Abraham Lincoln once remarked: ‘With public opinion on its side, nothing can fail. With public opinion against it, nothing can succeed,’ and, testament to the genius of that particular speaker or perhaps to the unchanging frailties of mankind over the last century and a half, that saying still holds true, and because of it the role of PR has now become so ingrained in our society that the chief consumers of this brand of marketing is no longer the corporate sector, but rather that of the government.

Make no mistake – I am not about to unleash a futile tirade that marks me down as a loony-left winger about the current state of UK politics (on the side of all parties now I fear), and that has led to an unprecedented mood of apathy in the voting (or as it now is nonvoting) UK public – no, this article is about the contribution the Internet, (and particularly Search Engine Marketing and Cost-per-Click campaigns), can make to the intricate artwork that is modern PR.

I remember that the prestigious Haymarket publication ‘Marketing’ recently presented a survey of the 100 best PR companies (May 2005) conducted originally by PR Week: the list was of the usual ilk – with Bell Pottinger and Citigate dominating the forerunners, and I idly thought at the time of how many of them actually pursued any online marketing strategy. Now, of course, the catalyst for me putting pen to paper (or fingertip to key!), is the fact that I have spent several hours over the last week putting a great percentage of the companies mentioned in the list through my company’s systems to see how prevalent they are on the WWW.

And now for the results…or as it sadly turns out, the lack of them, for it would appear that the PR sector is not a industry that is following the trend of everyone else and adopting the digital marketing arena with the same enthusiasm. Several companies I could only find through guessing at the URL, and several more only revealed themselves to me by articles written by staff for clients and posted on third-party, industry-specific websites.

And let me point out now that the real trick of Search Engine Marketing (and this is where the addition of a cost-per-click campaign can pay absolute dividends) is not necessarily getting the name of the company in question to the top spot if someone types said name into a search engine (it would be nice however!). Rather it is getting the company name to appear in the top spot if a potential customer types in the industry that you are in – a website must appeal to the industry, and not just the exact name of its two founding fathers. For example, if I type in “PR Agencies in the UK” (I am a prospective customer with no in-depth knowledge of the industry looking for a potential PR company), I would find myself missing out on over 90% of the top 100 PR companies named in Haymarket’s publication – for they simply haven’t geared their sites to such simple, though broader search terms.

Now this is where CPC can cut this troublesome corner: with this wonderful technology you can specify your industry, your location, even your case studies. For example, if I was looking for a PR company that had a tremendous success with a company I knew of, then I could type in “Brand X PR” and the PR firm in question could come up on the first page. Of course achieving high rankings across such broad search terms through natural search would be nearly impossible – but not catering for the potential customers out there who might not know your company name (and remember the hypothetical: I am a customer with little in-depth knowledge!) must surely mean a great percentage of leads are slipping away to those more visible companies?

But the loss of these hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of new business is not necessarily the main problem (what could possibly be worse I hear you ponder?). How does it look to an existing client who might know the name of your company (probably seen it on an old-fashioned piece of papyrus!), but who simply cannot find it on Google (and remember my comments above: several companies I could only find through guessing at their URL)?

The answer is one that is not likely to inspire any confidence! More so for an industry that considers itself as the most subtle and ingenious of communicators – but I am sure Prentiss and McCabe would be laughing!

But please do not take this as an unkind rebuke to an industry of such intrigue; a warning yes, but not an admonishment. If PR agencies are not using CPC or search engine optimisation, then it is unlikely that their clients are either – and it is here where the industry is missing an opportunity: as another American President almost said: ‘It’s not what your industry can do for you, but what you can do for your industry!’ in essence then, PR companies must accept search engines as a serious media, making alliances with online agencies and search marketers to guarantee their place with this most important communication tool.