For me, the PR business is all about ‘new’. New approaches. New clients. New channels. New ideas. If it isn’t, it’s not fun, it’s not fast and it’s not evolving. That’s why I read with interest Alex Goldfayn’s article on the HBR blog network last week.
He speaks the truth – some PR is bad and some hurts the companies that it’s meant to benefit. I’m sure the same can be said of bad practitioners in every profession.
What stands out most for me is that his hints and tips, while all valid, are tenets that the PR industry should have been abiding by for years. It’s clear from his experience and frustrations that being on the receiving end of good PR continues to be the exception not the norm.
And that’s what needs to change. What needs to be made ‘new’ again.
The three mistakes Alex mentions are cardinal sins. You need relationships with the media to understand what they want to hear about and, importantly, how. You have to develop strong, targeted content in whatever medium suits the message. You have to know your client or you are doing everyone a disservice and wasting valuable time. That’s why training of your consultants is vital – you and they need to understand the importance of persistence, perfection and personality. These are all skills that will benefit any PR campaign.
PR as an industry has changed. It had to in order to embrace the social revolution, to deliver what our clients need, even before they know they need it, and to ensure that our clients receive only the best PR attention. Everything we do is now social and there is no turning back – in fact, everything social is gathering speed and we need to keep pace. The best PR consultants have changed too and realised it’s time to embrace the ‘new’.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Tags: communications, PR, PR agency, Public Relations, Social Media
