Adverts for newspapers are encouraging us to be "Great, Britain" in 2012. Such an important comma between those two words but how do we become 'Great' in the world of PR and Communications? What are the new challenges that we as PR professionals and the businesses we communicate on behalf of, must overcome to be 'Great' in 2012.
Is it time to throw away the comms text books? Perhaps not but it is time to tear out whole chapters and insert new ones. Social media isn't a new idea in PR but its place is ever evolving and presents new challenges to businesses and PR professionals alike.
PR used to be judged by how many column inches were secured. There have always been flaws with that such as the value people present are always based on 'rate card' advertising prices. The Advertising Equivalent Value is £XYZ the PR Manager/Director would bellow executives as a justification of their worth. 2011 was the year that such measures of judging comms/PR finally became ineffectual and, worse than that, wholly misleading.
It could be argued that the best PR professionals are now the hardest to gauge. A dilemma for a business - for these professionals can make one Tweet, one Facebook post and make things happen for your business. They can set a ball rolling that you will never fully realise but will certainly feel the effects of either directly or indirectly.
I recently made a simple video filmed mostly on my iPhone. It gained masses of tv, radio, online a physical press as well as over 3000 YouTube hits. It would have been a incredible figure based on old school advertising value equivalent figures. So much of that exposure would not have been picked up though. Not one of those YouTube views would have been calculated by any "cuttings service" though, not one of my tweets would have been attributed any particular worth. How useless a service then that cannot gauge the effect every tweet has every day, hour, minute, second? Furthermore, not one relationship building tweet that led to other opportunities would have been recognised by these methods.
These are different times and PRs need to morph quickly, if they haven't already, or leave the arena. Some will advocate new roles (for themselves to fill of course) but it won't be the same. The "old school" may accuse you of being self-serving, self-promoting but pay no attention. Those that cannot keep up have always sought to "have concerns" over how the innovators do things - the once vilified Steve Jobs at Apple anyone?
The other day a comms person in my industry, that should know better, accused another of being self-serving - I was gobsmacked. I really rate the person they were referring to. It's a shame the person that made the comment so obviously doesn't "get it." It's essential we all do.
Great comms people today will still use all the traditional tools of their trade though. No comms professional should ever arrive at your business unable to hit the PR ground running. The best PR have always come with a host of contacts that are either relevant, or can put them in touch with people who are. If they don't have that the smart businesses always smell a rat.
These days businesses can buy in contact information. It costs thousands, though has some uses, but it will never be a replacement for actually knowing your contacts. There's also a case to say that such purchases are unnecessary for those that can be bothered to build their own. After all, you are already speaking to the media aren't you? You know where to look don't you?
The savvy PR will engage directly with the media, customers and other key stakeholders via social media, picking up a phone, going to see them. The less savvy turn themselves into professional administration managers and comms of a bygone age. Sure, still professional - but more admin rather than comms focussed.
Comms teams can still use alternatives like email newsletters, for now, but be smarter. Embed video links, use 'one liners' to encourage click through. The click through should then land on your website or socmed portal and so drive up hits to your website and YouTube channel alike. This will increase consumption of your messages and your improve your search engine optimisation.
Do all of the above though and soon enough you'll see others in your team get results, perhaps even bigger results than you, if they care enough about what they are doing even if they've been unable to previously. After all, PR does not mean posting an article yourself on the website belonging to someone else and those that just employ this or traditional methods will find it hard to exist in modern PR.
The modern day PR needs the trust of their CEO and company if they are to be 'Great.' They need to be allowed to innovate, shoulder criticism from others that do not really understand or fully use social media, cope with others stealing the credit for their ideas and be part of a 24/7 business. Businesses, embrace those in your teams that do this. Don't ostracise them as you can bet they are the ones that want the best for your business if they are going to these efforts and they are the ones that can deliver too. PR professionals, it is our job to "Get it" then "Get on with it."
Be brave in 2012 everyone. Be 'GREAT.'
.
No comments:
Post a Comment