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FOR every reporter employed in America, around six people work in public relations: a few too many, some might think. But it was not like that when Daniel Edelman launched his PR firm in Chicago in 1952, a time when the job mostly involved writing speeches for the chief executive, putting out press releases and taking journalists to lunch. Mr Edelman, who died on January 15th, aged 92, was a pioneer, introducing innovations that reflected his bigger vision of PR as a more effective way to market a company’s reputation and brands than its fancier (and costlier) big brother, advertising. His role in creating the modern PR business, which spans everything from crisis management to political lobbying, is described in a new book, “Edelman and the Rise of Public Relations”, by Franz Wisner....
Public relations professionals who have provided ethics counsel to senior management are at least as fervent about serving the public interest -- sometimes even more so -- as they are about their duty to their organizations, according to a Baylor University researcher. A new study of 30 senior public relations professionals, most of whom had served as an "organizational conscience," showed the individuals viewed themselves as an "independent voice" in the organization and not "mired by its perspective or politics," said study author Marlene S. Neill, Ph.D., a lecturer in the department of journalism, public relations and new media in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences....
I was fascinated by a new global study of trends in public relations by the University of Alabama Plank Center. The study, authored by Dr. Bruce Berger, reveals digital, gender and generational shifts that may give my generation of PR leaders heartburn. His research identifies 10 critical issues. The real news in the report though is its in-depth look at gender and generational gaps in our profession on these important issues. We’re not going to like what the next generation thinks about the current generation of PR leaders. Berger’s report says: “Leaders drink too much of their own Kool-Aid. Leaders and followers hold different views about the 10 most important issues, how future leaders should be developed, and the extent to which their organizations support two-way communication and shared power. Their views diverge even more regarding the quality of leadership performance. Leaders often rate their own performance higher than do their followers, but the divide between the two in this study is Grand-Canyon sized—a very steep, very deep divide. Many participants also rated the organizational CEO’s understanding of communication higher than they rated the performance of the communication leader.”... [Makes interesting reading especially for today's PR leaders who may have missed the memo...~ Jeff]
It’s that time of the year again. New students are embarking on new courses, full of expectations. Yet this most obvious of questions is not that easy to answer.
I’ve put this question to my first year PR students.
They, remember, are the first year to be taking on greatly increased levels of debt to attend university.
So it seems an important question to address early on in their studies....
[I really enjoyed these thoughtful responses from first-year public relations students ~ Jeff]
I did not take the traditional path to PR. In fact, I didn’t tread much of a traditional path to anywhere in my life. But as the old saying goes, I wouldn’t be who I am today without the path I’ve traveled to get here. You’re probably not interested in reading the seedy details of my life, and I’m not particularly motivated to share them (that book will be written later, thanks, and you can buy a copy). Today I’m sharing only the most relevant information: Before embarking on a professional PR career with The Abbi Agency, I spent the better part of a decade traveling around the country in a circus sideshow. Relevant, you ask—how? Turns out everything I needed to know about PR I learned in the circus.... {This is a fun post and nice storytelling by Amanda Horn. PR and communication pros will enjoy the read. - JD]
Scene: A typical HR office, somewhere in the bowels of a large organization, in the year 2015. Like many HR offices, the space is bland, with very little personality. Just like the person who works in there. A nervous woman, around 24 years of age, is sitting at the desk, being interviewed for a job in the company’s communications department. It is not going well.
HR Person: “What do you consider your strongest skill sets to be?”
Communicator: “Uh, I’m really great at planning events. And I’m a whiz at creating PowerPoint decks. And I wrote a bunch of press releases during my internship at the Cookie Cutter Public Relations Agency. I wrote, like, three a day sometimes, and my supervisor said I got really good at making up quotes!”
HR Person: “I see. What about multimedia storytelling? Have you ever worked with video, or created a podcast or other compelling audio stories?
Communicator: “Uh, no. But once, at the Cookie Cutter Public Relations Agency, one of our clients, a hospital, was opening a new cancer center, and I went out there and got a great photo of the Director of the Hospital, the local mayor, and some big contributor named Rudy as they were cutting the ribbon at opening ceremony.”
