PRWeek reports that Vocus went public yesterday, offering five million shares of common stock listed at $9. The PR software manufacturer will be traded as VOCS on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
Adventures in Business Communications argues that Vocus — as well as other vendors such as PR Newswire and Burrelles — should incorporate a blog offering in their product suites:
Scenario: I’m a PR pro who likes and understands the value and power of a blog. I’ve heard about it … talked about it … so now what? There are 25 platforms that are available … some free … some for pay. How to choose? There’s no leadership that says Typepad or Blogger or Blog of the Day is the best among these offerings … I’m not going to take a chance.
Scenario: I’m a PR pro who likes and understands the value of an online newsroom. I’m not a tech person so I don’t know how to tell my IT team what to build and how. There’s no leadership that says … oh wait … there is. PR Newswire has one … they contract for it … it’s part of my existing LOA … it’s supported by them … all I have to do is say yes and they’ll help me build it and maintain it … they’ll deal with my IT guys and I don’t have to? Okay … no brainer. I’m in.
When Tom Murphy and Elizabeth Albrycht and Dee Rambeau and Steve Rubel and Phil Gomes and Shel Holtz and the rest of the PR blogging community talk about blogs … it’s interesting. When Microsoft or PR Newswire or Vocus or Cymphony or Burrelles offers one as part of their suite … PR pros will buy.
It’s an interesting idea. One addendum: here’s hoping more PR practitioners will realize that they don’t necessarily have to “deal with the IT guys” to set up a blog. That’s part of the beauty of it.
Technorati tags: Vocus, PR, Public Relations, PR Newswire,Burrelles, Blogs, PR Vendors
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Tags: dallas pr, dallas public relations, tech public relations, technology public relations
Scott,Thanks for the reference to my blog: Adventures in Business Communications. It's nice to see some other PR "Ponies" out there. I graduated from SMU way back in 1980. I wasn't necessarily recommending that Vocus and other PR vendors add a blogging component to their platforms. What I was saying was that once the large vendors to the PR space begin offering such tools, adoption of those tools will be much more rapid. As we've seen with online mediarooms, PR pros seemed to like the idea, but didn't buy them in numbers until Pr Newswire brought an easy to adopt tool to market for its clients. PR people are rarely early adopters. Cheers,Dee
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