Hands up… all is not well in the world of Public Relations

Earlier this week Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff published a plea to PR professionals to take a stand against unprofessional practices.

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Compared to many previous rants on this issue and the shoddy practices we’re all aware of, his plea is rational and completely fair.

If you work in Public Relations, then you should passionately care about the industry’s image – and the damage caused by silly people.

The problem is that there’s so much of it.

Please note that I’m not including simple mistakes in this. Mistakes happen, that’s why they’re called mistakes. Berating someone for a simple error makes me extremely uncomfortable, we all make them.

But unprofessional, lazy or stupid conduct should be called out.

I write posts in this blog infrequently. It’s read even less frequently. Yet I am, through the power of online databases – and lazy PR people – inundated with irrelevant pitches every single day. I am convinced some of these databases must have a “spam anyone with a (suspected) pulse” filter.

Of course I also get the odd, relevant, well written pitch, which just makes me feel guilty that they wasted good time on me Smile.

So let’s keep calling it out and hopefully people will start to learn. Don’t hold your breath though….

Additional thought: Arthur Yann of the PRSA gets a star for responding to Josh’s post. However, although the PRSA is an organization focused on supporting its membership, something I think is very important, I do think it’s a little ironic that only members can view their Social Media Policy.

@tpemurphy

<<insert noun>> is dead

If I have to read another inane blog post about the death of something – normally caused by social media – I may turn off the Interweb.

A broken clock may indeed by right twice a day, but I still see Public Relations, press releases, journalists, e-mail, instant messaging, social networking and about 2,000 other things – that were seemingly in imminent peril – alive and well.

Let’s try and move the conversation on folks, there really is nothing to see here.

 

@tpemurphy

Book Review: Out of many, not enough

Harold Burson’s 2004 memoir E Pluribus Unum – The Making of Burson Marsteller was my second book of 2011 and to be honest I was looking forward to starting it. 

Mr. Burson is one of the few giants of the Public Relations business.  In 1953 with Bill Marsteller he started Burson-Marsteller and drove its growth and expansion to eventually become the biggest PR firm in the world. He continues to go into the office today in his 80s and he has his own site and blog.

I had high expectations for the book, I was looking forward to insights into the PR business from the 1950s to today, but to be honest, I was disappointed.

The book opens brightly with an account of how he found himself in a career in Public Relations, but it soon descends into a potted company backgrounder on B-M’s growth around the world.  There’s little narrative or insights into the business but instead it becomes a collection of cities, people, dates and office openings.

I really struggled with it and I actually considered not finishing the book, but I was glad I did.  The last third of the book provides a little more insight into Mr. Burson’s working life such as his work with Coca-Cola and some of the high profile issues he managed.

But overall I’d have to say that this was, sadly, a missed opportunity to get a better insight into the career of one of the most successful Public Relations executives who worked with many of the best known organizations in the world over five decades.

The lack of a compelling narrative and limited insights into the practice or business of Public Relations mean I couldn’t recommend it.

A pity.

Posted by Tom Murphy – @tpemurphy

Credibility means walking the walk

Two things triggered this post.  First, a couple of weeks ago I was talking with someone who expressed despair at who in the PR/Marketing sphere should she be following/reading and how would she know if she could trust they were talking sense or not.

I’ll address that first. There’s a fantastic, rich reservoir of opinions, insight and advice out there.  There’s also a lot of hot air and no shortage of people proffering opinions as fact.

To find blogs, the AdAge Power 150 list is a good place to start though it’s more marketing focused than it used to be. Also jump on Twitter and do some searching for PR – and make sure you download an RSS reader which will make tracking the blogs you choose simple and fast.

You’ll quickly find writers who are providing good insights – and there are many – and those who aren’t.  The key element for me is credibility.

This brings me to the second trigger for this post.  On the run up to the New Year, one of the more widely read social media commentators sent a mock-humble – bordering on patronizing – tweet thanking his followers from the bottom of his heart for allowing him to share his wisdom with them. (I’m paraphrasing Smile.)

After the heaving in my stomach had subsided following reading this tweet, I decided to see if this magnanimous global leader ‘walked the walk’. This is one of our cherished experts who preaches about how social media is changing the world and we can no longer broadcast messages but instead we must engage with me, have one-t0-one conversations.

I clicked on his profile – for it was a he.

He failed the test.

For someone who preaches about engagement I was pretty surprised to find that he was following 0.8% of his followers. Doesn’t sound like he’s living the whole engagement dream there. Sounds like he’s broadcasting.

Of course there are people from the entertainment and sports world who have millions of followers and broadcast to them.  I follow some of them and I’ve no problem with that.  But if you don’t practice what you preach, then sorry, you’ve failed the credibility test and been removed from my RSS feedreader.

Posted by Tom Murphy – @tpemurphy

The joy of… language

During a meeting earlier this week I spotted a well thumbed copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves on an office book shelf.  This discovery sparked an enjoyable conversation on the power of language. Of course if you’re working in Public Relations then language is occupational currency.

Later in the week I was absent mindedly browsing Netflix and happened upon an old gem, the entire series of Yes Minister.

For the uninitiated “Yes (Prime) Minister” is a 30 year old BBC television comedy that follows the career of a Minister in her majesty’s government (and later as he assumes the role of Prime Minister) and his daily struggle with the powers of the civil service.

If you love language then this is something you should watch.

“No buts,” the Minister snapped. “All I get from the Civil Service is delaying tactics.”

“I wouldn’t call Civil Service delays “tactics”, Minister,” Sir Humphrey replied.  “That would be to mistake lethargy for strategy.”

In today’s climate of “transparency” and “plain English” the use of language in the series – purely for the sake of obfuscation and deceit – is truly a joy!

From a PR perspective there’s an interesting potential parallel between the Minister’s relationship with the Civil Service; and a dysfunctional client-agency relationship.  (Obviously this doesn’t reflect any of my client relationships when I worked on the agency side, or god forbid my agency relationships since I crossed the table :-))

Witness a memo between two Civil Servants:

Bernard,

A Minister’s absence is desirable because it enables you to do the job properly:

  1. No silly questions
  2. No bright ideas
  3. No fussing about what the papers are saying

One week’s absence, plus briefing beforehand and debriefing and catching up on the backlog on his return, means that he can be kept out of the Department’s hair for virtually a fortnight.

Furthermore, a Minister’s absence is the best cover for not informing the Minister when it is not desirable to do so – and for the next six months, if he complains of not having been informed about something, tell him it came up while he was away.

Substitute “Minister” for Client and “Department” for Agency 🙂

Watch the series or better yet, exercise your mind and buy the books which give you time to savor the plots, the thinking, but most of all the language.

Fantastic.