The consumer’s dramatic embrace of social media and other forms of digital communications has allowed public relations professionals to skirt traditional media channels to get to the consumer, but the head of the world’s largest PR firm sees journalists and other traditional media as especially relevant amid the ubiquitous digital chatter.
Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman, said during an interview with BIV on Wednesday: “I make a very important argument that we [PR professionals] must never pretend to be journalists – that the role of mainstream media as arbiters and evaluators is even more important in the cacophony."
Edelman (the company) acquired Vancouver’s largest PR firm, Karyo Communications, in 2007.
“People may have eight sources of daily information,” he noted. “[Traditional media] won’t be the only, but you’ll be the one that people give more weight to. And know that a lot of the traffic is going to the websites of the mainstream media.”
Despite that, Edelman has spoken numerous times recently about his belief in a “third way” for PR companies to communicate, beyond traditional paid and earned media, by embracing public engagement.
According to a June 23 blog post by Edelman, the third way sees PR professionals:
“Our profession must now embrace research to distinguish among idea starters, amplifiers and viewers,” said Edelman in the post. “Since online platforms and spaces are at the root of the current evolution of media, digital strategy can no longer be seen as a specialty area; it must become a core competence for all PR people.”