HR Person: “I see. Well, our organization is still struggling with its social media strategy. Do you have any experience in using social media, social networking, and other Web 2.0 tools to help an organization achieve its goals?
Communicator: “Uh, no. But I’m like, on Facebook all the time. And when I was at the Cookie Cutter Public Relations agency, I opened a Twitter account and had, like 37 followers. That’s pretty good for someone just starting out, isn’t it?”
HR Person: “I see. Okay . . . well, we’ll call you once we’ve made our decision.”...
[Thoughtful post by Steve Crescenzo - JD]
Is a well-timed newsjack a worthwhile PR tactic? There has been a debate over the past two weeks around the practice of newsjacking – which is the term used for promotional piggybacking, or injecting your ideas into a breaking news story to secure coverage. It’s generally accepted that PR professionals practice newsjacking, but both the strategy and the value have been called into the question.
The debate took shape when Cision’s Nate Shafer outlined best practices for newsjacking on Cision’s blog, and Ragan’s Alan Stamm took him to task. Shafer’s argument is that a well timed newsjack (and of course he has plenty of recommendations on monitoring services to help identify optimal timing) can result in media coverage and interaction with influencers.
Stamm disagrees on many counts. He believes Shafer’s portrayal of newsjacking reinforces “a generally unfair view of PR and corporate communication as crassly opportunistic, rather than ethical and professional.” He also says, “I’ve worked with major corporations and never seen newsjacking used as a tactical element of strategic communication plans.” Finally, he questions the value of newsjacking, saying “I believe newsjacking brings one-day traffic that doesn’t mean jack,” and asks readers to consider if any real business value or meaningful thought leadership results from the tactic.
While the term newsjacking makes me cringe a bit, I do find myself agreeing more with Shafer....
[That's the trouble with sharks ;-) Good debate! - JD]
Toni Muzi Falconi summarizes the presentations, issues and PR profession trends from the Bled Symposium 2012. Papers and presentations can be viewed at the symposium website: http://www.bledcom.com/ .
You can define it, but it doesn't mean you can regulate the practice. That is what the public relations industry is learning the hard way. The industry doubts its credibility, but the problem is credulity.... So that means it is up to the industry, which must go beyond whatever short and punchy definition it is peddling. It has to outline precisely how any adopted definition applies to the practice. And then it has to have a majority of firms agree to it all. If that can be done, and I doubt it can, it has to pressure all those who don't adopt the practice to stop stealing the public relations moniker and start embracing the endless number of specializations like social media, publicity, media relations, guru, etc....
The future of PR as we know it.... [This infographic speaks for itself - JD]
Some of them you probably already possess, others you’ll have to work on if you hope to thrive in the PR industry in the future. What skills does tomorrow’s PR pro need to be successful?... This list is based on conversations I’ve had with recruiters, agency owners, and colleagues over the last few years. These are skills some employers aren’t just looking for—they’re demanding. You will see more employers jump on the bandwagon in the years ahead. Just watch. For now, let’s roll through the 10 skills tomorrow’s PR pro must have to succeed...
The day you started in communications was the day you became a member of the ethics committee and you joined the brand police force. In public relations, it’s your job to uphold the integrity of the brand and ensure the messaging is consistent and remains intact across all communications channels. Now, with social media, your messages go further and you cast a wider net; your company is automatically in the center of public conversations and in the critical eye of the consumer. In my book, Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional, PR Practice #7 focuses on how PR professionals must concentrate more on reputation by building a human face, daily monitoring and more brand education for themselves and their peers. Today’s post is a part of the “edited” or “cut” chart series, which includes the Reputation Task Force Member’s Chart of Responsibilities. Even though you’ve always had the reputation of your brand front and center, social media increases your need to take a proactive approach on many fronts. Whether you realized it or not, being in the PR or communications means you an important part of an organically growing task force....
According to Gallup, public trust in mass media dropped from 70% during the 1970's Watergate era to 44% today. ...You can add business and PR into that same orbit of lost trust. Some, like the Economist, in its article “Slime-slinging“, would argue the pond scum of public relations has nowhere further to fall but I digress. The thing that’s fascinating is the close parallel of journalism with public relations....
