A Funeral for PR? More like a revival!

By Elizabeth Friedland, Account Executive, TrendyMinds

With the advent of social media and a tanking economy, cyberspace (is that a dated term yet?) is abuzz with the question: Is PR dying?

I always have to laugh when I hear this question. The answer, in short, is absolutely not. I can confidently say that PR will never die.

Public Relations is Versatile

People who wonder if PR is dying (or argue that it is) clearly do not understand the full scope of public relations. I’m the first to admit my line of work can be a bit of a mystery, even to veterans of the field. We’re not quite advertising but we’re also not marketing. We’re not necessarily business development and we’re not journalism either. You see, we can be all of those things and more – event planning, fundraising, strategic planning. Public relations is anything that communicates your business’s mission with the public. Maybe this comes in the form of a new ad campaign, a launch party, a partnership with a community organization or a guerilla campaign. This kind of flexibility and creativity is what drew me to public relations. PR is something that doesn’t begin, doesn’t end and (aside from a client’s budget) has virtually no limitations.

Public Relations is Intuitive and Natural

PR is something we all do on a daily basis no matter what our profession might be. Have you ever told a friend about a restaurant you loved or hated? That’s PR. Blogged about a current news topic? PR again. Passed out a business card? Yep, that’s PR too. Public relations is, very simply, communication between one party and another with the intent of spreading a certain message. I’m sure PR was around as soon as our caveman ancestors could master written and verbal communication. (Explaining why it wasn’t one tribe’s fault that the hunting expedition didn’t go as planned: crisis communications. Recommending a favorite berry-picking spot: promotions. Getting a respected elder to endorse your hut-building skills as the best this side of Pangaea: media relations). This is something that will never die. We’re a social species that relies on key members to pass along and recommend relevant information. As long as this remains true, PR will stick around.

Public Relations is Ever-Evolving

I recently read a blog post that argued that blogging is killing PR. What this person failed to see, of course, is that blogging is PR. PR professionals are constantly helping clients to create and maintain corporate blogs and to harness the power of outside bloggers to carry a client’s message. Social media isn’t a hindrance to public relations – if anything, it makes my counsel even more necessary. Yes, the tools of our trade may change, just as they have been evolving since the days of Ivy Lee, the father of modern public relations. The press release – that haloed standard of basic media relations – has taken the brunt of the criticism. Sure, social media can help to broadcast key messages from the release, but journalists still need that nice, tight, straightforward backgrounder on whatever it is you’re pitching – and they don’t want to piece it together through a client’s Facebook page, tweets or blog posts.

Recently, the “social media” release is catching on. A hybrid of a traditional release with helpful links to social and multimedia resources, the social media release seems to be the perfect solution to the changing times while continuing to meet the needs of journalists. Where publicist of days yore might have taken a journalist to coffee to tip them off to a client’s news, you’ll now be finding me tweeting these tips to my journalist friends. Social media is nothing to be afraid of – we’re embracing it with open arms!

Public Relations Provides Great ROI

Everyone in the industry knows traditional advertising (print, billboard, broadcast) is down. Companies don’t have the money to throw at ad campaigns like they used to. The answer? Boost public relations. Give a good publicist an hour’s pay and they can get you a front page story in the Wall Street Journal (provided the client’s news warrants such exposure, of course!). That publicity, aside from the practitioners hourly fee, is 100% free. Not only is PR extremely cost effective, it’s also more trustworthy than traditional advertising. After all, what would influence you more: a paid advertisement for a doctor or a health reporter’s praise of a doctor? A billboard for a restaurant or a favorite blogger’s recommendation? Public relations lends a credibility and cost-savings that no ad buy can match.

When you really understand public relations, it’s impossible to argue that it’s dying. Will certain tools go the way of the tight-rolled, acid wash jeans? Sure. But when the rotary phone became obsolete, no one argued that conversation was dead. Similarly, while the tools PR practitioners may utilize to connect with the masses may evolve, PR itself will never become history.