Before I started Savvy, Inc. more than 10 years ago, I spent a lot of time researching the competition and figuring out where a new PR firm would fit into the current market. I was a little surprised to discover that in Maine, there really was no competition. No one was doing the kind of PR that I envisioned.

The reason was that none of the so-called PR professionals in those days had ever been in the news business or worked as a reporter. They had almost no understanding of what makes a real news story, or the needs of the news media. Most of the PR firms around were simply adjuncts to advertising and marketing agencies, low-rent offshoots that merely allowed ad agencies to claim that they offered PR services. But what they called PR was really just faxing press releases around and then badgering reporters and editors about why they ended up in the trashcan instead of the front page.

My goal was to do PR differently, relying less on press releases and more on personal relationships with reporters, editors and public officials. The press will give a story more prominence if they think it’s an exclusive. If they get the tip from a blind, faxed press release that they know went to every other media outlet, they’re much less excited.

Savvy’s more personal, strategic approach to PR and crisis management proved successful. I started the business with a $50,000 credit line, and was in the black within a year. Pretty soon, Savvy had several full-time employees, each earning a good salary and benefits. We worked hard and played even harder (the job required a certain amount of, ahem, schmoozing), and annual revenues approached $1 million. Considering that my prior business experience was a paper route when I was 13, I’m quite proud of the business I built.

Now, it seems, everyone wants to get into the act. A recent story about Dan Demeritt, former aide to Gov. LePage, starting his own PR firm recounted the large and growing number of people who have left government service or the news media in just the last few years to open their own public relations agency.

But if any of them think they can succeed by replicating the model that Savvy used when it started 10 years ago, I’ve got news for them. That model is dead. PR, like the news media itself, has changed dramatically in just the last few years.

There are several reasons for this:

• First, the traditional mainstream news media itself has shrunk. There are fewer reporters, fewer editors and, for the most part, fewer readers.

• There are no longer any “beat reporters.” It used to be that when I had a story involving the environment, for example, I could call up a reporter who covered the environment, exclusively. No one does that anymore. Today if I call a reporter with a tip I’m more likely to get routed to some just-out-of-J-school rookie who needs a lot of remedial help to figure out the issue, especially if it’s even a little complex (and complex stories are a tough sell these days to any reporter).

• The Internet has changed everything. Face it. Reporters really don’t need PR people anymore, if they’re any good. There was a time when reporters relied on us for news, to find out what was going on. I used to get called regularly by local reporters who were just nosing around for stories. It doesn’t happen anymore (except with national political reporters, like the call I received yesterday from a Roll Call reporter.) We’ve been replaced by Google. Reporters can get their information and ideas by spending a few hours in the morning on Google, Twitter, Facebook and other sites. And any reporter that isn’t using Google Alerts, Postling or some other service to track key issues and blogs isn’t doing his or her job.

• The news media no longer “owns” the news. Consumers are deciding what to read, from a wide variety of sources, rather than having the news spoon-fed to them by traditional news organizations. Try Flipboard or Zite on the iPad and you’ll see what I mean. Readers create their own newspapers from stories they are interested in. This creates a whole new challenge for businesses or individuals who want to get noticed, and a press release or even a Tweet with the pathetic “Please RT” tag won’t do it (if what you’re selling is worth retweeting, you don’t have to ask).

• Similarly, everyone is now in the news business. If you’re an insurance company, a hospital, a law firm or a pet store, you really are (or should be) a media company – posting on a blog, podcasting, utilizing SEO, creating YouTube videos, the works. It’s the difference between inbound and outbound marketing. In the past, businesses reached their customers by outbound marketing - broadcasting their goods and services via press releases, direct mail, TV and radio ads, e-mail blasts, etc. It’s an expensive way to go. Today, marketing has become inbound – customers will find you if you have a full web presence. And it’s a lot less expensive and very often more effective. (Hey, if The Cutler Files proved anything, it showed how a $90 website can hijack the headlines.)

• Social media rules, and in a very short time it will dominate. But don’t let anyone tell you, especially a PR pro, that they’re a social media expert. There aren’t any. Social media is still a frontier. Everyone knows that it’s important, that it’s now the key to generating awareness and buzz. But we’re all just feeling our way and trying to keep up with all the changes.

So does that mean I should close Savvy and give up on PR? No, but Savvy has had to reinvent itself as more of a content provider. There are a lot of businesses out there that are lost in the social media jungle, who just don’t know how to write or produce interesting, compelling content that will attract clients and customers and generate buzz. My company is now in the process of revamping and, ultimately, re-launching itself to meet this growing need. It feels a lot like it did 10 years ago. Stay tuned.

(I of course have broken one of the cardinal rules of social media and inbound marketing - failing to regularly update my blog. That's what happens when you're helping clients update theirs, and hey, it's summer in Maine. I'll do better when cooler weather returns.)