This post also appears as the July Digital Dialogue column in “Public Relations Tactics,” a publication of the Public Relations Society of America.

Can you, your clients or your spokespeople be considered thought leaders in the digital era without a blog?

Joe Pulizzi, author of “Get Content Get Customers,” founder of Junta42, a content marketing advisory, and creator of the Content Marketing Institute, posed this question in a recent blog post.

“You can’t be taken seriously by business audiences unless you have a blog in the mix,” Pulizzi explained during a phone discussion, also noting that blogs are simply delivery mechanisms. Sharing your insights consistently is the true yardstick, according to Pulizzi, regardless of format. And while it is certainly possible to do business without a blog, having one is a key ingredient for establishing and sustaining online presence.

On a World Wide Web full of Twitter following, Facebook friending and YouTube viewing, it is easy to lose sight of blogging’s benefits. Blogs remain the most flexible online format for professional communicators.

Technorati’s most recent State of the Blogosphere report, released in April, found that 70 percent of nearly 3,000 bloggers surveyed say they are better known in their industries because of their blogs.

Amanda Miller Littlejohn, a PR and social media consultant based in Washington, D.C., is a believer. She started her Mopwater PR + Media Notes blog in November 2008, and has since seen her client roster grow and has had more speaking and training opportunities.

“People remember the Mopwater name, which has become an excellent icebreaker during networking events,” she says. “Blogging helps me stand out in the competitive D.C. region. People may forget about a specific PR project I managed, but my blog is always there archiving my expertise and advice. When people read its quality, they are instant believers.”

Her sentiments echo a common theme: Traditional journalists often prioritize interviews with bloggers because they see proof of expertise through a blog. Well-written, tagged and search-optimized blogs are their directories.

Pulizzi concentrates on frequent blog posts rather than press releases to promote Junta42, and says he receives three or four solid interview requests per week.

He finds that the most charismatic bloggers do not merely regurgitate the latest stats or trends about their industries, they offer opinions and analysis. They also expand their content’s reach, sharing it across Twitter, Facebook and other networks.

Blogging, then, is not only their central self-publishing outlet and home base; it is their resume for attracting new opportunities.

In addition, lacking a blog can potentially be perceived as lacking relevance within an industry. Blogs are the fabric of online communication, serving as outright thought leadership vehicles and behind-the-scenes content management systems. They require a time commitment, plus mind-set and priority shifts for those who haven’t yet tried one. Blogs are inexpensive (often free) and fully at our disposal. As professional communicators, we ought to maximize their use.

Ryan Zuk, APR, is a media and analyst relations professional and Phoenix PRSA Chapter member. Zuk can be reached at ryanzuk at gmail dot com and @ryanzuk on Twitter. He also blogs at criticalmasspr.com

Image: American City Business Journals

Three Phoenix Business Journal staff members were guests this week at Phoenix PRSA’s Media Breakfast. Each shared insights about busy times in the modern newsroom and how public relations professionals can work in sync with journalists to benefit stakeholders and audiences alike.

Their comments, while provided with their own publication in mind, can certainly apply to the journalism and PR professions at large. A few observations from the morning’s panel discussion.

On story life cycle

Ilana Lowery, (Editor): We publish online and in print. The difference with our weekly print stories is there’s more time to develop these. We’ll often present various perspectives in a series of online stories that build up to a more in-depth print article with new content added. This cycle presents multiple opportunities for subject matter experts to assist us and potentially become part of the developing stories.

Adam Kress (Multimedia Reporter): The days of having a story you can sit on for a while are long gone. There are two general modes of operation: breaking a story immediately or building an in-depth story as we go; regarding the latter start the information sharing process with us early to assist our research and generate the most value from your efforts.

Mike Sunnucks (Senior Reporter): The difference between blogs and articles for us presently is that our blogs function as informal and quick analysis. Our reporters choose what to blog on independently, with occasional suggestions from our web editor. Some of these ideas graduate into more comprehensive stories.

