Unleash Your PR Potential in the New Media World

16 Dec 2023 · 1 min

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1:27

TJ Walker argues that traditional public relations has changed dramatically and is becoming less effective compared with building one’s own media channels. He critiques traditional PR as time-consuming (calling, emailing, relying on gatekeepers) and recommends creators invest that time in producing their own content—YouTube videos, TikTok posts, social posts—to build direct relationships with audiences. Having an owned audience, Walker says, is ultimately a more powerful PR tool than one-off coverage in legacy media.

Chapters

Is traditional public relations dead? Well, it's not completely dead. After all, it took decades for the Yellow Pages to go out of business. It has changed dramatically. The problem with traditional public relations is it involves a lot of calling, emailing, begging, gatekeepers, please, please, please give me an interview. Cover me, let me come on your show. And the new media world is simply different. People who are the most successful have their own media channels. They have their own YouTube channels, TikTok channels, their own Facebook pages. They have relationships with their own customers, their own audience. And there's simply a matter of where do you focus your time? The time you spend pitching the media or taking money to hire a PR firm to pitch someone to let you in is time you could spend creating your own content, creating your own media channel, creating your own YouTube videos, your own TikTok post, your own tweets. And when you create your own media, you build a relationship with your own audience. So the ultimate PR tool now is having your own audience, your own relationship with fans, followers, supporters. That's far more powerful than, than just getting a one off interview on the Today show or profile in the New York Times.