See Edge's very own Lilli Cloud speak on "Knowing Your Brand" at PRSA's event last month.
The Los Angeles event named "Don't Get Kicked in Your Career: Recession Strategies for Employment Empowerment and Career Advancement" was an empowerment program that gave tips and strategies to tough-out these tough times.
See a snippet here:
Much as it saddens me to admit it, some clients do not understand the nature of the PR process. As a result, PR firms must start by explaining how our process works and how we can help clients maintain as much control over their communications as possible. While PR can try to shape the message, ultimately, it is up to the news outlet to present the story. PR firms must explain to their clients that everyone gets misquoted. Stories get cut. Companies get ignored. Mistakes happen. But communications is not something you can turn off and on like a faucet. It’s a constant in business. As a general rule, the more you communicate the better off you will be. Sitting on the sidelines isn’t an option.
The Internet has changed the way PR operates, but it has not eliminated the importance of traditional media: the broadcast networks and print publications that continue to trumpet the nation’s business and public policy agenda. While e-mail may now be the first line of contact between journalists and PR pros, the real work (as noted above) happens on the phone.
The new curve ball in this game is the blogospherethe informal but vast community of online commentators and opinion makersthat is increasingly influencing what the mainstream media considers news. These quasi-journalists are playing more of a role, even if they lack proper credentials, because traditional media is now reading them. As the lines separating mainstream and Internet media continue to blur, it becomes more complicated to determine how to reach people who matter to clients.
For instance, we still follow the tradition that it is best to put news out at the beginning of the week, but that is really more habit than necessity. The tradition stems from when weeklies went to press, but that is less critical now to disseminating a message. As if to underscore this flux, we are watching rates for TV and radio advertising go down and rates for online advertising go up.
One problem with the Internet is that it publishes corporate news verbatim. That may seem like a strange complaint coming from a PR person. We certainly appreciate the direct channel to various audiences, and we relish the ability to provide content to various sites on a regular basisa practice that was less common when a printing press or broadcast outlet figured into the equation. But unfiltered corporate news can diminish the importance of the editorial function. If stories lose the credibility/reliability that independent journalism provides, who is to say what’s newsworthy? Editors play an important role in creating an informed society, and it’s vital that journalism retain its place in this culture. That said, journalism as we have known it is changing. Not to sound anachronistic, but I believe PR as a discipline is very much invested in a system that has worked well for years.
From a strategic point of view, the most important element of any PR campaign is having a story. That is why the front-end work is so critical. Many companies believe strongly in what they do, but are unable to view their messaging with the right degree of detachment. Part of what PR firms offer client companies is a reality check to point out the holes and the inconsistencies within a client's story. The best PR people help client companies enhance their reputation and make their message resonate with the media through this kind of constructive critique.
Some PR people do not take on clients whose organization or products give them ethical qualms; others hold to the view that, as with attorneys, every company is entitled to its day in court-in this case, in the court of public opinion. My firm is small enough to have the luxury of selectivity in the companies we represent. For me, not having ethical qualms simply means we can do a better job; we aren't ambivalent about our advocacy.
Client companies can make difficult demands. One client gave us the mandate to get on the front page of The Wall Street Journal within six weeks of being hired. If we didn't, the company was going to buy the back page of The Journal. The going rate for a full-page ad at the time was $80,000. Of course, they'd pay us a small fraction of that figure for editorial mention on page one, so it was clearly a terrific deal for them, but it was also a terrific challenge for us. When we picked ourselves up off the floor from laughing, we decided to go for it. The key was putting together a team. We had to create everything about the company from scratch, since nothing existed- it hadn't launched yet. We had to simultaneously define the company, create materials, determine the proper person at the target publication we had been handed, and solicit other parties beyond the client (because no Wall Street Journal reporter would put a story on the front page based on one start-up company). The CEO and I wrote the launch news release in the wee hours, the very morning we had to ship that release off to the Journal reporter. It worked. The Wall Street Journal reporter herself did a TV interview about the company's story, almost becoming a spokesperson for our client in the process. It was the launch the company was looking for. At the time, there were about twenty people working at the company; a year later, there were 400. The key is having a story-and finding the right person in the right place to give it the right type of attention.
Tactically, the most important part of a PR campaign is direct high-level media relations. PR firms look for as large a media target as our news hook can sustain. Sometimes, to buttress that news hook, PR firms conduct consumer research, often working with an outside research firm that can create and disseminate attitudinal surveys. Having information about how consumers feel on a given topic at a particular point in time invariably has news value. PR firms package that information accordingly, to broaden the story beyond the client. To round out most campaigns, PR firms also do media training for their clients, making sure the client CEO is ready to talk to a journalist or go in front of the camera.
PR firms use a variety of communications tools, including e-mail pitch letters, news releases delivered via commercial wire services that focus on search engine optimization, and Internet blog (and even YouTube) posting, among other tactics. While journalists are busy beyond belief, there is no substitute for simple (and persuasive) conversation. New technology is wonderful, but the telephone remains the most powerful tool in the PR professional's arsenal. And, precisely because reporters and analysts have so many demands on their time, the wise use (but not overuse) of multiple approaches is the best means of cutting through the noise.
