Public relations, marketing and communications industry stalwart, Trevor Young, tells stories ‘from the front line of the communication revolution’ in his blog, The PR Warrior. Here, he talks to SMK about blogging from the inside.

How would you describe your blog?

It’s a stream of consciousness around the intersection of public relations, marketing communications and social media, aka the front line of the communications revolution.

How would you describe your online community?

From what I can gather my regular readers tend to work in the PR and marketing field generally, with the occasional entrepreneur and business owner thrown in.

What does your blog offer readers?

Readers get a broad sweep of what’s happening the field of forward-thinking PR and communications, with lots of examples of brands doing interesting stuff, through to developments in the social media space, reports on marketing and PR events, even book reviews and author interviews.

What motivated you to start your blog? Is monetisation or profile building a priority?

Being in PR and seeing how the media landscape was changing overseas, it just made sense to start getting my head around this thing called blogging sooner rather than later so at least I’d be able to speak with some degree of knowledge on the subject with clients.

I was running my own agency at the time so any resultant publicity was a good thing, but it wasn’t the sole reason for starting the blog. Today, PR Warrior is more about thought-leadership; it serves as a base for my thoughts, opinions and ideas, as well as a promotional tool for some of the other projects and activities I’m involved in such as BlogHUB Australia (bloghub.com.au).

Do you provide promotional/advertising opportunities on your blog?

Not on PR Warrior, no. It doesn’t mean I don’t, or won’t, it’s just that I haven’t seen the need at this point in time. It’s a pure B2B blog, I get offers every now and then but generally they’re not relevant or fit what the blog is all about.

Is your employer aware of your blog, and what is their reaction to you having a blog?

I work at Edelman, a PR firm that has a strong track record in the blogging space. Indeed, the company employs some heavy-hitters in the social media scene overseas: David Armano, Steve Rubel and Dave Fleet – all highly regarded bloggers in their own right, work at Edelman.

In my case, I’ve had nothing but encouragement from Edelman management with regards to my blogging and social media activities, as do all employees. 

What role has your blog had in attracting employment/new clients?

I’m a fervent believer in the combination of social media tools – blog, Twitter and LinkedIn, for example – a person’s personal digital footprint, as it were – that helps to build a professional brand. That said, the blog sits at the heart of these activities and I know for a fact it’s been a valuable tool in attracting potential clients to my door as well as other opportunities such as speaking engagements, which in turn have led to work.

Do you think industry blogs have the ability to change perceptions, opinions and directions of their industry? Does the industry take their messages to heart?

Collectively I think industry-based blogs have a role to play in offering alternative views, and opportunities for people to comment, to trade journals and magazines. I think the standing of the person behind a blog probably plays a role as to the degree of influence of a blog.

Do you think more people would benefit from keeping a blog or notes on their profession? How does reflection on your industry help you?

There’s nothing more sobering that pressing the ‘publish’ and knowing the post will be out there for to everyone to see – it certainly gives you a jolt of clarity regarding your thoughts on a particular topic or idea. So yes, I think people would benefit from getting involved in blogging about their industry or profession because you’re going to get opinions and different views on relevant topics, and that leads to conversation and debate.

Facts and stats 

Established: 2007
Views: approx 4000-5000 page views (non-unique) per month
Readership demographic: regular readers skewed to white-collar professionals (PR and Marketing professionals)
Brand associations: None apart from occasional references to Young’s employer, Edelman
Contact: Trevor Young @trevoryoung on Twitter

prwarrior.typepad.com