Recently a business-to-business client hired me to develop and execute a public relations strategy a month after they engaged a Search Engine Optimization firm. I made a beeline to the Internet. I wanted to see how often their name surfaced and where. In doing my due diligence, I discovered something shocking.
I ran across an Ezine article that was supposedly written by one of my client’s employees. Not only was the article poorly penned, the firm’s name was spelled wrong. To top it off, it was so basic that it brought the firm down to the level of a kindergartner. In reality, the firm had won award after award for industry innovation.
The SEO Firm Didn’t Bother to Get Client Approval!
I brought the article to the attention of my client. He admitted that it was the first time he had seen it. He guessed his SEO firm must have been responsible and said that he would put a stop to it immediately. Unfortunately, another article reared its ugly head not too long after he confronted them. So, for the second time, the SEO firm hadn’t even bothered to get the client’s approval before they published a piece that would forever linger on the web!
Spraying the Web with Keywords without a Strategy
What was abundantly clear was that the SEO firm didn’t care about the firm’s strategic positioning. They didn’t take the time to learn the client’s industry, how the client differed from its competitors and how best to showcase the brand in a thoughtfully crafted article. All that mattered to them was spraying the web with the client’s keywords and propelling them to the top of search engines at a break neck pace, even if it broke the client’s brand in the process.
It was this experience that inspired me to create Keyword Communication, the strategic process of developing and distributing compelling keyword-driven content consistently across an array of communication channels, using SEO as the driving force to deliver measurable results.
PR and SEO: The Art and Science of 21st Century Communications
The best SEO firms will admit that they are not PR experts. In fact, the smart ones, like Pete Hollier, President of SEO Wizardry, strike strategic partnerships with PR firms to deliver both the art and science of communications in the 21st Century. He understands that it’s not enough to simply drive traffic to a client’s site. You have to keep potential customers engaged with compelling content that positions the company in a positive light. In turn, I understand that tapping the power of SEO is a golden opportunity for public relations to make a deep impact on the bottomline like never before.
In my experience, SEO firms are not communicators and PR people are not techies. In this new media environment where people use keywords like smoke signals to connect in this ocean of information and interactivity, PR and SEO are destined to merge. We need each other in the worst way. I’m thankful that SEO experts like Pete get it.
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I could’t agree more. I’d like to add that content is still the most important element in any PR campaign. Remember, that your audience is interested in what you have to say, not your keywords, although ideally content and your keywords should be in alignment.
Nicely put, Amy. PR and SEO are defiantly designed to merge, however, I believe PR people can learn SEO and integrate it into their PR tasks, ie: optimized blog content, videos, press releases, and social media strategies.
The key to getting both PR and SEO tactics to work for your company is communication. Both entities need to keep the lines of communication wide open so that issues like the one talked about here don’t arise. It is also equally important that PR people learn about SEO and vice versa. You don’t have to know everything, but you also shouldn’t keep yourself in the dark. Sharing knowledge is essential in optimizing any communications strategy.
Great post Amy. I spent almost 20 years with a PR agency and recently joined a top SEO-firm here in Toronto. One of the things that attracted me to Agito is that they understand the strategic importance of SEO in the context of all marketing, including PR. We’ve been able to add tremendous value to our clients by offering smart, strategic and content-driven SEO and other Internet marketing programs that puts the message and not a keyword first.
As lines between various marketing disciplines in both the online and offline world continue to blur, the leaders will be marketers who understand how to maximize synergies between activities rather than silo them.
I think this is also what happened to Habitat in the UK….an outside specialist firm that hijacked and indiscrimately posted all the top trending hashtags to post what turned out to be irrelevant promotional deals for those communities. It was a disaster for the company’s brand standing and elicited a storm of spamming protests from which they are still recovering.
We should not be too hasty to create a divide between PROs and techies. Many of us already apply proper strategic principle to the mastery and execution of these vital new channels. But, you’re right. There is still a divide that creates a dangerous void exacerbated by a lot of client ignorance and rightful dependence on good advice.