Blogging for Publicists

Recently I wrote an article for PRSA's Target on how publicists and marketing managers can benefit from blogging. Here is the article in its entirety. -- Diane

Three blogging corollaries that you need to know

By Diane P. Burley

A recent Alarm:Clock article argued that firms, particularly startups, abandon outside PR agencies and opt instead to groom talent in-house. The author contended that outside agencies aren’t particularly astute at picking up new communication tools such as blogging and podcasting and therefore aren’t worth their retainers.

Don’t gnash and gnarl over the thin premise of inside or outside PR counsel — that’s merely a red herring. The overall thrust should be a point well-taken: Blogging literacy is as important today as learning how to put a release on the wire service. In fact, blogging may finally be the Holy Grail for more billable and quantifiable hours.

The sound of the word blog may be foreboding, but the etymology is actually “log,” which most of us can handle. We log thoughts and hours. In the case of your clients, they prefer to see the results of the former — understanding that the latter will follow. A weblog is the full form of the word — with blog as the diminutive. For early adopters, blogs were a channel for dispensing one’s thoughts. However, I prefer to think of blogs as mechanisms for people to converse about a subject.

Download PR_Tactics_Blogging.pdf