[Guest Post] The Umbrella Model of Public Relations: A New Way to Approach #PR
A Guest Post by Jason Sprenger, President & Founder, Game Changer Communications
As I’m sure you’re well aware by now, whether you work in PR or not, it’s really hard to define public relations. According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the leading trade organization in our industry, “public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” Ummm…that’s pretty vague. What does it mean? How do we translate that into concepts and practices that will add value to our clients and organizations?
These are challenges we’ve faced for a long time. But now, with the Umbrella Model of Public Relations, we have a tool to solve them.
This new model, launched on September 15, presents the entire spectrum of how people and organizations communicate and build relationships with their stakeholders in a visual, easy-to-comprehend way. This provides a roadmap for organizations to easily develop a holistic PR program with varying types of communications elements. Even better, it means we all finally have a tool to show our parents, spouses, etc. so that they can truly understand what it is we do for a living!
To download and/or read a white paper and images for the Umbrella Model of Public Relations, please visit http://gamechangercommunications.com/umbrella-model/. Already, the model has started a discussion in our industry about what we do and what value we can bring, and that’s fantastic. The more we engage in this dialogue, and the more we take it upon ourselves to grow our skills in other areas of PR and bring new value propositions to our organizations and clients, the better work we’ll do and the better our industry’s reputation will be in the business community.
I look forward to all your feedback, and the great discussion that is to come!
Jason Sprenger is the president of Game Changer Communications. Jason founded the agency in 2012 to help organizations propel themselves forward using the entire spectrum of public relations. Before starting Game Changer, he led North American PR for FICO and built a successful corporate PR department at data storage firm Xiotech (now called X-IO Technologies). Jason has also held various roles with three Twin Cities public relations firms, and has worked for a wide variety of organizations, from large to small and public to private, and has been a corporate, agency and freelance counselor.
