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WOOT! Public Relations!

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Thanks to my colleague, , for pointing out this exciting projection by the (BLS) about the growth of public relations in the next decade. (Well, it’s exciting to me.)

According to the BLS in its , there are some impressive statistics about we specialists in public relations, and I’d like to share the most poignant (these are unedited and taken from the book as listed above):

  • Employment of public relations specialists is expected to grow 24 percent from 2008 to 2018, much faster than the average for all occupations.
  • Employment in public relations firms is expected to grow as firms hire contractors to provide public relations services, rather than support more full-time staff when additional work is needed.
  • The need for good public relations in an increasingly competitive and global business environment should spur demand, especially for those with specialized knowledge or international experience.
  • Employees who possess additional language capabilities also are in great demand.
  • The recent emergence of social media in public relations is expected to increase job growth as well. Many public relations firms are expanding their use of these tools, and specialists with such skills are needed.

It’s encouraging to see the public relations profession growing. As an which also contracts for other businesses/agencies, I’ve noticed an expanding interest for public relations practitioners by companies that have never hired one in the past.

Much of what I do with clients is to educate them about public relations. It is a somewhat esoteric practice for those who don’t work in the field. I’m going to do my best in this space to help clarify what public relations services are and how companies should engage a senior practitioner or even a small agency.

If anyone has any questions on that front, please send them along! That will help direct my writing. Happy Monday, All!

Citation: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition, Public Relations Specialists. (See link above, please.)

Social Media Groundswell Tipping Point and Nestle’

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Nestle’ SA is suffering a groundswell of negative social media commentary that began March 17 when Greenpeace International released a report about Nestle’s purchase and use of palm oil. Greenpeace alleges the palm oil comes from an Indonesian company that cleared rain forests to build palm plantations.

The Twitterosphere has been abuzz about this story, and the Nestle’ Facebook fan page (with more than 96,000 fans) has thousands of negative hits from activists, environmentalists, Greenpeace, animal rights supporters, and the like.

In the March 29, 2010 Wall Street Journal, the backlash against the company is reported as global and devastating (if you’re Nestle). This situation, more than the Domino’s Pizza incident I watched unfold on Twitter last year, is global viral. It’s buoyed by the digitally savvy who’ve used social media effectively to push a viral message that Nestle is killing orangutans.

If you sat in the corporate communications department of Nestle, what would you recommend as public relations strategy? And, to those of you who do do crisis communications, is this considered a crisis, in your opinion?

  • Nestle is an iconic global brand targeting audiences across the spectrum of age groups who consume infant formula, cereal, pet food, bottled water, energy foods, cocoa, chocolates, and more. Millions of brand-loyal people touch Nestle products. Similar to Toyota, apology and/or clarifications about the company’s products and stance on the environment should be immediately shared. On the Nestle Web site, there is a statement about the palm oil situation (see above link).
  • Executives should avail themselves to the consumer public in a Web forum to field questions. Digg features such forums for high-level executives (the Toyota U.S. CEO was interviewed on Digg).
  • Groundswell is a fabulous read. Ms. Li and co-author Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research suggest “groundswell thinking is like any other complex skill — it takes knowledge, experience, and eventually, enlightenment to get there.” In an early chapter of the book on strategies for tapping the groundswell, the authors offer “five strategies companies can pursue in the groundswell, and these include listening, talking, energizing, supporting, embracing.” (These are exactly what Nestle’ needs to be doing.)
  • I asked my Chicago colleague Christine Esposito of Terracom Public Relations, a 20-year-old environmental public relations firm, to weigh in on this discussion. I wanted Christine’s take on Greenpeace and what it might do (besides rejoice at the success of its global viral campaign).
  • Christine suggested Greenpeace could benefit its edgy activist image by recruiting more mainstream NGOs that are similarly concerned about palm oil production. They should sit together at the boardroom table with Nestle to spell out the allegations, listen to how the corporation responds, and hammer out a resolution. (Hmm, this sounds like mediation, and perhaps it’s very similar.)
  • Another thought is immediate elevation by Nestle of its cause-related marketing efforts. Whatever programs Nestle’ corporate communications has had in place, boost them up to engage with environmentalists and show the company does care about Indonesia’s rain forests, among other protected habitats and animals.
  • To round out its team of experts, Nestle’ should hire Paul Rand and his team at Chicago’s hot word-of-mouth marketing agency Zocalo Group. Paul is president of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, and he is a high-level influencer in brand evangelism. (I worked with and for Paul in my Chicago agency days and respect his intelligence and ability to deliver in such situations.)

Nestle did not dally in its response to this situation. Regardless, it’s difficult to control the Tipping Point. As a teachable moment, this case study is one for the books, and it’s still unfolding. Once the first domino was tickled, the rest just fell into place.

What strategies would you offer Nestle and/or Greenpeace International to push this situation to resolution and repair a damaged brand?

Public Relations Drives Marketing

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Public relations drives marketing. There. I stated my firm belief in a public forum in which I’ll either get eaten alive or get nods of agreement. For many years, I’ve tested this theory in front of a variety of marketing colleagues from all shapes and sizes of companies. Some agree; and one in particular outright scoffed in my face.

To back up any theorem, research is required. Off to the manual library I went in search of public relations teachings to see what academics had to say. To my delight, a book written in 1998(!) provided wonderful support points. (Of course, we in PR can spin any statement to advantage, eh?)

The first chapter of Value-Added Public Relations, the Secret Weapon of Integrated Marketing by Thomas L. Harris, leader in marketing public relations and past-president of venerable Golin/Harris, yielded a goldmine.

I remember that decade well in my Chicago agency life. Public relations was a serious competitor for marketing attention, and the C suite had begun to invite us to the table. The tech bubble was big and getting bigger, and public relations rode the wave. Mr. Harris noted “Integrated marketing communications (IMC) puts public relations squarely among the powerful disciplines.”

