Day: October 28, 2004

The children of the boom….

The Internet boom was a period of excess that we’ll probably never see at the same scale again… hopefully.

If you worked in PR during that time, and in particular technology PR, it was at once both amazing and scary.

Technology companies (and PR) moved center stage, money was no object, fees went through the roof and although I’ve no data to prove it, I imagine the number of people employed in Public Relations swelled to unknown levels.

The aftershock of the bubble was severe. All of a sudden, to quote my CEO, someone found the gravity switch and turned it on.

Layoffs, agency closures, salary reductions and changed expectations were the order of the day and in 2004 we’re still in recovery mode.

As Jim Horton observes:

“It was a pity society misled so many into thinking they were going to do well from the beginning and rise to riches. What happened in California was a Gold Rush and like the original Gold Rush of 1849, it lasted five years until most went bust. I suspect the class of 1999 has a hard-earned conservatism about money and lifestyle. It was and is much needed and not so bad. How many SUVs do we need on the road anyway?”

One of the major trends of this has been the advent of a new generation of sole PR practitioners and small firms who are building successful careers and businesses offering targeted services.  But what about the graduates who emerged during the boom and accepted it as the normal business environment?

The Associated Press has a sobering article that looks at how graduates of the boom have been managing in a tough economy.

The Boston public relations firm where she interned during her senior year promoted Erk to a full-time employee. It was 1999, the economy was booming, and Erk’s higher-ups told her she’d be a vice president in a few years.

But the past five years haven’t brought slick suits or a corner office. By 2001, Erk found herself unemployed and struggling to make her rent, pay her utilities and feed her cats.

It's the communication stupid…

Dan Gillmor recently received a blundering PR pitch on behalf of a company that offers online monitoring services.

One of their pitch “ideas” to Dan was:

“What F1000 Companies are doing to take action against bloggers”

The post includes loads of comments from Dan’s readers covering blogs, PR, journalism and a combination of all three.  Many of the comments try to re-iterate the standard steroypes of journalists, public relations pros and bloggers.

It’s a great illustration of the common misperceptions that plague this subject.

So here’s my take.

Public Relations is about the PUBLIC

PR does not stand for press relations.  Just because that’s the high profile element does not mean it’s true.  If you are conducting PUBLIC relations campaigns and programs that are aimed at helping organizations achieve specific objectives, you’ll soon realize that while the media are very important, they are one constituent.  Effective PR also reaches out to staff, partners, customers, prospects, analysts, distributors, friends and family, regulators, industry bodies, investors, the local community and yes even bloggers.

Blogging is not THE conversation

Blogging provides a great means of communication.  It can provide a useful means of engaging with your audience in a more personal manner.  It can stimulate debate.  Reaching out to bloggers can help reach your audience.  But guess what, there are other conversations you need to have as well.  You need to build dialogue with journalists, analysts, staff etc.  These conversations will NOT all happen through weblogs. Blogging promotes good discipline on how to communicate in a more personal manner. But if you are only promoting conversation through blogs then you are missing the point.  The widely respected Cluetrain Manifesto pre-dated blogging and it covered all facets of communication.

Revenge and leverage are yesterday’s tactics

The changes in how people receive, use and share information affects every element of a Public Relations campaign. The re-emerging art of conversation provides a fantastic opportunity to re-engage audiences.  Conversation is not exclusive to good news.  In fact, conversation can often be most effective when dealing with problematic or contentious relationships. For example, organizations often publicly keep score with journalists or analysts they believe have treated them unfairly.  Does that make the situation better? Does that solve the problem? No. Building a conversation with your adversaries, addressing their issues is the best way forward.  There will always be battles you simply can’t win, but at least be engaging in open dialogue you give yourself a chance of turning a bad situation to your advantage.

Control is mis-understood

Controlling any audience these days is fast becoming a myth. The free flow of information, the advent of independent bloggers and the pressures on journalists and analysts are fast making control the PR equivalent of Atlantis. It’s a great idea but you’ll never get there. If you approach PR with control in mind you will miss it’s greatest potential – connecting and communicating with your audience.

Remember the basics

Effective PR comes from solid foundations.  Get the basics of your campaign right.  Who are you communicating with? What are your communicating? Why are you communicating? How are you communicating? What are the problems and issues? Understand the challenges and the opportunities.  Tie your programs to your client’s business objectives.  These basic building blocks provide the best way forward for a successful campaign.

 

I think Dan summarizes these views perfectly in his closing comment:

“No doubt, what’s happening is messy. That makes everyone uncomfortable, especially those of us who grew up in a relatively centralized, top-down media environment. But complaining about it won’t work. Dealing with it — not as a threat but an opportunity — is the only rational answer.”

 

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