Typically, PR planning uses two teams—a team of PR professionals and a team from within the client company. We work both separately and together and develop a strategic plan and tactics (aimed at business to-business and/or business-to-consumer audiences, as the client’s business dictates) and the appropriate tools to use. Talented writers are essential— defining messages and materials in clear and compelling fashion. PR firms write to communicate with clients, with the client’s customers, partners and investors—and as the client’s surrogate for publication (via news releases, bylined articles, speeches, etc.). Within my firm, media relations specialists—professionals who are on the front lines with journalists and other opinion leaders—complement the writing teams. Together, we all plan out the ongoing relationship between the company and our firm.
Each agency-client relationship is different because each client is different. That said, there are certain approaches that guide everything that PR consultants do. Number one: How will the story—the company’s message, as expressed in journalistic language—play out in the media and in the public at large? Ultimately, most PR firms are hired for their news judgment and their ability to anticipate how powerful the story will be; who it should be aimed at; what the potential pitfalls are; and can the company actually deliver on what it is saying. When there is a crisis, message development is critical, so PR firms devote a tremendous amount of time to hone that message, often creating multiple messages for different audiences. If they define the story and messages correctly, other tactics fall into place.
But PR must never forget to focus on how the message will help the business—how it will meet client needs and affect the marketplace. Just as in advertising, brilliant creative can win awards while ad execs neglect the client (and consumers can’t place the brand for all that creativity), so PR must be focused on the client’s needs to make it in the market. Press coverage is vital, but rarely an end in itself.
The most important role of the PR firm CEO is choosing the right people to be on a given client team. I’m looking for a match in terms of team member experience, expertise, andalwayschemistry. In my firm, I write plans as a means of securing new business, with the help of strategic staff members and support staff. What’s interesting is that even though we do a good deal of homework, we still feel like we’re in a vacuum when we craft these plans; at best, we’ve had a briefing or two before developing a detailed plan of action. It’s a snapshot of our thinking, and that’s often enough to give clients a sense of comfort. Prospective team members contribute to this process.
Our client base tends to consist of young companies just starting to develop a brand identity. Typically, they call us in to launch a company or move a product. Some have worked with agencies beforeat least in previous positionsand some are on the rebound from an unsuccessful experience.
PR firms generally work with a liaison in the client’s marketing department, although they also sometimes work with the client company’s CEO. PR is much more effective when the CEO is highly engaged in the communications process. I think about two recent clients. One company was just starting out online. The CEO was a brilliant idea guy with no real concept of the online world. He essentially threw out his ideas and let the marketing people clean up the mess. The lack of direction - which started at the top and flowed throughout his organization and into ours - severely hampered our collective efforts. This back-and-forth, start-and-stop style of management simply isn’t conducive to formulating and conveying a clear, powerful company message.
At the same time, we began working with another company whose CEO had extensive, high-level experience with online companies. He came up with a vision and is working with us and his own internal PR team to refine and implement that vision. We obtain real-time feedback and work in an atmosphere of collaboration. That is the right way to lay the groundwork for a successful PR campaign.
It’s traditional in the PR business for relationships to endure -- ideally, for years at a stretch. While many agencies do some project work, typically they hope to keep their clients indefinitely. Most focus on their clients and the goals articulated throughout the PR planning process. Companies realize that PR firms are performing a function that is necessary in the business world -- they absolutely must communicate with their various external constituencies (and a host of internal audiences as well). How they communicate -- via the news media, via analysts and pundits, via the emerging community of bloggers, via customers and partners --- varies widely, but communication itself is not an option.
Public relations isn’t advertising. It cannot be evaluated using the metrics that advertisers require to support their expenditures, whether promoting a brand or a product. There are “ad equivalency” measures in PR, but they don’t reflect the inherent power of editorial - which, after all, isn’t for sale at any price. Most CEOs would agree that nothing matters more than corporate reputation. It is that power and credibility that make public relations so challenging for PR professionals and clients alike. Clients need to have a somewhat longer time horizon and appreciate that it’s precisely the lack of control we all have over the editorial product that makes it so valuable.
All of this isn’t to say that success can’t be measured -- only that PR metrics tend to be qualitative and strategic rather than quantitative and tactical.
PR firms should be obsessive about service. Savvy clients understand that gaining media coverage is not the only (or even primary) goal of public relations; the real goal is helping the client organization achieve “success,” however that client defines it.
To deliver service that moves the client toward those goals, the PR firm’s own structure matters. Our firm is organized differently than most PR firms; we use senior-level independent consultants, supported by a small administrative team. We keep our overhead limited and work to ensure that our professionals spend virtually all of their time on client service. Because our clients are also entrepreneurs, most recognize and appreciate our orientation. Some PR firms, particularly but not exclusively the larger ones, seem to create a sense of divided loyalties among employees; it is often unclear whether staff members are beholden to the PR firm or to the client. Because we’ve eliminated that divided loyalty, clients find it easy to work with us. And, because the professionals on our team have been at this business for, on average, fifteen to twenty years, we deliver premium service. In other words, clients don’t pay for on-the-job training. Having a company of seasoned professionals on hand (most left brand-name agencies so they could do client work rather than manage others) is a big reason why we’ve been able to foster a superior work ethic; our consultants are just happier than they were in their previous lives. Clients tend to pick up on that. While our team isn’t housed in one place, the Internet has eliminated many of the traditional barriers to communication. One of the ways PR firms provide quality service is by communicating daily with their clients by telephone, e-mail, and face-to-face meetings. Most also use some feedback mechanism to collect input and use it to fuel changes in PR strategy and tactics. Most clients are open in terms of their goals and whether the PR firm is meeting those expectations.
