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How has PR progressed as a medium?
In research conducted last year by Chime and London Business School that looked at the role different media channels played in influencing purchases, it was found that brand PR and sponsorship were the most vital. And the less tangible the product, the more important it became - reaching over 80%. That's not really a surprise. Most successful marketers will accept that in order to positively influence potential clients they need to demonstrate values such as thought-leadership, innovation and flexibility.
Yet PR and targeted sponsorship that can best communicate brand values are usually the worst-funded parts of the marketing mix. The rule seems to be 'spend 10% on PR and hope'...That challenges PR consultants like myself - we need to talk to and inform our clients more frequently about our efforts and successes to encourage spending in our sector.
Reputation
Though one of the challenges still facing the industry is the issue of Return on Investment (ROI), I find it amazing that clients will, more often than not, research and benchmark advertising efforts, but refuse to measure and evaluate PR when media coverage - whether planned or unsolicited - has a major influence on a company's reputation. The ability to monitor, analyse and track changes in a company's reputation is internationally recognised as an executive management responsibility associated with good corporate governance and the alignment of communication and marketing efforts with business goals.
Yet, we still find ourselves debating the ancient argument of measurement when there are a couple of tools in the marketplace. And, if one really considers the issue, the hurdle is cost. Marketers won't pay for it and the remuneration agreements in place simply cannot cover it. And herein lies our problem: where does PR fit in the overall group structure?
Where marketing communicates primarily with an external audience communicating the 3 Ps: price, product and place, public relations focuses on the intangible aspects of the operation - such as the emotional appeal of the business, its vision and leadership, the financial performance, the workplace environment, social responsibility and citizenship.
In most instances PR merely plays a supportive role in the promotion of products and services. More often than not, our point of entry into an organisation starts and ends with the chairman, CEO, or the managing director - not the marketing director - and each has a different understanding and, often, an individual perspective on the role of public relations. So it's easy to understand why marketers don't want to pay for a concerted PR effort and the necessary measurement and evaluation - it is seen as secondary to their job functions, albeit detrimental to the business overall.
Investor relations
The higher level of focus for Public Relations today includes the delivery of investor confidence in a company's ability to compete in the changing and constantly demanding marketplace; delivery for maximum value to shareholders; issues management and tracking; managing credible visibility among competitors in the editorial space; grassroots and alliance campaigns used to win the publics and legislative minds; and the strategic overhaul of internal communications to seek better ways of leveraging the current assets - particularly people - to profitably grow the business and deliver more value for customers.
No matter what the priority, in order to become a valuable and actively involved member of the organisational team, a public relations professional must be able to understand and address senior management's concerns, embrace change, and deal with the public relations ramifications of their decisions
Rather than doing a "better job", effective PR should be seen as complimentary to conventional advertising. Although widely perceived as more credible than advertising, one needs to understand that PR fulfils several roles. While PR can and does serve to reinforce the advertising messages, in some instances it forms the lead medium when profiling, positioning and educating desired target markets. Our functions also extend far beyond that and into areas such as crisis and issues management where traditional advertising methods simply can't compete in terms of function, response times, effectiveness and more importantly, credibility.
Many recent international surveys and industry analysis point to the reverse: that PR is on the ascendancy and conventional advertising spend is, in fact, declining - which would explain why "it appears that the former territory of PR consultants as business advisors has been completely eroded and is now the gambit of advertising and marketing agencies which list press releases as an 'also offering'", as Lorraine Robertson-Tarr pointed out recently on Bizcommunity.com.
But maybe its time for marketers to take a lesson out of their advertising agencies' manuals - they do almost no advertising themselves, but rather rely heavily on Public Relations to build their brands. Publicity is the name of the advertising agency game today; maybe it should also be for marketers.
Absolutely! As an industry I don't believe we've stood together to sell our profession. While we bleat that we lose revenue to the advertising industry, I don't believe we promote our successes and achievements. No one is prepared to talk about them, albeit client or consultant, for fear of divulging competitive advantages. Or is it simply a case of the next project or crisis is hitting and no-one's got the time to take the soap box out and stand on it?
I also believe that, all too often, clients appoint the wrong agency to begin with that will only result in failure and ultimately a loss of respect for the profession and the industry. It is a bit like Y2K. The IT industry hyped doom. Companies ran out and acquired new systems. The Millennium dawned and nothing happened. People felt conned, but more importantly, they had spent out of their means. This left the industry with a credibility problem, and worse still, no budgets for future acquisitions or upgrades. The industry is only just starting to see an upturn in spend as technology has moved and people have come to realise that it's the technology and not necessarily the sales function anymore that is the backbone of their business and its success.
It is imperative therefore that one aligns with a PR agency or consultant that reflects your business industry, needs and size. The scope of public relations is so broad, listing public affairs; investor relations; government relations; sponsorship; corporate social investment; media relations; internal communications; relationship marketing; as well as events and promotions as specialisations. The tactics often remain the same, but it is the business, legislative and regulatory understanding and experience; strategy alignment; depth of knowledge; the contact base and network - and don't discount the passion for a particular aspect of the business - that determines success.
As PR agents we should also be selling specialisations, not just in our offerings but in particular business sectors as well. Some PR companies are better at certain things than others.
Clients must consider their business needs first before putting out briefs. They need to research the companies, services and fees to match their business. Is it Networking and Profiling without media hype? It is Advocacy or Lobbying? Is it Media Awareness and Relations? Or is it Eventing and Relationship Marketing they need? These are all different functions with different skills sets required - personal relationships aside.
The issue of pricing services remains a concern - both on the part of client (their expectations) and consultants/agencies (who sell their services). Public Relations is a time-based profession with little opportunity for 16.5% media commissions and other production mark up's that traditional ad agencies apply.
All too often, clients only want to pay a small, set retainer every month, but with a full-service expectation - incorporating strategy, client service, specialised writing, media liaison, relationship marketing and networking, eventing and activation, monitoring, evaluation and administration. One cannot, in all honesty, offer all of the above - and still add real value to a business - at that nominal fee. Each area requires people to specialise and it goes without saying that the Total Cost To Company (TCTC) of staff employed on a piece of business to deliver real value will be far higher.
One only needs have a look at AdVantage's latest salary survey (Jan 2006) and it gives one an indication of the cost of these resources. I am at a loss to understand as to how corporates believe we should be offering a service at a low price - and then still expect phenomenal results. But, what really concerns me is how PR professionals agree to such fees, thereby under-selling their services and their intellectual capital, which is ultimately to the detriment of the industry as a whole.
About Kim Ferreira
Kim Ferreira is managing director of FCB Redline with 20 years experience in the public relations industry. FCB Redline specialises in media relations within the technology, business and financial sectors, with a passion for sponsorship and CSI leveraging.![](/res/img/s.gif)