The evolution of a PR firm
TechCrunch has a piece on Digital Telepathy, a San Diego-based PR firm that’s morphed into a services shop for web start-ups – and that’s a damned interesting evolution.
Is it the future of our industry? Not for lots of folks. But they are doing some things that are smart and worth paying attention to:
- The services are merged into simplified three-level offerings. PR agencies are notorious for over-complicating and over-customizing their business pitches, loading them up with so much gee-lookit-how-smart-we-are crap that a reasonable CEO can’t really figure out what he/she will get for the money.
- They’ve shifted their core offering from something vague and hard to quantify/understand (PR) to something simple that everyone gets immediately (Biz in a box!).
- They’ve instituted basic time lines so someone kicking the tires at the web site knows how long the process takes. Again, this is sort of a stark contrast to standard PR, where no one in their right mind wants to promise how soon they can get you on Oprah.
I know they’re in a whole other business now and so some of the comparisons to a pure PR agency are unfair. But it’s satisfying to see PR people who understood a lot of the shortcomings of the agency model and left ‘em by the side of the road as they evolved.
Greg
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2 comments
1.
Chuck Longanecker wrote on 10. November 2007 at 1:42 pm
Hi Greg,
Thanks for your insights. Just to clarify, we actually were a digital marketing agency before this new direction. The TC article was slightly inaccurate with those details. We had worked on about ten web 2.0 applications for clients and ourselves before the switch, so we are well versed with the process.
We also already had a team of designers, marketers and business professionals to take on the job. So the transition was actually easier than you might have thought.
However, much like a PR agency, we were always pitching services, writing long proposals, customizing everything. I have to say, the product based approach is a nice change as is defining prices and timelines ahead of time.
2.
Greg Brooks wrote on 10. November 2007 at 4:02 pm
Chuck, thanks for the clarification! I still think you’re doing some things very, very right with how your product offerings are structured and therein lie some lessons for PR shops.
Best of luck with your endeavors!