Keep your PR Enemy (Competition) Closer

a 200 word blog post? BOOOOOOO ;)

Thanks, H! We liked the idea too.

You make great points. These are all arguments I tell people when they ask why they should monitor their client's competition. They tell me they feel like it's stalking and not ethical. Frankly, that's how the market works. You have to be able to leverage your client.

It all comes back to strategy, doesn't it? The delivery of your message, and the platforms you use, are going to become even more important in the age of social media.

Lauren, great post! I'd take this a step further and say that if you're a PR person and you're *not* monitoring your (or your client's) competition, you're probably not doing your job very well. For example: How do you help develop points of differentiation if you don't know what makes your client/product/service different? How do you find unique selling propositions if you don't know what makes them unique? How do you pitch story angles that strengthen your client's position in relation to the competition if you don't know what the rest of the market is doing? When it comes to social media, isn't it important to know where and how the competition is interacting?

This goes to the heart of the strategy. As I've heard you say time and time again, our job as PR people isn't just to rack up a bunch of clips ... or to plan fancy parties. :) It's to help our clients strategically communicate -- delivering the right message to the right audience -- via a variety of channels, including traditional media, social networks, blogs, speaking engagements, community relations, etc. To help a business leverage PR as a means to achieve its overall business goals (which is the point, right?), we have to keep tabs on the competition.

Heather (@prtini)

P.S. Love the cross-guest-post thing you and Stuart have going on today!

Thanks, H! We liked the idea too.

You make great points. These are all arguments I tell people when they ask why they should monitor their client's competition. They tell me they feel like it's stalking and not ethical. Frankly, that's how the market works. You have to be able to leverage your client.

It all comes back to strategy, doesn't it? The delivery of your message, and the platforms you use, are going to become even more important in the age of social media.

Lauren, great post! I'd take this a step further and say that if you're a PR person and you're *not* monitoring your (or your client's) competition, you're probably not doing your job very well. For example: How do you help develop points of differentiation if you don't know what makes your client/product/service different? How do you find unique selling propositions if you don't know what makes them unique? How do you pitch story angles that strengthen your client's position in relation to the competition if you don't know what the rest of the market is doing? When it comes to social media, isn't it important to know where and how the competition is interacting?

This goes to the heart of the strategy. As I've heard you say time and time again, our job as PR people isn't just to rack up a bunch of clips ... or to plan fancy parties. :) It's to help our clients strategically communicate -- delivering the right message to the right audience -- via a variety of channels, including traditional media, social networks, blogs, speaking engagements, community relations, etc. To help a business leverage PR as a means to achieve its overall business goals (which is the point, right?), we have to keep tabs on the competition.

Heather (@prtini)

P.S. Love the cross-guest-post thing you and Stuart have going on today!

Thanks, H! We liked the idea too.

You make great points. These are all arguments I tell people when they ask why they should monitor their client's competition. They tell me they feel like it's stalking and not ethical. Frankly, that's how the market works. You have to be able to leverage your client.

It all comes back to strategy, doesn't it? The delivery of your message, and the platforms you use, are going to become even more important in the age of social media.

Lauren, great post! I'd take this a step further and say that if you're a PR person and you're *not* monitoring your (or your client's) competition, you're probably not doing your job very well. For example: How do you help develop points of differentiation if you don't know what makes your client/product/service different? How do you find unique selling propositions if you don't know what makes them unique? How do you pitch story angles that strengthen your client's position in relation to the competition if you don't know what the rest of the market is doing? When it comes to social media, isn't it important to know where and how the competition is interacting?

This goes to the heart of the strategy. As I've heard you say time and time again, our job as PR people isn't just to rack up a bunch of clips ... or to plan fancy parties. :) It's to help our clients strategically communicate -- delivering the right message to the right audience -- via a variety of channels, including traditional media, social networks, blogs, speaking engagements, community relations, etc. To help a business leverage PR as a means to achieve its overall business goals (which is the point, right?), we have to keep tabs on the competition.

Heather (@prtini)

P.S. Love the cross-guest-post thing you and Stuart have going on today!

Thanks, H! We liked the idea too.

You make great points. These are all arguments I tell people when they ask why they should monitor their client's competition. They tell me they feel like it's stalking and not ethical. Frankly, that's how the market works. You have to be able to leverage your client.

It all comes back to strategy, doesn't it? The delivery of your message, and the platforms you use, are going to become even more important in the age of social media.

Lauren, great post! I'd take this a step further and say that if you're a PR person and you're *not* monitoring your (or your client's) competition, you're probably not doing your job very well. For example: How do you help develop points of differentiation if you don't know what makes your client/product/service different? How do you find unique selling propositions if you don't know what makes them unique? How do you pitch story angles that strengthen your client's position in relation to the competition if you don't know what the rest of the market is doing? When it comes to social media, isn't it important to know where and how the competition is interacting?

This goes to the heart of the strategy. As I've heard you say time and time again, our job as PR people isn't just to rack up a bunch of clips ... or to plan fancy parties. :) It's to help our clients strategically communicate -- delivering the right message to the right audience -- via a variety of channels, including traditional media, social networks, blogs, speaking engagements, community relations, etc. To help a business leverage PR as a means to achieve its overall business goals (which is the point, right?), we have to keep tabs on the competition.

Heather (@prtini)

P.S. Love the cross-guest-post thing you and Stuart have going on today!