Murphy's Law

Never a day passes without me reading some self-proclaimed guru making unfounded claims about the evil of PR and the death of the media as we know it.  In my more naive days I often rose to the bait and took them to task, even today I am often drawn inexorably towards hitting reply or adding a comment, but I’m on the wagon.

My name is Tom Murphy and I’m a recovering defender of PR to bozos

Ignorance, it seems to me, is one of the biggest challenges facing Public Relations.  For too long it has suited the wider PR industry to keep what we do under wraps.  We’ve strived to keep the secrets of the ‘PR magic circle’ and now it’s regularly biting us.  It’s biting us because the veil of secrecy has allowed unscrupulous flacks to implement unethical programs and it’s biting us because even mundane PR activities are now seen as major manipulation – even when they clearly aren’t anything of the sort.

The answer my friends isn’t blowing in the wind, the answer is education.  I’ll get back to that in a minute.

Yesterday Richard Edelman posted a well thought out entry on how the PR business must address the misperception of Public Relations.  In essence he outlines five elements:

• We need to showcase the diversity of PR practice (i.e. it’s not all about astroturfing)
• We must promote transparency
• We must actively counter accusations about PR
• We need enforecement against rogue practices
• We need to do this as an industry

I think Richard’s points are well made.

I’ll even let him off the sneaky Edelman promotion he managed to work into the post. But there’s one area he has missed: Education.

Much of the misinformation that circulates about PR, is built on ignorance. What the PR industry needs to do, in addition to Richard’s steps above, is to work with the media to help consumers understand how the media works, how PR works and how the two intersect. 

As I mentioned above, our industry has, in the past, been reticient to “open the kimono” but the time has arrived.  If people understand the media process, they are in a better position to interpret the media, understand different viewpoints, appreciate the subtleties of a story.

It would quickly nullify much of the sabre rattling we have to listen to every day.  Of course this approach also requires the media to get their houses in order.  No more paid product placements on TV, disclosure on financial interests etc.

But in a world where consumers are educated on the media, PR starts to get back to what it is actually about: good communication.  PR practitioners must begin to realize that the illusion of control is just that, an illusion.  The Internet has created an environment where information flows freely.

What I think we need to do, is work with the media to educate the audience.  This should ideally begin in school.  Given the importance of the media, kids should be taught how it works, including PR’s role.  This is an important element of helping to clarify what PR is, and equally importantly, what it’s not.

Wouldn’t it be nice if your mummy didn’t think you were a spin doctor?

 

It seems a week doesn’t pass when another instance of PR or media deception doesn’t surface to once again destroy consumer confidence.

Armstrong Williams and Ketchum have been the poster children for the past few months, but new targets are appearing to take their place.

The latest, James Oppenheim, is a particularly nasty departure. 

Appearing on a local TV show in Austin Texas to review toys for kids, Oppenheim promoted a number of different products including a  personalized photo album from Eastman Kodak.

The only problem was that Mr. Oppenheim was paid by Kodak.

On a subsequent appearance on NBC’s Today show, he once again promoted Kodak’s product – though Kodak says it didn’t pay for that particular mention.  That was obviously Oppenheim’s favor to Kodak. And they weren’t alone.  Of the fifteen products he plugged on NBC, nine were former clients and eight had paid for plugs on local television.

The Oppoenheim episode has opened up a big can of worms.  It appears that there’s a booming industry for TV talking heads promoting products for cash with no disclosure before, during or after their segment.

The Wall Street Journal names a few more:

• Corey Greenberg – Today show’s Tech “Editor”. He charges $15,000 for mentions on local TV.  Past clients include Apple, Sony, Hewlett Packard, Seiko Epson, Creative Technology and Energizer.
• Katlean De Monchy – Occasional fashion contributor on Good Morning America.  Paid for mentions by Sam’s Club, DSW and Faviana.

Rachel Branch, a Sony public-relations official, says one of the things Sony likes about Mr. Greenberg is his credibility. “Viewers like him because he’s able to communicate about a product without showing bias,” she says. Mr. Greenberg also comes cheaper than some of his competitors, Ms. Branch adds, without elaborating.

