The Changing Face of PR

The Changing Face of PR
A Cymfony Influence 2.0T White Paper
Three forces changing the practice of public relations have been
gathering momentum for the past several years: overlap with
marketing, pressure to quantify results, and a new influence
dynamic brought about by the growth of blogs and social media.
This white paper summarizes the status of these trends and
provides PR professionals with recommendations for actions to take
in 2007 to begin to evolve their communications strategies and
tactics.
October 2006Executive Summary The practice of public relations is changing more rapidly now than it has in the last
several decades as three major changes simultaneously reshape traditional
approaches, outlets, and boundaries.
1. Increasing overlap in marketing and public relations. PR is expected to do more product focused activities. Advertising embraces publicity-generating "buzz marketing" tactics to reach influencers. The growth of "social media" such as blogs gives PR more direct contact with the end users of their companies' products. 2. Improved measurement. The C-suite demands more rigorous performance and efficiency measurement from all functions. PR departments are under greater pressure to shift from measuring "outputs" like clip counts to "outcomes" like revenue and brand equity growth. 3. Increasing importance of social media. The rapid proliferation of blogs and social media sites has created a new class of media influencers and new tools to deliver a company's message to the market.
Action Plan for 2007 These changes will continue to unfold for several years and adapting to them will take
time. PR professionals can get started in 2007 with a few beginning steps.
1. Get up to speed on sophisticated measurement systems. Digitization of content eliminates the limitations that prevent in-depth analysis of physical clips. Get familiar with the new range of measurement approaches that provide metrics further along the "outputs-to-outcomes' spectrum. 2. Learn about market mix modeling. Companies like Procter & Gamble are using this technique to quantify that PR can be more cost effective than advertising in driving sales. Become familiar with the general concepts and find out if your organization is already using the technique to measure the ROI of advertising. If so, prepare to include PR data in future analyses. 3. Begin to incorporate "social media" into the communications plan. Many companies have already taken the step to identify and communicate with influential bloggers. The next step is to incorporate a broader blog monitoring program to understand if the messages placed in the media are influencing the broader market. 4. Develop a corporate blogging strategy. A range of companies have developed corporate blogs to address a variety of communications objectives. Companies should study these examples, using them as a source of ideas for how blogs could meet their unique communications needs. Develop strategic plans and begin to build support for them.
1 Increasing Overlap Between Advertising and PR
Supporting product and brand communication activities has always been an integral
part of the public relations function. But as evidence grows that consumers are paying
less attention to ads, using technologies like digital video recorders to skip them, and
becoming less trusting of the messages they are exposed to, public relations'
importance increases.
The following findings of the PR Week 2006 Survey on Corporate Public Relations demonstrate this effect: . 51.1% of the 219 respondents Technology Makes Clip Counts Obsolete report product/brand communications as one of their When content was only available as a physical clip of an responsibilities article or paper transcript of a broadcast, the clip count emerged as the de facto standard of PR measurement. . These activities are the second highest percentage of the PR But a recent Forrester Research report states "tactics such as budget. clipping services, field agents, and ad hoc research simply . can't keep pace. To adequately monitor media in today's Product/brand communications rapidly shifting environment, businesses need a strategy for budget will grow more than any brand monitoring." o... [download for more]