Who are the powerful people to spread your ideas and tell your stories?

Many people tell me that they want to get quoted in important publications like The Wall Street Journal or have their products mentioned on television networks like CNBC. These "media hits" are seen as the ultimate in spreading your ideas.

But is that really the best thing for you and your business?

At South-by-Southwest a few weeks ago, I hung out for a while in the blogger lounge. As I looked around the room and saw the many influential bloggers, I realized something important.

The collective voices of the bloggers in the #SXSW blogger lounge is more powerful and has more influence than The Wall Street Journal.

So as you think about reaching your audiences, consider who has the power. Is it mainstream media? Or someone else? How can you reach them?

PS > Are you in this photo? Recognize anyone who is? I see my friends C.C. Chapman and Jonathan Fields. And look, it’s a HubSpot logo on a T-shirt.

Comments

[Shaun Dakin]

David,

Good post, as always.

My take is that it depends. It depends on your audience, product, and goals.

My learning from StopPoliticalCalls.org is that you need BOTH old and new media.

You need the Wall Street Journal to give you credibility with the bloggers who then write about you.

Here is my presentation on using both.

http://www.siteworx.com/company/news/executive_briefing_series/social_media_issue_advocacy/

Best,

Shaun Dakin
CEO
StopPoliticalCalls.org
@EndTheRoboCalls
@IsCool
@AskThePresident

[David Meerman Scott]

Good point Shaun. I totally agree. Mainstream media builds credibility and should not be ignored. But it is not the only thing.

[Jerry Smith]

Spot on David - I think it is your book that talks about how trying to impress "traditional" journalists so they write about you favorably is far less important now.

It seems to me that bloggers, those adding real value on Twitter etc. are looking for people with good input, a point of view, value to give and something to say on all manner of topics. Your point about the influence of these folks is exactly right- their opinion is highly valued so getting their interest is very powerful

[Amelia]

I wouldn't want to throw out the traditional methods just yet! Not to say bloggers and twitter don't add real value, because they do, but just saying I still think the traditional methods of marketing still have some mileage left in them!

[David Meerman Scott]

Amelia, I agree.

This is not either / or. You should do both. But I see so many people focused on just mainstream media.

Here is another point. Journalists read the important blogs in an industry. Guess what happens when a journalist reads about you in a bunch of blogs??

David

[Jacqueline Wales]

I am finding, as a new blogger, that the blogging world seems to have more influence in spreading the word than PR releases and trying to get mainstream media to notice you're there. I am all for giving valued content because ultimately that's why we do what we do.

[ashpal]

I am currently a Senior Public Relation's Student, and I think this is an excelent way to reach out to the people since everyone is blogging now a days. Although it may not reach the powerful people at first, if the topic or idea is good it will eventually catch their eye and become main stream. ASHPAL