In under 24 hours I was asked the same type of question: How will the web change the game of marketing and PR. Before I go there, let me point to a recent article in CMO Magazine (May 2005 issue) where Global Hyatt’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tom O’Toole is quoted as saying:

"For us, the Web is not just about communications..It’s a mainline transaction channel, an integral part of our branding and our reservation system."

Meaning, it is a sales tool on steroids.

As for using the web to ramp up your PR, there’s a audio conference tomorrow on that’s worth looking into. The InfoCom Group’s registration page is here. Presenters represented are ftrom Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc. FSB, and the Wall Street Journal. Registration is necessary.

The area  I see as being the next frontier of marketing will be private networks.

Check how a simple thing as a college yearbook could be moved into a network at TheFaceBook.Com. I am currently reading Linked by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi, that deals with how everything is potentially connected to everything else. It takes the Stanley Milgram experiment to new levels.

To get back to the question of PR and the web, it’s time we started tossing the broadcast model out, and seriously looked at narrowcasting. What better way to do this than to be a part of social and professional (online) networks! It is already happening where the media is often invited to participate in a breaking story or event so that journalists are treated not simply as an inbox for press releases.