As a tech PR, if you don’t know about Technorati, TechCrunch, Digg and del.icio.us – chances are you are not informed enough to craft comprehensive client strategies.

PRs today deal with a new landscape of influencers beyond our traditional tech journalists and analysts.

With such a large percentage of business and consumer IT buying decisions starting on the Web, online represents a powerful medium that can be leveraged in many ways.

Search Engines have radically altered the PR landscape.  We have some clients in the B2B space generating as much as 80 per cent of their sales funnel through organic search-initiated enquiries.

Integrating PR tactics with Search Engine Optimisation is arguably the most powerful example of where a more cohesive “new media/old media” strategy yields powerful results.

For example, for one client, by posting a traditional news release on an industry portal (originated in the US), we generate back links to our client’s Australian web site.  The portal article is in turn captured by Google and distributed worldwide via a Google News Alert - all within a few hours.  We achieve global distribution of an Australian organisations content within hours - whilst also boosting traffic and thier websites Google PageRank.

Campaigns that integrate traditional PR and online more closely can also help harness public interest in important issue. The Web and online communities can generate ongoing debate, rather than letting the issue die in the next news cycle.

For example, we had one client that wanted to announce a new strategy for tackling a major industry issue.  We hosted a media conference in Parliament House and developed a Web site specifically for this initiative that went live the day of the conference.  Everything from devising a brand for the initiative, to building the site and populating it with content was done within seven days.

The Canberra media conference generated national TV, radio and print coverage that in turn drove traffic to the web site and sparked debate on a number of influential portals.

The other area where we see really powerful results from integrating PR with online, is in the area of electronic mail or e-zines. For example, for one client, we write email communications that are directly related to the feedback we get from the sales team, the Web and click through rates on previous newsletters.

This gives us insight into the business issues that are of most interest to this company’s customers and prospects.  In turn, we can use this intelligence to craft more meaningful email communications, but also to shape media relations campaigns.

For example, when we work with this company’s CEO on a thought leadership platform that will form the basis of his media interviews moving forward, we can bring to that strategy what we already know are the issues that interest their customers and prospects.

This in turn means we are giving our journalists more newsworthy, intelligent insights and predictions.

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