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If you want to pitch better, pitch smarter. That’s the message that Porter Novelli’s Jodi Fleisig delivered in January’s Marketing News. We took her insights and created this cheat sheet with five tips on how to pitch reporters and get results. While you probably won’t pitch journalists as a PR intern - no matter where you work - these 5 tips for pitching better and smarter are nuggets you can take with you through your career....
Five arguments for going digital when doing business-to-business PR by Phil Szomszor, head of business and digital at PR agency Firefly.. When I think of PR social media gurus, I imagine Siobhan Sharpe from the BBC comedy Twenty Twelve delivering her web strategy for the Games. In her view, Myspace was the best channel because it has the fewest number of people using it, and therefore is the fastest growing and most exciting. She also highlighted that social media during the Games wasn’t all about the sport, but public opinion about athletes and “all aspects of them”.. It’s not surprising that the PR industry was lambasted in this way – there are a hell of a lot of people making claims about social media that just can’t be supported and I’ve heard more than the occasional “perfect curve” quote from so-called gurus. It’s in the world of B2B PR that this anti-social media attitude is most prevalent. And while I agree that there’s a lot of smoke and mirrors with social media, that doesn’t mean to say that it should be dismissed altogether – in fact, I’d argue the future of B2B PR is digital.... [Here's a good argument for why digital PR is the future for PR ~ Jeff]
The largest and most global examination to date into the state of public relations profiles a profession being reshaped by forces as current as digital networks and as timeless as generational divides.... Respondents identify the impact of digital networks and massively available real-time information as the fundamental forces transforming the practice of contemporary public relations. The new realities and consequences of the digital revolution underlie the four most important issues identified by nearly two thirds of global respondents to the online survey. In order: managing the volume and velocity of information (23.0 percent); the role of social media (15.3 percent; improving measurement (12.2 percent); and dealing with fast-moving crises (11.9 percent).... The headline here is that current leaders may be reading too many of their own press clips. The most striking divides in the survey are the gaps between older and more experienced professionals and younger practitioners. Practitioners take a dimmer view of leadership performance within the PR function, the type and quality of leadership development, and the relative importance of the top issues facing the profession, and it was common for practitioners to rate the performance of the senior PR leader lower than they rated the CEO’s understanding of the role of communications.... [This is a MUST-READ for PR and communication professionals ~ Jeff]
It’s stressful and the field is crowded, says the study’s authors. Meanwhile, No. 1 on this dubious list is advertising executive. Public relations is an overrated job. That’s what the jobs website CareerCast.com is saying in its recent study that ranks the 12 most overrated careers. PR manager is No. 7 on the list. According to CareerCast: “Stress levels on public relations managers are among the highest of all careers because of demanding media, audience and clients. The pursuit of jobs is also competitive. Public relations also is among the most common majors for recent college graduates, adding more competition into the candidate pool.”...
In this presidential election year, I’ve been thinking a lot about ethical leadership, not only among our elected leaders, but also among leaders in the public relations field. They have the power to inspire and motivate the new professionals who work for them, encouraging them to make ethical decisions on behalf of their clients. That’s not always an easy task, a fact made painfully clear by several recent ethics cases involving newer practitioners: a public relations firm that used hidden cameras to record food bloggers’ reactions to a dinner, another firm hired by a company to pitch negative stories about its competitors to newspapers, and, this summer, an employee of a PR firm who posed as a college student journalist in order to infiltrate a workers’ union meeting on behalf of her client. What’s happening here?...
