Push vs Pull PR

For the last 100 years marketers have been operating on a push strategy: we identify a target audience, craft messages for that audience and push it to them via traditional media in a one-way communication model. Until the advent of the Internet there's been no vehicle for direct feedback from customers and stakeholders.

The Internet gave people the power of voice. They are no longer just the passive receipt point for our messages. They have access to very simple publication tools - you can set up a blog is a few minutes (at no cost) and tell the world what you think.

Many websites offer the ability to post comments and reviews. People are in touch with others just like themselves and there 's a vigorous conversation happening online..

These comments, reviews and opions posted online have becone the most powerful form of influence. Consumer behaviorr has changed radically. People are researching individuals, companies, products, news, causes and ideas prior to taking action. They're pulling the data when they want it..

The volume of data available on the Net led to the growth of search engines and search is now the number one online activity. Everyone uses search. Search is a pull mechanism. When someone goes online and types in a search query they're pulling information that is relevant to their need at that time. You have to make sure that your information shows up when people take these pull actions.

A successful pull PR strategy requires content in many places

High placement in organic search for your brand and for generic keywords and phrases
News content optimized for search
Images optimized for search and placed in social sites like Flickr
Video optimized for search
Video in sharing sites like YouTube and Revver
Informational articles optimized for search, placed on your website and syndicated in an RSS Feed
A presence in social networks relevant to your industry
Influential blogs in your space
News sites - articles and syndicated headlines
Social News sites like StumbleUpon, digg, Newsvine (relevant to your audience and topics)
Microblogging sites such as Twitter