That is an increasingly relevant question for major companies and start ups alike to ponder. I have posted several times on the subject of the relevancy of PR in a digital media world, but what got me thinking anew about this subject is a piece on the Silicon Alley Insider site this week by a former tech journalist and now start up CEO Jason Calacanis.

In his post, Calacanis argues that the start up CEO can generate the same kind of visibility and awareness results by himself (or with the help of his in house staffers), without having to pay an outside PR agency. He offers up a list of mostly good tips on how to accomplish this feat, including personifying your brand, speaking directly to journalists (actually a great idea) and networking like hell (and always picking up the tab at networking dinners…another surprisingly good strategy that I have used myself over the years).

Of course, the basic flaw in Jason’s otherwise helpful PR primer is that very few start up CEOs (or CEOs in general) have the skills, temperament or time to do an effective job of conducting their own public relations. This flaw was well articulated by many of the commenters who responded to Jason’s post on the SAI site.

I have been working with all manner of start up CEOs since I started my firm THUNDER FACTORY in late 2000. They typically fall into three categories — the engineer (who frequently does not have a clue about marketing and PR, and mostly does not care); the young Stanford MBA (who thinks he/she already knows everything about marketing, but is mostly dismissive of the true expertise and skill it takes to create and implement a successful PR strategy); and the veteran technology executive, who is brought in by the board to manage the start up “kids” (this last CEO group invariably includes mostly sales types…again, they think they know how to do PR, and especially marketing, but very seldom do).

These Silicon CEO archetypes are not especially well suited to shouldering the PR tasks outlined by Jason in his recent post. The smart ones realize this and invest in professional PR and marketing help (and most of the CEOs I have been lucky to work with fell into the smart category).

I did work with one CEO who really got PR. He came from a technology sales and  marketing background and, while he proabably would not have been comfortable doing the PR himself as Jason recommends, he was the biggest champion of using PR and marketing that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Even in the early days of our 5-year collaboration (he was my first client when I launched THUNDER FACTORY in November 2000), when we were fighting hard to turn the company around, and he had to cut way back on his staffing and expenses to keep his company afloat, he never wavered on his commitment to PR. He knew it was vital to keep his brand visible in the marketplace, and be a part of the conversation in his burgeoning category. And, he understood that by keeping his company in the game, even when sales were pretty slim, the fact that he had already established a reputation for his brand would pay big dividends later when things started to turn around.

It worked…magnificently. Through a consistent and focused PR effort – and a lot of smart marketing, too — this forward-thinking CEO built a technology brand that became known for its thought leadership and innovation in a hot new space. And this was true even though the company was still relatively small, competing against massive technology players who finally woke up to the growing opportunity in this new market. My former client’s company was acquired last year by a UK technology company for nearly $400M. The power of PR — sustained over time – had a lot to do with that Silicon Valley success story.

But, even with success stories like the one I just described, do you really need a PR agency these days?

I really wonder about that (even though I doubt Jason’s DIY approach to PR is going to work for most companies, especially start ups). In a digital media world, where the reporters and editors are no longer the powerful information and reputational gatekeepers they once were, what is the real value of PR “experts” whose traditional value was managing and “breaking through” the media gates guarded by the press?

It is a good question. Frankly, I can argue both sides of it. As I have written previously on this blog, I really do question the value of the PR agency in the emerging digitally-connected world. Media and access to information have been democratized by the web (as with so many other industries). And that has blown up the longstanding PR agency/practitioner value proposition. In a digital media world, who really needs the middle-man (the PR practitioner) any more?

On the other hand, PR agency types will tell you that their service is more valuable than ever because A) you need help figuring out how to navigate the new social media world of blogs, communities, social networks, video sharing, user generated content, etc., and B) they now offer so much more than traditional print/broadcast media relations. Point well taken. I think this is all true.

However, just as clients are telling their traditional ad agencies, “Don’t just keep coming to us with 30 second spots and print campaigns because they are not working like they used to…if they ever really did.” Those same clients are actively questioning big monthly PR agency retainers for things like “media outreach.”

OK, so you got that great mention in the Wall Street Journal. Did it really drive your business? Probably not.

I know of a start up that is a poster child for this situation. (The founder of this company fits into the engineer/serial entrepreneur CEO model.) He had an interesting technology that he wanted to promote, but was very skeptical about paying for PR and marketing to generate visibility and awareness for it (the classic engineer who hates to spend money on the “lite stuff,” marketing). But, he was ultimately convinced to launch a PR campaign. He gave up after just three months, complaining that he was not getting enough coverage. Of course, he was advised that brands are not built in such a short period of time, and that he had to be patient to build awareness. At the same time, his competition was (still is) spending $25M on marketing and PR, and literally was visible everywhere you went on the web, on TV, radio and print (including full page ads in all the major national newspapers and business magazines). But, this CEO felt he deserved more press coverage of his little start up.

Again, even if he had gotten that WSJ story he coveted so much, would it have really made a big difference in his business? I would argue that instead of the short-lived PR campaign he invested in, he should have seriously expanded his search marketing activities and then produced a series of provocative viral videos to poke fun at his over-hyped competitor, while driving consumers to a microsite that provided practical advice on the issue addressed by his technology.

Interestingly, my PR agency friends would say those are just the kinds of things they do for clients every day (in addition to traditional media outreach). Of courses, every other “ad agency,” interactive agency, digital communications firm, direct marketing firm, etc., is claiming they do the same thing. So, the PR agency today has a lot of competition in this new digital media environment.

Who knows, maybe you should fire your PR firm, as Jason Calacanis recommends. But, as you evaluate the value you are getting from that monthly PR retainer, consider carefully if a mention in a trade publication (or even in the lofty Wall Street Journal or New York Times), is really a business driver or just an ego boost.

I actually do believe that PR agencies continue to offer value for clients. But that value too often goes untapped because of the persistence of the old paradigm defining what PR is and actually does (perpetuated by the agencies themselves), and the outdated thinking of too many clients.

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