Is PR outdated for the New Media world?

Steve Rubel from Edelman sparked a discussion between bloggers and PR professionals today, with the likes of TechCrunch and Mashable putting in their two cents.

The question: Are PR tactics obsolete, especially when bloggers and journalists prefer to discover interesting trends and companies on their own?

PR has truly hit a turning-point with the evolution of blogs and social media, but as a whole remains a widely misunderstood profession that draws a lot of criticism from many outlets.

Many people believe that PR people are purely spammers who crank out a press release once in awhile—and indeed there are a few PR firms who do just that, but what is left out is that PR is more than just media/blogger relations.

PR professionals are in the business of relationships, using them to connect people with the right influencers. PR is also more than reaching out to media—at the root of any media outreach effort is a carefully-crafted message and a plan on who to target to get that message out to the right audiences.

And while bloggers and journalists prefer to discover trends and companies on their own, that leaves a good-sized group of interesting, visionary companies that remain unwritten about and unheard of, mainly because the company might not know how to present themselves, and who to reach out to.

Michael Arrington argues that most PR people don’t read or understand blogs, this is all changing quickly. With more and more blogs being created each day, there are PR people who do read blogs and are making every effort to understand them, because well-written PR efforts directed to the right blogger changes everything.

Corporate social media in action

Mashable today rounded up 35+ examples of corporate social media campaigns in action, with a wide variety of businesses, sectors, and social media tactics.

Some notable examples:

Adobe’s use of social bookmarking site Delicious to maintain a list of websites and conversations relevant to the company.

Ford’s blogger-friendly newsroom, complete with multimedia elements, and social media release templates.

Fujifilm’s social network for photo enthusiasts to promote its latest camera model.

Intuit’s tax almanac wiki, where users can contribute relevant tax information.

The WWE ’s Facebook application to connect and create new wrestling fans.

Zappo’s employees use Twitter to communicate with their customers.

Friday Feature: Picking the Right PR Agency

Part One of Two: Searching for a PR Firm

Whether your company is a start-up or slightly more established, you realize that you could benefit from a public relations campaign. But with hundreds of PR firms out there, how do you pick the right one? Here are some of our tips to help you get your search started.

1. Evaluate why you need PR in the first place.
Do you need public relations because you are hoping to help your company go public? Are you trying to get your company into analyst reports? Are you looking for business media, consumer media, or blog coverage in particular? Have a clear idea as to why you are looking to hire a PR agency.

2. Search for relevant PR firms.
There are other factors to take into consideration when searching for a PR firm. For example, will a local PR firm be more attractive so that you can have regular face-to-face meetings? Is a PR firm with close ties to business/tech/etc. media a better fit for your company?

3. Have realistic PR goals.
Think about what you’d like to achieve, having hired a PR firm. Have some goals to present to potential PR firms, but make sure they are realistic: if your company and product are not relevant to a publication’s readers, then no matter how amazing your PR firm is, that publication is likely not cover your company.

4. Ask for personal recommendations.
Survey your business partners, customers, even your friends to see which PR firms they are using and if they are happy with them. If you don’t have colleagues who are willing to recommend a firm, then attend networking events to meet potential firms.

Next week, part 2: Choosing a PR firm