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Loading ...Steve Seeman of Makovsky + Company’s Q: How important is it to have a technology-proficient marketer on staff?
Chris Abraham’s A: Any PR or marketing shop that doesn’t have a CTO, or technology strategist at a senior level, is pretty silly. I mean, if a PR shop is big enough to have a VP of HR, then it is big enough to retain a VP of Technology Strategy.
When I arrived at Edelman, I asked for a dedicated Search Engine Optimization (SEO) box, I asked for access to the ports required for secure shell (ssh) and FTP, and I wanted to have a dedicated server set up in-house as a development environment and testing platform (Wordpress, Drupal, Pligg, Wikimedia, etc), they didn’t know what to do. They’re a pure Communications and PR shop and I couldn’t get anything — it was like pulling teeth! I was poached from a position as Technology Strategist at New Media Strategist — what did they think they were getting? Ha!
If you hire the right person, he’ll really want to fart around, explore technology, and try stuff out. Getting a techie without passion and intellectual curiosity won’t work.
The young whippersnappers think they’re tech-savvy because they grew up with the Internet. They’re not geeks, though, even if they are online all the time and even of they’re total gamer-freaks.
A real geek needs to know how to record a podcast, know how to learn, or know who to ask. You need someone who knows not only what RSS stands for (Really Simple Syndication) but also what it is (XML: RSS1, RSS2, ATOM, etc.) but also knows how it works (feed aggregators, online readers, widgets, and clients).
So, what many shops lack is a deep knowledge of how search works, the best way to develop a site architecture, how to host a site, what the best platforms are for blogs or CMS’s, and lots of other things.
Even though I have said that the Internet is a culture, it is also a technology. What happens when something breaks? In the course of my New Marketing and New PR practice, I use a deep understanding of Web 2.0, online communities, online dynamics, and a deep passion for how people interact with online software.
Don’t forget, while the Internet might be based on a culture, it runs on software.
The thing is, the kind of technology-proficient marketer you need is someone who is passionate about the subject, people who are constantly curious, more of a technologist-marketer if you will.
Personally, the vacuum in the market has to do with people who can take arcane knowledge and a constantly-changing online environment. Someone who can keep you up-to-date on the constantly-changing technology-scape, including new strategies for current and upcoming technologies and platforms, and the ability to play around, fart around, learn around, be it on your time or on their own.
If you have Facebook, MySpace, IM software, YouTube, and the rest, blocked, then you need to be willing to make loads of exceptions for them.
Finally, consider either firing your current IT solution if they’re unwilling to loosen up and open up the office a little bit. Lots of essential tools, platforms, and solutions require downloads, widgets, and plugins.
Most of the IT solutions are Nazis because keeping the office and all of the servers, mail and application, and the workstations, desktops and laptops, is easier for the IT team. In order to fully participate in the online space, one needs to have a direct window to the Internet. All content needs to be available to those employees who are tasked to new media campaigns. Who is to say what inappropriate content is? I know I have faith that my team is mature enough to monitor themselves — well, actually, since we are a 100% virtual team, I can’t really monitor them at all — who cares!
Does that answer your question? No?
Well, long-story-short: Very important! Essential.
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Filed under: Marketing, Marketing Hubris, New Marketing, New Media, New PR, New Public Relations, Public Relations, Public Relations Industry
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He wasn’t always a Geek, AH…
http://www.prdifferently.com/2007/09/dear-steve-so-w.html
Who’s he? Steve Rubel? Well, he definitely is now. Or, he is respected as such.
Yes - Rubel… Or perhaps, it’s better said that while he was always a Geek, he was quite afraid to be labeled as such… for quite some time.
[…] Peter on PR Shops Need Geeks on StaffAbraham Harrison on PR Shops Need Geeks on StaffPeter on PR Shops Need Geeks on StaffNathan Ketsdever on Everything is Miscellaneous Book ReviewAbraham Harrison on On the iPhone Price […]
Probably true — and I guarantee you Edelman wouldn’t have made him an EVP or whatever he is if he led with the Geek part of who he is.
PR Needs Geeks
Steve Seeman of Markovsky’s Q: How important is it to have a technology-proficient marketer on staff? Chris Abraham’s A: Any PR or marketing shop that doesn’t have a CTO, or technology strategist at a senior level, is pretty silly. I…