« Pam Talbot and the Development of Modern Public Relations | Main | Beer Bike and Beyond »
March 14, 2008
Let’s Make the Argument
It appears that the United States is officially in a recession. One need only pick up the business section of any newspaper to be depressed about declining retail sales, reductions in employment and tumbling home prices. During the last economic slowdown, the PR industry was slammed. Technology boutiques went out of business and full-service PR firms endure up to a 30% decline in revenues. While I believe the industry is better prepared this time around-- with a more diversified business mix and more stable client base than the dot-coms that propelled growth in the late 90s--we still need to make a compelling case for PR in the face of looming budget cuts. We need to ensure clients are equipped to convey PR’s ROI and credibility advantages over other communications disciplines.
Here are a few ideas:
First, the media has changed in a fundamental way. Marketing clients can no longer rely exclusively on mass media, especially television advertising, to deliver the message. According to Pew the average informed person reads or listens to seven sources of information daily. Given this dispersion of authority a company must be able to move with alacrity to be part of the on-going discussion. As Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News, says, “Every company is a media company.” That means we must help clients provide their own original content and enhance the dialogue with credible and creative material. We need to continue to convince clients about the importance of including bloggers in the outreach to media, of allowing their own executives to speak spontaneously, because there is a clear dialectic between control and credibility.
Second, PR offers a credibility advantage because information is thoroughly vetted and examined by the media, bloggers and independent third-parties. According to Forrester Research, nine of ten people do not trust advertising, while nine of ten people do buy on the basis of peer recommendation. In the Edelman Trust Barometer, we have found a substantial rise in opinion leaders’ trust in media across nearly every one of the 18 markets we surveyed in the past two years, which we attribute to; the rise of social media; increased consumer generated content in mainstream media and easier access to media across platforms.
Third, PR engages and involves multiple stakeholders simultaneously, not just consumers. There are no longer silos between constituencies; investors and consumers listen to views of non-governmental organizations; regulators are influenced by rank & file employees. The line between brand and corporate reputation is evaporating as business recognizes the utility of selling products with “good purpose”—that enable consumers to support sustainability-- as “green equals green.” Companies are taking on issues that matter to the world, making money while doing the right thing.
Fourth, PR preserves the license to operate in a more complex environment. Scientific advances such as genetic modification are not automatically accepted as being in the public interest. In the highly charged political season, trade pacts such as NAFTA are under fire. This requires us to cultivate opinion formers, but also win the hearts and minds of employees, who can help to spread the word to friends and family as part of the education process. We should go beyond the rational benefits to explore the emotional concerns that are provoked by rapid change.
Fifth, PR is a unique accelerator. According to former Kraft CEO Betsy Holden, now at McKinsey, brands get a disproportionate return on investment from well executed PR initiatives, such as the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. She argues that PR is the venture capital aspect of the marketing budget, with the goal of being a catalyst for the public conversation by tying into an important trend. PR’s approach is premised on listening, dialogue and continually incorporating feedback, which leads audiences from conversation to participation in the brand and company.
We need to advocate that PR is an essential part of modern communications. We have gone beyond ‘small box PR’ to strategic counseling; engaging multiple stakeholders including “new voices” such as NGOs; and using digital platforms to enable brand and issue participation. Now get out there and sell!
Posted by Edelman at March 14, 2008 12:22 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.edelman.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/489
Comments
As an European citizen, I'm looking at the American presidential pre-elections thinking where is the PR when you need it in this bar fight..
Posted by: edwin at March 26, 2008 11:53 AM