In a world where everything is on-demand, is that the right way to look at B2B Public Relations or B2B Marketing? I think not.

It is easy to fall into the Task Master role. If my client asks for something I want to deliver. But, does that fit into their plan? What is this task, whether a press release, case study or media alert, accomplishing? And more importantly, is the task sales-centric – will it help the client meet their sales goals?

I have to remind myself more often than not to really look at the sales-centric marketing plan we have developed and be a true B2B consultant…not just a task master.

As we enter another planning and budgeting season many marketers are evaluating what they’ve done this year and what they should do for next year. The question often posed is “how much should my marketing budget be next year?” This can also be prompted by the direct request of senior management who needs “your budget number” to fit into the marketing line item space of their overall plan. There is no simple accurate answer to this question.

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I was recently asked by an editor to provide an article that essentially told his readers how to “do SEO”. This really flabergasted me. Did he really think that was possible, especially considering his readers are not interactive professionals?
The truth is, I would love to be able to nail down SEO (or Public Relations or Product Launches or Thought Leadership) in a few easy steps. If that were the case we would be able to sell its importance to our clients much easier. But, that just isn’t tangible. Certain services can’t be bought in a box…

…or taught in 1000 words or less.

It’s estimated that more than 350 million English language Web searches are conducted every day – yes you read that correctly, EVERYDAY! Web searching is now the second most widely used Internet operation after e-mail. So it’s safe to say that the Search Engine has become the starting point for almost every Web user.

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My background is in journalism. That’s where I started my career and where I developed my preference — strong preference — for maintaining separation between editorial content and advertising. I developed that position while working for small to mid-size daily and weekly newspapers.

In the newspaper world, it’s rare for advertising to openly pressure editorial for coverage, at least at the level I was at on the food chain. Oh it happens, I’m sure, but in my experience it is rare.

In the B2B world,

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The newly-launched Digital PR blog http://www.prnewsonline.com/blog/ got me thinking. Do any of our definitions of public relations fit anymore in today’s web-centric world? And if they don’t, what is the purpose of PR?

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