On SiliconValleyWatcher.com yesterday, Tom Foremski wrote about the “Killer Pitch.” What Foremski sees next is PR pros being able to drive traffic to news stories ourselves. We’d be able to dangle this carrot in front of reporters to make our pitch more enticing.

Foremski says:
“ ‘… and we have the ability to drive a lot of traffic to your story.’ In a world where reporters are increasingly rewarded not on the quality of their work but on how much traffic their stories attract — this becomes the killer pitch.”

Foremski contends that PR pros don’t yet know how to drive traffic to news stories. I agree to some degree.

But, the bigger point goes back to something that we discuss frequently here at B2BFishbowl. Ding, ding, ding – PR is changing.

Today, it’s in PR’s court to drive traffic to our content. It’s no longer enough to hit homeruns with stellar articles. We not only need to place our clients in articles, we need to publish content ourselves, optimize it for online eyes, and promote it directly to our clients’ customers. PR has more jobs to do these days, and content development is making its way higher on the list.

But, one thing remains the same—media bring third-party credibility that we cannot hope to duplicate. So, our pitch strategies must always address what reporters need. If that means helping to increase pageviews for their articles, then that’s an area PR pros will learn to deliver.

Do you think there is an ethical issue with pitching that PR pros can drive traffic to a reporter’s story?