of product releases online;
- The poting of financial data, such as 10ks, online; and
- A greater reliance on e-mail-transmitted press releases.
Alan Zeichick, chief editor of San Francisco-based Network magazine, an 82,000-circulation publication covering computer networking, said his 14-person editorial staff no longer keeps press kits after they are pored through for product/company facts and exhausted for story ideas.
He added that many of his staffers use the Internet the way they would a printed press release: to verify locations, check spellings, look into product histories or tap into a company's history.
"The reason that Microsoft [MSFT] gets quoted all the time is because they have good online PR," Zeichick added. "They are allowing journalists to get the information they need without having to place a lot of calls and wait for someone to return them."
Zeichick also said that within the past few years, he's found that more and more PR practitioners are sending press releases through e-mail. On a daily basis, he receives about 20 press releases through general mail and an equal number of press releases, around 10, by e-mail or fax.
But knowing when an e-mail is appropriate is part of the challenge for PR professionals.
"E-mail is good for exchanging information, not for building relationships or understanding. Those in public relations are going to have to figure out when digital delivery is best," Zeichick said. "For instance, if you're going to send breaking news through e-mail, it's best to call the editor and alert them to that. I could be away from the office and that press release could sit in my e-mail for days."
How Agencies are Maximizing PR on the Net and with E-mail
For as many former journalists who are now counselors in the burgeoning PR profession, there are as many cropping up who will rely on the Internet as much as old-timers relied on typewriters.
Katherine Chapman, PR/marketing director of the advertising and PR agency EvansGroup's month-old Futureworks new media division, Seattle, is emphatic that e-mail and other electronic delivery methods are the best ways to reach journalists today.
For example, for Redmond, Wash.-based Mosaix's launch of its Revenue Management System Software (a tax discovery collection system), Chapman used several electronic methods to deliver her client's news earlier this year.
In all, Chapman used Internet PR services such as Newsbytes News, Network and Bullseye; placed a release on BusinessWire; and developed her own e-mail database to send releases to major news outlets.
The results? She received an e-mail from a Wall Street Journal writer as well as from journalists at the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News. She also received queries from a local radio station and writers at several regional technical journals. And all of those interviews netted coverage.
"This is the direction that PR is moving," mused Chapman. "You need to deliver the news directly to people through e-mail and online. And if this isn't part of your PR plan, then you're missing an important - and less expensive - component." Chapman estimated that she probably spent around $100 for about 200 releases that were delivered electronically (by e-mail or through commercial news services) and nearly triple that amount for the 200 press kits she sent out.
"There's no question that the success of this product launch was because of the Internet component," said Paul MacAree, Mosaix PR manager. "People are using the Internet in various ways to reach their constituents - employees, shareholders, future shareholder and future partners...A press release can be a pretty static document but cyberspace gives journalists the chance to filter, and specify, the information they want."
And for Chapman there's more proof that the business world - including those in PR - are moving into the digital era. Evans has devoted between$750,000 and $1 million for start-up overhead and staff funds for the Futureworks division. The division, in addition to using electronic PR strategies, also developed a Web site (http://www.fwnewmedia.com) to help with brand marketing for Evans as well as for Futureworks.
Cindy Golisch, president of Buffalo, Grove, Ill.-based Public Relations Unlimited, also believes that being technologically smart helps PR practitioners reach one of their most important audiences: the press.
"We've been in business for four-and-a-half years and we've been using the Internet as long as we've been in business," she said. "We've used several ways to disseminate releases for our clients through virtual press rooms and through Byte Magazine, PCWorld, CNet Daily News, CNN Technology News and News.com while also being able to search for contacts we can make, massage and befriend to become good sources for them."
Golisch is a PR practitioner who says about 80 percent of the news she delivers for her clients is done online. "We hardly use mail anymore - we're probably spending about $25 a month per client when we used to budget for about $300 or $400 per client [for press kits] for an annual cost of about $5,000."
"I think the Internet and e-mail have revolutionized the PR industry," Golisch added "And I think companies which don't have Internet capabilities or won't offer online services for their clients won't survive."
(Middleberg & Associates, Don Middleberg, 212/888-6610; Network, Alan Zeichick, 415/905-2361; Futureworks, Katherine Chapman, 206/273-4201; Mosaix, Paul MacAree, 206/881-7544; Public Relations Unlimited, Cindy Golisch, 847/253-6600)