Digital press office

How to generate interest in media 2.0 and manage public relations thanks to the potential of the web

Stefano Calicchio

• Publisher: Stefano Calicchio
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9791220229623
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The press office and public relations activities have undergone drastic changes with the advent of the internet. The management of new media today represents a fundamental step for anyone who wants to build their online visibility by learning to communicate with the typical services of web 2.0. In this manual you will discover operational strategies to take up the challenge of new media and set up a communication plan able to make the most of the many opportunities that have emerged in recent years. In particular, you will discover how to exploit the competitive advantage offered by the digital press office, how to organize online communication, how to apply the new rules of public relations on the web. You will also learn how to use new operational tools such as online press releases, article marketing, corporate blogs, digital interviews, online sponsorships and press kits. This will allow you to acquire key information to expand your target audience and to better manage your corporate communication. In simple terms, stop wasting time on ineffective reading or advice and now gain years of experience with reading that gives you all the information you need to achieve your goals.

CHAPTER 1: How to use the online press office

What is a press office

We begin our guide by offering a definition of an online print office and explaining the main differences from the traditional one. In this way, you can immediately get a concrete idea of the potential of this important means of communication. The press office is the structure that manages relations with the media, promoting the image of its customers.

This body is often seen in a static and bureaucratic sense, mainly because of the link with traditional journalism. In spite of this, the silent revolution of the web is before everyone's eyes and has profound implications also for those involved in communication with the media.

And it is in the latter sense that the most relevant changes are concentrated; if it is true that until yesterday the media were mainly understood as printed paper (newspapers and magazines), radio and television, today an innovative and prominent voice is added to communicate directly with clients and stakeholders. This is the internet.

A traditional press office was responsible for providing the media with information on its clients' activities, highlighting their qualities and qualities; but also for creating relationships and networks between journalists and the protagonists of the mass media, so as to generate opportunities for visibility. This was achieved through press officers and tools specific to the profession (such as traditional press releases sent by fax to editorial offices or news agencies). Typical press office clients can be companies and professionals (including artists).

The main weak side of this system is that today your client is no longer the reader of a newspaper or the viewer of a TV broadcast (too generalist to be efficient in terms of advertising returns), but the web surfer.

What we are witnessing is a strong change of orientation from traditional communication (think of the old media) to digital communication. More simply: the budgets that were previously allocated to traditional communication, including the classic press office, are no longer justified in terms of turnover and sales.

There may be certain areas (such as politics) where traditional press offices still carry significant weight, but in most cases this is no longer the case. In the course of my studies, I have repeatedly noticed that there are many practical manuals explaining how to run a traditional press office, but there is a lack of an operational manual that can explain the digital implications of this profession.

As in every age of passage, between the fall of a system and the rise of a new one there is a thin line separating the two extremes. The purpose of this guide is to help you understand it and use it to your advantage.

The competitive advantage of an online print office

We have seen in the definition of press office the peculiarities of this communication tool, which can become a real bridge between professional image and media. Let us now analyse what are the peculiarities and advantages of a 2.0 press office, that is the new digital communication.

Although the purpose remains the same (managing the corporate image), the means used off-line and on-line are profoundly different.

In the following table I have sketched and compared the tools of the traditional press office with the digital one:

Traditional Press Office	Press Office Digital
Press Release	Digital Press Release
Newspapers	Online information sites
Magazines	Web portals
Radio	Web Radio
Television	Video-sharing
Indirect participation	Blogs
Journalists Database	Social Networks
Press Review	News Aggregators

If the means of communication are different, it is because the target recipient has changed. The passive figure of the advertising target has been replaced by the prosumer (a word that indicates the figure of the new client 2.0, formed by the contraction of producer / professional with consumer), an interactive reality that is able not only to dialogue with the company or the professional, but also to profoundly change their production choices. If it is true that the client must be at the centre of the communication activity, then we must also accept that the client can intervene directly in management choices, even indirectly. An example of this is the numerous parodies of advertising and brands created by users and circulated on the web, without any possibility of intervention by the company organisation or the protagonists. If further confirmation is required, a simple Youtube search with the keywords "spot parody" is enough to display thousands of sample results.The logics of warehouse demolition and just in time have built a sort of natural evolution from consumer to co-producer. Just think of the role of the press release, once read and used only and exclusively by a professional audience (the journalist).Today any customer can happen on a corporate online press release simply by searching on a search engine or news aggregator. Finding companies that add a product presentation press release to the digital product showcase is increasingly common and offers a clear indication of how this tool is evolving.

The natural consequence of this is that this means of communication can no longer simply be directed towards a specialist audience, but must also offer the right information to the end customer looking for news about a new product or service. This paradigm shift was completely unimaginable only a few years ago, when the use of the web was limited to technology experts. Public relations and press office services must take this new reality into account if they are to succeed in the new context that is being created.