Thirty-five public relations professionals share the most useful or inspiring professional advice they’ve received over the years. The best piece of advice I received—and one that I still reference—came when I was fresh out of college and working at Edelman in Washington, D.C. The advice: “Public relations is a marathon, and not a sprint.” That advice holds true today, but with the introduction of social media into our daily PR lives, the pace of the marathon has kicked up a notch. So maybe now we are running a 5K. I was curious about the advice that has helped guide the careers of other PR practitioners, so I asked some of my industry peers to identify the best public relations advice they received and, if they met a new graduate who is about to do a cannonball into the PR pool, what would they tell them.... [Enjoyed these wise PR thoughts. Here's mine: "Don't bring me problems. Bring me solutions!" - JD]
Entry-level digital professionals have received quite a bit of abuse lately, particularly that we allegedly feel entitled to be “digital strategists” just because we belong to our specific generation. What can we do to counter those concerns? We can put in the work to become more strategic thinkers. Here are five ways millennials can become more strategic thinkers in the digital space... [Good advice for any generation - JD]
Five things public companies can learn about corporate governance from the Freeh investigation of Penn State. "We protect our reputations by doing the right thing, not by hiding our failings. Indeed, even amid discovery of error and wrongdoing, reputations are enhanced by acknowledging, dealing with them immediately and directly, and working to minimize their recurrence." -- Edward Queen, Director of the D. Abbott Turner Program in Ethics and Servant Leadership at Emory University's Center for Ethics in Atlanta
Wiser words have never been written in light of the Penn State disaster uncovered this week with the conclusion of former FBI Director Louis Freeh's investigation....
What exactly does ‘excellence’ mean in public relations? Is it something to be achieved by anyone following a particular approach (as implied by the Model of Excellence), or demonstrated by those recognised by the industry (such as winners of the CIPR Excellence Awards)?... But I’d like excellence to mean more than that. To be really truly exceptional we need to take giant leaps, not neat little steps to perfection. Not just being good enough, better than others or even better than you were yesterday, but achieving big, hairy audacious goals. I’d like to see leaders in public relations pushing the practice to achieve this sense of excellence – being bold and demanding, but also driving from the front. Where are our ambitions for excellence in public relations?
I have the same desire for those engaged in public relations education – I want to see the smartest, most intelligent people choosing a career in public relations – and not stopping there. This too involves bigger ambitions; stretching our young practitioners not simply to be competent on the job, but to celebrate a standard of education that makes them soar intellectually and challenge poor practices, unethical behaviour and mediocre measures of ‘excellence’. They should aspire to be entrepreneurs, chief executives, change agents in society, renowned writers and sought after advisors....
[Thoughtful PR post by Heather Yaxley - JD]
I’ve produced this infographic as part of my presentation at next week’s International History of Public Relations Conference. My paper aims to foreground the career experiences of women working in public relations in Britain during the 1970s and 1980s. As well as reviewing the existing historical literature (where the presence of women is largely missing) and conducting qualitative interviews, I wanted to put the story into some statistical context. Although the veracity of any data is impossible to verify, it does provide heuristic knowledge of the increased feminization of the field of public relations over the past four decades. During the 1970s and 1980s, the data indicates the percentage of women in PR in the UK increased from around 10% to 40% – from one to four in every ten practitioners. This has risen further in the last twenty years to almost seven in ten practitioners....
Once again, a public relations firm is in the news for the unethical professional conduct of one of its own. And once again, it’s over the issue of disclosure. Reports surfaced in Gawker and elsewhere yesterday that a young professional employed by Mercury Public Affairs had posed as a university student and registered under a false name to gain access to a “closed press conference” held by Warehouse Workers United (WWU). Mercury’s client, Walmart, is trying to open a store in the Chinatown area of Los Angeles, and local labor groups, among others, are challenging the store’s permitting. Allegedly, the Mercury employee infiltrated the meeting to interview union members, one would assume to gain inside information that would benefit her client. This woman’s actions—and the subsequent reactions—have rippled through the profession, leaving her unemployed and the public relations profession with yet another black eye that erodes the public’s trust in our craft....
One of the challenges with public relations, marketing or social media is the temptation to do more instead of better communication. I call this the PR Twilight Zone.... Public relations is caught in the same spiral. The “old” style of PR doesn’t work any more. News releases need to be reinvented. Pitching has changed dramatically. Bloggers have influence. Me-me-me media relations turns off reporters and carpet bombing the media no longer works. Here's how to escape the PR Twilight Zone...
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A nice tribute to PR pioneer Daniel Edelman...