Lowery: There is so much more to a story beyond what’s in a press release. That’s really just the basic information. Be creative, your clients can probably give you trends about their industries. You need this. We’re not here to do feature stories on your clients, so this is a way in to help your clients become industry sources. Ask them what is really happening in their space and bring it to us.

Sunnucks: And note here that there is almost always room for new sources. We don’t want to quote the same three subject experts every time. We want to focus on people behind the businesses and their specific challenges. Citing an economist for facts and perspective is a valuable thing, yet quoting a small business owner’s firsthand account of economic hardship can be even more revealing, for example.

On corporate newsrooms and brand journalism

I asked the panel about the value they find in corporate online newsrooms or web site press pages, especially given the explosion of social networking tools now available. I asked this with the concept of corporate or brand journalism in mind (businesses publishing their own content online from a market rather than blatant sales and marketing perspective).

Sunnucks: An executive blog or similar thought leadership pieces on your site can be valuable if they are truly insightful about an industry or trend, and not scripted.

Lowery: Consumer or business-to-consumer stories, for example, are some of the most viewed. These are usually data driven, so rankings, lists and stats are most compelling. Consider these types of information in your posts and more editors are likely to take notice.

Kress: We definitely find business sites that offer up-to-date fact sheets and contact information helpful. Sites that take it beyond the normal press release links also offer video and audio clips that we might use portions of as quotes or simply check out to determine if we want to give you a call. The point is to illustrate that you know what you’re talking about.

Of course, if you have a client or executive with a lot of insight on a specific subject it still helps to send a brief email to reporters you know noting these credentials.

On being a good resource, and working outside the norm

Sunnucks: Don’t overlook that we need help on the difficult stories too. We realize you don’t normally gravitate towards negative or challenging issues, although offering your thoughts on a tough issue helps us present a more complete story to our readers, and ultimately it’s human nature to remember who helps us do that.

Kress: Similarly, bring us ideas for stories that do not involve your clients. Just simply being helpful for the sake of it is a great way to endear yourself to reporters. We then have a relationship based on back and forth information sharing and getting to know each other along the way. When you really do have a valuable client story to suggest, our familiarity with you will help that cause.

Thanks Ilana, Mike and Adam for offering your time. Also thanks to Paula Pedene and the Phoenix VA Medical Center for hosting a packed house, and Alison Bailin of HMA Public Relations for coordinating.

Claiming he decided this morning, LeBron James moments ago announced this evening on ESPN to all the world that he’ll grace the NBA’s Miami Heat with his athletic talents and star power for the next several years – a payday worth multiple millions for King James. The news and drawn out moments leading up to “The Decision,” as ESPN marketed it, has dominated sports media and lit up social networks for weeks. I tend to prefer lofty titles after a significant event has occurred – in this context Michael Jordan’s “The Shot” or “The Shot II” – yet it’s hard to blame ESPN for hyping this announcement given the competition for short attention spans in a crowded media landscape.

LeBron’s move impacts many things including but not limited to big brand endorsements, ticket revenue, ideally his new team’s winning percentage, the city he is leaving behind and also how businesses can promote relatively intangible events like where someone will work next. Even Brett Favre’s annual “will he or won’t he play” drama pales in comparison. Granted, LeBron had extra time this summer when his then Cleveland Cavaliers exited the NBA Playoffs early May 13th.

That time appears to have been used wisely by LeBron’s camp, as team after team made their best attempts to woo him while the media that matter most to James and the NBA pretty much followed his every move; a luxury by PR standards and understandable based on the performances James turns in.

Social media is likewise becoming a piece of James’ communication strategy. He signed up for Twitter just this week and quickly amassed 325,000 followers as noted by USA Today’s Jon Swartz and others. He hasn’t used it much but promised responses after – or perhaps during – tonight’s event. It will be interesting to see if social networking becomes a significant component of LeBron’s marketing.

What can we glean from the hoopla as marketers and communicators?

