One of the blogs I follow that has good content is Tim Dyson's blog. He recently blogged about the changing face of public relations and it's worth a read.
He makes the simple point that PR is about more than communicating with journalists or writing press releases.
I tend to agree. It use to be that PR folks simply had to worry about articulating and communicating a message. Marketing would worry about the underlying support of that message through collateral, web sites, etc.
Today though, I believe that PR folks are being consulted more on brand management and creation - 'What do we need to do to get through to our publics?'
The reason for this phenomena, I believe, is a function of management teams having good experiences with highly competent public relations professionals. These CXO's have had good experiences with PR folks - they've come to see that good PR professionals think strategically, have a big-picture mentality, have strong underlying skills such as writing for various audiences or project management discipline, and perhaps most importantly are goal-oriented (versus process oriented).
In many ways, these traits are often the same traits you will see in most CXO's.
While marketing has, and continues, to occupy the biggest piece of the pie in terms of managing brand awareness and growth, PR is being consulted in greater frequency than ever before. In my opinion it is because management feels that PR has greater input value than simply crafting the message.
I'm not surprised really. I think of the jobs I've held and I've had tremendous exposure to just about every facet of a business - marketing, business development, product development, CXO duties, the Board, operating logistics, the list goes on (it's quite surprising how many areas people pull PR into for advice or consult).
Most marketing folks tend to occupy a niche - which is to say they are responsible for the marketing activities around a single product or service. They tend to silo as a function of organizational structures - there's a line between sales, marketing, R&D, etc.
But PR folks are exposed to every facet of an organization during the course of their daily activities - which ultimately is what helps create that big picture, strategic perspective that a lot of PR folks develop. Most PR folks don't see there being a line that divides them from any other division - every division is ultimately, in one way or another, a part of the PR process.
I think in the end the question is less as to whether PR folks should be doing more than just the traditional PR activities (because I think they should given all they have to offer), but rather, what is the best way to integrate that value-add without either 1) offending colleagues who see PR as a very specific set of responsibilities (and don't want to see it bleed in to their set of responsibilities) or 2) sucking PR into the weeds of large departmental operations (such as marketing departments) and slowly eroding the capacity of PR folks to see the big picture as it relates an organization's publics.
That to me is a tricky evolution that is playing itself out as we speak in organizations around the globe.
He makes the simple point that PR is about more than communicating with journalists or writing press releases.
I tend to agree. It use to be that PR folks simply had to worry about articulating and communicating a message. Marketing would worry about the underlying support of that message through collateral, web sites, etc.
Today though, I believe that PR folks are being consulted more on brand management and creation - 'What do we need to do to get through to our publics?'
The reason for this phenomena, I believe, is a function of management teams having good experiences with highly competent public relations professionals. These CXO's have had good experiences with PR folks - they've come to see that good PR professionals think strategically, have a big-picture mentality, have strong underlying skills such as writing for various audiences or project management discipline, and perhaps most importantly are goal-oriented (versus process oriented).
In many ways, these traits are often the same traits you will see in most CXO's.
While marketing has, and continues, to occupy the biggest piece of the pie in terms of managing brand awareness and growth, PR is being consulted in greater frequency than ever before. In my opinion it is because management feels that PR has greater input value than simply crafting the message.
I'm not surprised really. I think of the jobs I've held and I've had tremendous exposure to just about every facet of a business - marketing, business development, product development, CXO duties, the Board, operating logistics, the list goes on (it's quite surprising how many areas people pull PR into for advice or consult).
Most marketing folks tend to occupy a niche - which is to say they are responsible for the marketing activities around a single product or service. They tend to silo as a function of organizational structures - there's a line between sales, marketing, R&D, etc.
But PR folks are exposed to every facet of an organization during the course of their daily activities - which ultimately is what helps create that big picture, strategic perspective that a lot of PR folks develop. Most PR folks don't see there being a line that divides them from any other division - every division is ultimately, in one way or another, a part of the PR process.
I think in the end the question is less as to whether PR folks should be doing more than just the traditional PR activities (because I think they should given all they have to offer), but rather, what is the best way to integrate that value-add without either 1) offending colleagues who see PR as a very specific set of responsibilities (and don't want to see it bleed in to their set of responsibilities) or 2) sucking PR into the weeds of large departmental operations (such as marketing departments) and slowly eroding the capacity of PR folks to see the big picture as it relates an organization's publics.
That to me is a tricky evolution that is playing itself out as we speak in organizations around the globe.
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