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Defining PR Mash Up

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I’ve been exploring how to define public relations in the last several weeks. The discourse leading to this is all on the blog, and I’m not the only one grappling with the crisis of identity in our profession. Others have been down this path already (Canada, Australia and some in Europe); however, that doesn’t mean we can’t continue the discussion and find some peace knowing this grassroots effort will create the ‘raderie we need to fight the bashing our profession continues to receive. While it may be an exercise in futility, it’s so top of mind to me; I cannot leave this alone until I give it the college try. Join me?

Here are the columns leading to this one: Proposing a Plan to Define PR and Who Is PR (in which I try to credit everyone on the radar for helping further thought). To get this post off to a solid start, I spoke last night with Heidi Cohen, author of “31 Public Relations Definitions” as well as “Where Does PR Fit In Your Company?” She gave me permission to use her highly popular blog post (31 flavors of PR) and grab the key words from each definition and position them into a chart.

No credit beyond the link to her blog is being given to anyone for these words (I did that already in Who is PR, link above), and many of the wordings were repetitive from one definition to the next (in Heidi’s  post). In addition, What Is PR? on this blog provided a host of definitions from my colleagues that I’ve also incorporated into this exercise.

As promised, this is a mash up.

In attempting to strategize the best approach, I think we should tackle in phases. I took all the action words to describe what we do and added to a column. This amounted to four pages down a column. Next I tried to consolidate; however, that didn’t make the list too much shorter! How we define PR is exactly what Heidi presented…there are hundreds of definitions!

Here’s the list with my first cut to shorten repetition. Perhaps you can identify the verbiage you think best explains the action orientation of public relations…do you think a number ranking is the best approach to whittle down? Perhaps your top five listed in comments?

  • Communicating messages
  • Building good relationships, image
  • Measuring value
  • Measure impact of services and tie to strategic business results
  • Align communications strategy with business goals
  • Develop strategies that engage audiences
  • Effecting desired behavior; effect positive change
  • Planned process to influence public opinion
  • Builds visibility and creates favorable impressions
  • Mastering human connections; making a heartfelt connection
  • Manage, facilitate relationships
  • Championing “joined up” approach with marketing, digital, traditional PR and social media
  • Obtaining favorable publicity
  • Influences and shapes company image, reputation, brand perception and culture
  • Art and science of talking to the right audience in the right voice.
  • Crafts an organization’s message(s)
  • Build communities, engage and discuss
  • Give voice to worthy projects
  • Promoting and fostering positive awareness
  • Create, distribute, disseminate messages/communications
  • Increase positive exposure
  • Understand, develop and nurture strategic relationships
  • Influencing public opinion through communications
  • Managing communication. Creating content, networking and engagement
  • Achieve common objectives: credibility, thought leadership and influence.
  • Managing and shaping public perception
  • Building mutual understanding and maintaining reputation
  • Strategic discipline integrated with marketing to achieve business goals
  • Complements integrated marketing with measurable results
  • Helps companies create and build their brands
  • Defining and communicating a company’s narrative
  • Build communities, engage and discuss, and give voice to worthy projects
  • Leveraging communications strategies to establish a market position
  • Intersection of content, social technologies and marketing focused multichannel messages that make a difference, as well as generate a profit in ways that matter to customers.
  • Provide clarity and insight

I’ll provide my top five after y’all and add them to comments once someone gets a moment to review. We’ll noodle on this through Friday (tomorrow) and then try to hone it to a shorter list. If you have suggestions for a different way to tackle this, I’m all ears! Thank you in advance!

(image: postmusic.org)

Who Is PR?

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Day two of my plan to help public relations requires a PR roster where I give credit once to everyone at the same time.  (I apologize now for missing anyone); what I’ve attempted here is to identify those with whom I’ve had recent engagement whether it be blogs, comments, RTs, emails, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., and the like, specifically about defining public relations.

Doing it this way frees me up to take words from everywhere/everyone and mash up. No one can take ownership; everyone contributes.  No one is completely satisfied, yet everyone contributes. Anyone can participate, anyone can vote, anyone can ignore this entire exercise, and anyone can get on board in support of improving the image of public relations. The common thread is EVERYONE IS INVITED.

Since I’ve embarked on this journey with no real end but a destination in mind, I’ve been introduced to PR practitioners from all corners of the world. My friends to the North in Canada are highly interested and committed to improving the image and “brand” (if you will) of public relations. I just got a link to a PR e-report by in Australia written by Judy Gombita on her blog PR Conversations.

Lea Werthman, APR, accredited by the Canadian Public Relations Society, just stopped by yesterday to share her group’s definition of public relations, and also a new colleague from Canada is highly supportive of this exercise, my posts and the broader conversation. Danny Brown, a Scotsman living in Canada and a man I hold in the highest esteem, is more than just a PR person yet keeps his affinity for the profession at the forefront of the work he does. Elissa Freeman, who tweets , hails from Toronto and adds value to the conversation.

