Ahh, the PR industry. A conundrum of personality types and then some. You’re all aware that being able to work well with different people is one of the best skills you could possibly bring to the table in PR, correct? Great!
So what to do, what to do when we’ve got a diva on our hands? Continue reading
Over the past year social media has taken up valuable real estate in the toolboxes of many a PR pro. However, many pros still face hurdles selling the utility of social media to their company or clients. Managers and clients want to know why it’s worth paying an employee to Tweet away all day. For the most part, there is a struggle to pull relevant numbers that reflect the value of social media.
There are many metrics that can be tracked to show success, but the total number of fans and followers is not one of them. The main reason is that any bot can attain large numbers of followers for a small amount of money. These followers are often other bots, not potential customers. Then what should you track? Continue reading
A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to go on my very first business trip on behalf of my client. I was excited for all of the expected reasons- going to a part of the country I hadn’t been to before, getting a few days to work outside of the office (can you really blame me when summer is just around the corner?), etc. However, the trip also ended up being an incredible learning experience because it introduced me to a side of public relations that I really hadn’t experienced before, and it did a great job of expanding my personal definition of the field. Continue reading
The primary purpose of public relations is to uphold and enhance the reputation, exposure and brand affinity of companies and organizations. However, as a whole, our industry does a poor job of building its own credibility, positive exposure and brand affinity among its main constituents—businesses and entrepreneurs.
It’s time we change that, and insist our industry’s representatives and trade associations defend our long-standing reputations and work to rebuild trust among many industries for the value of our work.
Recent indictments against the value of public relations, from Michael Arrington’s numerous rants against PR and some non-creative publicists, to Brant Cooper’s baseless attack against the industry in a recent Business Insider column, have shown that despite our tremendous abilities to build brands and create positive exposure for our clients and employers, the PR industry is failing—quite badly—to uphold its own reputation. The profession has seen its reputation diminished with minimal, if any, effort as a collective group to improve others’ views of our work.
The public relations industry needs to follow the advice it gives to clients every day—do everything you can to proactively build your brand and corporate reputation, and protect your brand when it is being attacked.
We must keep in mind—and simultaneously educate those outside the profession—that public relations is more important to a free society than we get credit for. For without public relations, many small companies and start-ups would toil endlessly to receive the same public exposure and advocacy as larger competitors do, at the most dollar-effective rate versus advertising and marketing.
We are laying out a call to action for the organizations and associations within the industry that have the ability, resources and most importantly, the power, to proactively defend the profession’s reputation and educate all business sectors about the many benefits effective and responsible public relations can offer.
Our industry can no longer sit idly by while these baseless attacks carry on, aiming to degrade the solid work that the PR and communications industry produces year-in and year-out. Our counsel and strategic work has deep and long-term value (as do our media relations and publicity tactics) beyond the figure at the bottom of a bill. It is time we take a stand, communicate to our key audiences, clearly define to all parties our true value and stand up for ourselves, our colleagues and our profession. Enough is enough.
The onus to right this ship—to proactively take a stand against these baseless attacks and rants and present factual data, case studies, analytics and anecdotes of success for businesses that have used PR—falls squarely on all of us as individuals and as a collective group. This collective movement will pressure industry associations to finally, after many years of posturing with little to nothing to show for it, stand up, take a stance, defend our industry, proactively highlight the many positives this industry produces and defend all of our reputations.
The time to fight to keep our professional reputations intact and in good standing is now. This is not a task for one person, one well-placed blog post or a single campaign. It will only be effective as a proactive collective effort, delivered from the industry, over time, as a whole, representing the true voice, passion and expertise of all.
We start now. We are proposing a new manifesto detailing how our industry should be represented to the public. Upon completion, it will be delivered to the industry’s main lobbying and education association, PRSA, on behalf of the industry. It’s incumbent upon all of us to be involved in this process.
To ensure your voice is heard in this manifesto, which we plan to present to industry representatives within the next month, send us a quick e-mail at pr@cogcomm.com. We’ll get you connected with a Google doc we are developing. If you contribute, your name will be included as a signatory of the manifesto, and you will be helping to shape the future and positive reputation of a profession we all love (and love to hate sometimes).