Developing charisma and leveraging your talent draws opportunities. It’s analogous to content marketing too – create compelling content and business will come to you. Consider this on your own scale. What do you have that can attract your target audience? Maybe it’s a differentiating product feature, but more likely there’s a personality on your team ideal for conveying the story you want to tell. Identify that combo and it’s nothing but net!

The lure of exclusivity remains a viable option in a wired world. ESPN was a logical choice for the made-for-TV special and ratings should be rewarding. More specifically, keeping mums with your chosen media about your timed news helps generate powerful buzz. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban blogged earlier today that he couldn’t spot a leak when offering his witty PR-focused observations, so he ventured a guess. Anticipation begets drama begets coverage.

It’s always about relationships. And it’s especially about establishing them before you need them. LeBron’s talent and celebrity naturally garners media attention, yet this applies to him as well. Seven seasons have nurtured many marquee media relationships for LeBron and the NBA. Apply these to a seemingly common event as who an athlete will play for next and we have a nice example of relationship leveraging, blog and social network momentum and a dash of crowdsourcing with all the predictions that lead up to LeBron’s selection.

If nothing else, it was a polarizing marketing moment for Brand LeBron and the NBA.

I attended Gartner’s 360 Customer Summit this week as a Sage North America representative. Two sessions lead by Paul Greenberg, author of CRM at the Speed of Light – 4th Edition, were among the highlights. Many opportunities for PR  and communicators at large to help advance Social CRM (customer relationship management) surfaced within the sessions. Note that I’m not trying to evoke the “who owns social” debate here, but rather reinforce as many have that this is everyone’s space to engage in and benefit from.

Strategies for Engaging the Social Customer that Actually Work (Session 1)

Paul’s first session included Heidi Tucker of InsideView, Brian Komar of the Center for American Progress and Comcast’s Frank Eliason as panelists.

During a pre-panel hallway chat with Eliason he shared that PR has been one of the biggest advocates for his team’s well known customer support efforts at Comcast. He also gave nods to JetBlue and Southwest within the airline industry as prime examples of PR-lead social networking programs. Frank centered on PR’s concern for brand sentiment and reputation as reasons PR can play a major role in social media management; and he certainly wasn’t dismissing the value marketing colleagues bring to the mix as well.

As the panel progressed Paul cited Gartner’s Ed Thompson who earlier reminded consumer thinking has penetrated the enterprise, therefore we need to recognize at the end of the day we’re always dealing with consumers. At the end of BtoB there is still a C, as Paul put it.

And here we get deeper into Social CRM – Paul’s definition which includes elements he crowdsourced is good reference and grounding. You can find it in Jacob Morgan’s recent presentation (slide 27) for the Public Relations Society of America’s T3 tech communicator’s conference, and elsewhere. Open collaboration is a centerpiece of the definition supported by processes, systems etc.

I like how the “moment of truth” explanation many customer experience experts use fits here. We’re all looking to connect and solve problems through social technologies and the personal relationships they help develop, whether the “problem” is what movie to spend our leisure funds on or a much more complex personal or business issue.

Social CRM: Where is it today and where is it going tomorrow? (Session 2)

During his second session, co-presented with Gartner’s Michael Moaz, Greenberg explained that the social transformation of recent years has not been a business revolution but rather a communications revolution. Clear, concise, and I find this a nice nod to how the PR profession can participate in advancing the social web. PR practitioners, given their history and competencies, are in position to help nurture a good portion of the collaboration we seek, now in a more direct manner with customers and sort of as social glue if you will.

Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, a chief strategist for Weber Shandwick, suggested from the audience that brands need to be wary of becoming fractured if everyone in an organization is off pursuing different social media agendas.

Some orchestration is required and I think PR folks are in a great position to insert value throughout the organization-to-customer communications spectrum. Most of us have heard the saying that everyone’s job (sales, marketing, support etc) includes some PR elements. Social CRM helps emphasize and expand upon this, while presenting a wonderful opportunity to prove it out.

