Online PR vs. SEO? It's time for mutual respect

Online PR (Public Relations) and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) have had a recent history of competing for each others' businesses. The time has come for this to stop. It's vital that both disciplines start to respect that each needs to champion and celebrate their sector-specific expert understanding and experience. Indeed, the time has come to start working together.

Key to brokering this peace is to concede that both disciplines have different end-games and techniques, as well as accepting that those in the PR sector practicing online PR have a deep technical knowledge of the web, its structure and behaviours. 'Digital natives' work in both sectors bringing their valuable technical experience to bear on their daily working lives.

PR - just because it is online (or can be online) - has not changed during this online revolution. Public Relations is just that: a relevant interaction with people who are a businesses' stakeholders, its past/present/future customers, its critics, as well as its die-hard fans.

Online PR must be integrated into our PR agencies and our PR strategies, not protected by the high-walls of geek-speak which results in making online the preserve of those in-the-know. Instead, online has to be normalised and we must encourage understanding of the tools.

At thebluedoor we have always worked with specialist SEO partners such as Guava for Mars Drinks, as this collaboration makes for a powerful team-effort. It's time to for digital PR and SEO to start working together in order to mesh mutually supportive techniques and strategies to drive and deliver meaningful results for our clients.

British Science Festival: #thegreatlookup launches Surrey's celebration of science

Last night hundreds of professional, amateur and curious stargazers gathered together in Surrey at the University of Surrey to marvel at the wonders of the universe.

The Great Look Up - the first event of over 200 planned for this year's British Science Festival - attracted people from all over Surrey and beyond. The evening was opened by BBC journalist Maggie Philbin, and was hosted by both the University and the Guildford Astronomical Society.


On the week that saw the 400 anniversary of Galileo's telescope, as well as being the evening before the latest space shuttle Discovery's mission to the International Space Station, the timing for The Great Look Up couldn't have been better.

And what a perfect evening it was. With barely a cloud in the sky and a half moon providing practically the only light, there were a staggering number of telescopes from the incredibly large to my rather small binoculars. As the night darkened, all trained their lenses up to the wonders of space.

Those with both the knowledge and the telescopes, generously encouraged members of the public attending to view the Moon's craters and seas, Jupiter's rings and even the tiny blue point of Neptune (an incredible 2,000 million miles away).

I found the experience amazing, informative and hugely enjoyable. It opened up the marvels of the night's sky - and what a brilliant start to the British Science Festival!

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Surrey reaches for the stars

The 5^th of September will see the start of the British Science Festival, which is a fantastic opportunity for people of all ages to engage with the latest in science, technology and engineering. Each year the festival takes place in a different location in the UK and I am excited to say this year the festival is being hosted just around the corner from us at the University of Surrey.

As a digital PR agency we’ve been enjoying hearing about the latest event news on Twitter (@TheGreatLookUp). If the enthusiastic support that this year’s festival has already received from Surrey based businesses, members of the community and local organisations is anything to go by, this year’s festival is destined to be a wonderful event. There are over 230 events scheduled, making it the largest festival for at least 10 years and nearly 50% of these events are being run by local organisations.

Reaching for the stars….

As a prelude to the British Science Festival, the University of Surrey and Guildford Astronomical Society have teamed up to host what I think is a really innovative event that literally will get the people of Surrey and the surrounding areas reaching for the stars!

The Great Look Up (taking place on the 28^th of August 2009) is celebrating the 2009 International Year of Astronomy and is an opportunity for people of all levels of interest in astronomy to come along and enjoy the beauty of the night skies.

You can bring your own binoculars or use some of the equipment provided by local astronomers. And for those of you who have a telescope and just haven’t quite mastered how to use it, the organisers are encouraging you to bring it along and get some hands on advice to make the most of it.

The Great Look Up will be a great night out for the whole family with something for everyone to enjoy. There will be guest speakers including BBC TV presenter Maggie Philbin and Dr Stuart Eve from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, as well as a large projection telescope and of course a summer BBQ!

To attend you simply need to register your interest on the website.

Event details:

Date: 28 August 2009

Venue: The Varsity Centre, University of Surrey, Egerton Road, Guildford, Surrey

Time: 7.45pm – 11.30pm

So gather the troops, pack a blanket and enjoy the splendour of stargazing. Maybe see you there.

Back to the future – how digital media can make some films last forever

Having recently seen the film ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’ at the cinema, I started thinking about the amazing possibilities being able to see into the future might hold. The most obvious being the chance to win the lottery, but also to feed my digital PR interest in technology developments.

New gadgets, applications and especially lifehacker solutions never fail to impress me. But it’s been interesting how many ‘old’ technologies seem to be coming back (if slightly re-invented!).