In Sweden, Jon Buscall is a dear friend and colleague. His thriving public relations (and more) business, Jontus Media, takes him to all corners of the European Union. Jody Koehler represents public relations in The Netherlands and publishes a daily Paper.Li on PR; his coverage of the profession is widespread and not exclusive to the EU. In England, Sharon Cain, of , invited my guest blog, “PR Is Taking a Beating, Why Is That?” and it was a passionate, heat of the moment piece written in the height of the ‘ debacle.  Petya Georgieva, of Bulgaria, is the first to tweet and respond before I awake each day. In France, is an expat life coach helping entrepreneurs and hopefully educating them about the value of public relations.

In India, Gautam Mahtani and Melissa Arulappan are two newly introduced colleagues grappling with their own public relations image crisis in their country.

And, in the U.S. in my Twitter backyard, there’s a healthy stream of PR peeps I’m meeting each day who contribute so much to my own professionalism with healthy debate, chuckles, intelligent banter, and more. Foremost, I need to identify and thank Gini Dietrich, CEO of and the highly engaging Spin Sucks blog, for her support, RTs and sharing of her followers with me.

, who launched this journey for me with her guest post (the link is above on the word “Hamptons”) in re the restaurateur who called our entire industry crazy, provides a great sounding board for me as she insists she’s NOT in public relations (because she does employee communications), and I insist she is. Alongside and always supportive is Davina Brewer of 3 Hats Communications who lends great insight and ‘raderie. My dearest colleagues from Chicago and days include Christine Esposito of Terracom Chicago (please like her Facebook page) and Michelle Hellyar of Hellyar Marketing Communications.

I’ve been recently introduced, and gratefully so, to an entirely passionate and connected group of PR people each committed to addressing this issue. I’m going to mention many and try not to leave anyone out (I apologize):

  • , associate director of PRSA national and part of the PR Breakfast Club gang
  • , an accredited business woman and PR practitioner with a highly credible following
  • Erica M. Allison who blogs at Allison Development Group
  • of Bristol Harbor Software who brings an amazing perspective on life, technology, public relations, and the pursuit of happiness.
  • who lends wonderful comments on all blog topics
  • Beatriz Alemar who tweets and I appreciate our conversation
  • Rebecca Neufeld of Edelman Financial PR, one of the early adopters on this journey
  • is a publicist and musician
  • Patty Swisher, who writes amazing guest blog posts and commentary from her vantage point in an architectural firm; follow her @pmswish
  • Kailas Simha who tweets @VoyageofThought is a new favorite supporter in the stream
  • Mary Deming Baber
  • Frank Strong who is exploring these issues on his blog of late,
  • Rachael Seda
  • Lara McCulloch who tweets here
  • Kathie Manchester, with , has great insight on this topic, and I appreciate
  • Heidi Cohen who wrote on March 8, 2011 “” and provides an entire new list of practitioners who contribute to our profession

If I have your  links wrong, or you’d like a different hyperlink associated to you, please advise, and I’ll update. Add a comment here or please tweet me @Soulati. Again, my apologies for missing anyone, getting names spelled incorrectly, or having broken links. Will gladly update!

Next Post: The PR Definition Mash Up (scheduled for Thursday)

Proposing Plan to Define PR

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credit: millerlittlejohnmedia.com

In the last three weeks, my head has been spinning like a top zinging from one blog to the next and amplifying the echo about an entire profession being targeted with negative publicity — GASP! We in public relations need to do better public relations.

We’re abuzz with content that continues to present the negatives and showcase the problem areas, and the same or similar comments are being made on everyone’s blogs.

I’d like to alter that and elevate the decibel to attain new heights and a grander image for our profession that’s taken a few hits of late. No sense crying over spilled milk; it’s a call to action, PR, and anyone can participate. Here’s my suggested proposal to define public relations with a modernized definition we can use to educate our stakeholders and future practitioners.

This is an unofficial exercise. I’m not getting paid; in fact, I have no idea how this happened, but there’s no going back now — full speed ahead (because I’m a pirate). I ask only for respect for all ideas and each other.

Here’s the action plan that will unfold on this blog and hopefully elsewhere:

Objective: Define Public Relations with a modern and simple definition

Proposed Ed Cal:

  • Day 1 — Set Course: Objectives, invitation to participate
  • Day 2 — Who Is PR?  The Practitioner Roll (ala a blog roll) of those who’ve lent food for thought already. Consider this the post that recognizes everyone simultaneously.
  • Day 3 —  Drilling In to the Mash Up: We’ll explore the definitions on the table already to find wording consensus.
  • Day 4 — Drilling In Deeper to Consensus: All the definitions should be on the table with comments that will become part of the main blog.
  • Day 5 — Climbing Out of the Hole: Will we be able to pick five statements that define what we do?
  • Day 6 — The Final Tally? I believe I’ll use Survey Monkey to manage this process (with your help).
  • Ongoing, as needed, until we reach agreement

The only thing missing, is you. Consider this my invitation to anyone in public relations to help us define who we are today, the services we offer and to whom. Ask yourself how you define public relations, and then stop back here to share your perspective and be heard.