Moaz brought the session in for a nice landing with a well-placed Marshall McLuhan analogy – a fave among PR historians – recalling McLuhan’s “the medium is the message” proclamation. Moaz pointed out that McLuhan was talking about TV then and that we’re now always connected via mobile devices. We’re all the medium. “You’ve gotta be part of the stream,” he noted. “Businesses will go social because that is how you survive today. Resistance is futile!”

Image: Adobe.com

This post also appears in the June issue of PR Tactics, published by the Public Relations Society of America.

Internet video conferencing services have become standard issue for digitally savvy communicators. PR professionals are employing Skype, which lists more than 520 million users, and similar livestreaming tools such as Ustream and Livestream, to supplement traditional broadcast media — or circumvent them altogether. Their flexibility combined with reasonable audio/video quality has aided adoption, and practitioners should examine their capabilities for expanding reach.

Major TV networks use Skype to cost-effectively bring guests and reporters into national broadcasts. Oprah uses Skype with guests and viewers regularly.

Winfrey notes on her website that Skype “changed the way we do television.”

Last year, she appeared on a video screen in a New York Best Buy store having impromptu, comical discussions with passersby. She has also talked with newsmakers on location around the globe, such as a scientific researcher in Antarctica.

However, you don’t need a national stage to benefit from livestreaming. Professional sports, consumer technologies and even small businesses are among those tapping its potential.

Jeramie McPeek, vice president of digital communication for the Phoenix Suns, has been a Skype guest on several programs including the Row Show, a live weekly Internet show about technology in professional sports hosted by digital marketing agency row27 Studios.

His virtual appearances are timely, topical and easily produced, benefitting the Suns’ PR efforts.

McPeek finds livestreaming intriguing and plans to use it across the Suns’ digital properties.

“We’re thinking about players livestreaming from the road via their iPhones and a Skype interview with a Phoenix Mercury WNBA player traveling overseas,” he says. “Player and fan chats also seem natural.”

Technology evangelist Robert Scoble used Ustream to livecast from Facebook’s f8 2010 conference this past April. He streamed the event’s press conference for nearly a thousand viewers, offering his insights and talking with other guests along the way.

Practitioners can consider the following to achieve similar results:

Get your gear — When Oprah calls you want to be ready.  Equip your spokespeople and clients with webcams now instead of sprinting to the store during your hour of need, or missing an interview opportunity.  You can pick one up for less than $100, and newer model laptops have built-in webcams.

Enhance your message — Good communications strategies require good content, and livestreaming can help you affordably achieve volume.  Web audio and video generates some of the best audience sharing statistics. Capture short discussions with your clients for video blog posts or record podcasts. Get customers involved by encouraging user-generated content. Report from your own event by sharing a livestream feed with your social network.

Expand your reach — Geographic, time and cost barriers are now more navigable thanks to livestreaming: the keynote address that your media cannot attend in person; the last-minute news station interview request; the international industry analyst you want to feature during your press conference.  All are doable with technology and openness to virtual attendees.

Imagination is the lead ingredient since livestreaming has mitigated previously limiting production factors.  And we’re PR people at heart, so there’s plenty of that to go around.

That headline may have tripped off some grammarians’ alarms but if you’re here reading, mission accomplished!

Some thoughtful readings about business relationships and applying social media to care for them gravitated my way this week, inspiring a few thoughts that expand on each.

Identifying And Attracting Your Audience

Perusing a print copy of BtoB’s 2010 Lead Generation Guide surfaced “Social media tips for demand generation” by Marketo’s Maria Pergolino. Maria includes seed nurturing among her methods for developing business leads, noting this is a vital early-stage part of the sales process. Content marketing (or Inbound Marketing as well branded by the HubSpot folks) is then emphasized to which I say “Bravo,” and I’d add a reminder that content offered in various social sharing forms (eBooks, podcasts, communities, etc) succeeds most when it refrains from chest-thumping. Share information prospects need to answer urgent questions even if only mildly associated with your product or service. When you do, as Pergolino notes: expect prospects to return for more content and be more willing to share their own information.

