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Corporate public relations budgets are mostly up, and the scope of the profession is experiencing growth in areas such as internal communication, customer relations and social media. These are some of the findings of a new study published by the USC Annenberg Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center. GAP VII, the seventh biennial Generally Accepted Best Practices for Public Relations, shows some of the most significant findings in the area of measurement and evaluation: On average, corporations now spend 9 percent of their total PR budget on research-related activities, a sharp incline from 4 percent in the previous GAP study. This pronounced rise speaks to widespread adoption of social media monitoring tools and increasing use of primary research in program planning and evaluation....
I recently had conversation with a New York tech entrepreneur about the growing ability of the top venture capital firms to drive media coverage for their portfolio companies. He not only validated my sense that many tech and business journalists take their cues from prominent VCs, but explained that a company like Andreessen Horowitz directs its partners to reach out to "their friends in the media" when they ink a new deal. "PR is paramount there."...
At a recent HR executive networking group, several trends in social learning resonated with me based on my own needs as a business learner, as well as trends across our PR consultants. My attention was caught in particular by the statistic that people learn 70% through job experience, 20% from others and 10% from course learning and reading. However, on average, companies focus 70% of their training resources on course learning and reading. Couple this with the following trends in how people want and need information, and a compelling argument is made for focusing more energy and resources on connecting people rather than developing another half day training course....
...I started my business career as a public relations professional 30 years ago. Since then I have morphed into new careers like sales, marketing, business development, consulting, and teaching, but there is a little piece of my heart that will always belong to PR. So I’m disheartened that the same tired questions about “what is PR?” that swirled around the profession when I started three decades ago are still taking up space today. In fact, nearly 100 years ago the first definition of public relations was issued and its practitioners have been in a state of chronic paranoia and self-psychoanalysis ever since....
[Rich Becker tackles a tough issue - JD] Bill Sledzik is right. The Penn State scandal is not really a public relations case study. It can't be "fixed." The only thing left to do is continue to cooperate with transparency and suggest remedies to minimize such atrocities from happening again. Attorney General Linda Kelly described it precisely: "This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys. It is also a case of high-ranking university officials who allegedly failed to report the sexual assault of a young boy after the information was brought to their attention, and later made false statements to a grand jury that was investigating a series of assaults on young boys."...
Is traditional PR dead? What role does social media play? I remember conversations a few years back when I sat around a table with a group of colleagues and asked “is traditional PR dying?” With the declining newspaper industry, and increasing digital world, it seemed that traditional PR may go by the wayside. I’m happy to report that it is not dead. But it definitely is evolving....
A very thoughtful post on the future of PR by Heather Yaxley... The answer: “I don’t know – I’ll get back to you on that”. This joke is a reminder of the importance of having a solid understanding of your subject matter in PR practice. This is the topic of my second post looking at the future of work in public relations. When looking at the traditional academic models of working in PR, a division is made between manager and technician. The distinction here is between having the competencies (behaviour patterns that reflect knowledge and skill) to conceptualise and direct PR activities or to carry out communications activities at the behest of others. Knowledge and skills tends to be PR specific (albeit with relevant administrative expertise for the more senior role). Expertise is emphasised in media relations, communications and relationship management; alongside competency in planning, implementing, and (at least in theory) evaluating PR programmes....
What’s the state of public relations jobs in the last quarter of 2011 and looking ahead to 2012? In a word – opportunities. All created by a ‘perfect storm’ of social media, business hiring to stay competitive and retirements generating new public relations jobs. As I carried out research for my new book, four factors caught my attention...
What struck me recently in conversation with a few thoughtful PR pros was that we should be concentrating on adding values as well as value to programs. When you look at a grove of old growth trees do you see value or values? That may define the true PR professional...
Ethics: The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc. This small six-letter word packs a whole lot of meaning behind it, particularly in the PR and journalism world....
Public relations is like science fiction as they both think about how the world might be, important for those who are oppressed as they need a world that works differently. A very thoughtful and inspiring post from Craig Pearce.
Among 25 industries in the U.S., public relations and advertising ranked 16th in terms of the public’s positive view. The industries’ image has seen an overall decline since 2001. Not surprising given poor corporate leadership and the constant litany of PR fails and sometimes questionable ethics...
