As companies put final touches on 2010 marketing communications budgets, the big question is, where are those shrinking marketing budgets being directed next year?

I read an article in The Wall Street Journal titled Pepsi Benches Its Drinks. The article says that Pepsi, ending a 23-year streak, won’t advertise in Super Bowl XLIV. It also explains that in 2010 Pepsi will spend 60% more on online ads, rely on PR to market its brand, and will direct $20 million of its ad dollars to grants for its new Pepsi Refresh Project, a program that will support community projects proposed and selected by consumers.

This reinforces my opinion that traditional advertising might not always be the best way to reach a target audience. More and more companies are turning to social media, PR and online advertising to spread the word about their brands.

It’s time for B2C and B2B companies alike to reevaluate marketing strategies. Companies need to do research, find out where their audience is getting their information and reach them there. Make sure the money you spend on marketing is reaching your audience.

What do you think? Do you think 2010 will bring more social media, PR and online advertising to the forefront of marketing budgets?

B2B marketers and B2C marketers alike can certainly learn a thing or two from this list of 2009’s Top 10 PR Blunders (thanks to Fineman PR in San Francisco for sharing). I recall quite a few of these mishaps from the past year and even blogged about one of them. These blunders serve as good reminders of some PR basics. Here’s a quick look at my takeaways from others’ mistakes:

1. If you say it, be prepared to see it in a headline
2. Social media has changed the game for crisis communications; prepare and respond accordingly
3. Everyday moms can access reporters more easily than ever before and they are a motivated group
4. If you set out to create buzz, be prepared to receive it and deliver on it

Ultimately, these blunders show that you can’t “spin” your way out of everything (by the way, as a PR pro I hate the word spin more than anything). Sometimes it’s just better for individuals and companies to take a big bite of humble pie.

What PR blunders do you remember from 2009? Do you hate the word spin too?

Photo courtesy: www.flickr.com/photos/andraspfaff/

Tiger Woods is probably getting a lot of advice right now. Advice from friends, family, legal pros and most definitely his PR pros.

We all know the story; it started out fairly innocent. But, the crash, coupled with Tiger’s inability to provide a logical story about his behavior that night, unleashed the media—which many believe led to a quick destruction of Tiger’s previously flawless image.

However, in my opinion, it’s the events that followed the crash and Tiger’s silence, not the media, that led to the downward spiral of his image. Failure to talk, respond and “non-action” and the resulting spin leads to embarrassment, humiliation, prolonged visibility and a series of negative outcomes. Come on, it’s crisis communications 101.

After nearly a week of silence, Tiger’s PR pros advised him to tell his story—and quickly. Tiger issued a statement that said, “Personal sins should not require a press release and problems within a family shouldn’t have to mean public confessions.”

Ordinarily, I’d agree. However, Tiger, you’ve been living in the public light for years, your life hasn’t exactly been private—and now you want to pull the privacy card? It’s no surprise that media is digging for more details. It sounds like you’re hiding something—and media thrives on telling accurate stories to the public, it’s their job.

Now that Tiger has spoken, do you think the media storm will calm down? I personally don’t think it’s over. I think the media will bring this up again and I think the truth will come out. The only question is, will it be too late for Tiger to rebuild his reputation? Yet another celebrity scandal brings to light the importance of crisis communications planning.

Right now, it seems the only constant in PR is change. The reporter you were pitching yesterday, no longer has a job today; the trade pub you’ve targeted for 10 years just shut its doors; and, yet another social media site appeared overnight.

B2B companies need to operate under a new model of communications, but many aren’t quite sure how or what this means. In the simplest terms, we can’t just build PR programs to push out information, we must use PR to be found by those seeking information.

Below are a few ideas to adapt your PR programs to this change and deliver value in 2010.

1. Make search marketing and SEO part of PR
2. Create your own original, branded content (great content travels at the “speed of share”)
3. Use social media as a program, not a one-off tactic
4. Focus measurement on business outcomes, not impressions

Moving forward, we need to be flexible with our PR programs and be open to new ideas. But, we can’t ignore the traditional programs that have been the basis of PR for years. Ultimately, we simply have more jobs to do now.

How do you see PR changing?