2008 PR Trends

It’s always good to stay on top of the PR trends so here are a few standouts to help you better spotlight your clients in 2008.

Hope they help and Best in 2008!
Risë

BLOGGERS
Blog is the name of the game these days – you can monitor stories about your clients and their competitors and/or pitch and place valuable content.  Consider distributing your client messages to independent bloggers as well as corporate blogs through a credible third party.  In terms of market penetration, blogging is definitely creating “word of mouth” buzz in the marketplace.  A few of the top blogs are gizmodo.com for tech/gadgets, tmz.com for Hollywood gossip, huffingtonpost.com for politics and treehugger.com for eco/lifestyles.

ONLINE VIDEO
You’ve probably heard that online surfing is the thing to do while doing lunch at your desk and more folks are surfing than eating these days!  So, take whatever video you’ve already produced for your client, or produce new video, and think about placing it online on websites that already attract your target demos.  For example, for moms there’s iVillage or Ladies Home Journal, or smaller sites that, when added together, will still generate a solid audience.

Speaking of video, think funny and think offbeat to really get the YouTubers and other onliners to click on and then forward to their friends.  If it’s viral and video, it’s healthy.

GO MOBILE 
Mobile gizmos and gadgets can generate a whole new audience for your client messages.  Breakthrough technology in mobile websites can target the growing audiences that are attached to cell phones and mobile e-mail daily.  Your client will need a version of their website that is tailored for displays on mobile screens and we anticipate a spike in the number of companies/clients who will have their sites mobile-ready in 2008.

The top ten mobile sites include Google.com, WashingtonPost.com, Ask.com, Yahoo.com Flickr.com, Live.com, Facebook.com, Overstock.com, Weather.com and USA Today.com.

TIMING IS EVERYTHING 
We’ll soon be in full-tilt presidential election mode and that will tighten up traditional media programming and inventory for 2008, especially in battle ground states.  So, strategic story placements for your clients are key.  Look for election-related hooks for radio and TV such as the economy, housing, healthcare, the environment, etc., but also think outside the box to include online audio and video and e-mail marketing where there’s literally “more room” to deliver your message to target demos to pump up those audience numbers.

SOCIAL NETWORKING
It’s just good business to create a name for your clients online as well as offline especially on the off the hook social networking sites.  Think about placing promotional banners, client content or actually joining online communities (YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, iSaveSmart, Bebo) to promote your client message.

zcomm ad in PR Week

Pr_week_ad_6 Our recent “cheeky” ad in PRWeek saying “for a small agency, we’ve got a wide stance” was meant to capture readers’ attention, but to also do more than that.

Too many agencies toot their own horn saying they have the best creative or are the gurus of strategic planning or the boss of branding.  We decided to put our money where our mouth is and show folks we’re creative vs. just telling them.

We used the recent “wide stance” angle because we knew it “had legs” and that everyone would immediately know what we were referring to.  We also wanted to give readers a good chuckle, which everyone could use these days.

Humor is good when it comes to ads (and just about everything else) and if done well can really cut through the clutter and deliver the message directly to the funny bone to score major points.

We plan to develop more ads that demonstrate who we are and what we do rather than simply tell you how good we are.

Hope you all enjoy the ad as much as we enjoyed creating it.

More to come!

Risë