I then started thinking about personalized ways to develop and maintain relationships that now days often begin online before any face-to-face interaction occurs. Valerie Simon from BurrellesLuce shared a nice post recently with suggestions for bridging virtual relationships into real acquaintances. She outlined these with her attendance at today’s PRSA T3 conference for technology communicators in mind. You can draw upon these in nearly any situation. Important here is that you will get the most value using the social media tools that best suit your audience. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore other channels yet emphasizes you don’t have to be all things, and everywhere, for all people. Valerie suggests many good options to consider. Knowing where your audience “participates” and spending a large degree of your time sharing there is the ticket!

Engaging That Audience

Denis Pombriant’s “Membership is not participation” post next caught my attention. Denis aptly reminds us that membership in and of itself does not translate to participation. Commenting and contributing content are typical activities that qualify online community members as participants. Call this giving something of value to the community at large. Denis references crowdsourcing and diversity, to which I’ll add that people most naturally contribute to communities based on their areas of expertise. This alone goes a long way towards generating value out of diversity. From there it’s a shared responsibility between a community’s purveyor (a vendor, organization, business person, fan, thought provoker) and its members to keep conversations worthwhile. Recognize and encourage insightful participants to further enlighten the group and keep at offering your own thoughts too. In an attention-deprived culture large membership numbers are impressive but not the only criteria for defining a community’s or company’s success.

Copyright MLB

I’m intrigued by major league baseball umpire Jim Joyce’s blown call during the Cleveland Indians / Detroit Tigers game this week. The ground ball play to first base would have given Detroit pitcher Armando Galarraga only the 21st perfect game in major league history, and it would have been the third perfect frame hurled by a pitcher this season which is yet another rarity.

Joyce merely had to call the routine play what it was, an obvious game ending out. He blew it. Laid an egg. Hundreds of thousands have watched in disbelief on ESPN, YouTube and elsewhere over the past 48 hours. And while a sports highlight racking up thousands if not millions of views online is commonplace, this one started for all the wrong reasons.

Through it all Joyce conveys a dash of heroism as does Galarraga, for they both handled the aftermath with poise and professionalism. Joyce went to Galarraga in the clubhouse after seeing the postgame replay and apologized. Galarraga accepted with an embrace, giving Joyce a free pass and well more than the typical respect due an umpire with 20+ years experience considering these circumstances.

Joyce’s genuine emotion and willingness to apologize immediately to Galarraga personally and in press conferences displayed character that frankly too few people in more important public and private sector positions ever exhibit. We are, after all, just talking about a game grown men play for millions of dollars. We’re entering day 46 of an oil spill disaster that is light years more critical than an umpire’s gaffe. (Jay Baer blends these topics well in this Thursday post.)

Both Joyce and Galarraga were honest and selfless in the eye of a media storm and stand to be remembered more for how they handled the perfect game that wasn’t rather than if Joyce would’ve just made the right call in the first place.

Major League Baseball benefits too.

The League, still in need of distancing itself from the steroid era and addressing frequent complaints about games too long for a fast paced world, needed a shot in the arm and it came in the least likely of forms. In Detroit no less.

Tens of thousands of people have viewed the play and Joyce’s press conference comments online. Millions more have seen it on ESPN or heard it discussed on sports radio. A YouTube video from a fan who was at the game, for instance, has tallied over 40,000 views. troyfromwestvirgina’s YouTube offering, despite its eight-minute length, also appears a hit with 100,000 views of he and his kids watching the events unfold.

This unexpected attention – which will soon subside in the wake of tomorrow’s or next week’s viral moment – is MLB’s opportunity to step up and acknowledge some issues just as Joyce did. Instant replay reviews during games will certainly be back on the table, and maybe Commissioner Selig has some admissions about the “*” era he’d like to bring to closure once and for all. This is a moment to impress fans, respect the game, honor fair play and ethics, and if seized upon could bring more favorable attention back to the historic brand that is Major League Baseball.