Mr. Greenberg defends his local paid work, saying he’s providing valuable news to consumers. He says he wouldn’t do paid work for a product he didn’t believe in. Mr. Greenberg says his business resembles a magazine that collects money from advertisers and then reviews products marketed by the same companies. He says he can maintain a wall between his business and editorial practices. “I am a one-man magazine,” he says.

Mr. Greenberg says he labors to keep his “Today” appearances distinct from the paid work. He says on “Today” he is giving specific recommendations; on satellite tours, Mr. Greenberg says, he talks generally about gadget-related issues, such as battery life. As a general rule, he says he won’t mention a product on “Today” until six months after a paid mention. He says he’s rebuffed “high five-figure” offers “to place a product on “Today.”

Yeah Right.

As long as someone is willing to pay, there will always be someone willing to take cash. These “editors” are misleading the public, providing, in effect, advertising services for companies without any disclosure. 

It’s completely unethical and unless the TV networks get hold of this practice they will be endangering any credibility they have left.

There’s no doubt that large manufacturers are shelling out cash to these schisters because it’s a cheap way to get products into mainstream TV programming – with strong endorsements to boot.

These people have to be stopped, discloure should be mandatory. It’s another example of the shady intersection of the media and commerce.

 

According to an Associated Press story,  Fleishman-Hillard has settled it’s legal wrangle with the city of Los Angeles for $5.7 million.

The lawsuit arose from accusations by city officials that the PR firm were inflating their bills.

Richard Kline, who replaced Dowie last year as head of Fleishman-Hillard’s Los Angeles office, said the firm wanted to settle because some of the billing fell below its standards. The company also worried about litigation costs and damage to its reputation and business in the event of a trial.

“We apologize and take responsibly and now we’re trying to put this behind us,” Kline said.

The company, he added, has since strengthened oversight of its financial reporting, hired independent accounts to conduct routine audits, and forced employees to certify the accuracy of their billings, among other measures.

In January, a former Fleishman-Hillard executive was indicted in a wide-ranging criminal probe of city government. John Stodder has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of wire fraud in an alleged scheme to overbill the city’s Department of Water and Power by $250,000.

• LA over charging claims continue (July 2004)
• Legal PR snafu (April 2004)
• Los Angeles PR turmoil continues (May 2004)
• L.A. scandal deepens for Fleishman-Hillard – PR Fuel
• PR Misc (January 2005)

Effective communication with an audience demands that you understand who your audience is, where they are, how they find information etc.  This isn’t rocket science, it’s more like PR 101.

Where do you find information? There’s probably a number of answers: magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, mailinglists, industry associations, your archives and maybe search engines?

It has always amazed me that the Public Relations profession hasn’t made a bigger effort to assimilate search engine optimization (SEO) into the PR tool kit. 

Be under no illusion folks, Search Engines are how people are finding information(1).

Search Engines are increasingly becoming the most influential means of information gathering online.  They have major implications for any client you are working with.  Whether you are trying to help them reach potential customers, compete in particular product categories or protect their repuation, search engines are a key element in those activities.

My perception is that there’s relatively little knowledge on the black art of SEO among practitioners.  Rather than owning the practice – after all it’s a logical extension of our other responsibilities – it seems PR is happy to let others handle it.  That’s a big mistake in my book. 

Another mistake I see is that everyone is beginning to talk about blogs as the nirvana of SEO.  Blogs are certainly a good tool in helping to improve SEO, but they are not the answer. How search engines measure and rank web sites is consantly changing as they try and stop people manipulating the rankings, therefore anyone serious about SEO must have a better understanding of how it works, rather than just trotting out blogs as the answer.

SEO involves a whole range of activities, a lot of measurement, fine-tuning and hard work.  I strongly advise you to invest the time to learn and understand how it works before your client starts asking you awkward questions.

Quote from the MediaPost article:

“Search is inextricably tied to your reputation,” said David Dunne, general manager and director of worldwide operations for interactive at Edelman, the largest independent public relations firm. “Your audiences seek answers in search engines, where your messages are competing with those of NGOs, class action firms, and special interest groups.” Dunne said that an entire Web-presence strategy is key, not tactics in isolation. “You need to listen, identify trends, and watch communications around a brand to gain insight and the opportunity to respond on multiple levels.”

