The value of PR
When people ask me what I do, I tell them that I am public relations consultant. I often need to follow this up with an explanation of the sort of work that I do usually using examples from current client projects.
While it’s not always easy to measure the real value of PR, I have no doubt that the work that I do in helping clients communicate and engage more effectively helps achieve their business objectives. Much of PR’s real value is often unseen too. Yes, it’s important sometimes to get clients into the media or to help publicise an event but PR is far, far more than that.
At our best, we help inform company decision making with the unique perspectives and stakeholder understanding we bring to the table. We advise, plan, implement and measure to help ensure that the business goals are met.
“According to Grates (Six Questions: What Every CEO Should Expect from PR Counsel), the CEO of a corporation should require public relations counsel to tell the company's story and plans, keep track of the stakeholders' opinions, identify patterns of media coverage, assess the attitudes of the public towards policy, support consensus-building among senior leadership, and understand the company's products, services, manufacturing/distribution methods, marketing platform and business strategy” Communication Public Relations' Value.
At a Senior Practitioners’ event in Rotorua several years ago Past President Cedric Allen said that PR covers the gambit of everything that a business or organisation does. We need to be at every table in the organisation not just the executive table so that we can both be informed about what is happening but also to provide professional advice.
A wise kaumatua I worked with many years ago pleaded with staff in the organisation to include him early in projects and not to just at the end to sort out an issue that had arisen. The same is true for PR – our real value comes from being deeply embedded in the work of our clients, companies or organisation.
Bruce Fraser, FPRINZ
Twitter: @Bruce_Fraser3 #PRINZPresident
Post from a recent PRINZ President's E-report
Image credit iStock
So true Bruce! Hard to help and provide the best advice if you're not at the table...
Enjoyed reading this. At HMC, as a team, we often discuss how if you tell someone you are a PR consultant and they don't know what PR is ("is that the same as HR?") their eyes glaze over. So we have broken it down to its simplest level: "We help companies communicate with excellence by helping them tell their stories, build strong relationships and become great listeners." But we do realise this explanation still doesn't cover the breadth of what we do strategically. I'd like to hear others' ideas of how they explain PR in a simple elevator pitch!
Great insight Bruce Fraser. Thanks for sharing. Today public relations practitioners need to help leaders guide their firms; helping them make good decisions. Decisions based on listening. And listening not just to shareholders. But to the web of stakeholders who hold the power to sustain firms into the long term. Decisions based on understanding the differing contexts of each stakeholder group in the ebb and flow of their needs. Unfortunately too many PR practitioners remain stuck in the old world of SOS - sending stuff out. Instead we should be listening to all the conversations our publics are having about the firm, the brand, etc and use this to help the firm's leaders make more informed decisions. It's a change from information broadcast to intelligence acquisition.
couldn't have put it better myself.
Great post Bruce!