Discussions around the current state of public relations – relative to where the industry was five years ago – inevitably boil down to the slow but steady demise of print newspapers and magazines, or that an organization absolutely must use social media, infographics, Slideshare, and so on.

I think that all kind of misses the point. Sure, maybe there aren’t as many CMOs busting into the Executive Suite brandishing a copy of The New York Times with a feature on their company with the assumption it will vault sales, or the brand, into the stratosphere.

It’s more about, ok, so I have a piece of content here that could be valuable for my company – in this case it’s a news article but it just as well could be a case study, or research paper, product launch announcement or marketing campaign – and now I have to figure out how to fully leverage it. Could the content be multi-purposed into a lead gen white paper campaign or speaker series? Can I use the content to capture new leads through a dedicated e-mail or search marketing campaign? And if I do these things, is my website optimized in a way to fully capture these leads? Finally, do I have a way to get these leads to my sales team to translate the content into new business?

Moving beyond the content, there is also a breakdown of what had been considered traditional channels to distribute content and communicate with consumers, partners, and customers. The channel is really anywhere that these target audiences reside. It might be the website for an industry publication, a webinar audience or physical Conference, but it could just as easily be Kickstarter, YouTube or Pinterest.

That, to me, is a big part of where public relations currently resides. The need for an integrated perspective that governs individual initiatives for PR, branding, digital, creative, social, advertising is key to ensuring that public relations efforts do not simply wander from one announcement to the next. This isn’t to say that today’s PR firm has to offer every single service, or that there isn’t a critical role for PR specialists to play. But it does mean that these moving parts must communicate and align with one another, and my opinion is that PR firms moving the needle today are the ones who understand how to make the pieces work together for the benefit of the client.

We are excited to announce the launch of our West Coast operations with the addition of Donna Gibbs to the Bluetext team. Donna is a seasoned communications and marketing professional with a successful track record of bringing innovative solutions to the high tech and consumer markets. Her range of experience includes serving as a Vice President at Nike, as Executive Vice President in charge of Western Operations for Weber Shandwick, and as Executive Vice President for the Racepoint Group, establishing its West Coast practice.  Most recently she served as CMO for innovative mobile media companies in Europe.

It was only a matter of time.  Bluetext works with so many recognized, large California-based companies that have sought us out for branding, digital marketing and strategic communications, that we thought it was the right time to come to them. Our Bay Area clients range from Adobe and Lithium, to Google, NetApp, VMWare, Intel, McAfee and Cisco. The addition of Donna will bring an experienced presence that can deliver a broad range of branding, creative digital strategies, web design, traditional public relations and social media to both emerging companies and global brands.

“Bluetext is on the cutting edge of creative and digital strategies that can drive a competitive advantage for companies seeking new ways to reach their target audiences,” said Donna. “Emerging and large enterprises across the West Coast can benefit greatly from the team’s creative approach and strategic and executional expertise in the public, private and social sectors.”

A founding partner of Bluetext, Don Goldberg has helped many of the largest global corporations achieve their communications goals through public relations, media outreach, digital strategies and integrated marketing campaigns. In his 25-years in Washington, he has led companies and organizations through communications challenges and reputational threats, and helped position clients for success in the commercial, government and policy arenas. Don began his career as an award-winning journalist before serving for more than a decade as a senior staff member on Capitol Hill.  During the Clinton Administration, he was appointed Special Assistant to the President, where he served on the communications team managing investigations and damage control for the White House.

Since leaving politics, Don has become one of the leading crisis communications experts in the nation, and is a frequent guest commentator on CNN, Fox News and other national news networks. His expertise includes helping major brands better position themselves before key audiences, whether government executives, policy makers, business leaders, regulators or consumers.