PR Viewpoint Sept 2008 - Which Road Will Public Relations Take?

Down one road, we find the useless public relations person lying dejected in the ditch.  The Internet has made everyone a reader and everyone a publisher, directly linked together, and the professional communicator is unable to keep his position as intermediary between management and all of the organization's stakeholders.  Consumers, employees, government officials, suppliers, the community, competitors, journalists, NGOs (and who knows who else is out there?) are all interacting 24 hours a day all around the world.  The speed and complexity of the interconnections remove any chance of managing relationships or messages, and the public relations person is left out of the equation and better start looking for a new career.

Down the other road, the public relations person lives in the biggest house on the best block and drives a brand new Lexus.  As a public relations person, she is used to helping companies start and join conversations, and knows how to engage communities persuasively.  She's used to articulating compelling points of view and telling stories of genuine relevance and interest to her audiences.  Her colleagues in advertising who for years splashed messages on billboards and broadcast creative but self indulgent commercials on TV are now all flipping hamburgers at McDonald's.  She knows she can't precisely control the conversations taking place or the myriad interactions, but she is better positioned than anybody else to help influence the agenda and credibly position in the organization.

So, which way will public relations go?  The marketing and public affairs industries are buzzing about the "New PR," "Web PR," "Interactive PR" and "PR 2.0."  And public relations firms are tripping over themselves to set up interactive and new media divisions.   Although there are certainly many challenges out there that require new responses and new tools, smart communicators are realizing that the bedrock of the public relations isn't broken, and the way forward to is to adjust to the new landscape rather than start over from scratch. 

Helping organizations navigate the media scene has been the traditional core strength of public relations.  Now both the media and the behavior of consumers of media have changed. In Hong Kong, for example, men spend more time on the Internet than they do watching television.  In Japan, the Internet is now the principle source of news.  46% of Chinese netizens say they read blogs daily, and actress Xu Jiinglei's blog attracted nearly 90 million visitors over an 18 month period.  The reach and frequency that previously only television could offer has been challenged by the Web, and the Internet offers opportunities to very precisely target groups that no specialist or trade magazine can ever match. With these changes, the public relations professional's twin roles as gatekeeper and promoter have also changed. 

Technology has transformed the speed and audience composition of media, and also introduced new dynamics.  Opt in E-mail campaigns (as opposed to Spam) offer the ability to reach lists larger than entire newspaper circulations with messages targeted to individuals, or to groups.  Social media platforms offer a degree of interactivity and interconnection undreamed of even three years ago. 

Yet despite these changes, the ongoing value of the public relations professional remains. The skilled PR pro encourages and enables relevant third parties to speak publicly and credibly about your organization, industry or issue.  100% of the people (whether they are bloggers, journalists, or social media mavens) will never embrace your message 100% of the time, but even well thought out disagreements with your message can add credence and enlist support from online communities.

Going back to a time-tested principle, updated for the new dynamics, helps make the new tools work.  Whether online or offline, the key is to carefully determine and passionately articulate a point of view. 

This technique works for organizations, new product launches, crisis management, and even for political candidates seeking election.  Marketers have long known the importance of stressing a product or service's benefits over its features.  Fewer have mastered the art of raising topics and issues and then consistently and engagingly putting across a truly original and relevant point of view. 

Developing a powerful point of view requires stepping back, finding or developing an objective stance, and offering some real insight on the environment in which you do business and how it is changing.  A compelling point of view is a credible platform on which to build your communications.  Although more indirect than simply promoting your messages, over the medium and long term, you have the basis for a sustainable campaign whether you are reaching out to engage your stakeholders or are joining a conversation that is already in progress.  A powerful, well substantiated, point of view helps grab media attention, and also sparks out to reach your other constituents directly.

"The network is the computer" declared Sun Microsystems.  That powerful point of view helped frame the debate about whether stand alone computer hardware or software-linked networks would drive the future of computing.  The Body Shop was similarly successful with the proposition "You can look and feel great without animal testing..."  Apple helped change the way consumers looked at computers and drove sales with the proposition that "Computers don't need to be dull grey boxes." 

Closer to home, FIAT in China believes that environmental responsibility is less about what car you choose, and more about how you drive it. French infrastructure company Alstom has taken the bold stance that China can't solve its power generation challenges with new plants alone: it must also enable existing plants to retro-fit for carbon capture.  Convergys, a Fortune 500 global relationship management company, believes that enterprises should treat their contact centers as profit centers, not cost centers, to unlock their full value.

As these examples show, viewpoints don't need to be relevant to all the people all the time. But to get attention in the crowded, noisy, constantly-changing environment of the Internet - or, for that matter, the traditional media newsroom - each viewpoint must be insightful, objective, relevant and original.  Once you have a powerful point of view, you can reach out and engage your stakeholders.  Social media networks, news releases, search engine optimization, seminars and special events, traditional media advertising, online advertising and microsites are just a few of the old and new channels that are viable platforms for your message.

So, which way will public relations go?  Will it wander down the road to irrelevance by missing the new dynamic and clinging to old media relationships that are no longer the controlling force?  Or does it really all depend on your point of view, and professional communicators will have a refreshed and newly important role?  The future's in your hands.

David Ketchum

CEO

Upstream Asia