Where's Your Marketing?

I just read an article in Advertising Age, “How Social Media Is Helping Public-Relations Sector Not Just Survive, but Thrive”.

It is an interesting piece about how public relations firms are capitalizing on their inherent strategic thinking and social media expertise to develop innovative, result-oriented programs for clients and helping the industry rebound quickly from the recession.

I have only one issue with the story. Look who’s cited and quoted: Edelman, Omnicom (parent of Ketchum, Fleishman and Porter Novelli), Interpublic (which owns Weber Shandwick, Golin Harris and MWW), and Hill & Knowlton.

We all know that excellence in social media/marketing programs are not the province of the big global firms – so why are there no small or mid-size firms mentioned. The easy answer may be that none of you are advertisers in Advertising Age.

Yet, I wonder, how many of you out there have even thought about trying to interest Ad Age in even doing a story? If, like many firms, you want bigger clients, bigger brands and bigger budgets, what are you doing from a marketing standpoint to make those prospective clients aware that you exist?

Shouldn’t traditional public relations (read print publicity) still have a place in your marketing mix?