PR Insider: PR is Dead. Actually, Long Live PR!
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Two PR pros walk
into a seminar. One says to the speaker, “Looking forward to your
thoughts on social media and digital strategy.” Speaker points to his
first slide and announces, “PR is dead!”
There’s no actual punchline (sorry about that), but I’ve
lost count of the times that social media strategists have proclaimed
that traditional public relations tactics are a fading, quaint art,
antiquated, out of touch and ineffective. They say the new publicity
paradigm is about direct engagement, brand-centric dialogue, and online
visibility. Traditional media holds little value, and content must be
drafted as short, energetic bursts that will capture micro-audiences
with historically short attention spans.
I don’t roll my eyes at digital strategy—it’s an imperative
piece of marketing for brands across all industries. But I balk at the
idea that PR is on life support. The truth is that digital opportunities
have given PR a second wind by adding a new host of channels for us to
consider as we build programs.
Let’s jump back five years, when social media began to make
an imprint on outreach to consumers. Even amidst the confusion of
Twitter as either a sensationalist celebrity mouthpiece or an incredibly
mundane tool to chronicle day-to-day life, it leaped to the front of
the scene because people were communicating.
A debate launched over who would manage this domain (pun
intended); new digital agencies and freelancers proclaimed that PR
agencies were on the way out, to be replaced by armies of social media
specialists.
I was confused by the tug of war back then, and I’m even
more taken aback when I hear that theory today. As a journalist a long
time ago, my job was to convey a story that would provide value to my
readers. When I moved to investor relations, my job was to convey my
clients’ story in a way that considered shareholders and regulators
while still providing value to readers. Into public relations,
where—funny about this—the job was still to convey my clients’ story in a
way that supported their business goals, whether through print media,
broadcast or online formats.
How has digital media changed that? PR is not about the
channel, it’s about the skill of storytelling, in the same way that
baseball is still baseball with the designated hitter and an extra
playoff round. Digital media improves our ability to target, learn and
converse with audiences. When combined with long form thought
leadership content, traditional media, video production and speaking
engagements, it presents the potential for more fluid, responsive
campaigns that operate simultaneously on macro and micro levels. In
fact, Twitter has given us a powerful way to connect with reporters in
real-time as appropriate, allowing for fresher pitches in the 24/7 news
cycle. With artfully blended tactics, brands can grow faster and better,
and public relations can serve as the core discipline that gets them
there.
Indeed, a singular focus on the digital side leads to
subpar brand management. No marketing effort should be one-dimensional,
and too often, those who are eager to bury PR embrace quantity of
content and outreach over quality. But a barrage of social media posts
with no anchor to an overarching message or business goal is begging to
be ignored. In old school terms, we wouldn’t call a journalist five
times a week with random story ideas: Whether for social media or
traditional information streams, we need to know the audience and
deliver a message they can interpret and eventually act upon.
A recent teaser on LinkedIn
about research from the Content Marketing Institute hits it on the
head, noting that most content marketing initiatives flounder due to a
lack of three critical pieces: Strategy, focus and accountability. That
is an insane observation, to put it mildly, and it applies to PR as
well. Would a CEO launch programs in other facets of the business
without strategy in place? Without focus or accountability? The ease of
entry into digital channels has been twisted into the idea that “noise
equals marketing." As this notion permeates the business, we see too
many campaigns that are fragmented and ineffective.
Public relations ties tactics together under one thoughtful
umbrella. It is bigger than traditional tactics alone, bigger than
digital media alone, and it’s not going anywhere. The most impactful
campaigns will be run by teams that embrace multiple channels and keep
the emphasis on smart content; those that sacrifice one in favor of the
other will miss opportunities and weaken client brands over the long
term.
So the joke’s on you, Mr. Social Media Seminar Man. We’re all in this together.
Evan Zall is president of Ebben Zall Group.
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