About a year ago we started using the term “Convergent PR” to describe the blend of traditional PR techniques and the new, 2.0/social media PR techniques. I was thinking recently about what I’ve learned since then. Most significantly, it’s that PR and search can – and in most cases should – be integrated in a way that delivers impressive results – results like I’ve never seen before or even imagined possible. We’re seeing that play out for a number of clients.

I also asked some other members of our PR team what they’ve learned about the so-called “new PR.” A sampling of their answers follows, and may provide some things to consider for your own PR program.

Matt Gaffney, PR copy director: Social media/2.0 has evolved as a direct, parallel response to the way our lives and businesses have evolved
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I attended a major semiconductor industry trade show last week. It’s always great to see the creativity and passion that B-to-B marketers pour into creating a positive trade show experience for their customers and prospects. Cool displays, working demo’s, educational seminars, even the hospitality functions. They are all part of the experience.

We are big believers in the personal selling power of trade shows. Unfortunately, many of these marketers miss a big opportunity by failing to put the same amount of effort and investment into creating a great web site experience for their customers and prospects. After all, a major industry trade show typically takes place once a year and lasts just a few days. The web, however, is 24/7/365. It deserves to be as creative, functional, educational and engaging as any trade show booth.

We go through an exercise with marketers where we walk through all of the elements of a successful trade show, and then apply
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Inspiration can come from anywhere, and the spark of an idea can come from anyone.

Not long ago, I was part of a team that needed to come up with a positioning ad campaign for one of our clients.

Our account manager reviewed the situation with our creative team. Towards the end of his review, I remember him saying, "OK, and here are a few of my stupid thoughts and ideas...." Then he continued to rattle-off several things.

One of his so-called "stupid ideas" really stuck in my head. So much so, I spent hours one weekend working on taking that idea—and several others—to the next level, showing how they could work in a series.

During our next team meeting, the creative folks and I presented the ideas, and then built upon those ideas, making them stronger and stronger. There is nothing I find worse than a so-so idea that looks good.
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The Changing Media Landscape - the notion that the way today’s consumers get their information is fragmented. Today there is a full spectrum of communication technologies, and they are constantly evolving. This new media landscape, applies not only to consumers, but also impacts the B2B market.

This is evidenced by a new study released last week, published by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and conducted by Ipsos Research, illustrating that America’s business executives are shifting their media habits.

The study found that 70% of the C-Suite received a daily e-mail alert/newsletter in the last
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The economy is creeping towards a recession. The DOE’s 13 SEER mandate has helped level the playing field, household buying habits have changed dramatically since the popularity of the internet, and media options have drastically fragmented. With all of this going on, how can a low to mid level HVAC contractor compete against the big guys? While there is no perfect answer to this question, there are some suggestions to help you spend your precious marketing dollars wisely.

Start by looking to your manufacturer and distributor advertising programs. There are literally thousands of dollars available to dealers who agree to use branded and sometimes pre-packaged advertising programs. In fact some manufacturers offer up to 4 times a dealer’s advertising investment!

Next, think about timing and placement of your advertising. What are you really getting out of your investment? Case in point: if you put all of your dollars into yellow pages advertising then you
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In a perfect web world, your web site landing pages would have great conversion rates. A usability expert, user behavior observations, and qualitative research would be a part of every web design project. You would have hard data to know what works before unleashing your designs.

The reality is most B-to-B marketers don’t have the budgets or time to include this type of testing to optimize landing pages. But this doesn’t mean you should resign yourself to continue blindly driving visitors to your site, not knowing why your landing pages aren’t working or how to fix them.

Getting results from your landing page
If you’re running a campaign and not seeing results on your landing page, consider A/B testing. Although it has limitations, A/B testing is an inexpensive and relatively simple way to improve your site’s conversion rates.
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More sophisticated sites offer product comparisons and tools that enable customers to better choose their own solutions. But even something as simple as a brochure, offered as a free downloadable pdf, can go a long way towards deepening the relationship between you and potential customers.

As you provide customers with tools and information, remember to instill a level of confidence. Customer testimonials are helpful, but only if they are genuine and presented well.

Validation from outside sources, like trade organizations and government agencies, also goes a long way toward instilling confidence in your company. Consider including their logos on your Web site where visitors will see them.
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In a web 2.0 world, it is becoming a continuous struggle to stay on top of SEO best practices. Staying at the basics, companies need to understand that SEO is moving more to quality as opposed to quantity.

In the past many companies got on the SEO bandwagon by focusing primarily on Meta data. Between meta tags and meta keywords, companies spent more time and effort on the meta information than on the web content itself.

Businesses need to understand that the SEO landscape is constantly evolving. No longer are web spiders just looking at meta data. They’re looking at more important information about a site to determine how high it should rank. Here are some basics for business to business marketers.

Consider focusing your meta descriptions and keywords around solutions and not just hardware. Traditionally, customers are looking to solve problems, not just to look at equipment.
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Integrating your marketing 2.0 efforts cannot be overlooked nowadays. Search, social media components, email and direct mail all need to work together to help the customer along the buying process. Each element in itself does some pretty heavy lifting, but combining them to work in conjunction, you develop an assembly line of integration.

For example, some B2B companies are not only sending targeted emails to potential customers, but including blog elements into their campaigns. A simple combining of technologies not only allows them to reach and listen to their audience, but helps build a community – a community who likes to talk to each other.  They have been able to reach an audience they did not directly target and find out more than they originally expected. When you add a search element into the mix, you drive even more traffic to the community.

Following up your efforts with the correct analysis and constant realignment will have your
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I’m back in the creative seat again. I volunteered to step in and head our creative staff after we agreed Jim Everhart, my predecessor, should spearhead our hyperintegration efforts.

I’m looking at things from a slightly different perspective now – a perspective of someone with a lead “creative” title and responsibilities. As I remove my account manager hat, something strikes me. We creative folks have more tools at our disposal – blogs, podcasts, email marketing, and the list goes on. Our primary function has always been to think of new and unique ways to tell our client’s story, demonstrate a benefit and craft compelling ways to reach out to a marketer’s various constituents – engineers, channel partners, integrators, other influencers and ultimately, end-users.

Sure, we still need to apply our traditional creative skills, but we now have these new, exciting tools at our disposal.
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