David: What does it take to be a top twenty political blogger? How do you persuade traditional thinkers to adopt digital marketing strategies and what’s the future for journalists? Those are just three of the questions that I intend to ask today’s special guest, Mark Pack. Mark, welcome to DMR.
Mark: Thanks very much for having me on.
David: You’re most welcome. Mark is an associate director at Blue Rubicon, an award-winning consultancy that transforms the reputations of some of the world’s biggest organizations. He’s also a visiting lecturer at City University in London in the Journalism Department. Mark, you’ve marketed using YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to name just a few activities, but is the written word still your favorite communications medium?
Mark: That’s a good question. I think the written word, in many ways, is the toughest communications medium; so quite often, if you’re busy, if you’re stressed, if you got too many things to do, I wouldn’t necessarily say always feels like my favorite but there’s no doubt the written word is still immensely powerful. And in fact, very often, the most successful use of for example, social media channels, is to promote the written word, is to share, is to engage, is to respond but is all centered around having some good in-depth written words as the piece of content that you’re then generating buzz, engagement, discussion and sharing for.
David: Right. Okay and so the written word not dying out any time soon then.
Mark: I certainly hope not.
David: Do you think that the style of communication online that you use, i.e. videos or pictures or written word in some format, should depend on your customer base or should it depend on the abilities of the people producing the content?
Mark: I think it’s important to try to bear your audience in mind all the time; so, what is the format that will suit them, what is the style that will suit them and also communicate your issues, your messages, your branding most effectively. A good example of that is the use of footnotes, if you’re flicking through a set of books; the ones with footnotes immediately seem more credible; they immediately seem more authoritative.