Posts Tagged ‘public relations’

1. Are PR professionals worth the money?

   Published on Thursday, July 8th, 2010

   Naturally as the GM of a major PR consultancy my response is yes. The range of PR services available in New Zealand are as wide and varied as the needs of the individuals and organisations who procure these services. Anyone who spends money on PR rightly expects a meaningful communication outcome. I was therefore intrigued to find out more about a DIY PR programme and service which claimed to be a ‘threat’ to PR.

   Presumably the claim, made in a media statement that PR consultancies are under threat, was designed to get attention, as was the statement suggesting that companies currently pay exorbitant amounts of money to generate publicity.  For what is apparently a much lower fee, organisations can learn how to do it themselves and save money in the process.  ‘All it takes’ is an understanding of the publicity process and you can ‘do your own’ PR.

   An interesting proposition, and let me make it clear,  I am not criticising the premise of people doing their own PR, nor deriding the author of this media statement who might  offer a good service for the right people. 

   There are a good number of people who drive their own publicity and others who, if they had the knowledge and inclination, could also do so. But there are some who should not and plenty more who, while willing and possibly able, will simply never get around to it.  

   The DIY advocate focuses on the common misconception that PR is simply about generating publicity via the media. Today, PR is about building strong relationships with publics; effective, authentic and mutually beneficial relationships. Thus the term: PUBLIC RELATIONS.
    
   One of the key benefits brought to a company by an external agency is the third eye and an independent perspective. We are experts in the PR business while the client is the expert in their business. 

   Sound PR, focused on building relationships, is most certainly worth the investment and will contribute to long-term success. 

   Even positive publicity does not necessarily build great relationships or add value to your business. It can, but simply looking to generate publicity for the sake of column inches is not always good PR.   

   Whether you DIY, or engage experts – internally or externally – at the forefront of your mind should be an understanding of the needs of all target audiences. Great PR people will develop strategies that ensure a company addresses all audiences, and will help develop a programme that is genuinely mutually beneficial to all.

   

2. Clear messages from the golden age of advertising

   Published on Thursday, March 4th, 2010

   If you are anywhere near the creative industries, public relations and advertising, and want a good pick-me-up, go see Art and Copy at the Documentary Film Festival.

   Yeah, it’s a review of the early American advertising industry, but there is still freshness about their thinking and their client solutions.  We learned of the irreverence these pioneers had for their clients, but also of the tremendous results that were achieved. This was the golden age of advertising, when people loved marketing and weren’t yet called ‘consumers’.

   For me, two comments had particular resonance:

   - People make advertising decisions by committee, because it avoids them taking responsibility if things go wrong (this applies equally to other industries of course); and
   - If you make a mistake, forget it and move on. You learn nothing from your failures, but lots from your success. Art & Copy featured this ad as an example.

    

   Another thing that I’ve learned about managing communications, and it was only today, from a client who was talking about preparing good briefs: the proposals that clients receive from their agencies are only as good as the brief they’ve been give. Most likely, if the ideas are crap, the brief was crap. I hasten to add that our discussion did not relate to anything that had just been proposed.

   

3. Embargoes are a convention not to be dabbled in

   Published on Friday, August 7th, 2009

   Earlier this week Australian security services and Melbourne police rounded up a group of alleged terrorists.  The raids occurred around 6 am, but at 1.30 am a newspaper was published reporting on matter relating to the raids.

   Security services believed they had an agreement with the media to not publish or broadcast information on the raids until after they had occurred.

   Clearly someone was not aware of this situation.  The newspaper’s action could potentially have resulted in a deadly outcome.

   In its own way, this issue raises the uncomfortable matter of embargoes and how they are used. 

   Embargoes are a convention that may or may not be honoured by the media.  They have no legal standing, and there is no real recourse if an embargo is broken.

   There are some embargoes like the release of Honours Lists that are always respected.  These lists are released under embargo to allow time for the media to prepare meaningful news items. It is an arrangement that suits both the Government and media, and the key to its success is the knowledge that a news group that breaks this embargo will be out in the cold and potentially at a commercial disadvantage next time around!

   So, embargoes are more likely to be honoured if they represent part of regular supply of information that the media genuinely want to use.

   Embargoes should never be used as a mechanism for manipulating the timing of a release so to suit a company or organisation. 

   Companies wishing to release material under embargo should do so with the support of professionals like us.  We will counsel their use only in situations where we know the receiving party will respect the arrangement.

   The alternative is to dabble at your own risk.