Digital Essays: Waggener Edstrom - The perils of the digital sea

too'.

Then panic sets in. Someone is bound to suggest blogging, someone else
brings up viral elements and yet another mentions mobile phone channels.
The brief is then dumped as a fait accompli on a digital services team
that is asked to add the latest digital PR buzzwords. Any guess what's
wrong with this picture?

A campaign that addresses new media near the end of the creative process
is rather like building a boat and wondering if it is watertight as it
rolls down the slipway. Failing to establish the best use of these
channels is also a terrible waste of their true potential. I'm not
saying that online methods are better or worse than offline. I'm
questioning why so many agencies choose to differentiate between them.
Neglecting digital solutions at the outset of campaign planning smacks
of Luddism.

The truth is that the cosy old-media oligopoly doesn't exist anymore. In
the 'good old days,' a campaign was a one-way process. Then along came
technologies that allowed interactivity; consumers could respond and
campaigns became two-way. Now interactivity (and democracy) has
proliferated with technology and campaigns can take on a life of their
own as consumers pick up product stories and take action. We shouldn't
see this as a threat, or even as an inconvenience. We should see it as a
massive opportunity.

Digital solutions such as web search, social media, RSS and other aids
offer the opportunity to interact with consumers at the exact moment of
interest, while consumers get the information they need when they want
it.

But the multidirectional, multidimensional nature of the new media space
means agencies must engage with consumers as equals rather than as
subjects. The keys are honesty, transparency, accountability and
availability. Stonewalling, silence or disengagement are no longer
options: if you don't join in the debate, you can be drowned by it.
Business news this summer has shown how a company's reputation can
disintegrate if it tries to ride out a media storm by battening down the
hatches.

In embracing these tools, however, we must recognise they aren't toys.
Start a blog that lacks sincerity and awareness of your objectives - and
consumers will smell a rat. Give up the blog when your interest wanes -
and your credibility sinks. A cautionary tale for those wishing to use
digital media: Tom Coates, one of the UK's most prominent bloggers, has
recently launched a blistering attack on those who try to exploit the
space. Influential bloggers are just that - influential - so we must
treat them with respect.

We need to go back to the basics of PR 101: what are we trying to
achieve? Our first task is to identify our audience; then we can tailor
effective messages. Only after that should we look at the tools
available. If the channel doesn't work for the message, throw it out.
Before a company agonises over its blog, it should ask if it really
needs one.

There are an estimated one billion internet users and 2.4 billion mobile
phone users worldwide, 60 per cent of them in the developing world. That
is one big marketplace - and not one to be dealt with by bolting on ad
hoc solutions.

The online revolution should make us refocus on what we do. Look at any
definition of PR and you'll not find any mention of 'marketing'.
Marketing is an outcome, not a component, of PR; our first duty is to
engage and earn the trust of consumers. Digital integration can help us
develop coherent campaigns and mutually beneficial relationships.

But a word of caution: traditional media can be seen as the part of an
iceberg that is visible above the water. But the bulk of the modern
media iceberg, new media, lies beneath the surface - and it can do the
real damage. Just ask the captain of the Titanic.