Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
I guess you’ve heard this expression “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations” quite a bit, but perhaps you haven’t seen progress toward making it happen. My new book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, co-authored with Brian Solis, offers PR professionals the steps they need to take to become champions in the PR industry and turn PR’s reputation around by educating organizations worldwide about valuable communication to stakeholders through social media strategies.
You may be wondering, “Well Deirdre and Brian, just how do you this, put the public back in PR? Some may think it’s a monumental task. However, it starts with your understanding of the convergence of PR 1.0 + PR 2.0 (the concepts and approach discussed in my last book) which equal PR and by reinventing PR around two way conversations with both traditional and new influencers.
Somewhere between the beginning of PR, in the days of Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, and the way the PR industry is branded today, the profession lost its way. Our industry is equated with spin, hype and BS (Brian and I go into more detail and examples in our book that speak directly to these issues especially among new influencers). But, honestly, where would we be without great PR that builds trust, relationships, brand loyalty, reputations and brings brands closer to the very people they need to communicate with directly.
Socialized media and your new role play a huge part in the transformation of the PR industry. Through social media and a changing media landscape, the PR person’s everyday role has significantly changed. We are no longer publicists or press agents. Of course, we’ll always be strategists vying for our seat in the boardroom, but we take on some very new and interesting roles. Today, we must be well versed in Web and viral marketing, customer service and relationship management, market analytics, cultural anthropology, and social tools.
Putting the Public Back in Public Relations is an exercise in not only good PR but it’s also a very exciting time for PR professionals to learn and embrace a new PR that takes the best of everything we’ve learned in the past and moves it forward with the most advanced social media tools for the greatest brand communication. Putting the Public Back in Public Relations will transform the way you think, plan, prioritize and even the way you deliver PR services.
You can check out the book on Amazon or Safari Online Rough Cuts.
More to come on this very exciting topic!!
November 7, 2008 @ 5:03 pm
Deirdre,
Great post. Over the years, PR, due to the transforming effect of the Internet is now ‘catching-up’ to the speed and velocity of active stakeholders. These stakeholders are now using very effective technology capable of both building brand and reputation or worse, damaging it. As PR professionals, we can no longer turn a blind eye to the effects of social media and how it’s transforming the way we manage our business. Today, organizations have a responsibility to change the way they operate. In particular, organizations need to educate not only PR practitioners; they also need to seriously think about individuals outside of traditional public relations departments. My approach has always been to provide a framework for organizations to engage in PR from across the organization – empower HR, legal and marketing to engage and listen to conversations. We also need to ensure we are measuring what’s important – media results represent a small part of the picture. We need to measure the overall activities of PR professionals to ensure we continue to be accountable in our day to day work. Looking forward to getting into the details of the book.
Best regards,
Chris Johnson
Founder
dna13 Inc.
http://blog.dna13.com/
November 7, 2008 @ 5:46 pm
Hey Chris, your comment is refreshing and PR professionals can definitely benefit from this approach! Thanks!
November 11, 2008 @ 2:58 am
HI Deirdre,
Can’t wait to read the new book! I know you and Brian have both worked hard on it and both of you are thought leaders in this space. Keep up the great work!
November 11, 2008 @ 1:11 pm
Hi Justin, thanks 🙂 Brian and I are excited to see the hard copy in Feb/March 2009. Appreciate the support and I look forward to hearing your feedback!