Introducing our first ever tip of the week…it’s not really a tip but reasons, so don’t judge.  Deborah Collins talks about 5 reasons why companies should add Web PR into their marketing mix.

Right now it seems that most companies are re-evaluating their marketing mixes, trying to get an even bigger bang for fewer bucks. Everyone’s wondering how you keep a marketing machine humming during a recession.

It’s interesting that this recession coincides with social media emerging into the mainstream. This coincidence provides some unorthodox ways of managing through the downturn.

The social media movement means that people are now regularly getting their news and information online. As a result, it’s become not just cost-efficient but also smarter to invest in online branding tactics. Why keep paying for pricey ads in major daily newspapers that are on the verge of bankruptcy? Those papers are failing not just because the economy is bad, but because people just don’t read newspapers like they used to.

So it’s high time that marketers let go of their dependency on big newspaper and TV spends. Or at the very least, maybe it’s time for them to shift some of those dollars to new forms of brand-building.

Web PR is among the newest ways of getting attention online. The premise of Web PR is that you don’t need to rely on reporters to tell your story anymore. With the right tools and tactics, you can tell your own story. You can broadcast your own videos and get a vast audience on site like YouTube, Viddler and Blip.TV. You can write your own how-to articles and blast them far and wide across the Web.

The secret sauce of Web PR is creating videos and articles that are designed to get found on Google. This is the where public relations is going next. And with the rapid decline of traditional media fueled in part by this financial market calamity, it’s probably worth considering how you can start incorporating Web PR into your brand strategy.

We’re introducing a series of how-to videos on Web PR. This first video explains that we plan to take a how-to approach, offering our tips and techniques for building your brand online. Along the way, we hope you’ll offer your comments and ideas: what’s working for your business?

Check it out. Page A26. It’s called, Use Soya to Launch your Brand into Cyberspace. The article tells the story of how Soya came to be.

Word to the wise: it’s tough competing with Google.

The good folks at Yahoo are laying off 1500 people. That’s 10% of their workforce. Despite an array of supposed search enhancements, Yahoo just can’t seem to catch up.

It’s got to hurt when the lay-off story on CNNMoney says, “Meanwhile, Google announced last week that its profits jumped a better-than-expected 26% in the third quarter.”

Yikes, Yahoo. That’s when you know you’re losing the search engine game.

Check it out. Soya is featured as a social media marketing leader in the October 14-20 issue of Business in Vancouver magazine. Here’s the story.

Soya’s very own Deborah Collins will be presenting at ‘Ideas on Tap’ on October 16 at Yaletown Brewing Co. Does anyone else remember the lively ‘Ideas on Tap’ events? Well, the folks at 6S Marketing have reinvented them. Business owners have 60 seconds to wow the audience with a cool business concept. Deb will be talking Web PR! Come on by! We hope to see you there.

What can we learn from a sea otter? Quite a lot, as it happens. Nyac, one of the Vancouver Aquarium’s most famous residents died today. The otter took the world by storm, first as a survivor of the Exxon Valdez disaster, and later as an Internet phenom. If you haven’t seen her blockbuster YouTube video, you must. It’s been viewed more than 11 million times.

The team at Vancouver Aquarium is understandably heart-broken and in Nyac’s memory they have created a tribute video. They are using social media so intelligently and with such sensitivity. They are an inspiration. As was Nyac – what a life story.

In the United States a 71-year-old presidential candidate has made YouTube part of his campaign strategy. His competitor achieved YouTube stardom last year with a renegade music video created by supporters rather than political operatives.

If Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have turned to YouTube a crucial part of their market outreach – what about you? Shouldn’t YouTube be part of your branding strategy?

It’s easy to overlook YouTube as a quirky entertainment phenomenon. But make no mistake about it, web video is radically changing the landscape for marketers of all kinds: corporate, not-for-profit, causes & activists, and political campaign teams alike.

Right now most marketers and communicators are still absorbing the astounding reality that you can video broadcast whatever you like, whenever you like, to a mass audience for a pretty reasonable sum of money. This is a mind-boggling reality. This power is almost dizzying. No offence to the TV networks out there, but we really don’t need you like we used to.

But…be forewearned…this ability to broadcast brings with it enormous responsibility. You don’t want to contribute to that unfortunate, desperate mass of video content that is bypassed for being boring or pointless.

That’s why the secret of success in this YouTube era is to focus in on great storytelling. Use the people on your team who understand how to weave a compelling tale (in writing and on video). And listen when they tell you: “No we can’t do that, it’s too schmaltzy.” Or, “I really don’t think we have a story here.” Or, “If we want people to understand, we have to use words and images they relate to.”

If you start and end with honest-to-goodness storytelling and a strong journalistic style, YouTube can and should be a central part of any brand strategy.

P.S. A final note: Malcolm Gladwell is using YouTube too (indirectly and directly) and we’re pretty sure he knows a thing or two about how to tip the marketing see-saw.

*Side note. By the way, your 17-year-old has now been sitting at his computer for 22 hours straight. He is simultaneously watching a skit from Saturday Night Live and a short lesson on how to apply for college. Both on YouTube. Oh yes. This is the way of the future.