Those of us working in the field knew we had special talent, and clients loved our offering that was beyond tactical services.

  • Our thorough ability to research a space and conduct competitive analysis from the perspective of messaging content and positioning beat marketing and advertising hands down.
  • Our strategic counsel aligned against business goals was an approach usually expected out of industry consultants or analysts.
  • Our knowledge of the media and how to create news while preparing a thought leader for the occasion was nothing a marketer or advertiser could do.
  • Our messaging crafted for external audiences as authoritative, credible and fact-based was developed for marketing and sales teams to use in their communications channels, too.

Said Mr. Harris, “Credibility is key, and of all the components of integrated marketing, public relations alone possesses a priceless ingredient that is essential to every IMC program – its ability to lend credibility to the product message.”

I recall the firm where I worked offered integrated marketing communications; however, it was pie in the sky. So many agencies were protecting turf lest another grab billings; camaraderie was thin.

In Mr. Harris’s book, he quotes other public relations heavyweights, including the long-time CEO of Hill & Knowlton. “Robert Dilenschneider, editor of Dartnell’s Public Relations Handbook, is convinced that the new marketing mix puts to work jointly the tools of marketing and of public relations and that public relations ‘is the glue that holds the whole thing together.’”

I don’t disagree that public relations and marketing work well integrated. Mr. Harris speaks to the “new” concept of integration 12 years ago. Have we succeeded? Not really. There are too many siloed organizations generating leads for sales teams without benefit of strategic input from public relations. There are too many public relations practitioners concentrating only on media relations (regardless of traditional or social) without regard for the holistic inside-out perspective.

A prescient statement by Mr. Harris could have been spoken today; it directly relates to the current social media position in which we’re working and breathing:

“The integrated marketing communications process begins with the consumer. It requires that marketers radically shift from thinking “inside out” (what we have to sell, what we have to say) to “outside in” (what consumers tell us about themselves, their needs, wants and lifestyles).”

Because public relations is primarily focused on the outside-in, and marketers are shifting in that direction encouraged by social media, Mr. Harris provides a solid support point to my theorem – public relations drives marketing. Add to that public relations practitioners’ continuous creativity to differentiate tactics that resonate against strategies to attain objectives, and I’m sold.

Let the fireworks begin!

Dilution of the Press Release

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Don’t get me wrong. Press releases are the number-one best way to deliver a company’s message. The confusion surrounding this vehicle lies with its distribution.

When vendors seize opportunity to tout free online press release distributions, fraction-of-the-cost news delivery, and optimized content with high search engine rankings, I cringe with angst. My pure profession is being obliterated by suppliers touting the ability to do what I do better, faster, cheaper (well, maybe not better). Quality of product rarely comes in to play; it’s the faster, cheaper thing I can’t get around.

Strategy and message are top rungs on the ladder. The distribution offerings now a dime a dozen confuse even me, a seasoned public relations practitioner, from discerning the high-quality real deal from the low-ball, churn. When I look at content, however, it’s clear there’s no comparison. Here’s a sample headline and descriptor off a free distribution service:

(Headline) Enter The Wow With Accounts From Us (Meta description) “Wow is an exclamatory expression as per the dictionary. The expression denotes surprise. And you would sure be taken by surprise when you enter…”

Are you kidding me? And, who’s reading this garbage anyway?

I’ve almost stopped being offended about others’ business opportunities. Anyone can issue “news” to their heart’s content (and I don’t hold the patent on that). What they can’t do is:

  • Align communications strategy with business objectives.
  • Develop a tactical plan to attain communications objectives via well-thought strategies.
  • Deliver on-target messages that resonate with brand position.
  • Write the dang press release.

Here’s the “ah-hah.” Anyone interested in saving a buck with free, cheap and faster online news release distribution services, save yourself the embarrassment of DIY. Hire the guns to strategize, deliver on-target messaging and make a press release part of the greater plan. Frankly, put a highly qualified and strategic public relations practitioner on your team.

Objective or Strategy?

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I so love a challenge. Tweeps @jennwhinnem and @greggvm suggested I wax poetic on the confusion between an objective and a strategy in a public relations proposal.

In trying to explain, it’s a bit of a challenge. So, please reference Effective Public Relations by Cutlip and Center  (the same, hopefully updated text book I used in college) for their professorial approach to teaching this distinction. @Greggvm (he’s a 3-G kind of guy) suggests strategies drive tactics, and I agree.

When writing a public relations proposal, spend the longest time developing objectives and strategies. Once you nail these, the tactics cascade in support of strategies. Back in the not-too-distant day when I worked in Chicago at Ketchum/Corporate Technology Communications under the tutelage of Paul Rand, current president of Zocalo Group in Chicago and also president of Word of Mouth Marketing Association, our account team sat for hours arguing the difference between objectives and strategies.

Here are simple guidelines from my professional point of view…if you have another approach, please share!

  • Business goals are required in a proposal to align communications strategy.
  • Program objectives are broadly stated i.e. “Increase market position 20 percent by 2012,” or “Decrease negative online reputation by 10 percent for product X.” Include three to four objectives, not more.
  • Strategies support objectives, and remain somewhat vague, for example,  “Launch proactive integrated communications campaign.”  Strategies complement objectives; feature five to six strategies to support the larger goal.
  • Program elements (or tactics) follow; strategies drive tactics. Highlight tactics after providing a list of target audiences.

Once a proposal is approved, a more tactical plan with timeline follows. It’s easy to forget there ever was a plan, but re-visit the original plan and stay the course. This also helps reduce scope creep, and you agency practitioners will know exactly what is meant by that!