The Holmes ReportWPP 1H 2011 Results: PR Again Outpaced By Other DisciplinesThe Holmes ReportLONDON--WPP, the owner of numerous PR agencies including Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton and Ogilvy PR, has reported that PR earnings grew by five...
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You don’t have to dig too far to find criticisms of public relations as involving lying and other less than ethical practices. The normal response from the industry is denial, citation of codes of conduct and finger pointing at isolated ‘others’.
But is lying really an absolute ‘do or don’t do’ matter? In reality, doesn’t everyone tell lies to some extent on a regular basis? So as professional communicators, doesn’t that mean PR practitioners trade in a currency of lies?...
PRSA announces new crowd-sourced definition of PR and now the discussion begins... After an effort that goes back several months, the PRSA has announced what it will adopt as the new definition of Public Relations.
Public Relations in Books, Film, TV and Radio... A bunch of PR academics walk into a bar... PRDepiction: A new Public Relations list of books, radio, TV and movies worth browsing...
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) today issued a statement condemning the unethical communication practices of Mike Winder, mayor of West Valley City, Utah. Mr. [Speaking of bad PR... JD]
As an industry PR is challenged: it struggles with who we are, what we do and how to measure our work. It should be no surprise then that there’s a great deal of discrepancy to be found in the methods and results of sizing up the PR industry.
Case in point? The latest VSS Communications Industry Forecast: “The only Traditional Marketing segment to outperform the economy, Public Relations & Word-of-Mouth Marketing, will see CAGR of 14.0% in the forecast period to $10.96 billion in 2015, as the role of PR in integrated marketing campaigns expands and social media fuels gains in WoMM spending.”...
That was the question posed by PRNewswer Editor Tonya Garcia in an article about what she called the "ongoing feud" between the J.R. To answer Ms. Garcia’s question, yes, I am tired of it. PRSA members also are tired of it, especially those who have been personally targeted by Publisher Jack O’Dwyer, but more on that later. The latest shotgun blast in this “feud” stems from PRSA’s decision not to extend press credentials to Mr. O’Dwyer, which would have allowed him to “report” on our Leadership Assembly meeting and International Conference, which took place Oct. 15-18, in Orlando, Fla....
[Interesting post by PR icon Harold Burson and his scripts are great reading for history buffs.] On Monday, October 1, The New York Times Op-Ed Page columnist, Joe Nocera, titled his offering “The Nuremberg Scripts.” He used the next 750 or so words to comment on my reporting on the Nuremberg Trial for American Forces Network, the military radio network in Europe. October 1 was the day the trial of major Nazi war criminals ended sixty-five years ago. While I reference my Nuremberg experience on biographical material, and many of my professional colleagues and friends know I witnessed history in the making over a stretch of five months back in 1945-46, I have never sought to publicize my association with the trial. And it was by chance that Joe Nocera learned about it over a social lunch about six months ago....
Recently there have been a number of blogs and articles that discuss how companies should treat their PR firm in order to get the best results. Many of these tips are usually hard to argue basics...
Check out this infographic for a brief history of top PR campaigns. Their success indicates that the principles of PR remain the same.
A PR writing teacher uncovered a disturbing trend among the PR industry’s future practitioners. See how schools are tackling the problem. September is PR ethics months. To mark the occasion, the Public Relations Society of America is publishing a series of posts on the ethics and ethics training. Here’s one. It began simply enough: a conversation about ethics with freshman and sophomore university students in my PR writing class. Then, one young woman said that it was OK to be dishonest because “PR people are supposed to lie.” At least six other students nodded their heads in agreement....
Most of us are familiar with the old adage that you “don’t pick fights with people who buy their ink by the barrel.” And indeed, as someone who’s worked with reporters for a long time, I try not upset them. Elephants have long memories and heavy feet under which you don’t want to get stuck.... PRSA and O'Dwyer talk? Call me when hell freezes over ;-)
Glenn Ferrell wrote a really thoughtful post about the PR profession- Seven Ways to Change the Perception of PR. It got me thinking about the importance of truth in public relations or any business. Here’s the reality of public relations. Our profession is constantly under pressure for results. We get slammed by critics from the media, activists and interest groups not to mention consumers and the general public for spinning or even worse, not always telling the truth...."
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