Reading the FT’s Weekend magazine on Saturday, there was a great article by Tim Bradshaw about how Polaroid could be making a comeback. The company first introduced an instant camera back in 1948 and was still something ‘cool’ in the 90’s. Sadly, the company closed its doors in 2008 as it was considered ‘out of date in the digital age’. But now an Austrian Entrepreneur and a former Polaroid manager want to bring back instant film under a new name to meet the demand of Polaroid enthusiasts that still exists.

This Polaroid venture - dubbed ‘the impossible project’ – would revive the business on a smaller scale, believing strongly that it will break even. Embracing current resources available, the team is already using digital media to raise awareness, share pictures with enthusiasts on developments, as well as inviting the online community to input on challenges they are facing in order to find solutions.

It’s a wonderful story of how ‘old’ and ‘new’ technology is working together to meet a current need.

Having read this I was also less surprised to learn that there is a course available in bookmaking. The Papered Parlour in south London helps to keep alive an interest in an art form which could easily be forgotten in an age of digital books. But with a trial launch coming up of video ads in the magazine Entertainment Weekly (not unlike the newspapers in Harry Potter), thanks to a collaboration between Pepsi and CBS, maybe there is a future filled with even more old and new technologies being bound together?

If you’ve got an idea, starting a conversation online can be a powerful resource to gain input from experts around the world. While I wait for my personal inspiration though, I’m going to watch more Sci Fi films and look out for that next big new/old technology of the future!

Digital networking in London & Surrey - thebluedoor guide

We thought we'd share a list of digital networking events that thebluedoor attends on a fairly regular basis - based both in Surrey and London. If you can go along to any of these, please do say hello:

TEDxTuttle - Tuttle Club: a regular meet up (Brighton, Reading and London based) which tend to happen every Friday and lots of people on the circuit, generally freelancers, go. There is an interesting looking conference on the 17th September!
Measurementcamp - this is a regular meet up in London which discusses the merit of online measurement and tries to drill down into best practice. It is headed up by a big name in the industry – Will McInnes.
TechCrunch – there are a number of events that are organised by this publisher and it's an exciting environment to be in.
Open Soho – they have a Facebook page and event announcements are normally shared via @PaulWalsh on Twitter.
Chinwag – these events are excellent and they are beginning to go down a training route.
eConsultancy – really valuable events and an informative organisation overall.
NESTA – innovative and quite a unique organisation.
Sun Start-up Essentials – sponsored by Sun, these are really good events.
First Tuesday – these have a dot.com feel and actually happen every other Tuesday, usually pulling in some charasmatic speakers.
Mobile Guildford – very mobile focused, it is still growing in its popularity but we've enjoyed those we've attended.
The Hub – quite a public sector focus, but with a wide range of speakers.

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Should Pay Per Click advertising be part of your PR crisis planning?

PR in a crisis is a challenge for any communications team. Being well prepared and practised is the key to getting the right message across at the right time. For a digital PR agency, the focus is usually on communicating clear, simple and relevant messages to the appropriate audiences. However in a crisis, PR is starting to embrace all digital tools as part of a strategy, including Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.

Behaviour in a crisis

With increased broadband access and the proliferation of personal computers, those affected by a crisis have instant access to online channels to spread their concerns, fears and anger when something goes wrong.

Communicating the right messages quickly and simply is vital in order to give information or reassure and demonstrate positive action to those affected.

It’s a two way conversation: be part of it

People search for news online. On hearing of a plane crash, a spreading virus or product recall they tend to go online in order to find immediate information. This is the stage at which a well thought through crisis plan will pay dividends. When search results are returned via Google or any other search engine, businesses need to make sure that the website they want people to go to is right at the top of the page.

For example: typing “swine flu” into Google search gives the following results:

In this example, the two top sponsored links are the Government and the NHS. Both websites give out practical, factual information on the virus, its spread, diagnosis and treatment. It is clear that the Government and NHS had planned for this crisis and were ready to roll out their campaign – providing clear information to the general public.

Paid search vs. natural search

We know that it takes time and dedicated digital PR to achieve good results in natural search (via Google or any other search engine) – typically three to six months. Once a crisis happens it is too late to improve natural search results. However, if there is advance knowledge of an issue over a number of weeks, a company can start building bespoke pages and optimise them for the relevant terms that people might search for.

Preparation is the key to dealing with a crisis online. Businesses need to be ready to deliver strategic messaging across all channels open to them: website, blogs, and other social media platforms. Use of Pay Per Click advertising can support existing communications and should be considered as part of an overall crisis strategy.