The play in question (Video 1:22)

Imperial Sugar Newsroom

I recently spoke with David Henderson and Ed Lallo of The News Group Net about how online newsrooms are being applied – or at least how they can be – within today’s digital news landscape. This formed the basis of my May Digital Dialogue column “Online newsrooms in the digital era” for PR Tactics, a publication of the Public Relations Society of America.

My discussion with David and Ed was lively and we enjoyed having a good go at the topic as our allotted time quickly passed. David is author of “Making News in the Digital Era” and analyzes the application of online newsrooms quite a bit in it and his consulting. He and Ed, a photojournalist with People Magazine and national newspaper assignments among his many credentials, provided more insight than I could fit in the confines of a 500 word column.

What follows are some bonus nuggets using Imperial Sugar Company (ISC), a News Group Net client, as an example.

On press releases

Henderson: While researching my book I became curious about newsrooms and started talking to IT people at major corporations. I learned that as a general rule online newsrooms are the least visited part of websites because they are just repositories of old press releases. Yesterday’s press releases are yesterday’s news. It really comes down to writing in a journalistic style. A press release is not news, it is an announcement or an event. You should take releases, or what would comprise them, and re-write this information as news.

Lallo: There are similar nuances in photography and video too. Make the transition from PR and corporate communications writing to news credibility with a news-style delivery of video segments and B-roll.

Henderson: We looked at a company that does 300 press releases a year. They’re  spending a lot of money to do it and their ROI is basically zero because nobody is picking up their chest thumping.

Press releases are ok for the financial purposes of public companies but for most other purposes they are counter intuitive. Reporters are under mandate to find fresh new stories their competitors don’t have. If you send a press release to USA Today they’ll throw it away. It’s like saying “we have something today but we’re telling it to everybody.”

The media that really matters to you, your company or client is usually a very small group. For Apple it’s Mossberg and Pogue. Everybody else typically follows what they write. Fashion your news for the small group of media who are critical to your business.

On implementing Imperial Sugar’s newsroom

Henderson: Imperial was coming out of crisis (a 2008 Savannah refinery explosion) and they had two PR agencies doing traditional things that weren’t getting much traction for the company’s image. If you went to Google all the stories were negative, which was no direct fault of the agencies’ efforts. It’s just that a new approach was needed.

Imperial was rebuilding the plant, taking care of its workforce and working diligently with local government. None of this was being reflected in media coverage. Our first objective was to get these stories told online and we determined the ideal method was an online newsroom.

Lallo: To this day we have a great relationship with Imperial’s PR agencies. We synch our newsroom stories with their news releases and press information, rewriting the releases as a news stories for the newsroom or working from material that would have previously been news releases.

Henderson: The main purpose of the newsroom is not to provide stories for media. The core audiences are shareholders, business partners, employees and, then, the media. An online newsroom can present the spectrum of all the good things a company is doing to each of these audiences.

We developed our newsroom model based on our respective journalism and photography experience and we’ve tuned it with where the world is today; what people want to find online.

Lallo: If you go to many corporate online newsrooms you still find you are asked to fill out a form to contact the company’s communications department – and you may not ever get a reply. This just isn’t right. Stakeholders of any kind can no longer wait for a response.  We think of our newsrooms as daily digital newspapers that cover an industry and keep everyone up to date on what is trending.

Henderson: In a short time, a wave of media started borrowing stories almost verbatim and photos from Imperial’s newsroom, or using elements from it to expand on a topic in their own stories. The site has become the center of the sugar refining industry. We post stories that are good and not so good about the industry because we want to remain objective. Sugar industry analysts and even thought leaders from other companies now come to us to get their stories covered.

What started out as wanting to improve Imperial’s Google-ability and favorability of online stories has become a position of leadership.

On staffing Imperial’s newsroom

Henderson: You really need to have the support of top management to make a newsroom relevant.  Imperial John Sheptor is solidly behind this effort. His is a style of open management and he wants this reflected in the newsroom.

Lallo: It takes an enormous amount of work to manage an online newsroom effectively. We post two or three fresh stories daily and are constantly adding photographs and videos. Five freelancers assist David and I with the newsroom.

