When PR comes into its own
A New Year brings with it new challenges, not least of which is the desire to communicate clearly over the noise and chatter that have become part of daily life.
The global thirst for information, in all its manifestations, has spawned an unprecented growth in the number of “opportunities to see and hear.” The rise of digital communications and techniques such as blogging, podcasting, vodcasting and ‘tweeting’, to name a few, has created a very noisy, yet lightning fast method of transmitting messages to an ever wider audience.
Whilst methods of communication are extremely varied, it’s how you communicate that’s of critical importance. This is where the value of sound public relations comes into its own.
The Economist magazine explored the value of the communications mix in an article, entitled “As advertising struggles, PR steps into the breach”. In it, Procter & Gamble, a global brand name with an advertising budget of some $4 billion at the time, concluded that it saw returns from PR campaigns which were significantly better than achieved from traditional forms of advertising. One reason, says the magazine, is that PR is cheap in comparison – in P&G’s case, typically representing as little as 1% of the company’s overall marketing budget.
The Economist article highlighted the importance of good, original and credible content. It said that “Crisply written or well-produced PR material can more easily get an airing. Media commentators have noted how PR material is now being published by some local newspapers virtually unedited and unchecked. Some branches of journalism have come to depend on a drip feed of information and products from the PR industry.”
Those of us in the PR industry may still have a lot of work to do to make companies understand the true value of PR but one thing’s for certain. We all know what bad PR looks like.
There’s a phrase often said that “All publicity is good publicity.”
Absolutely NOT true.
Click below to read Blackbird's new blog
