| The modern public relations plan has evolved over a | | | | strategy, you will save on the monthly cost of billboard |
| decade of trial and error with the Internet and search | | | | or event advertising. |
| engines. What has resulted is a new way to sell your | | | | The News is No Longer in Print |
| product, service or image to potential customers (or | | | | Newspapers have been a house for advertisements |
| voters) who can find you without ever seeing you. | | | | since their development. A spot in the Wall Street |
| The Rise of Telecommuting | | | | Journal used to guarantee readership among the |
| Less and less people are actually traveling to a place | | | | financial elite and savvy investors. These same |
| of work. In fact, it is often less costly for firms to | | | | readers now go to the Internet for both news and |
| provide the work-from-home option than pay to | | | | entertainment. When they may pick up the Journal for |
| maintain the workspace. Furthermore, traveling for | | | | a casual morning read through, they are also reading |
| meetings, particularly in this current recession, is not | | | | email forwards with links to opinions by relatively |
| considered a necessary part of the business cycle. | | | | unknown graduate students or zealous entry-level |
| Conference calls, Webinars and Skype chats have | | | | employees. Today, everyone is an author and every |
| made the Internet the new boardroom. | | | | web domain is a source of news. |
| While you may have previously developed a marketing | | | | This may make it harder for you to guarantee |
| strategy that concentrated on condensed geographical | | | | readership for your advertisement. This also means, |
| areas where people who fit your demographic | | | | though, that the papers do not control the media |
| congregated, the "watering hole" for your customers, | | | | channels anymore. It is quite possible for you to locate |
| your customers are now more spread out. They | | | | a more appropriate channel to publish your own news. |
| congregate on blogs and message boards. You must | | | | The public relations firm StevenPR focuses on the |
| employ a public relations plan to develop a presence at | | | | importance of press releases in developing a buzz for |
| these new gathering places. Surprisingly, the cost over | | | | their clients. By using the Internet channels to publish |
| time for doing so can be relatively small. With the initial | | | | your own news, you are capitalizing on the new |
| investment in a public relations firm to develop the | | | | market. |