As economic storm clouds appear on the horizon, American businesses are looking for ways to avoid the financial currents that have already begun to batter the technology sector. Has the Internet become
a treacherous trap or does it offer a safe harbor?
With the failure of so many e-tailers, consumer businesses certainly appear to be in dangerous waters. For b-to-b e-commerce pioneers, the prospects are somewhat safer, as companies are using the
Internet to improve their business processes and become more efficient. The general consensus is that e-commerce will continue to grow at double-digit rates, but will remain a relatively small part of the
economy over the next three years.
Where the Internet will have its most dramatic impact is in the area of communications. In a report released last month, "The Impact of the Internet on Public Relations and Business Communications,"
the e-consulting firm IMT Strategies concluded that the Internet has more fundamentally changed business communications than commerce, and is creating a valuable new bundle of communications-
related services.
In light of this report, the opportunities for PR firms facing the same economic bad weather as the rest of American businesses are significant. IMT consultants project that the public relations
industry will double in size by 2003, as PR firms help American corporations tap the inherent business opportunities in Internet communications. Judging traditional management consultants, advertising
agencies and other marketing services firms less able to address those opportunities, IMT Strategies estimates that $3 billion - or about 1% of the annual revenues of those industries - will shift to the
PR industry over the next three years.
The consequences for corporate inhouse PR professionals will be just as dramatic, particularly if the economy weakens. In business downturns, companies naturally tighten their belts, and the first
notch usually includes staff groups. But rather than facing downsizing this time, internal PR teams could find themselves playing a larger role in corporate profitability, as companies look for economies,
productivity improvements, and efficient ways to differentiate themselves. Internet communications will provide a myriad of solutions in this area.
The challenge for PR professionals will be to develop the new skills needed to realize those solutions. The IMT Strategies report identifies several major areas of opportunity that build on existing PR
skills. Two of those draw on the PR core competencies of external relations and written communications. I'll discuss these briefly.
Providing Constituent Intelligence
One key function of PR's external relations role is to be the organization's "eyes and ears." Traditionally this has focused primarily on interpretation of media coverage. IMT consultants feel that
the Internet has created the means - and the need - for communicators to take broader responsibility for proactively screening and interpreting information on the Web to support all of an organization's
business strategies and operations. This means using the Internet to more actively fulfill PR's issues management role and to track the views of multiple stakeholders (not just the news media) in a more
direct and timely way. The consultants also see the need for PR to bring clarity and context to the glut of online information that is overwhelming most corporations. Among their recommendations: that PR
professionals "mine" online content for strategic insights and competitive intelligence, and then to communicate their findings to the organization. Several PR agencies already have established business
intelligence groups to this end.
Architects and Web Editors
Another ongoing responsibility for PR professionals is creating and managing the identity of a corporation in the real world. On the Web, that role has been diffused among a wide array of people -
from Web designers to marketers - as companies deploy their Web sites to transact business with consumers, to interact with investors, to recruit employees, to solidify relations with partners, to inform
the media and to communicate with a host of publics. The result is often a muddle of impressions about the organization.
Consider that PR professionals already are responsible for assembling and drafting the company's annual report - because they can most cogently communicate the many facets of the organization to all
the stakeholders who use that document. This same responsibility should now be extended to building the company's identity and presence on the Web, and providing the content to maintain that identity on
a daily basis.
The time is right for public relations professionals to assume a host of new Web-based communications responsibilities. The current economic uncertainty, with its sober outlook for e-commerce, and the
rise of Internet communications combine to create a strategic need that public relations can meet.
Jack Bergen
Jack Bergen is president of the Council of PR Firms. 877/PR-FIRMS. http://www.prfirms.org.
Retrospect and Introspect
David Drobis, chairman of Ketchum and current past chairman of the Council of PR Firms, weighs in with his thoughts on the year ahead:
"The Internet changes everything in this globally connected 24/7 world. The opportunity for PR is to select and zero in on key influencers, delivering messages through the clutter of both old and new
media. There is no longer a mass audience - even for the global organization. For every message there are opinion leaders who serve as the main influentials, whether the message targets employee groups,
government organizations, or communities. PR needs to better understand how the Internet changes [the power and practices of these influentials.]
"The big challenge, of course, is finding people who are smart enough, experienced enough and creative enough to do all of this. We need to find better ways to fill the talent pipeline faster. This
means better recruiting, more recognition of the career opportunities in public relations and certainly a more diverse workforce that understands the issues of a complicated, diverse world."