Hoosier PRSA Blog

PR: Not the villain in the auto industry

I was listening in agreement to NPR’s Scott Simon decry the arrogance of auto-industry executives who took corporate jets to Washington to ask for monies from the federal bailout. After all the negative publicity, he said, the executives seemed aware of their blunder.

Then he said this:

“Right now, the public relations personnel of the automakers sound more chagrined about taking private jets to hold out their tin cups than their CEOs. PR people are supposed to protect executives from those kinds of revelations.”

Will the day ever come when PR people get the benefit of the doubt?

When journalists like Mr. Simon, who have dealt with PR people all their professional lives, will first think that what probably happened was one of two things:

• Either the PR people had no idea what mode of transportation the executives were taking to Washington because no one deemed it necessary to tell them, or
• The PR people did in fact know, they tried desperately to dissuade the execs, and they were told to go back to their offices?

Few PR people are idiots. We’re paid because we understand how an act such as this will play out in the public and media arenas.

Most of us will at least bring it to the attention of our bosses. Some of us may not have the gumption to always go to the mat over every issue like this – and it may be that working for an arrogant auto-industry executive means you must decide whether or not to ‘go to the mat’ so often you lose your perspective or simply get tired.

So, Mr. Simon and every other journalist out there whose first response is to assume the PR people are idiots – Stop taking the easy shots.

You’re missing the real story.

Read Lessons in Begging for Auto Executives

Engage Media with Your Blog

Using a blog platform that is search engine optimized makes finding your business easier for web users. This can generate more leads and profitable relationships. In fact,  research tells us 36 percent of people using the Internet trusted businesses more that blogged. They also help with media relations, according to a study by Porter Novelli and Cymfony.

While virtual reams have extolled the virtues of corporate blogging, not to mention, it's benefits of conversion and return on investment, blogs are also  a powerful media relations powerhouse.

A Few Key Findings

• A clear majority of respondents (63%) report that they started their corporate blogs because they felt the need to participate in the medium, rather than to satisfy a specific need; although more bloggers from larger companies indicated they started a blog to satisfy a specific need, still over 40% of larger companies started their blog because of a perceived need to be in the blogosphere.
• The majority of companies surveyed (76%) indicated that they have noticed an increase in media attention and/or website traffic as a result of their blog(s) -- suggesting that corporate blogs may be attracting a new and somewhat untapped online audience.
• The vast majority, or 75%, also felt that their initial goals for the blog(s) have been met.
• Less than half of the companies surveyed (42%) indicated that through blog monitoring they have found at least one specific post that has affected the company or a brand and in the vast majority of cases it has had a positive affect.
• Despite general success, 71% of respondents are not happy with the level of interaction on their blog(s).

It's important to understand that blogs are not your sister's online diary, but powerful business tools that create opportunities  to engage the media. While this is just a summary, you can download the complete report here.

Congrats to Cardinal Communications

Cardinal Communications, Ball State University's nationally affiliated, student-run public relations firm, was selected as the top student-run firm in the nation at the PRSSA/PRSA International Conference held Oct 24-26 in Detroit.

The firm was the only student-run firm from among the more than 270 chapters in the U.S. to receive the 2008 Dr. F.H. Teahan National Chapter Award for Outstanding Firm. The executive staff also participated in a panel presentation for students interested in improving their firm.

Advancing the professional

On Nov. 12, more than 100 students from around the state will come to Indianapolis for our chapter’s annual Half Day with a Pro program. During the morning, these students will visit PR pros around Indianapolis at their place of work, ask questions, seek advice and generally absorb as much information as possible.

Not only is this a great opportunity for the students, it’s a great opportunity for the pros as well. It’s a chance to reflect on why you got into public relations in the first place, a chance to consider where your career is headed, a chance to consider why you’re a member of PRSA, etc.

Some of our visiting students will also join us for our monthly luncheon. For many of them, this will be their first taste of a PRSA event. It’ll give them a chance to see what our chapter does when we come together and how we are trying to “advance the profession and the professional.”

Personally, I joined PRSA after I finished graduate school at Northwestern University near Chicago. I hadn’t really heard much of it but I became familiar with it during my grad studies. Several of my professors were APRs. It wasn’t until I moved to Indy when PRSA really started to help me advance.

It has been a valuable networking tool and helped me become acquainted with dozens of pros in the area. As a freelancer, it’s help me find work. It has given me an education and sometimes it has challenged my thinking. PRSA has also been a great way to round out some of my experiences. For example, as director of internal communications for the chapter, I prepare our monthly newsletter. I now record the minutes at our monthly board/committee meetings and just recently, we’ve started this blog. Thank you, Hoosier PRSA for the opportunity!

Shameless plug: If you’re interested in volunteering for a committee in 2009 or beyond, let our president-elect Jennifer Mahoney, APR, know. We could always use some help. My guess is it will help you as well.

Ryan Puckett
Director, Internal Communications
Hoosier PRSA