A lot of companies are diving into the online
communications fray this year which is quite frankly great news, but I want to
share this one observation based on those discussions I’ve been a part of thus
far:
The way I see it, every traditional communications program has
what I simply call a “push and a pull” -- a press release pushes news out and a
story pitch pulls media in, a speaking opp pushes a message out and a tradeshow
booth pulls attendees in, a product press tour pushes eval units out while a product
review pulls customers in, etc., etc., etc.
Online communications programs operate with this same
ebb and flow, although I think that some companies in their eagerness to
develop these programs (particularly the blog components) are forgetting that
there needs to be this underlying symbiosis with the overall strategy, a
balance in the execution, a give and a take, a well, push and a pull.
For example, while a corporate blog has both push and
pull qualities -- technically speaking -- it’s really the primary pull
component of an online program. The
thinking here being that if you frequently publish good content you’ll attract
(or pull) readers in and that’s the easiest way to grow your subscribership.
But with that said, companies still need to keep in
mind ways that they can bookend their programs with solid push strategies. Proactively building online/offline relationships
with key bloggers and industry enthusiasts is arguably a push strategy, so is seeding
announcements with your top bloggers in advance of breaking news, as well as actively
participating (at least in some formal capacity) in industry forums and related
blogging communities.
The reality is that there’s a mix of things you can
(and should) be doing on the push side of the spectrum to compliment what you’re
doing on the pull side. But I think to
do one and not the other throws the program off balance and while it doesn’t
mean your program’s destined for failure it doesn’t necessarily set you up for
long-term success either.
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