Edelman CEO emails Blogman

Monday morning greeted me with a personal email from Richard Edelman, President & CEO of Edelman, one the world’s leading PR firms. 1,800 employees in 40 countries is a big deal to this kid.

Dick emailed thanking me for responding to the start of his blog, 6 AM, which I did by publishing a comment on his blog. He also asked me to stay in touch. Wow! The power of blogs.

He said he intends to use his blog as a way to communicate with the broader world about what Edelman does in PR. Dick believes public relations should become the communications tool of choice in the next 25 years replacing advertising which is inherently one sided and not credible. He said “We have a chance to fulfill the dream of Al Ries that PR leads and advertising follows.”

Lawyers and law firm marketing professionals should heed Dick’s advice. Law firm advertising is inherently one sided and not credible. I’d include 99% of law firm Web sites in such advertising. Sharing the intellectual capital of the firm’s lawyers through a medium such as a blog is powerful public relations much more likely to grow a law firm’s business than advertising whether via a Web site or otherwise.

Generally I would not share the content of emails I receive on my blog. In this case, Mr. Edelman was not sharing information beyond that on his blog and on the Edelman Web site.