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Winning PR in the Wired World
Book

Winning PR in the Wired World

Powerful Communications Strategies for the Noisy Digital Space

Don Middleberg
McGraw-Hill, 2001
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Don Middleberg adapts key public relations strategies to the new media landscape, transformed by the Internet and wireless communications. He emphasizes the need for response speed and short-term - as well as long-term - planning, since this new environment changes so quickly as to render the future unpredictable. He outlines techniques for getting buzz, which is now a critical element in effective branding. However, this book cannot help but be affected by the dot-com downfall: Many of its examples refer to now defunct companies, or to those who are in deep trouble (and may well be deceased by the time you read this review). Still, if you overlook the problems that come from writing during the Internet reality-warp, getabstract.com recommends this executive guide for its solid PR strategies, which although geared for a high-tech world, are firmly rooted in traditional method.

Summary

How the Internet Changed PR

In the early 1990s, journalists were wary of the Internet. However, since 1996, many journalists have become digitally literate, if only to survive in today’s networked world. Now, large public relations (PR) firms and in-house PR departments try to link wireless and wired communications seamlessly, and marketing employees simultaneously carry out standard and Internet PR. However, effective wired communications requires top management’s full support.

Corporations invest in public relations because a nimble PR program contributes to improved awareness among important constituencies (including the media and investors) and higher profits. Increasingly, major companies are promoting products with wired strategies. For example, General Motors established a Web site to sell all cars, not only its own brand.

Public relations itself has changed greatly. It started as an adjunct to entertainment, so PR people were associated with flackery and hucksterism. For instance, a theater producer would promote a show by hiring a bikini-clad model to hand out free tickets. However, PR people have become increasingly professional in their approach and...

About the Author

Don Middleberg is the chairman and CEO of Middleberg Euro, the fastest-growing public relations agency in the U.S. for the past two years, with offices in New York, San Francisco and Boston. A noted author and lecturer, Middleberg is an expert in digital public relations. He is co-author of the Middleberg/Ross Media in Cyberspace Study. He is regularly called upon for commentary by numerous magazines and newspapers and has appeared on CNBC, C/Net, CNN, and National Public Radio talking about PR techniques and trends.

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