Today marks the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day, a day set-aside for citizens of the world to take a moment and think about important topics such as global warming, ozone depletion, & our own interaction with the planet.  These are some weighty issues to say the least, especially as we seek to preserve the Earth for future generations.  So, for those of us in the field of PR & Marketing, as we go about our daily activities today, there are any number of ways that we can contribute to help on these fronts.

Specifically, as communicators we can each play a vital role in Earth Day in a number of ways:

1)   We can use our skills to showcase what our clients are doing for the environment: Use this as a story angle to help your clients get more press, showcase the efforts that they make locally to improving the environment & being a good corporate citizen; while earning points with their target audiences.

2)   Make our own businesses Green: There are a range of things that we can do in our own offices to help with the environment.  From maintaining a paperless office, to using recycled materials, adopting new energy efficient equipment, turning off our computers at night, & sorting our trash into recycle bins.  While each of these are small modifications, together they can add up to help make a difference in the overall well-being of the environment.

3)   Introduce Green communications tactics: By using new tools that allow you to communicate online, you can tell your story directly to target audiences with rich audio & video content through tools such as Podcasts and Webcasts.  These tactics can help to reduce the number of trips spokespeople or executives need to make, in the process reducing carbon emissions, & reaching broader audiences with your message.

Of course, there are many ways to go Green, do you have other tips for folks in PR & Marketing to consider adding to the list?  Just go ahead and share your ideas in the comments section below!

Here’s the long and short of it: there are no rules with online media.

Sure, take a moment to digest that because it goes against just about everything we’re typically conditioned to think.  We’re used to “best practices” and guidelines.  Think about it in terms of traditional media where there are a wide variety of rules & guidelines.  For instance, typically newspaper articles are a few hundred words in length; for television outlets the news department always tries to find a local angle on a story; while in the land of radio stories are usually told these days by a reporter, often syndicated, that at best feature a quick sound bite.  And accordingly, with each of these different arenas there are certain rules of the game if you will for for gaining traction for your particular story; however in the online space we have a blank platform through which to tell our stories.

This platform extends beyond the simple press release or website, but today expands into the mobile space and allows any organization to create rich media that is on-message and helps to tell its story.  This is vastly powerful space - organizations can now share video of their events, conversations with executives, and insights from their latest research with global audiences with ease.  A pretty powerful development that has come of age in the last few years, but as organization’s go to implement these types of tools they are often faced with questions in regard to the “right” way to do things…which is where we enter new & uncharted territory.

That said, the online space brings with it a double-edged sword because on one hand there are no rules, and on the other hand well, there are no rules.  Since there are no right or wrong way ways to leverage this space, it is most important that you think strategically about how to integrate these outreach efforts, how to brand them accordingly, and how to keep them professional and polished - just like you would do with any other piece of marketing collateral.

The bottom line is online space can be a powerful new venue to tell your story.  While there aren’t any rules per se, you’ll be able to think of plenty of new ways to include these types of options in your PR & marketing plans, and find opportunities to leverage your efforts and tell your stories.

New Media & Social Media tools are the latest options for PR & Marketing professionals, they provide new avenues to reach target audiences and enhance campaigns, however they are only part of the puzzle.  While I am entirely in favor of communicators adopting new tools as part of their campaigns, I think it is most important to do so with a managed and calculated methodology, which utilizes these tools as part of a cohesive overall strategy not just as a haphazard add-on for the sake of using technology.  While these new options can provide enhancements but it is paramount for practitioners to focus on telling their stories without getting caught up in the technology.

Yes, I do advocate as I did recently on this blog that you make your message Platform Agnostic, but I do not think that in doing so you should let the technology get in the way of your goal of telling your story.  Instead, I think you need to tell your story and use technology to accentuate your message and broaden its reach.  Of course, in some situations the technology can improve how you tell your story, enriching the experience for the audience and make the story come to life or bring a level of interactivity, but it shouldn’t entirely dictate or transform how you communicate.

So, the question is how do you communicate with Web 2.0 and Social Media Tools without loosing focus on the primary goal of telling your story.  Certainly, the answers are many and the approach could be quite complex, but on a high-level here are ideas that can lead to success:

1. Define Your Story - Sure, this is nothing new, but it is at he heart of effectively crafting a cohesive approach to new and traditional media tools.  What is it that you’re trying to convey?  Who are your spokespeople?  What is most engaging about your news?  How can you bring value to your audience with the story?  Further, as you figure out how to best position your story think about your audience; how will they relate to your story?  Have you given your story a voice, perhaps personalizing it in some way?
2. Integrate All of Your Strategies - Once you have your story well developed then it is time to think about the avenues through which to tell it and to tie together all of those tactics.  If you are taking a traditional approach of interviews with print, TV, or radio then these should be used as opportunities to communicate about and further deliver the story through the various online components.  Specifically, think about what tools online might enhance your campaign.  For example, online there may be opportunities to engage social media and invite comments and responses from communities such as Facebook, Linked-In, or other niche social networking sites.  Or possibly you can build on traditional methodologies by publishing a Podcast series, which can feature your experts to bring a face and a voice to your campaign.  You might also consider using Twitter to not only promote your story, but to open up a dialogue about those issues involved, and help the audience to become involved and take ownership in the topic.  Essentially, these types of strategies, while utilizing technology will also grow and strengthen the relationship with your target audience and if utilized correctly will keep your story as the focus of attention rather than the tools themselves.
3. Cross Promote Your Efforts - Regardless of the strategies you decide to facilitate - keep in mind the importance of integrating them - making it so that one leads to the other.  Successfully integrated solutions should not only build upon and promote one another, but should help to further educate the audience throughout the process while reading new audiences with each additional venue.  If somebody hears about your story through the print media, or via Twitter then they should be promoted to visit your website to download additional materials and learn more.  The cohesive approach will allow you to communicate in the various ways that today’s segmented audiences get their news and information and to maximize exposure for your particular campaign.

Regardless of the path taken, or the tool used, the bottom line is communications need to think strategically rather than getting caught up in using these new tools just for the sake of technology.  Certainly, thinking in terms of social media and tapping into these venues is an important part of today’s media landscape for business and consumer audiences, but at the end of the day it comes down to using these new tools to tell your story.

The end.