Feb
2012
What is PR?
Despite a heritage in communication, the PR industry has one major problem – it doesn’t quite know how to communicate what it is that we do. As painfully explained in a recent Forbes article by Haydn Shaughnessy, the industry is confused – we lack external clarity.
Compound that problem with a pretty worrying perception issue and we’re left in a slightly disturbing grey area. Our friends think we live an Ab Fab lifestyle with champagne breakfasts and boozy lunches, our parents think we do some type of marketing and advertising mash-up and our own industry bodies can only suggest jargon heavy, archaic definitions such as:
- Public relations is the management function of researching, communicating and collaborating with publics to build mutually beneficial relationships
- Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and their publics
- Public relations is the strategic process of engagement between organisations and publics to achieve mutual understanding and realise goals
Perhaps most worryingly, a lot of journalists (and now bloggers), our counterparts on the other side of the communications fence, still don’t seem to understand our complete role in the process.
PR is as diverse as it is simple. But it is not simply media relations. Long before the social media revolution, PR has been engaged in conversations with influencer groups beyond journalists.
We share characteristics with advertising and marketing. We take a message from a brand (our client) and help send it to the target audience (publics). There are many different channels (TV, print, online, social, mobile etc.) and an equal number of vehicles (face-to-face, telephone, conference, email etc.). The rise of digital has added new vehicles and channels, but at its purest root, the objective is the same – we want our message to be heard by the right people. This dialogue, argument or conversation can be with journalists, analysts, industry bodies, government or companies, the key is that we communicate a message in media that is earned rather than paid for.
So what’s this message and where does it come from? Depending on the client, sector and geography, the message can be anything from a new product launch to a financial trading update. Distilling the information we wish to convey, we carefully shape a message and arrange a suitable vehicle – the end result has the power to drive sales, change opinion or create a movement.
In the instance of traditional media, when we call press, we are communicating something that is very important to us and that has taken a lot of time to create – we are not mobile monkeys with journalists on speed-dial. The odd chimp may slip through the net, but the majority of PRs take their jobs seriously. After all, we are the voice of our client – all of their shareholders, employees, history and values rolled into one.
We are very much the integral cog in the brand wheel. We work with our clients to create the idea and then help bring it to life. When not creating, we are maintaining conversation and protecting reputation. Our work is two-way. We not only transmit information; we receive and respond to it.
As the business world becomes more social and consumers and customers expect more dialogue from brands, the importance of a relevant PR strategy is underlined. Understanding and reaching the publics in the right place at the right time is essential. The brands that understand the value of PR are the ones that will succeed in the business 2.0 world.
It’s like Bill Gates said, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations”.
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