PR is not dying. Surprised? Probably not, since this is a PR agency’s blog. But, if any number of industry articles over the recent past are to be believed, the PR industry is at risk of becoming obsolete – we don’t adapt fast enough to the digital arena, we still use press releases when no one wants them, we do a lousy job of defining what public relations is (on this one, sadly, I tend to agree, but that’s a subject for another post). The list goes on.
One article in particular sparked a pretty lively email exchange between me and my colleagues Tracy Paden and Holly Grande. Darika Ahrens posits that PR agencies need to “Adapt or Die” and, beyond that, that search/SEO is an area ripe for the picking by PR firms if they would only develop some expertise in the area. I would first admit that yes, PR firms are – in general – lacking a leadership position in digital. That hurts all of us, even those of us who have been working in the space for quite a while. But digital expertise isn’t the key to long term success for PR. In fact, what makes PR even more viable today than ever before is its ability to connect the dots: online to offline, earned to owned media, IRL (In Real Life) to Facebook fans.
Long before the Internet or the Social Web, PR demonstrated true value in making the right connections between a client and its target audience. Today, the channels and the processes have changed, but not the value. Replacing a PR firm with an internal staff person to “do” your social media updates or pushing out canned press releases to free press release websites doesn’t replace what an agency can do for you.
And what is that, you may ask? Providing strategic, holistic communications counsel. Looking at the bigger picture of what your company or organization is actually trying to accomplish – your business goals –then developing and implementing an integrated program via communications channels to help you reach those goals. An agency can make connections between ALL the places and ways you communicate to give you the greatest chance of success. A digital agency can’t do that.
Putting each piece in a silo – unless you are storing pieces of corn – is a recipe for disaster. Tracy and I have both written about this over the past few weeks, so I won’t go into much more on this. Check out our recent posts here and here if you missed them the first time.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to provide great counsel, and great results, to our clients. This agency thinks PR has a a lot of life left.
As senior vice president at Cookerly, Mike Rieman specializes in building and maintaining relationships with the media and has an excellent track record of landing significant placements in print and broadcast media including USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Money Magazine.
As design director at Cookerly, Tim serves as the creative lead in the development of branding campaigns, print collateral and digital media for clients across a broad range of industries, including consumer, professional services, healthcare and technology.
As vice president of Cookerly, Sheryl Sellaway uses her extensive corporate communications background to lead consumer PR efforts, deliver strategy for marketing programs and share expertise about community initiatives.
I’m with you on this one, Candace. You’re absolutely right (in my mind) in saying that our over-arching mission SHOULD be that of providing strategic counsel to clients or employers.
HOW we implement our recommendations encompasses all the tools, including the oh-so-popular-and-continually-emerging Internet-based platforms.
I truly feel, based on my own cynical observations recently on the current fad of “Pinterest,” that we serve those who rely on our expertise by OBJECTIVELY evaluating new tools’ real value and staying power.
Should we ensure that our knowledge base includes an “awareness” of all the tools? Yes!
Should we strive to become proficient in every “bright shiny object” that wanders by? An emphatic NO!
Thanks for a thought-provoking post..and now back to my Smith-Corona typewriter to create a news release to telefax to the press!
Hi Kirk –
Thanks for the comment (and the concurrence) – you put it very well! I’l admit to fighting my own distractions caused by the latest “bright shiny object” – its hard not to be. But without the ability to think critically and strategically on behalf of our clients, proficiency in every tool is worthless.
Happy typing!
Candace