More resources:

• Report: Search Engine Users – Pew Internet & American Life Project
• Can Search Help PR’s Reputation? – MediaPost
• Search Engine Optimization Tips – Microsoft
• Search Engine Optimization – SEO Chat
• Search Engine Optimization & Public Relations – SEO-PR
• Search Engine Tips – PR Opinions

(1) 84% of Internet users have used search engines and 56% of users use them every day. Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project.

In a move that will bring happiness to anyone interested in the practice of dishing good old PR industry rumours in the UK, Spin Bunny is back up and running following a hiatus caused by an unnamed PR agency and their lawyers.

How long before we get other regional alternatives? 

The beauty of the Internet is that everyone can be a prophet.  Whether you agree or disagree with someone’s opinion, they have the right to profess it.

One of the PR memes that one regularly comes across on the Interweb, as we business folks sometimes call it, is the impending death of the poor, unloved, unappreciated press release.

This bastion of media relations, which has quietly done its job since the advent of modern PR, has been abused, taunted and consigned to the scrap heap more times than I care to mention.

But for all the consternation, and the talk of new eras in communication, it remains a key piece of PR collateral, an instrument of information.  The humble press release doesn’t complain, it just does its job.

Now before you all ready your knives for the comments section, I am all too aware of the drawbacks of a press release.  I am also very aware (without the need to purchase a book) of alternative approaches to the press release, but I  believe that the low-tech press release still has a future.

This post was inspired by Shel Holtz a long-time Internet PR practitioner who shares my belief that the humble press release still serves a useful purpose:

Press releases should be written for the press. The fact that they appear elsehwere is incidental. How much trouble would it be to add something like this to the press release boilerplate: �This release was written for the press. A consumer news release on this topic is available at…�

None of which suggests that company executives shouldn�t blog. Opening a channel of communcation between an organization�s leadership and key external audiences is one of the best business uses of blogs. But it doesn�t eliminate the need for press releases any more than the introduction of e-mail eliminated the need for telephones and faxes. 

You see in this new era of communication, with its information overload, its ‘new new thing’ mentality, one tenet of successful communications remains constant.  The starting point for every single successful communication program begins with the audience. 

Who are we trying to communicate with and what is the best way to do so.

When you start a web site project you start by getting an understanding for who will be visiting the site and what information will they want, what format will they expect it in etc..  These are the key starting points.

I give a lot of lectures on the ‘new media’ every year and while I cover all the new notable developments such as blogs, RSS, podcasts etc., I always make a point of stressing the continued importance of traditional tools and techniques.

For example, Blogs provide a fantastic channel for companies to engage in 1-to-1 communication with their audience, and to provide that audience with a new side of the organization – to foster a conversation if you will.

However, if I am looking to purchase a computer, while a corporate blog is a worthhile addition to the manufacturer’s site, I will also want to look at features, specifications, pricing details, service offerings etc.  In summary I’ll want your typical product page.

Similarly, press releases provide a well understood means of official communication for an individual or organization. If you are looking for the latest news you will seek the press release.  Furthermore for statutory reasons press releases are an essential record of a company’s performance and history.

There is nothing to stop you using blogs to supplement the press release.  In fact we now have a wide array of tools for targeting our audiences including webcasts, web pages, telephones, face-to-face briefings, blogs, bloggers, RSS, e-mail, instant messaging, bulletin boards, mailing lists and intranets.  But that doesn’t negate the need for a press release.

A competent PR professional will use the best tools at their disposal to successfully communicate with an audience. 

In the unlikely event that you think I am some sort of luddite, I should mention that I pitched my first blog over three years ago this week. I have added blogs as a core tool in most of my communications programs, but I still use press releases and they still provide a useful tool.  By all means embrace the ‘new new thing’, but never forget the basics of good PR practice, they are a timeless essential.

