You are what you publish

See below for a blog post for my media relations and publicity class!

 

 

David Meerman Scott explains the basic idea of “you are what you publish” in chapters 11 and 12 of his book The New Rules of Marketing and PR (137). I really like this idea and think that I can relate to the information being distributed. Scott reiterates his focal point, which is that every message must support the organizational goals. No matter what my company is doing, if we do not “determine [our] business goals” then all of our efforts are futile (139).

Scott highlights the variety of business personas that one may encounter when working in marketing and public relations. These business personas remind me of public relations publics, because they are descriptions of all the people we communicate to. According to Scott, they are “essentially a representative of a type of buyer that you have identified as having a specific interest in your organization or product or having a marketing problem that your product or service solves” (140). If I can identify these personas, and know how to commutate to them, then I can market my product well and convey the goals of my organization.

Scott wants us to do our research when identifying these personas. We are expected to understand their mentalities and interview people that are reflective of the personas. This helps me because I can understand what information they want from me and how I can share this information with them. I loved the analysis of the Obama campaign, because it explored how the personas, or publics, bought into the idea of change and the need for it. The goals were met by a well-designed message that targeted a variety of people.

If I want to publish things that are relevant, impactful and have a purpose, then I need to have an understanding of who I am talking to. I cannot just send a message out and hope for the best. I have to be strategic in my process and detailed in my message. My reputation is only as good as my worst content item. I say this because people remember the bad a lot longer than I remember the good. So, I should always try to send good, relatable messages. But, if I lose focus and track of this, then I cannot do my job as well and my reputation and work may suffer.

Ideally, to do my job well, I have to look at the whole picture and break it down into smaller, approachable parts. By doing this well, I can best convey my messages to my public that needs them. If I do not do this, then I am not marketing my product well. When you play a sport, you do not just focus on just one player, you look at the whole team and the whole game. Unlike the example of kids swarming the ball in soccer, you have to focus on your strategic plan and know who is passing to whom when.

Overall, by tailoring my messages and targeting the right publics, I can best do my job and ensure that I market products to the best of my abilities. I need to be positive, productive, clear, focused and make sure I am doing my best instead of worrying about the other team.