PETER SHANKMAN
| POSTED ON September 7th, 2011 | 100 COMMENTS | + ADD YOUR COMMENT |
And I’m feelin’… So good.
Some great personal news below this awesome George Michael video.
Last June, 2010, HARO was acquired by Vocus, Inc. It was a great day, and the perfect culmination to an amazing three years of building the best PR repository in the entire world. In just under 30 months, HARO turned from something I’d send to friends into a game changer – something that thousands upon thousands of people relied on each day to get publicity, exposure, and grow their businesses. It was massive.
Over time, I noticed that the number of PR firms using HARO peaked at “all of them,” and the number of small businesses using HARO kept growing at a rapid, rapid pace. And it occurred to me – small businesses really have two choices when it comes to growing their company from a marketing perspective. Do it themselves, where they may or may not succeed, or hire an agency, and hope for the best.
Both those options have their own benefits. I’ve worked with some of the best agencies in the world, as well as some of the smartest internal marketing teams known to man.
However, on the flip side, I’ve also consulted with companies who have come to me beyond angry, for they’ve found themselves having spent lots and lots of money, either for no deliverables, or for deliverables so far off the mark, that they’ve actually hurt the company in the long run.
I’ve been thinking long and hard about what can be done to help the small businesses of the world with marketing. It’s easy to help large businesses. When Saudi Aramco wants marketing help, they throw me on a plane to Saudi Arabia, and I help them.
When a mom and pop bakery want to grow their small, three person business, or want to dip their toe into social media, or figure out how to reach the media, it’s a bit harder. How do they find the right person to help them? How do they know whether or not to trust that person? And finally, how do they know they’re doing it right?
End result? Small businesses, which make up what, something like 97% of the United States economy, need some serious marketing help.
That time has come.
As you can read in this release issued this morning, I’m happy to announce that I’m joining Vocus as Vice President and Small Business Evangelist. In this newly created position, I’ll be helping the more than 30,000 small businesses around the world who utilize Vocus in any capacity, how to grow their business through smart marketing, smart use of PR, advertising, and yes, even social media.
From a bigger perspective: I’ll still be consulting, speaking all over the world, blogging, tweeting, bothering Meagan on a daily basis, and doing all the other fun things I do. I’ll still be writing the HARO, five days a week. I’ll still be based in New York City, and still have NASA the Wonder Cat by my side.
But – Now I’ll have the power of a huge, publicly traded company behind me. I’ll have hundreds of brilliant Vocus employees to whom I can turn, and as important, I’ll have the spectacular suite of tools from Vocus to offer clients around the world. These include PRWeb, HARO, NorthSocial, Engine 140, and a host of other tools and products designed to simplify, enhance, and grow any company’s marketing presence.
It’s going to be a fun, fun ride. Keep watching. We’re going to have a bunch of new and exciting news coming down the pike in future weeks and months. I for one, am excited as anything for this new change. I hope you are, too.
As always, thanks for reading. Thoughts? I want to hear them below.
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