So, we all know how much I hate publicity! LOL. But, when marketing columnist Jeff Zbar from the South Florida Business Journal was looking for a local business to feature, one that was blending social media and traditional to gain more online visibility, how could I say no?

My PR agency, The Buyer Group, told me I needed to be in this story! I’m proud to be the trail blazer when it comes time to reinventing your business and how you think. In today’s economy, what worked yesterday might never work again, so we try new things.

Here’s the story, let me know what you think.

Hybrid campaigns blend online, traditional marketing methods

When Roy Oppenheim appears as an expert guest on a local television news broadcast, that’s the start of a hybrid marketing campaign.

His media relations firm pitches him to the media as an expert in foreclosure and real estate law. When Oppenheim appears on television, he takes that recording and posts it to YouTube – and then embeds it in his Web site and blog site. He then blogs – in one of the more than two dozen blogs he’ll post each month – about the appearance, his monthly seminars and other content.

Oppenheim once believed in the power of traditional marketing. Today, his campaigns are a blend of some traditional and heavy online and social media.

“We’re not using social media just to solicit clients, but as a means to deliver services and information,” said Oppenheim, senior partner with the newly branded practice, Oppenheim Law. “We’re redefining ourselves as almost a Web-based firm. You have to be on the path and embrace this medium to make it successful.”

As new media and online social marketing take hold, some companies are embracing a hybrid approach to their marketing. Not keen to cut off their remaining traditional marketing – including print, radio, Yellow Pages or television ads, and public relations – they’re lowering those budgets, but using what’s left to drive awareness about their online presence.

For Oppenheim, each news release that’s distributed is optimized for keywords critical to the firm. His Twitter feeds, a Facebook fan page, his LinkedIn account and other sites are driving brand awareness of Oppenheim Law and Weston Title, his title insurance company.

No one application has proven to be the “silver bullet” that individually drives the bulk of Oppenheim’s online awareness, said Lisa Buyer, principal with the Deerfield Beach-based Buyer Group, his marketing firm. But, the combined results have been a 98 percent increase in Web site visitation, from about 900 unique visitors a month late last year to 1,800 in August, she said.

“They all feed off one another,” said Buyer, who started handling Oppenheim’s PR, search optimization and social media in December. “We use social media to promote some of the traditional marketing events such as seminars, where it takes traditional networking to really close a deal.”

Oppenheim’s blended approach has reduced or eliminated much of his traditional advertising, halving his Yellow Pages ads last year and pulling them completely this year. His mainstay today is media relations and public appearances as a way to drive traffic to his Web site, blog and social media sites.

Read on for the full story from the South Florida Business Journal.