PR is Dead…Again

I’m sure you’ve seen enough chatter about this in the past year or so, I know I have. Much has been said in the blogosphere about the death of PR – the press release is dead, the traditional press release is dead, and so on. Well, the debate continues, stemming from a recent Marketing Profs article that (once again) announces The Press Release is Dead (Will Somebody Please Tell the Clients?), Steve Rubel goes one step further and proclaims that Blogs are the New Press Releases. While there’s been much talk about this in the past in the blogosphere, I think Andy Lark has provided one of the most thoughtful and accurate responses to the blogs in PR debate.

Blogs are the new press releases. I hear this one lots from the non-PR blogeratti. Our arrogance/hysteria in assuming the pervasiveness and application of blogs outside of tech is unfounded. Do I think blogs are a perfect mechanism for distributing news? Yeah. Do they replace press releases? No. Do they complement them? Yes. Are they a terrific alternative in some sectors for some audiences for non material news (today)? Absolutely. But we are some ways off complete pervasiveness and verified authority.

I think this sums up my opinion on this topic completely. While blogs are very valuable, they are not utterly pervasive outside the tech sector. I subscribe to the blogs as a tool, weapon in the PR arsenal, part of the playbook, school of thought, but I have a feeling it will be long while before this topic of discussion dies off.