The blending of public relations with every aspect of social marketing, search, digital marketing, and plain old marketing has provided new opportunities for older, seasoned professionals to reinvent to keep up with the changes. I know this to be true, as I am one.

Sadly, this very blend may be the demise of PR as we know it.

In a recent conversation with a table of marketers IRL originating from the disciplines of search engine optimization turned digital; PR newbies turning digital; PR veterans turning digital/social marketing; and, old-hat marketers, the chatter surrounded the old vs. new of public relations.

The old teachings of the 4Ps stemming from advertising were unknown amongst the newest professionals. Those with search engine optimization  competency likened public relations to search marketing. In fact, they said “PR is SEM.” Another had no idea that media relations and publicity are public relations just not the entire discipline.

Me? I merely shook my head in awe at the implications for my profession within this conversation. I walked away from that discussion with a sinking feeling for tomorrow. What will PR look like in 20 years? Based on what I heard, methinks the traditional public relations profession’s demise starts now.

The blending of the disciplines is removing every single barrier and silo from core competencies and making everyone look alike. Do young professionals and our sisters in marketing and brothers in SEO understand the value public relations professionals bring to the marketing mix?  Apparently not, and who’s at fault for that?

Off the top of my head, this list below is not inclusive by any stretch, but it’s meant to provide a look at what pure public relations professionals deliver in a traditional sense:

• Media Relations
• Spokesperson Training
• Message Mapping
• Thought Leadership
• Blogger Relations
• Writing
• Industry Analyst Relations
•  Investor Relations/Stakeholder Communications
•  Corporate Communications
•  Internal/Employee Communications
•  Events Planning/Execution
•  Community Outreach

What shook me up from my in-the-flesh conversation was the correlation people made with PR and search engine marketing. That bridge is so far from the truth, and it made my heart stop to hear it.

I’m wondering if folks believe PR peeps are only good for stuffing key words into content to game traffic and organic search?

I am all for reinventing oneself in order to earn more revenue-making opportunities. What I’m not happy about is the future of public relations when those who lack traditional hindsight are teaching new professionals that public relations is search engine optimization is digital marketing.

By Jayme Soulati

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It was a distinct pleasure to watch this young and up-and-comer whip snap event planning logistics into place for the New South Digital Marketing Conference May 17, 2013 in Myrtle Beach.

My guest today in this edition of Soulati Media On The Street is Allie Wallis, account executive with The Brandon Agency, hosts of the show.

As I also had the distinct pleasure of speaking at this show, Blogging Soup to Nuts: Tools, Tales, Tips (you can get the deck right here), I was front and center with Allie’s professionalism, vibrancy, and detail-mindedness.

I hope the Brandon Agency keeps cuffs on her so no one steals her amazing talent.

Here, she offers three tips for event planners managing the show.

I love this interview. #That.Is.All. Big round of applause, Allie!

Interview with Allie Wallis of The Brandon Agency

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Fuel Interactive is a firm so fittingly named by its founder, Stuart Butler (a Brit speaking with an Aussie/Southern twist) who jumped rocket from (yes) rocket science to digital marketing. In this rendition of Soulati Media On The Street, that’s the thing that most intrigued me, and that’s what you get!

Stuart Butler gets big kudos for hosting and planning the New South Digital Marketing Conference in Myrtle Beach May 17, 2013. It was a resounding affair with peeps to bump shoulders with and others to meet for the first time.

See Stuart in action right here…thanks for playing, Stuart!

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This post is going accomplish about four things taken direct from the New South Digital Marketing Conference, May 17, 2013:

Allie Wallis, Eleanor Pierce, Ashley Bruno of The Brandon Agency

1. Kudos to The Brandon Agency, host of New South Digital Marketing Conference

High fives and huge applause to the young professional ladies (Allie Wallis, Eleanor Pierce, Ashley Bruno, and others) who worked logistics and event planning for The Brandon Agency to ensure every minor and major detail for the New South Digital Marketing Conference was crossed and dotted. You made me feel like a Queen; thank you so much!

This event was so well done with no stone unturned. The Brandon Agency should give major rewards to this team and others at Fuel Interactive with Stuart Butler leading the pack. Thanks for a great show, Events Team!

2. Blogging Soup to Nuts: Tales, Tips and Tools Slide Deck

My first solo presentation IRL to a community of my peers was a resounding success. You can download the slides right here. I promised attendees they’d get a copy…sorry I ran out of time toward the end of my presentation!

Thanks to my lovely assistant Rosemary O’Neil of Soulati Media On The Street fame and with Hoop.la, a software vendor in North Carolina. Thanks also go to Adrienne Jandler, President of Atlantic WebWorks, Randy Bowden of Bowden2Bowden Marketing, and Dorien Morin Van Damm of More In Media each who will take on celebrity status soon in Soulati Media On The Street and for their amazing ‘raderie and peanut gallery fame.
 

