PR exists in Denmark - it's official

Finally, proof that public relations does actually exist in Denmark. This morning I got a letter from Danmarks Statistik, the body that categorizes companies and economic activity, informing me that public relations and communications now have a category of their own. For the past five years I've been classified under "Other company advisors".

Does this mean that PR is finally beginning to make an impact in Denmark as an independent profession rather than referring to the press releases the marketing department sends out? I hope so.

Technology makes way for people

I've just heaved a huge sigh of relief. No, not because it's Friday, but because Geoff Livingston over at the Now is Gone blog has posted a story that restores my faith in PR. It is about how social media and traditional PR sit together quite nicely thank you and that effective use of the old and the new depends on your relationship with people.

It has been a depressing couple of weeks to be in PR. The mainstream press in the US and high profile bloggers have highlighted various stories that (justly) raise concerns about the tactics used by PR people and online marketers. It reached the stage this week that I was almost afraid to pick up the phone and speak to journalists because I was afraid of what the reaction might be.

Geoff's post underlines how good PR - and good business generally, I would add - is about good hands-on, craftmanship. Know your tools, know your materials and know your customer. It is slightly ironic that high technology is taking us back in this way. But for me that is waht web 2.0 is about - the machinery getting out of the way of the people.

By the way, I did pick up the phone and call plenty of journalists this week - and they were without exception kind, courteous and willing to talk about what they needed for their publications.

Death of an ad salesman

I've commented before on figures that show falling adsales for newspapers and how some think that means the end of the industry. Figures from this week show that advertising sales are continuing to fall.

I've never really understood why so much emphasis is placed on advertising in the newspaper business model - alright I know why, I just think that the emphasis is misplaced. On a very basic level it makes up for all the times as a journalist I was told by ad salesmen that they "pay my wages" with a superior air. All my spluttering anger trying to justify that it was my fantastic words that sold the paper or magazine are now coming back to haunt them.

Because if anything is proven by the downward spiral of ad revenues it is that content matters.

Papers aren't precious, but journalists and other content creators are. It is time for publishers to realise that there's nothing wrong with the reading public, just the publishers' business model.

While ad revenues drop for newspapers, the picture is different for business to business magazines. However, there aren't many media correspondents or pundits that focus much attention on the b2b number sector. In fact, the number of new magazines remains stable with a slight increase. While ad revenue is falling, b2b magazines are actually increasing revenues when you include online, trade shows and other spin-offs.

To underline: yes, paper editions may soon be lining the bottom of the budgie's cage. However, the content lives on is RSS feeds, on blogs, in databases, on social bookmarking sites.

Now who's paying whose wages?

This just in...

from the doom and gloom department.

Newspaper ads are continuing to fall - therefore print is dead. Yay, all the geeks cheer.