PR: Get a clue
It stings, but we have to admit that it is far too accurate …
The book The Cluetrain Manifesto says this about public relations: “The PR version of the Titanic story would be headlined ‘705 delighted passengers arrive after the Titanic’s maiden voyage.’”
I wish we could categorically deny that charge, but we’ve seen too many PR practitioners who would happily gloss over the truth in order to “stick to the talking points,” “stay on message” and “deflect negatives.” Then they wonder why the media and the public have such a low opinion of the PR profession.
Unfortunately, those practitioners have forgotten one important truth. In the end, we’re all – the media, the public and PR pros – after the same thing: the delivery of information.
Over the past couple of decades, of course, the nature of how information gets delivered has changed. Once upon a time, the world relied almost exclusively on media outlets to deliver information. The PR industry developed as a link between those who have the messages and those who deliver the messages. In the most cynical view, the profession was built around the effort to manipulate the media; in more idealistic eyes, it was built around a desire to smooth the message-delivery process and ensure the right information gets into the marketplace.
For a while, the Internet promised to eliminate that tension. By giving communicators more direct access to the public, it eliminated the need to use the media as an outlet. We quickly discovered, though, that the public still puts great value in third-party sources … it’s just that now those third-party sources include bloggers, web reviews, comment boards and Tweets as well as traditional media.
Which means PR types still need to act as intermediaries. Which means they need to continue to practice good PR … and not employ the kind of tactics that so annoy the Cluetrain folks: burying editors, bloggers, et al., with useless press releases; spinning devastating situations into positive stories; holding “news conferences” when there isn’t any news; expecting the world to be interested in every word they issue simply because they issue it; concocting quotes from people they’ve never spoken to; hiding information in jargon and hyperbole … the list goes on and on.
What should they do instead? They could start by adhering to The Cluetrain Manifesto’s list of what good PR professionals do every day:
Study the audience and offer what the audiences wants to know. “Their job—their craft—is to discern stories the market actually wants to hear,” the authors say.
Make it easy to get information. Some “flacks” are expert at hiding information rather than providing it. The best ones know how to make information easily accessible and, in fact, send it out to the people who want it rather than waiting for them to ask for it.
Guide their organizations. They don’t just take orders; they play strategic roles in their organizations, and they argue for the cause of candor and authenticity when others try to introduce jargon, complexity and obfuscation into the conversation.
Start conversations. The best PR pros don’t act as information barriers or gatekeepers; they put meaningful information out into the world so people can have real conversations about their clients’ products, services, causes, etc. Because, after all, starting a conversation is what it’s all about.
Simply put, PR is a function of assistance. It helps get information out in order to help organizations, people, causes, etc. – whether that’s through traditional media, internet outlets, word of mouth, or whatever. View it any other way, and you’re, well, clueless.
