21st Century Secrets
to Effective PR
Linda Pophal
Copyright 2017 Linda Pophal
All rights reserved
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2910-6
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
21ST CENTURY SECRETS TO EFFECTIVE PR
There’s a lot of buzz these days about “fake news” and the diminishing value of the traditional news media. And, as President Trump and others have so clearly demonstrated, we all have the potential now to be our own newsmakers — we can reach audiences directly through social media and other online channels. Gatekeepers who buy ink by the barrel and control the airwaves no longer hamper our ability to get our messages out to the masses.
Or do they?
I think the biggest myth about public relations (PR) that I continue to hear is that it is becoming less valuable, or valued, in this social media era, and that social media will eventually take the place of PR. That sentiment, I believe, is patently untrue. In fact, I think the situation is exactly the opposite. Why? Because there will always be a demand (and a need) for content curators — gatekeepers who determine what is valuable to a particular audience. In fact, as both concerns about fake news and the use of online channels for communication become more prevalent, I believe the demand for these gatekeepers — and the need for more traditional PR activities among those looking to build credibility and thought leadership — will continue to grow.
In my opinion, PR is more relevant today than ever and is rapidly supplanting the value of advertising. I make the following distinction between the two:
•Public relations is unpaid exposure — you benefit by third-party coverage or commentary about your products or services; it’s other people talking about you.
•Advertising is paid exposure — you are paying to place your messages and, by definition, talking about yourself.
The internet has made the possibility of sharing information about others and their products and services more readily available at significantly less cost than any other form of media exposure. Does PR matter? I’d turn that question around to ask: Does anything other than PR matter?
Today’s PR, though, is different from the PR of years gone by. Today, it’s not only about getting reporters, and other gatekeepers, to cover your story. Today, there are new channels for gaining public exposure — through social media, through blogging, through content creation and curation — all of which serves to boost thought leadership status for yourself or your organization.
Decline of Traditional News Media Holds Opportunity
Pew Research Center annually evaluates the state of the news media. Its 2016 report showed downward audience trends for most outlets.
Pew’s findings, upon first analysis, appear to be nothing but dismal. The report indicates that newsroom cutbacks and smaller budgets continue to plague the traditional media outlets. For instance, they note: “The latest newspaper newsroom employment figures (from 2014) show 10 percent declines, greater than in any year since 2009, leaving a workforce that is 20,000 positions smaller than 20 years prior.”
But, for businesses, would-be thought leaders and business professionals, there’s a silver lining here.
This continued erosion of news reporting sources, says Pew, has converged with “growing opportunities for those in politics, government agencies, companies and others to take their messages directly to the public.”
We’ve seen that trend in action, actually. It is increasingly common for us to be able to submit work on behalf of our clients as “contributed content” to both new and traditional media. That means we’re writing the content and submitting it, and the news media are publishing it with our clients’ bylines. That means increased – and very credible – exposure for our clients, and less work for the media.
The Power of PR Messaging
Consumer perceptions generally are influenced in four ways. In order from most to least impactful they are:
•Through their own experiences — trying a new restaurant, for example
•Through recommendations from others (word-of-mouth)
•Through what they read or hear about companies, products, services and service providers via various trusted media channels — channels that, to maintain that trust, must use respected gatekeepers to discern “facts”
•Through messages that organizations and individuals share about themselves through traditional advertising, websites and online communications (including Twitter and other social media channels)
We trust our own experiences. We trust respected friends, relatives and colleagues. And, to a certain degree, despite a media environment where trust is at an all-time low, we continue to trust certain media outlets.
Traditional advertising, while diminishing in value, is still important and still has the power to influence if done effectively. Public relations is gaining in impact, I believe, because of the ability to leverage online communities and social media outlets to spread the word in ways that capitalize on personal and word-of-mouth recommendations that can be positively affected through online PR efforts.
In an increasingly competitive — and global — business environment, PR is a necessity. Organizations and individuals absolutely need to manage their brands, their images and the perceptions of consumers toward the products and services they offer. They can do this through a strategic focus on public relations as part of the overall promotional mix (that will include traditional advertising, events, etc.). To do this effectively, businesses must fully understand their audiences, what those audiences want, and how what they have to offer can help to meet those needs — all while also considering how their offerings, and audience perceptions, are affected by competitors.
Ideally, your overall goal with your public relations efforts should be to get those third-party influencers — whether media outlets, bloggers or participants in online conversations — saying the same things about you that you are saying about yourself. The closer the messaging across all channels, the more positive the impact on your brand. The greater the disparity between these messages, the more your brand will suffer and the more trust in your brand will erode.
I started Strategic Communications in 2008 and, at that time, assumed that my work with organizations and individuals would involve both
