The Evolution of PR
I realized yesterday, with a brand new hard copy of my book, PR 2.0 New Media, New Tools, New Audiences, in hand that nothing would ever be the same (and really hasn’t been the same in the field of public relations for many years). As a PR professional, I know that change is thrust upon us and I say, “Bring it on!” Not everyone is like me. I realize that we are all different and embrace change at varying rates. There’s nothing wrong with this as long as we are all open to new things.
Call me crazy but I love change. It’s been my life. From the time I was little and I would try everything from clarinet lessons to horseback riding. In my adult years I’ve experienced immense changes in my life… in marriage, child birth, divorce, remarriage (soon), entrepreneurship, near bankruptcy, business growth, more years of schooling than I ever thought possible, and in my efforts to constantly move at the speed of light. I truly believe that change means growth and leads to strength and monumental accomplishments.
PR 2.0 is a tremendous change and it marks an evolution in PR. But, there’s a great deal of conflict over the moniker. I don’t think we should be hung up on 2.0. The most important part about new communication approaches, such as PR 2.0, is that it leads to great communication and quite frankly, the best PR that you will ever know! The PR industry has been blamed, embarrassed, lost credibility and has been seen as just a necessary evil. I know PR is so much more than this and deserves praise and recognition. PR, when practiced properly, has and will always be the greatest means to reach and capture public attention, and to build strong meaningful, trusting relationships. With the movement of PR 2.0 or new PR, as communications professionals, we have a chance to reinvent our industry and give it back the credibility it deserves.
Wouldn’t it be nice to put the “public” back into Public Relations? Everyone says this but not everyone does it. The answer is yes. The ability to reach people directly and have direct conversations and to provide valuable information and help them make informed decisions is a step in the right directions. No longer will our brands be “talking at” the market or their customers. They will experience great conversations and “talk to or with” markets and customers. Big difference!
Sure, there will always be advertising, direct mail and other types of marketing from the traditional marketing model, but today we have two-way communication, which goes back to what Ivy Lee, one of the founders of PR, believed PR should be. Perhaps, PR has come full circle, almost a Renaissance, in a sense. We are changing and so is our industry. The change will continue so that we can find our way back to the essence of what the PR industry should be….great communication with the public.
I urge you to keep an open mind as you witness the change. And, even more importantly, get involved in the change. Together we will create the path to meaningful, trustworthy and credible PR. I think that would be a monumental accomplishment.
April 4, 2008 @ 7:26 pm
Hey Deirdre – bought a copy of the book online at Amazon.co.uk. Annoyingly we have to wait another two – three weeks before it arrives.
Really looking forward to it so much. Aside from account managing, developing strategy and implementing tactics, i cannot express enough how much i cannot wait to read the book.
I feel like its been a good while since i’ve been mentally stimulated in the learning sense about PR since university.
Fingers crossed it arrives soon!
David
April 5, 2008 @ 1:23 am
Hi David – Thank you very much for buying my book. That’s too bad that you have to wait so long to get the copy. I hope you enjoy PR 2.0. I look forward to your feedback 🙂
May 13, 2008 @ 2:29 am
Just got a copy – Love It!
I’m a technologist at heart – trained many years ago in Computer Science, but, now I’m a first time entrepreneur breaking into the tourism marketplace with a new product that needs attention in the marketplace!
So I looked at conversations in the index – the second entry really intrigued me – I want it! What CMS is being referenced there in that sidebar? Is it here or a dream?
Need to know as I want a conversation with my customers on this new touring approach I have – I just wrote a blog post or something I need to figure out how to get out there to get the conversation started! And “monitored”!
I am currently using Joomla as my CMS for the website.
I was also extremely interested in the “monitoring” talked about in the first mention of conversation – what tools would a little bootstrapped startup (so far that is!) use to watch the conversations about itself?
So HELP!
Thanks,
Marvin
May 13, 2008 @ 6:37 pm
Hi Marvin,
I’m so glad that you love the book. Joomla is great for your CMS. When it comes to a blog post, what I usually do is cross promote my posts in the different social networking forums. So, for example, I post links to my blog on Twitter, Facebook and Ragan.com. You should also make sure that you have RSS available on your blog. This way people can select an RSS feed reader and automatically get the update when you post a new blog.
With respect to monitoring, there are services which can get pricey, so I would start with Google Alerts to let you know when there is discussion about you or your product.
I hope this helps! Good luck. Let me know how it goes.