Earlier this week we delved into why PR services are a good investment for startup companies. Today we came across a related post in Entrepreneur magazine listing 10 questions that small business owners should ask themselves before hiring a PR firm.

The overwhelmingly positive response to Jane Porter‘s article tells us that it is extremely relevant to those ambitious businessmen/women wondering whether they should make the move. Because it approaches the PR “deliverables” issue from a small business perspective, we also believe it to be crucial reading for folks in the industry (and of course we agree that “a successful [PR] campaign can help you expand your business in ways you never could on your own”). Here are the 10 questions:

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Full disclosure: As we grow more deeply connected to the PR world, we find ourselves checking our Twitter feeds right before we go to bed every night and right after we wake up every morning to see what’s exciting or irritating our colleagues in the industry. It’s tough to keep up with related developments when we’re not plugged in.

And of course we’re not the only ones who feel that way. Two related stories drew our attention this week: one naming “PR Executive” as the #5 most stressful job in the United States and one declaring that public relations cannot be a traditional 9 to 5 gig.

Seems like those two might be related, doesn’t it?

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Who should be in charge of social media campaigns: marketing or PR? Where should that line lie–and why? We found ourselves fascinated by a couple of year-end PR Daily posts exploring these questions.

The first post predicted that, as more businesses begin to understand the risks and rewards of social media campaigns and the importance of maintaining a direct dialogue with the public, they will specifically request PR firms and departments to manage related accounts–and that PR pros will “emerge as trendsetters” in the social space.

Today’s follow-up post elaborates on that point as firm founder Summer Goodwin explains why she believes that PR will be the go-to discipline for future social media efforts. Her arguments, in a nutshell (or five):

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This week Digiday posted on an issue close to our hearts: the challenges of branded content creation.

Reporter Giselle Abramovich asked attendees at the company’s latest Brand Summit to describe the biggest obstacles they face in the endless quest to create compelling content. Our favorite quote from senior associate brand manager Orion Brown of Capri Sun:

“The biggest challenge is creating both consumer-relevant and brand-building content. Some brands (namely, passion brands) lend well to this as they are already ubiquitous and are intimately integrated into the daily lives of consumers — so their hurdle to find touchpoints that feel natural and relevant to the consumer may be lower. But for many brands, it’s a delicate balance between creating a branded message that doesn’t sound ‘preachy’ or like a sales pitch but still drives consumers ultimately to purchase.”

We couldn’t agree more—the process of identifying relevant topics and creating material that truly delivers value without the sort of heavy-handed messaging that repels consumers is a constant challenge (along with the measurement and ROI demands that accompany every business project).

Send us your thoughts, PR pros: What is the most difficult element of the content creation/distribution process?

We’d like to follow up on a question posed by multiple blogs today: which big tech/social media/search engine provider developed the best election-themed “campaign?”

• Was it the Google/YouTube election page, complete with live results, surveys, insights and voter info?
• Was it Twitter’s not-all-that-special #election2012 page?
• Was it Facebook’s American politics page and Polling Location Search Tool app?
• Was it Foursquare’s “I Voted” map, complete with “limited edition badges”?
• Was it tumblr’s official election feed?
• Was it Bing’s live official election page or “Destination 2012: The Ticket” from Yahoo! News? (Ha ha, just kidding.)

Seems like everyone got in on the game. What do you think? Did we miss anybody?

Our friends at the excellent Spin Sucks blog asked a pointed question earlier this week:

“Will a lack of creativity be the demise of the PR industry?”

Given the fact that our business continues to grow while so many others struggle, we see the “demise” aspect of this headline as a rhetorical glimpse into the distant future. But it’s very interesting. Stated another way: Are PR and marketing professionals so scared of offending someone, anyone that they avoid all things colorful, interesting and remotely creative? And will dull, run-of-the-mill PR efforts grow so common as to negate the value of the service itself? Most companies can write their own press releases, right?

The post primarily concerned Pizza Hut’s recent PR controversy. To recap: The company offered a lifetime’s supply of pizza to anyone who would use last week’s “town hall” debate to ask the presidential candidates whether they prefer sausage or pepperoni. Quite a few feathers got ruffled, and Pizza Hut’s marketing reps quickly backed down, announcing that the campaign would move online as part of a “natural progression.”

Yet Forbes contributor Aaron Perlut called the campaign “brilliant” and claimed that its demise in the face of public outrage was a perfect example of the PR industry’s biggest flaw:

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