Thank you in advance; this is a team effort, absolute!

A PR Recap With Thanks

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I had no idea this conversation would explode as it has. Without each of you commenting, RT’ing and Facebooking the like out of it, no way could we engage on a global scale about how to define public relations.

Thanks for the invite by Sharon Cain (@sharoncain) of Quest Public Relations in the UK where I’m a guest blogger today, “PR Is Taking A Beating; Why is That?” This post was written in the heat of the moment last Friday, March 4, when this blog blew up and my IT guy checked in to ensure the server was not on fire.

As a result of last week’s festivities (for those of you just checking in, the previous posts are still alive and kicking), the industry has united all in the name of positioning public relations to loftier status. As promised, I’ll be continuing this exploration here, and I’ll recognize my peers’ comments and definitions of PR so we can hone a digitally updated definition for the profession.

Meanwhile, I need to call out the amazing blog post written by Heidi Cohen “31 Definitions of PR”  on March 8; amazing compilation, and she’s received mass amounts of attention for it, too. Congrats, on that, Heidi!

The comments on these posts are inspiring; the healthiest conversation I’ve ever seen and highly in-depth with intense debate at times, too. I encourage you to take a look at some during which PRSA stopped in and others offered suggestions about why/why not issues.

So, this has been a wild ride for me and a very stimulating and exciting one, too. I had not met 80 percent of you until the last week (that’s what’s so cool), and we’ll get some global perspective coming soon, too. I’ve exchanged a few invitations with some PR peeps in India who are interested in sharing some thoughts here.

So, thank you, ALL, for the …raderie. I bow to you.

Help PRSA Define Public Relations

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Anyone in public relations knows the recent events of the last several weeks where a restaurateur in the Hamptons incited our entire industry to unite in force to uphold our professional standards. As one of the bloggers who posted a series of articles on this debacle and its fall out (assisted with a guest post by the lovely and talented writer Jenn Whinnem), the theme for me awhile is going to be about public relations.

I promised to keep it alive because many who commented are counting on me/us for …raderie (my latest coined term). If per chance you’ve moved on with this issue (I can see why one be tired of it), then please be forewarned!

A post I wrote last week What is PR? was intended to help define our ever-changing profession. Prior to the ability to launch into a global, crowdsourcing message mapping session to define public relations, I must first turn to one of our accrediting bodies to hear its definition.

Sadly, the current Public Relations Society of America website adopted a definition of PR in 1982, and it has never changed! (Do you realize this definition below pre-dates the fax machine?) In my post, I called upon PRSA to update the definition (others agreed), and here’s what the highly confusing explanation states:

“Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

“Organization” is denoted in this context, as opposed to the more limiting “company” or “business,” to stress public relations’ use by businesses, trade unions, government agencies, voluntary associations, foundations, hospitals, schools, colleges, religious groups and other societal institutions.

“Publics” recognizes the need to understand the attitudes and values of — and to develop effective relationships with — many different stakeholders, such as employees, members, customers, local communities, shareholders and other institutions,and with society at large.

In answer to the call for modernity Keith Trivitt, associate director of PRSA, said they were open to suggestions from the field. He also pointed to an excellent jump-start comment by Rosanna M. Fiske, APR, Chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

In response to the New York Times Small Business guest blogger who skewered the entire industry so unabashedly (I am no longer linking to that series of posts), Rosanna eloquently published a newer definition of public relations, and I call upon her to use this as the basis for revising the 30-year-old archaic definition of public relations on the PRSA website:

…publicity/promotion and public relations… The two are not synonymous. Promotional work is not necessarily part of public relations firms’ services, and “buzz” is greatly identified as an advertising and word-of-mouth tactic that found some support through publicity.
Public relations is a profession that has as its base high ethical standards, as set by the Public Relations Society of America’s Code of Ethics (https://ow.ly/41htJ). While we may use elements of persuasion, as do many other disciplines, a core component of those ethical standards is the adherence to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public. This couldn’t be more important if you’re trying to build long-term credibility and reputation equity for a company.

Watch this space for more input from my peers in public relations. It’s going to take a bit to cull through everything, as at last count I had 43 pages of cut and pasted comments to sort and put into a semblance of a blog. Meanwhile, will you keep giving this some thought and be ready to chime in this week once the series continues?

On a final note as to why I feel compelled to do this…my entire career I’ve felt the need to give back. I have hired interns, recent graduates, and freelancers in my businesses. I teach public relations to anyone who’ll listen, and I’m a guest lecturer on many occasions to students in business courses, and others. My desire is to uphold our profession with high-level standards. When I see, feel and hear the youth of my profession running away from it due the bad reputation we have, it pains me. This is why I’m sticking with it for awhile and we’ll see where it goes. Join me?

(Image: CafePress.com)