3. Writing with Verve on the Blogging Journey

Jayme Soulati holds her new book prior to presenting at New South Digital Marketing Conference

With book debut now 48-hours-old, it’s time to get serious about marketing the title. Thanks for all who asked for my autograph, who sat in on my presentation, and who will take a book, read it and pass it along to budding bloggers looking for tips.

My first title (more to come) is now available on Amazon right here.

Credit: Jayme Soulat — Jay Baer presentation in queue at New South Digital Marketing Conference

4. Get Jay Baer’s New Book & A Final Note:

Another conference scored more in-person connections, and ponderings about the state of marketing at large. While we in social media continue to grow and learn and re-invent, there remain new and small businesses overwhelmed with the future of marketing. 

How do we face backward with a rope to tug them along in parallel? That’s the question I’m left with; so many need help and it’s our opportunity and privilege to help businesses grow and take full advantage of social marketing, digital marketing, and big data.

I leave you with that ponderance, and I also leave you with a note to run and pre-order Jay Baer’s new book Youtility. I had the distinct privilege of hearing his keynote, and, ooh-la-lah…Jay Baer has it it out of the park. This latest title of his applies to us all and shows the interconnectivity that social has created with interesting patterns and criss-crosses we’d never know until he points them out.

Order Jay Baer’s new book, Youtility, right here!

Ahhh, it’s so nice to be home! What’s even better is to sit and gel on the content coming out of this fodderiffic conference! See you next year!

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What’s a great way to relax and turn off the brain after a long work week? I’ve been known to find some fun things posted online that teach me something, but not work-related.

#1. Watch and listen to this video, and, if you’re old enough, take a trip back in time. (If you aren’t old enough, imagine your parents or grandparents). We’re walking into Montgomery Ward, Wolf and Dessaur, Hills, Gimbles or any number of department stores around the country. You’re making your way through clothes, shoes and cameras on the way to the snack bar or soda fountain, and this music is playing in the background.

You’re familiar with services like Muzak (just purchased by Mood) which now offer a variety of formats to businesses via satellite. From the ’30s through the ’80s, many stores played music from Seeburg jukeboxes. Seeburg jukeboxes rotated through records that ran at 16 r.p.m. There were versions for both in-store and industrial uses, to keep customers and factory workers awake and on the job. Many people still collect and restore these devices. We may think some of the versions of pop songs are horrible, or, we might decide we actually like them!

#2. You’ve no doubt heard songs in languages other than English and maybe even tried to sing along without really knowing the words, let alone what they mean. Here’s how it sounded when a South American band sang the 1960s Kinks hit “A Well Respected Man” on an Argentine version of “American Bandstand.” Making the lyrics sound as close as possible to the English ones without actually knowing them, the teens in the audience loved it!

#3 I lived briefly in Quincy, a few blocks from the Mississippi River in Western Illinois. I commuted to work at a radio station in Hannibal, MO. One day in March the Illinois state offices and schools were closed for a holiday I had never heard of called Casimir Pulaski Day. What I didn’t know is that there’s a pop song commemorating the occasion. Who’d have thunk?

#4. You know the familiar beginning to “I Love Lucy” the classic TV show that has been running in syndication for decades. What I learned on YouTube was that the original audiences saw a different open, with Lucy and Desi as cartoon characters, and you’d see Lucy and Desi promoting Phillip Morris cigarettes in the open and even in the body of the show as part of the script. Of course, there was the famous Phillip Morris bellboy. I’m not one to try to reach almost 60 years back in time to try to apply 2013 standards about smoking to a 1950s TV show, but I did find this information interesting. If you’ve researched 1950s and 1960s television, you know that even The Flintstones smoked. Incidentally, Desi and Lucy made sure their production company owned the filmed versions of the show and invented the rerun. Embed is disabled with this video but you can watch it here:  http://youtu.be/WrvHYUXo–o?t=11s

#5. What if you had a band in West Palm Beach, Florida, during the height of Beatlemania? Why, you’d reinvent yourselves as The American Beetles and tour South America! That’s exactly what this band did, scoring hit records and TV appearances all over Latin America.  Some very rare recordings are on YouTube, some as The Razor’s Edge.

So there you have it. Need something to do on a rainy day? Just look up useless, but fun, things on YouTube.

About The Author

Brad Lovett is a radio personality and behind-the-scenes wearer of many hats in the broadcast world of Knoxville, Tenn. He is accessible on his blog here and via Twitter and Facebook where he’s most likely lurking and popping in with supportive comments.

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