I talk frequently with young people who seek to jump start their careers at my company. About every fifth one has majored in PR at school or say their burning desire is to be a PR person. When I ask them why, they often say, ” Because I like working with people. ”

“Wonderful, I respond, but you are not applying to be the Pope. What do you think PR has to do with serving the needs of humanity?”  And they stare at me blank faced. Why this glazed expression? Because they, like so many others-including those we would think should know better-really haven’t much a clue about what PR is or should be.

Which is really our fault. We are the influencers, communicators, idea shapers and we allow most of the Western world to be in a baffled state as to what we do and why we do it? This has to change.

Let’s start with the name. Public relations? Sounds like a course in etiquette or a State Department code name for turning the masses in a third world state against the ruling junta. Why don’t we say what it really is: The Incredibly Important Function Of Making Or Shaping News.

Ok, hold that thought. Let it seep in. Remember, in case you have forgotten, how vital that function is to every company, every organization, every leader. And with this powerful realization frozen in your mind, recognize that the first market you need to “sell” is your company or clients’ senior management. Because too many don’t get it. I addressed a global conference of the world’s leading CEOs in Germany last October. If I had announced that my subject was PR, the hosts would have said, “thanks, but please stay home.” But not if I told them and sold them on the Incredibly Important Function Of Making and Shaping The News. That they would want to hear. That they would need to hear.

In most cases, senior management values PR below finance, manufacturing, HR, sales and marketing. And PR people abhor that. But I say it is our fault. They can’t respect it if they don’t know what it truly is. If they don’t know that it saved Tylenol. That it made the iPod. That it keeps Jack Welch a legend. And that it can do the same for them.
Isn’t it time we did PR for PR?

Share This

In this blog, I have been touting the Internet like the second coming. And wow, can I go overboard sometimes. Think of me, when I’m on a roll, as the Out Of Control Spin Zone. I fall in love with something and I’m in a swoon.

Well, let’s go for some balance here. The Internet is the most powerful communications medium that has come along in generations. Perhaps ever. So the thing has to be respected, leveraged, understood by PR pros. That’s what I have been saying and I stand by it.

However (I hate “howevers”….but here goes), its power can be exaggerated in certain circumstances. Case in point: I (half-jokingly) refer to Google ads as Google Fraud. We do much of it for our clients but in most cases the results are disappointing. And the more we see that disappointment, the more our Director of Internet Marketing extols the virtues of Google.

And the chain reaction goes this way: Chris drinks the Kool Aid, spins the anemic results into the magnitude of a Napoleonic victory and I cheer and write about the drunken euphoria we’re both in my blog. In college, we used to say, “he lies and I swear to it.” What I mean by all of this is that there are no miracles out there. There is a Web and it is a powerful force and it, and the entire digital world, need to be part, a major part, of every PR strategy. But smart businesspeople always look at the up and the downside of everything. And the Internet is no exception.

Share This

The first time I heard the song, Put Your Records On, I thought the singer had the sweetest voice I had ever heard. I didn’t know who it was, the sound wasn’t familiar, but I knew she captured me. I wanted to hear her sing in person. I wanted to meet her.

But I was in my car and my cell phone rang and within seconds, I was onto something else. And I forgot about the angelic voice until I heard the song again. This time the artist’s name appeared on my dashboard: Corinne Bailey Rae.

Who is she, I wondered. I was home moments later and Googled her. And there she was on my desktop singing to me. The Google search turned up all kinds of biographical information on Corinne Bailey Rae - about her Grammy nominations and her roots and her early musical influences - but none of it mattered. I could watch her sing, and see her walk through meadows and within minutes I was buying her music online.

Now think about it. There was no advertising here. It was all digital PR, which allows you to show your clients’ product in a highly personal way, in a living way, without having to bow and scrape before a TV producer. You simply post it on the Web, find a way to drive traffic to it, and people (just like me) visit and buy.

This is one of the great powers of digital PR. In this realm, we don’t have to tell stories. We can show them. We can create videos and bring our clients’ products and services to life in a way that words can’t rival. I bought Corinne’s music because digital PR made it, and her, irresistible to me.

There is a growing universe of people who don’t like to read. Ask The New York Times. And there is a growing universe of people who prefer to absorb as much as possible through the Internet. Ask the producers of Jackass 2.5.

If you are a PR professional who is married to words as your primary form of communication, you will fail. The world is moving one way and you are going in a different direction. The wrong direction.

Start dreaming in pictures. And then bring your dreams to the Web. And the world will buy your music.

Share This

Think of the invisible and seemingly invincible wall between PR professionals and our clients’ websites. The Web geeks and guardians don’t want us to come within the castle walls of the sites and in most cases we acquiesce, actively or virtually agreeing that to dabble in matters of the website is a kind of corporate trespassing, banned by the rules of turf protection.

Nonsense. It is time to touch the electric fence, no to climb over it and to voice strong opinions on what it says and does. Not for the sake of a power play, of course, but because our clients’ sites are their windows to the world. As we drive visitors to them through our publicity initiatives, we must do everything possible to make certain that the language, the messages, the branding, the offerings on the sites are in sync with the language, the messages, the branding and the offerings you bring to the media.

Time after time, I read a story about a company that interests me, that I want to learn more about and to consider doing business with. Only to land on its website and think I must have entered the wrong URL. The difference between what I was led to believe by the story and the reality I am confronted on the site, is baffling. I lose interest, leave the site and move on to something else. There are no shortages of places to spend my time and money on.

The fact is, PR people have every right, actually a fiduciary responsibility, to make certain that there is complete alignment between the messages you send and the messages customers and prospects are greeted with on clients’ sites. In effect, on your sites.

Yes I know that entering the private domain of the Websters is tantamount to a declaration of war. They will turn up the power on the electric fence. They will protest to the CMO. They will do everything possible to prevent you from doing the right thing.

But you will need to hang in. To fight the good fight. To prevail. Too often, PR people allow themselves to be pigeonholed. To work on the sidelines. To make news and then hope the client uses this spotlight to grow the business. The time for hoping is over. The more you insist on a role that is central to the growth of the business, the more your star will rise.

Nothing important in business, in all of life, comes easy. And this will not be an exception. But to allow the invisible fence to hold the power once reserved for the Berlin wall, marginalizes your work. There must be a fusion between PR and Web, just as there must be between product development and sales.

The Berlin wall came down. Now it’s time for the electric fence to topple.

Mark Stevens

CEO

Share This