 

 Reports that the traditional media are in their final days are somewhat misleading if the New York Times’ latest figures are anything to go by.  NYTimes.com had over 555 million pageviews in March, an increase of 17% year-on-year with 15 million unique visitors to the site in March 2005, an increase of 10% over the same period in 2004.

Their RSS figures also make interesting reading:

“NYTimes.com’s RSS feeds generated 5.9 million pageviews on the site in March, which represents a 342% increase year over year and a 39% increase from February’s 4.3 million pageviews. The sections that were most popular among RSS feeds included: Washington and Business. The feeds have been available since February 2002.”

 

 Jim Horton points to an Associated Press story on how the newspaper publishers are focusing in on how best to take advantage of the Internet.

“Publishers who successfully navigate the transition will be pleased with the payoff, Schneider predicted. The Internet is “hugely profitable,” she said. “The revenue that comes online goes disproportionately to the bottom line.”

 

 Andrew Smith recently gave a talk to the UK�s National Union of Journalists (NUJ) on how technology is going to change journalism, he provides a synopsis.

“What we can see as a general trend is that there are many, many more sources than there were. When I started at The Independent ten years ago in May 1995, the main sources of regular information were (in order of ascending importance) paper press releases, faxes, other newspapers, news wires, and the bloody Today program, which always seemed to set the agenda for the day. By the time I left, in December 2004, the sources were: 2 billion web sites, 200 emails per day, other newspapers, news wires and the sodding Today program. (I haven�t mentioned personal contacts in either list because I�m talking about regular sources – the stuff that newsdesks and hard-press daily hacks need to feed the tyrannical monster of the empty page.)

In that time things moved from my being one of only two email addresses on the newsroom floor (along with letters), having to use a dialup modem to collect my mail and thus blocking my phone, to one where everyone had broadband connections right on their desk.”

 

 Meanwhile the ever reliable Trevor Cook provides a compendium of some recent content that covers the whole (as Trevor mentions futile) ‘blog vs. journalism’ debate.

 

 Matt Smith at the SF Weekly awards  Jennifer Witherspoon – a PR practitioner with Environmental Defense – an honorary “2005 Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Public Relations”. Congratulations to Jennifer!

 

 

 Speaking of Pulitzer prize winners… Laurie Garrett laments the growing proportion of journalism undergraduates looking for a career in Public Relations.

 

 

 Richard Bailey wonders aloud why more in-house PR practitioners are blogging�

 

 

 Meanwhile, Jeremy Pepper kicks off the Cluelesstrain – I have to say it�s good to seem some strong opinions�

 

 

 Keith Jackson questions the differences between a journalist and a PR practitioner…

 

 

 There are many downsides of an international PR posting…. [really annoying free subscription required]

 

 

Blake Barbera has an interesting new blog called Wet Feet PR which is a look at Public Relations from the perspective of a new practitioner.

Thanks to Richard Bailey for the link.

 Fergus Burns at Nooked points to a post written by Nick Aster at SiliconValley Watcher on RSS for Dummies…

“RSS is so great because it frees you from having to deal with slow-performing websites, flashing ads, poor site navigation and other hazards. You can have content sent to you instead, like a well-organized piece of email. Because an RSS reader can alert you to new entries, it’s great for following the news or finding out when your competitor has posted something new on their website.”

 

 Meanwhile an indication on the rude health and growth of RSS is the report from  the New York Times that the number of pageviews driven by RSS jumped by 342% year on year (see more in the media story above).

 

 David Berlind at ZDNet has a piece on the vexed question of how to measure RSS:

“At the very least, even with the technologies we have here at CNET Networks, I can tell how many people are subscribing.  But, absent of knowing how many people are listening, I�m not sure what that�s worth when you consider the fact that it�s so easy to subscribe and unlike with most newspapers, it�s free.”

 

 Elizabeth Albrycht points to some tips from Bulldog Reporter’s Media Relations Insider on getting RSS on your website.

 

 Finally, PR blogger Dee Rambeau of DVCO Technology was in touch to let me know that over fifty companies are currently in the process of deploying RSS feeds in their news rooms using PR Newswire’s MediaRoom service which is powered by Dee’s company.