We never anticipated it, but the ISC newsroom has become a profit center. We get emails from Sugar traders worldwide who want to be hooked up with ISC to make purchases. Millions of pounds of sugar have been sold via newsroom leads.

On PR’s role managing newsrooms

Lallo: Newsrooms aren’t about taking PR people out of the equation. They are about learning a new skill, or for some going back to their journalism roots. Don’t think in terms of writing press releases with boilerplates and disclaimers. Get rid of that formula and write something people are interested in.

Henderson: We constantly talk with agencies and corporate communications people who agree with this approach but thus far lack the resources or executive support to make it happen.

(And therein lies the challenge that I even see myself while going about my duties. I believe a lot of PR practitioners have the desire to open up their communications, yet also have internal stakeholders and legal advisers to convince and processes to modify. But it isn’t rocket science, it’s just good journalism that people are after regardless of if you pitch or consume it. I’m happily in agreement with most everything David and Ed have shared and – whether by leaps and bounds or merely baby steps – I’ll be seeking to further advance my own communications from static to style.)

I had a fun phone conversation with Deirdre Breakenridge and Valerie Simon not long ago which formed the basis of my April PRSA Tactics article “Building an online community with PRStudChat.” PRStudChat, created by Breakenridge and Simon, in their own words is “a monthly Twitter chat bringing together PR students, professionals and educators for conversation about the Public Relations Industry and to provide opportunities for learning, networking and mentoring.”

I pop in the chat and read ongoing #prstudchat hashtag comments when I’m able and find the community to be all its creators claim and more. I think one of the most impressive indicators of an online community’s success is how it expands beyond its original boundaries – not in an out of control fashion of course, but rather in ways that further benefit its members. There’s plenty of value tucked right inside the monthly PRStudChat sessions themselves, and still I’ve also noticed instances where the community has opened doors to provide its members new opportunities. That’s what it ought to do right? I’m sure there are many more examples than the following.

University professors and students are threading the PRStudChat community into their curriculum. Breakenridge for example was interviewed via Skype by University of Maryland’s Rowena Briones. Portions were used in a PR class and also featured on Mikinzie Stuart’s PRepguide blog.

Real life mentoring opportunities are being created. Speaking of Mikinzie, she’s a PR student at Ferris State University who visited Breakenridge and Simon in New Jersey over her spring break to shadow each on the job. A brilliant and responsible use of one’s extra curricular time.

Career-supportive connections are being made. I sense this myself when connecting on Twitter with PRStudChat members and professional communicators across the board, as well as while observing others publicly communicate online. These are professional connections that can benefit us all, and our employers and clients, as time progresses. Helping others connect and do business always brings the goodness back to you one way or another.

Which brings me to tomorrow’s April 21st Noon Eastern PRStudChat that offers another concrete example of this community’s growth and networking value. The April chat features guests from five organizations who are responsible for PR recruiting. Firms represented are Fleishman Hilliard, Marina Maher Communications, Ogilvy, Paradigm Staffing, Qorvis Communications and RKPR. No doubt some ideal pairings will be made.

Good going PRStudChat and, for that matter, other online and Twitter communities like #pr20chat and #journchat for bringing talented people together and focusing them on solving problems, aiding each other’s career paths, and for generally having a good time doing it.

There are many vibrant communities and chats out there for PR practitioners and marketers. Any favorites you recommend?

Author David Meerman Scott and HubSpot co-founder Brian Halligan hosted a fun Webinar yesterday for marketing and communication professionals entitled “Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead” (Replay Here).

I’m an easy sell when a classic rock or jam band theme is afoot and, besides, the hosts were putting their respective “World Wide Rave” and “Inbound Marketing” mantras into practice by providing valuable content at no cost to their audience.

Both gents did a nice job relating characteristics of the Grateful Dead with communication and content marketing concepts; even noting that, just as The Dead improvised during their long concert jams, they too were creating much of Thursday’s Webinar as the went along.