The following table summarises the advantages of the digital print office over traditional print shops, emphasising its potential for future development.

Traditional Press Office	Press Office Digital
Mass diffusion	Specialised broadcasting
High operating costs	Low management costs
Limited communication effect	Communication effect multiplied and emphasized by social networks
Unidirectional tools	Multidirectional and multipurpose tools
Public Professional	All relevant audiences together

Digital communication media, such as video on demand (youtube is the most famous example) or podcasts also present the precious opportunity to disconnect from the traditional logic of programming, where the user necessarily had to listen to the news live to be able to access the desired resource, thus creating opportunities for visibility that finally alienate themselves from a temporal context.

In terms of comparison with other online communication activities, the digital print office also proves to be an economically pragmatic and sensible alternative.

With a good press release distributed on multiple platforms it is possible to equal the investment of a large advertising budget, both from the point of view of visits to the website and from the point of view of brand visibility.

In my opinion, for those with the right level of knowledge, press office 2.0 presents an unexplored territory full of new possibilities.

What to expect from online press office activities

After discussing the role of the digital press office in modern business communication, a question may arise. What to expect from press office 2.0?

In order to respond precisely, the communication objectives of each specific case should be known. Nevertheless, it is possible to offer a general overview of what could be the effects of a good digital PR strategy on your business. Schematically speaking, starting a press office 2.0 activity can lead to achieving:

• Visibility results.

• Much higher returns on investment than traditional communication, advertising and marketing.

• A direct and privileged contact with its customers and its target audience.

• Achieving customer centrality by eliminating corporate egocentricity.

• Important suggestions for the realization of products and services that are really able to meet the demand and favour of the public.

• A strong presence in multiple media simultaneously, from traditional mass media to new tools offered by the web (such as blogs, social networks and podcasts).

• The participation of people and the creation of a follower group.

• The expansion of the customer base.

• The improvement of company and sales results.

• The development of widespread brand awareness within the target audience.

More generally, what we are witnessing is a progressive convergence and concentration between advertising, marketing and public relations on the web, where the management of individual activities is linked to new functional logics and can no longer be ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Digital press office
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1: How to use the online press office
• What is a press office
• The competitive advantage of an online print office
• What to expect from online press office activities
• The digital revolution: becoming public relations officers of oneself
• CHAPTER 2: How to organise digital communication
• Prerequisites for starting your digital print office
• Why build your own digital communication plan
• How to build a digital communication plan
• Budget and resources
• Self-assessment test for the digital print office
• CHAPTER 3: How to apply the new rules of online public relations
• The long queue: the business that works online
• From mass communication to personal communication
• Leveraging social media marketing
• Keyword: participate
• Evangelist clients and link economy
• Press Office 2.0, viral potential and measurability
• CHAPTER 4: How to use the online press release
• The importance of the online press release
• From press release to news release: the new paradigm
• The structure of a press release
• An example of a digital press release
• Opportunities for the dissemination of an online communiqué
• News release platforms
• Press releases and Search Engine Marketing
• Create lists of journalists for your press releases
• CHAPTER 5: How to use the article marketing technique
• What is digital article marketing
• How to write a good marketing article
• An example of article marketing
• How to publish a marketing article
• The technique of Citizen Journalism
• Seo tips and practices for guaranteed success
• CHAPTER 6: How to leverage the company blog
• Leveraging the corporate blog
• Create an editorial plan for the company blog
• Open your blog in 5 minutes
• Plan your blog marketing
• Manage your corporate image with a blog
• Bringing traffic and visits to your blog
• CHAPTER 7: How to manage a digital interview
• What is the digital interview
• How to prepare for an online interview
• Create new opportunities to receive digital interviews
• Tricks of the trade for a successful interview
• CHAPTER 8: How to use new forms of communication
• Podcasting: a live web voice with your customers
• Digital events: from online videoconferencing to Second Life
• Communication in Social Networks
• How to join a professional social network
• CHAPTER 9: How to manage digital communication in crises
• How to manage corporate crisis communication
• The secret to managing a crisis situation in the best possible way
• The Crisis Management Plan
• Responding to community requests
• Testing your crisis management plan
• CHAPTER 10: How to create online sponsorships
• What is digital sponsorship
• How to build a digital sponsorship project
• What to expect from digital sponsorship
• How to search for digital partners
• CHAPTER 11: How to create a winning Press Kit
• What is the Press Kit and what is its role?
• How to compose an effective press kit
• Building a virtual press room
• Press Kit and Press Room: what you need to avoid
• CHAPTER 12: How to gain years of experience in a few pages
• Some important information to know about the digital press office
• How to create prospects for publication
• How to handle a journalist's request
• Finding the right motivation to follow the objectives
• Conclusions