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	Phil's Blogservations Tuesday, December 09, 2008 Posted by philgomes 4:27 AM In Defense Of The "Purist" In Defense Of The "Purist" I while ago, I was having lunch with my friend "Bart" whose supervisor "James" had left the firm he worked for at the time. Naturally, this meant that Bart had to take on some of his former boss's responsibilities — some considerable shoes to fill. James was a leader in this company's online communications strategy, not just because of his considerable technical knowledge but, rather, the instincts he developed over a period of time. During one of the necessary transition meetings, Bart had a meeting with James' former boss. "The thing is about James was," the boss said. "He was just too much of a purist." Considering Bart and James were pretty much parallel philosophically, this wasn't such good news for my friend. Bart would leave the firm soon afterward. Since Bart told me this story, I've been asking myself, "What did James' former boss mean?" It occurs to me that there are some folks within the marketing profession who are dismissed as "purists" when they confront supervisors or clients with the basic rules of how online communities operate. Typically, this purist is challenged by someone who feels — and is indeed quite desperate to believe — that there is nothing that he or she needs to learn. Far from being simply naive, these purists respect the nature of online communities and are smart enough to know that companies can't merely "activate" those communities on a campaign-by-campaign basis to achieve a short-term marketing needs. The long-term potential out of the short-term gain you sought but never got is squandered. These purists have enough experience to see that the best engagements are ones where objective value meets mutual benefit. Go ahead... Ignore that purist. Keep telling yourself and your boss that you have an "online community strategy" when you really just spam bloggers under the faux nobility of "reaching out" to them. The competitors who listen to the counselor that offers a strong, intellectually honest basis for online counsel will have more sustainable and compelling success. Ultimately, those purists will be counted on to do the right thing, and the agencies and companies they work for will greatly benefit in the long term. The only time a "purist" gets in the way is when he or she loses sight of the companies they represent or forgets who signs his or her check. Such folks become much more interested in becoming advocates for the groups or individuals they seek to influence. Noble-sounding, but dangerous. Neither Bart nor James, of course, fall into this trap. Again... Mutual benefit. Objective value. The purist may not tell you want you want to hear, but the good PR folks — digital or otherwise — have the stones to give that "there ain't no Santa Claus" kind of bad news. The best ones develop a compelling solution. Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, social media HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.