The most interesting thing about the Grateful Dead is their unique sound – tapping jazz, blues and psychedelic era influences – and the way they distribute and share it. While the band occasionally released studio albums until the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995, their live shows are what made them remarkable according to Halligan. I agree, and although I’m not a Dead Head to the core I’ve certainly learned to appreciate the band’s music through its live recordings.

(Musical interlude #1 – I don’t think the band’s 1980’s studio album output – my era of introduction – was that bad either. Removing official live album releases you have “Go To Heaven” (’80) “In The Dark” (’87) and “Built To Last (’89). “In The Dark” alone gave us great songs including “Touch of Grey,” “Hell In a Bucket” and “Throwing Stones.” You may recall the “Touch of Grey” video that gave the band a brief MTV run.)

Letting fans record concerts for free is the cornerstone of the band’s strategy even today (post-Garcia iterations include The Other Ones, Phil Lesh & Friends, The Dead, and Furthur). The band has always allowed this, even staging designated recording equipment areas at their shows. This was the “original freemium model” as Halligan puts it, and it created viral, word-of-mouth marketing among fans who still spent plenty of money on concert tickets, T-shirts and posters; making album sales concerns an afterthought.

The Dead are willing to lose control of their marketing by letting fans define them and giving much of their music away for free. This has made all the difference in terms of the band’s long running success. Halligan and Meerman Scott implore marketers to engage in similar activities, creating great content that is meaningful for an audience instead of being all about products and services. Business opportunities and sales results follow as a content strategy develops awareness, reach and trust.

Meerman Scott reminds us that most organizations operate in a command and control environment with mission statements, boilerplate descriptions and processes and PR messages. “This stuff doesn’t spread much,” he said when suggesting businesses let people talk about them as they will, without dictating how they should say it. (I commented on dictation and collaboration previously in a Social CRM guest post for CRM Magazine). It’s a leap for anyone set in their ways, yet if you can accept letting prospects and customers use your information in a context that is valuable for them and their social networks, the likelihood of gaining favorability among them is infinitely better.

In The DARC

Halligan mentioned one of my favorites from his book “Inbound Marketing” with Dharmesh Shah as the hour concluded. Certain traits are desired when assembling top quality marketing and communication teams in the digital era. He and Shah offer the DARC acronym as a guideline, suggesting you seek people who are digital natives, analytical, have social reach and are content creators. (I explored this further in conversation with Halligan earlier this year.)

Several other points I liked from the Grateful Dead Marketing set:

• Halligan noted it is ok to “be worse than your competition in some ways.” The Dead were much worse at studio albums by most fan standards while better than most anybody else at live concerts. Focusing on your core competency helps you stand out.
• Modern marketing professionals are half marketer and half content creator. Your library of content stacks up over time and starts to pull people towards your business.
• Enable your fans to help spread your message. It’s simple and I like it. If you develop ebooks or whitepapers only to cage them behind lead generation forms, you’ve left most of your potential audience in the dark. Set these things free (and tag them with your contact info and social sites) – the goodness will come back to you!
• The Dead were experimenters, improvising within songs every night. No show was the same. “Sometimes they laid an egg,” says Halligan, but they failed fast and moved on to the next show. Quick cycles of experimentation work well in the new world of marketing.
• Your best fans / customers ought to get special offers and news about your new products first. Meerman Scott says most of the time marketers do just the opposite, offering special pricing to first-time buyers and subscribers while giving the rest of their customer base the shaft.

If you attended the Webinar, watched the replay, or just dig Inbound Marketing, I would enjoy hearing your perspective.

(Musical interlude #2 – Speaking of free music, I’m a big fan of Wolfgang’s Vault which features dozens of Grateful Dead shows among its thousands of free concert streams spanning the 60’s to present day. Many of the shows, including some Dead shows, were originally staged by famed concert promoter Bill Graham and have great history behind them you can read about in the Vault. My favorite Dead show in the Vault thus far is the New Year Eve ‘88 show from Oakland Coliseum Arena. A good three-hour vibe. And www.deadlistening.com is another place to discover shows.)