There's an interesting discussion going on online about “Is the PR Business Extinct?”
The talk was precipitated by one of these pseudo scientific pieces that throws around statistics, i.e., “70% of today's PR firms with their traditional public relations and communications business structures will not survive the fast-approaching social media avalanche."
Of course, there is nothing like outrageousness to get someone’s attention. The trouble is it’s grossly inaccurate.
As a longstanding PR professional, from my perspective, PR is thriving as never before. Sure, the newspapers we have been wedded too are imploding, but the Internet has provided an entirely new life for PR. That’s because PR is not tied to any one media but serves a company’s public.
In fact, this interactive age plays to PR’s strength, its ability to build relationships, create enticing content and get others excited about a company, individual, product or service.
PR is also a necessity in this age of personal branding where messaging and content carry the day. Public relations practitioners like no other profession know how to hone and shape a message so it tells your story in a way that resonates with others.
True, we may not be the most techno-savvy folks, but equally important, we know how to use technology to service our clients. Any company worth its salt today should be consulting with PR people on its blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook profile, Linkedin profile and other social media. As Guy Kawasaki noted, when talking about his Twitter account to the New York Times, “It’s a marketing tool.”
So before we assign PR to the ash heap of history, consider that public relations has only been around for a wee thousands of years. Julius Cesar, for example, in 50 BC wrote his campaign biography for PR reasons -- to convince the Roman people he would make the best head of state.
I started thinking about all of this over the weekend when I attended a great conference run by PR Boutiques International. Full Disclosure: I am a member of this fantastic group of small PR shops based around the world. Eric Schwartzman, who spoke at the conference, reminded us that “New media doesn’t kill old media. Old media just adopts.”
Similarly, public relations isn’t dying. It’s evolving – and getting better.
Wendy Marx, PR and Personal Branding Specialist, Marx Communications
Technorati tags: Public Relations, PR, Personal Branding
Related Stories: | Topics:Leadership, Management, Careers, personal brand, personal branding, self-promotion, public relations, PR, Twitter Inc., Technorati Inc., Kawasaki, Wendy Marx, Eric Schwartzman |
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Recent Comments | 14 Total
June 3, 2009 at 8:46pm by Loraine Antrim
No PR is not dead! And as you rightly point out, Wendy, it IS evolving and finding its place in the new order.
Web 2.0 and social media has forced transformation for many business models, PR included.
What PR has done is adapt to the changing environment by finding niches in so many cracks and crevices created by social media: SEO, blogging, video-blogging, online reputation management etc. etc.
Where PR used to try and control the conversation, now it is finding a way to join the conversation and influence it. And web 2.0 technology is assisting PR experts, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Web sites or various other end results of the new technologies. Both huge multi-national global PR firms and smaller agencies are heeding the call of the "new order."
This is truly Darwinian. Just as print news media is adapting and moving to an online presence, so is PR finding its adaptive footprint. And you are right on the money by highlighting that telling a story has not changed as the best vehicle to market a client's product or service or reputation. Now YouTube is the conduit for the story; no big deal. New times, new vehicles.
The question for any PR professional today is, are you up-leveling your skills to stay current? If not, you will not have a voice in the current conversation.
--
Loraine Antrim, Co-founding Partner, Core Ideas Communication
June 3, 2009 at 8:47pm by Loraine Antrim
No PR is not dead! And as you rightly point out, Wendy, it IS evolving and finding its place in the new order.
Web 2.0 and social media has forced transformation for many business models, PR included.
What PR has done is adapt to the changing environment by finding niches in so many cracks and crevices created by social media: SEO, blogging, video-blogging, online reputation management etc. etc.
Where PR used to try and control the conversation, now it is finding a way to join the conversation and influence it. And web 2.0 technology is assisting PR experts, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Web sites or various other end results of the new technologies. Both huge multi-national global PR firms and smaller agencies are heeding the call of the "new order."
This is truly Darwinian. Just as print news media is adapting and moving to an online presence, so is PR finding its adaptive footprint. And you are right on the money by highlighting that telling a story has not changed as the best vehicle to market a client's product or service or reputation. Now YouTube is the conduit for the story; no big deal. New times, new vehicles.
The question for any PR professional today is, are you up-leveling your skills to stay current? If not, you will not have a voice in the current conversation.
--
Loraine Antrim, Co-founding Partner, Core Ideas Communication
June 4, 2009 at 12:19pm by Wendy Marx
Great points, Loraine, and thanks for adding to the discussion.
--
Wendy Marx
Personal Branding and PR Specialist
wendy@marxcommunications.com
http://www.marxcommunications.com
June 10, 2009 at 4:12am by Charles Matovu
Well the much acclaimed credit crunch seems to indirectly change the whole purview of the PR industry, companies tend to become rather conservative one can opine .
June 10, 2009 at 4:17am by Charles Matovu
Well in view of the current credit crunch the PR industry faces inevitable difficulty as companies tend to become rather conservative in business attitude.This may not be directly accepted but is verilly a factor herein.
June 14, 2009 at 12:09pm by Wendy Marx
Charles, thank you for your thoughts. I beg to differ. I believe the credit crunch makes PR all the more viable as companies move some dollars from high cost traditional advertising to more cost-efficient, targeted PR. Obviously, as I indicated, PR needs to evolve to meet the needs of companies eager to get visibility in social media as well as traditional media and eager to get a quantifiable return.
June 19, 2009 at 10:47am by Christopher Florentz
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports on the demise of public relations are highly exagerated. If anything, public relations continues to evolve and integrate with other disciplines such as marketing, to the point where PR and marcom are almost used interchangeably. Twain also observed that it's difference of opinion that makes for a horse race. As long as there are horse races, public relations in whatever form it morphs will likely remain alive and well.
June 19, 2009 at 10:48am by Christopher Florentz
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports on the demise of public relations are highly exagerated. If anything, public relations continues to evolve and integrate with other disciplines such as marketing, to the point where PR and marcom are almost used interchangeably. Twain also observed that it's difference of opinion that makes for a horse race. As long as there are horse races, public relations in whatever form it morphs will likely remain alive and well.
June 19, 2009 at 10:51am by Christopher Florentz
Ooops...sorry about the repeat post.
June 21, 2009 at 10:48am by Wendy Marx
Christopher, it was worth repeating. I couldn't agree with you more.
September 8, 2009 at 8:04am by er th
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