Comments on: The Bigger Picture On Public Relations

By: Michael Draznin

Michael Draznin — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:27:11 +0000

I’m very late to this conversation. I’ve been a corp comm’s exec and consultant for about 17 years. Two points I want to hit quickly are:
1. Corp Comm’s is taking harder hits today than I’ve seen only rarely in the past. And a lot of those hits are coming from business people who seem to know little about their own areas of specialty, let along other disciplines like PR. Seems like most understanding of PR in business today is really the inheritance of long-standing mis-understandings of the field – passed down generationally. A truly scary thought, though very real IMHO.
2. Christie writes above that, “…if it isn’t measurable, clients don’t want to do it and, yes, often the only measurable indicator of PR is how much column space the client achieves.” Not to sound trite, but I understand where you’re coming from on this. However, there are SO many ways to measure the impact of PR success or failure these days, mere column inches can (and should) be easily addressed and expanded on in conversation with a client. How about things like behavioral changes among key audiences (externally &/or internally)? Traffic volume and click-through rates online? Voting patterns (Obama’s still fairly recent election as President is a tangible example, though admittedly a variety of communications tools were used…many of which are “owned” by PR.) Etc. I don’t want this to become a rant, so I’ll sign off now. Just a thought or two I wanted to share, assuming anyone is still listening! Btw, Dave, great blog you have. I’ve only recently discovered it.
Cheers,
Michael Draznin

By: johnsinct (William Johnson)

johnsinct (William Johnson) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 22:54:54 +0000

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[link to post] - fabulous post @davefleet

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By: Francesc Grau

Francesc Grau — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:45:56 +0000

I would add a reference (in spanish) between de difference of advertising -like sex- and public relations -like love-

http://blog.francescgrau.com/la-publicidad-es-al-sexo-como-las-relaciones-publicas-al-amor

By: News Release Vs. Press Release | davefleet.com

News Release Vs. Press Release | davefleet.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:51:01 +0000

[...] davefleet.com Exploring the intersection of communications, marketing and social media Skip to content AboutContactPitching Tips « The Bigger Picture On Public Relations [...]

By: Roland Cailles

Roland Cailles — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:50:24 +0000

Dave, my PR teachers would love you. The worst is when someone comes into PR thinking it’s just special event planning. You provided solid text book definitions of the variety of PR fields out there.

Also liked Rich’s point. (Though, can we stop using that word flaks please? It’s outdated as racism.) As Rich mentioned, PR people do themselves a favor by learning to sell not just journalists, but their own peers and superiors.

By: PRJack

PRJack — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:01:33 +0000

I don’t think that Godin’s premise was to say that ‘most PR firms do publicity, not PR’. I think what he is saying is ‘firms that only do publicity don’t do PR’.

The truth is that many companies passing themselves off as PR firms really only do publicity (I’d even hazard to suggest, sadly, that this applies to the majority). Similarly, there are still clients out there who are only interested in publicity – whether that’s the solution they truly need or not.

The real meat of what Godin says is right here…
“PR is the strategic crafting of your story. It’s the focused examination of your interactions and tactics and products and pricing that, when combined, determine what and how people talk about you.”

Seeing how he used the word “people” at the end of that I couldn’t help but think of David Mullen’s ‘The “P” in PR should stand for people’ http://bit.ly/w141 which adds another layer to the ‘what is PR?’ question.

I think you need to consider both of those layers before even embarking down one of the 5 channels (which are all bang on) that you delineated.

By: Rich Young

Rich Young — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 21:55:06 +0000

The PR professionals that master pitching CLIENTS on a story rather than the MEDIA on a story are most impressive to me, and, frankly, most successful.

We, publicity hounds or PR flaks, experience the push back from (unenlightened) clients much more so than the media. 99% of CEOs want ‘ink’ (unscientific study, by the way) and they don’t care how you do it (i.e. “I’m in Austin next week and i have two hours free, can you ‘arrange’ an interview?” Sure, here’s what we’ll need to do…). It’s up to us to manage the expectations and educate the execs on the story we need to tell. It will be very uncomfortable for them and out of their comfort zone, but in doing so, we’re all better for it. (and hopefully the CEO will be featured in the article, which ultimately is what makes her happy, despite Seth’s assertions)

By: swhitley (Shannon Whitley)

swhitley (Shannon Whitley) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:17:23 +0000

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From @davefleet - Is PR bigger than publicity? - [link to post]

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By: ScottMeis (Scott Meis)

ScottMeis (Scott Meis) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:06:19 +0000

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@davefleet tackles the topic of PR being bigger than just "publicity" - [link to post]

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By: AriWriter

AriWriter — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:05:19 +0000

Stop Saying PR is Public Relations…

In the wake of a blog post yesterday by Seth Godin about the distinction between publicity and PR; that publicity is the art of transferring an idea into ink and PR is the art of crafting a story that other people can retell in their own words, I……