If your idea of a strategic communications plan is having interns create lists of reporters to whom they will then call and pitch stories — please leave this website and never return.  And, if you believe you have complete control over your brand in today’s online universe, please send us whatever substance you have been ingesting as it is apparently very powerfully robust.

Welcome to the new reality of marketing communications and public relations in this millennium.

While once the masses informed themselves solely through the morning paper, radio to and from work, and the evening news – today’s media landscape is a new, fast-changing world that often begins with suggestions from friends in social networks. Clearly, traditional print and broadcast media, and even static Web sites, don’t have the impact they once did. At least not by themselves.

And therefore, pitching and landing a story or buying an ad in major media doesn’t help move product or enhance reputation like before. Why? Because the eyeballs are elsewhere. From stay-at-home mom to C-suite executive to brick mason, people inform themselves using diverse channels: mobile phones, online news sites, blogs, online reviews, on Facebook and Twitter, and the list goes on.

Dream as you wish that you have complete control your brand in today’s world of social forums and online reviews, but the reality is that the consumer’s voice is stronger than ever. They own your brand, and companies who are perceived as being authentic and willing to participate in objective online conversations are the ones whose reputations flourish, as opposed to flounder.