Furthermore, we propose developing a very simple industry-wide voluntary seal of approval (early working title: Public Relations Ethical Standards of Practice, or PRESP) to be devised and overseen by a neutral group of industry professionals, and which will include no more than 10 rules of engagement and ethical practices by PR professionals. This seal of approval will be free for any agency to use and advertise throughout their websites, client proposals and marketing materials as a declaration of that agency’s ethical work, so long as they agree to abide by the conditions established by their peers—you.
Our professional world is fighting for its own survival within certain, and an ever-increasing number of, business sectors. Our work has stood on its own for decades. It time we take a stand to defend ourselves, and it’s time our industry’s representatives back us on this effort.
Note: The views expressed in this post are solely those of Keith Trivitt and PRCog, and do not represent the views of Trivitt’s or PRCog’s respective employers, nor of any individual PRBreakfastClub writer.
Recently I fell into a discussion about specific social media metrics (isn’t that so not like me?) and the concept of sentiment analysis was brought up. There have already been many discussions about the usefulness (or lack thereof) of automated sentiment analysis tools, and I won’t bore you with yet another discussion of whether automated sentiment is worth your while.
What I think is a more valid question: is the sentiment or the message more important to social media measurement? Continue reading
While some nonprofit organizations — like American Cancer Society or Make-a-Wish — generate a lot of publicity and online chatter, many others struggle to spark meaningful conversations. As a society, we’re uncomfortable talking about certain topics (e.g., child molestation, addiction as a disease). Organizations focused on such causes face an uphill battle. It’s easy to see how the silent treatment can cause significant challenges: A lack of dialogue can result in a lack of awareness … which can lead to a lack of funding and an inability to deliver the necessary services. It’s a vicious cycle.
Understanding that it’s a challenge isn’t enough though. A nonprofit communicator recently posed this question to me, “Our subject isn’t ‘warm and fuzzy,’ so it’s hard for us to get media attention or initiate online conversations. How can we communicate our message to community leaders (many of whom play a key role in funding decisions)?” Continue reading
It’s been about a month now since I joined Sternberg Strategic Communications and began, in earnest, working toward the career-long goal I have set for myself to “build something great. And in that month’s time, the biggest concept that has stuck out to me is one maybe I should have learned early in my public relations career: this really isn’t about me anymore; it’s about our company and it’s about building our clients’ business.
Throughout every contact I have with clients—whether that be a new business meeting, contract negotiations, day-to-day discussions about project work, etc.—it’s my thoughts, insight and expertise that has a lot to do with the success of a campaign, but ultimately, the only goal I have for myself is to build our client’s business. To “build something great,” and that’s really not about me, or my wants, desires, day-to-day stresses or anxieties. It’s about servicing wants, desires, day-to-day stresses and anxieties of our clients, and providing a value to them far greater than what I hope to receive out of the partnership. Continue reading
Any publicist in the midst of a PR campaign for a client has probably asked him- or herself this question: “Is my PR working?” And for a client who’s invested their money in your services, they’re probably asking the same question. Sometimes as publicists, we forget how PR works.
Evaluating a PR campaign based on sales or rate of return is all too typical. But here’s the thing: PR doesn’t work like that; it’s a long-term investment. As a publicist you know this already, but does your client? Sometimes you have to paint a picture for the client about what to expect. You have to make it clear that PR — when done right — will increase awareness of their product, service, book or expertise, to their target audience. And sorry, this doesn’t mean skyrocketing sales right away. Continue reading
We all wear multiple hats as PR professionals. Thinking about adding some new “roles” to your resume to show off your experience? Here are some to consider (and to be taken lightly):
Hand-holding just comes with the territory. Whether it be calming a client down about a less-than-glowing article written about his or her company, or consoling a stressed out co-worker, we give our fair share of “therapy.” I joke that I should have double majored in PR and psychology.
We clean up the mess. When things go awry and no one can keep it together, PR professionals are there to clean up after whatever has gone wrong. Continue reading
If you go with the view that Ivy Lee created the first press release back in 1906, then the bread and butter of what public relations used to be best known for is more than 100 years old now.
In that time, we’ve seen the original idea behind the news release (or press release, depending on preferences) morph into many shapes and ideas. From the standard print release, to the search engine optimized release, to today’s social media news release, it’s evolved as needs have grown.
But apart from adding some nice flashy videos and blog links, or being able to rank a little higher in Google, how far has the news release really come? And is there still room in today’s instant feed market for something like the news release? Continue reading