PR needs some PR

Recently, a group of bright young graduates from Singapore Polytechnic  requested an interview with me as part of their career planning path. They wanted to know what PR really entailed, to which I happily obliged.

Via their questions, the students revealed an obvious confusion about our industry. In short, their questions sparked a moment of truth: PR needs some PR.

PR needs a facelift. We’re not Public Relations practitioners anymore. It’s out-dated to say so. We are social media content providers, digital content strategists, content marketers and the bridge to mainstream culture. We are in the business of professional, expert Communication. For God’s sakes, someone come up with a new name for PR. I opted for Communications Director myself a few years ago. But for the purposes of this conversation, we’re stuck with PR.

The lines have indeed blurred as to where our scope of work extends. We must articulate and own what is now a broader and more skilled and compelling profession and at the same time, let go of the obsolete.

Has the profession changed?

Managing journalistic intermediaries is now just one part of a far broader remit. Simply because the modern PR person is, most of the time, now talking on behalf of brands and companies directly to the end audience. We are no longer going through others the whole time.This is completely changing the nature of our jobs - and the level of professionalism, creativity and strategic nous required to do it.

PR is still the bridge that connects an organization, person or government with people on the street. What’s changed is that journalists, editors and media owners do not own the conversation anymore.

Crafting a Facebook post, planning a content calendar, pitching to bloggers or authoring a LinkedIn article are all an extension of PR. The essence of PR is still about crafting content, getting a pitch right and building a relationship with the world outside your brand - using the myriad of channels that are now up for grabs.

PR folk who think a media channel is a media list that starts with a local daily and ends with a local TV station won’t cut it in the Communications business anymore. It’s good to have, but just not good enough.

A new set of toys

It’s such an exciting time to be in Communications. We have a whole new set of toys to play with.

We have the power to effectively steer and influence Communications with the community at large - who now have the tools to advance the conversation about your brand in leaps and bounds.

We need to make it our business to engage with the plethora of new media channels available that can elevate and shape the brands we represent.

The blurring of lines between brands and life and corporate and social have opened up our media channels and made our jobs even more fun, and in fact, easier. The potential of earned media is ours for the taking.

I suspect a large chunk of the industry continuously deny themselves the gift of earned media. We can’t afford to only play with predictable media channels on the street we grew up on.

Global Popular Culture: The new PR frontier

It shouldn’t matter if you represent a government, a logistics supplier or your local zoo.

Chaps, have you met popular culture?

We need to make it our business to engage with popular culture and the media that serves it up, or find ourselves obsolete.

Go to concerts, watch plays, critique films, play sport, follow global news, visit art galleries, travel. Join the fun on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Meerkat and Periscope. Tinder – well,  either get on it (fess up!) or understand it!  Devour The Huffington Post, Mashable, BuzzFeed, Vanity Fair, Harvard Business Review, Adweek, GQ, Vogue and yes, The Daily Mail, even if you really have had enough of the Kardashians.

If you want to evolve as a Communications expert, you need to live and connect with the outside world, because that’s where your brand wants to be.

Understanding global popular culture will ultimately fuel ideas, inspiration and strategy into your Communications. And PR, more than any other profession, cannot be confined to a domestic or national agenda anymore. The nature of the digital world will plunge your brand into the global spectrum, whether you like it or not.

PR vs Social Media

The beauty of social media is that with a bit of skill and craft, you can enhance the channel into the most powerful communications tool ever known. I would say Communications experts are best positioned to lead social media content and strategy in their organizations.

Communications practitioners should be curating, producing and creating content alongside a creative team who understands the appetite of its social audience.

Paul Holmes of the Holmes Report strongly believes data and analytics has to be at the centre of all Communications. I have to agree. He argues that data provides the critical foundation for the 'right insight, shareholder attitudes,  values, beliefs and actions that will ensure relevance'.

It is then a very natural progression for our profession, having honed a craft in positioning content and having the EQ to act swiftly in managing the exchange of information. You don’t need a whole new way to communicate on social media. Use the fundamental principles of PR. Relevant content. The right angle. Strategic thinking. Know your audience.

PR practitioners must put their inherent skills into gear as well as meet the demands and pace required of cross channel platforms.

Do the right thing

Everyday, PR practitioners are selling. But the question is, do they know how?

A lot of content used in PR is simply unconvincing: Long press releases without a tangible headline in sight won’t get you a spot in BuzzFeed. Or pitch copy that screams ‘PR Entitlement’ won’t get your local celebrity blogger sharing your content .

The PR Industry must keep up with the evolution of what PR has become, or else leave it open to ambiguity and an inevitable loss of confidence at the table.

By embracing the tools and tricks of the trade, we can magnify our media channels and elevate the Communications business, putting our industry in its rightful place.

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Read what PR pundit Arun Sundhaman predicts for the 'future of PR' in the 2015 World PR Report.