Press Release or Advertising? When Did we Cross the Line?

There was a time when a press release was a press release, and advertising was advertising.  The difference was clear.

In media school we were taught that an ad was ‘paid for’ content which comes in the exact form you created or dictated, while a press release was published at the discretion of an editor, who had license to do whatever he or she willed with it. This is all well and good.  However, how do you explain to the upcoming students the differences in our craft when seasoned professionals pay scant respect to the discipline? READ MORE

Public Relations Defined

The Public Relations Society of America has launched a project to have its members and others submit definitions for Public Relations.  I read a number of stories surrounding this project and felt as if all of them were mine.  Especially Rosanne Fiske’s story on your family not understanding what you do.  When I worked at the Nation Newspaper as it Corporate Communications Manager, my mother was fine with that because she understood the concept of working for a reputable organization no matter the job.  When I set up my own PR Agency  she was however very worried for me because she could not fathom how I would make money and what service I was truly offering.
The PRSA 1982 National Assembly formally adopted a definition of public relations, which remains widely accepted and used today: “Public relations helps an organization and its publics 
adapt mutually to each other.”READ MORE

Green Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility The Way to Go

Over the past decade, businesses around the world have been focusing on creating products and services, which have very little impact on the environment.

Several international companies such as S. C. Johnson, TESCO and Honda have implemented environmental management systems, which go beyond what the law requires to operate in an environmentally responsible way.

Many businesses recognise that being environmentally responsible can translate into sales.  Consumers understand more than ever the importance of environmental conservation.  Even more important is that with this increased knowledge; consumers are choosing to boycott businesses that have not made the decision to go ‘green.’

This has caused several businesses to utilise greening as simply a PR tool to attract consumers and increase sales. However, several international certifications exist which can assist customers in deciphering between these ‘green washed’ businesses and those businesses which have invested in ensuring they reduce their impact on the environment.

Environmental certification programs are useful for identifying environmentally preferred goods and services. They are typically run by third party organizations that establish environmental standards for goods and services and then certify supplier offerings against them. These certifications include (among others) GreenSeal, EcoLogo, ISO standards of certification and Green Globe.
Read More 

PR Practioners Don't Think Up Stories: My Response to Mail Online Story

I read the Mail Online story “Insider reveals: PR men would think up a story and Rebekah’s Sun and News of the World would run it word for word. Some were complete fiction” (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2013046/Rebekah-Brooks-Sun-News-World-run-fictional-stories-insider-claims.html) and was pretty much disgusted as a former journalism student and more so as a seasoned PR practitioner.

Clearly the story was fired with the passion of a disgruntled employee but despite this fact I took issue with the salacious depiction of the field of public relations.  I take issue with the suggestion that we in the profession ‘think up’ stories.  Yes writing is a big part of what we do, but to say we sit and dream up stories for clients shows a total disregard and lack of respect for the profession.  Professional Code of Ethics governs the way the majority of professionals work on a daily basis.  Both PRSA (http://www.prsa.org/aboutprsa/ethics/) and IABC (http://www.iabc.com/about/code.htm) have these codes prominent on their websites. READ FULL STORY

Disengaged employees costing companies dearly

Many companies today are operating at one-third of their people potential because the remaining two-thirds of their employees are not engaged, says an internationally respected specialist in employee engagement and internal communication.

And according to Ken Milloy, President of Ken Milloy Management Consulting Inc. those disengaged employees are costing their companies dearly through lower productivity and profits and by chasing away potentially loyal customers.

“The collective capability of a company’s workforce is a source of competitive advantage – a unique characteristic of the business that cannot be copied,” he told human resources and corporate communications professionals at a recent workshop hosted by the International Association of Business Communicators, Barbados Chapter. “But that competitive advantage cannot be tapped unless employees are truly engaged.”

Milloy said engaged employees are those who feel a “heightened emotional connection” towards the organisation that influences them to exert greater discretionary effort.

“Discretionary effort is that extra effort that employees can give or withhold – it’s their choice,” he explained.

The Vancouver-based management consultant said engaged employees can be recognized by the passion that drives them to build and innovate and to find new and more effective ways to accomplish their roles.

“They will take less than half as many sick days off as the average employee, and they are 87% less likely to leave the company,” he added.

Milloy identified several “core drivers” of employee engagement, including how well managers “walk the talk”, how well employees understand how their work contributes to the company’s performance, and whether the company makes an effort to develop its employees’ skills.

But the most important of all, he stressed, is the nature of the relationship between employees and their managers and supervisors.

“If employees don’t have a strong relationship with managers who set clear expectations, knows them, trusts them and invests in them, they are less likely to perform or stay,” he said.

(An IABC Barbados Release)

The Press Release and The Press Conference- Tools and Tactics

You know the saying the more things change, the more they remain the same. Well I was at a gathering of pr professionals recently and a number of issues came up. None of them were new, which was no surprise. But what did surprise me was that the topics that received the most attention were not new media and social networks on the web, what received the most dialog were the century old press release and press conference.

I was blessed to be a pr professional working at a media house for a very long time so I understand intimately the stance and motivation of the journalist versus that of the pr professional. And all the professionals that thought that I had it easy… well, yes the journalist and I did have the same organisation at heart which was our bread and butter, but each editor had different motivations, tolerance levels, deadlines and egos that had to be pandered to, to get releases in the papers. In other words I had to do some pitching like any other pr professional working on the outside.

Early in the game I studied the newspaper’s style of writing and matched it as best as I could, because I came to understand and appreciate the long hard hours that journalists work and how taxing it is to produce an informative, educational, entertaining, error free publication everyday. Editors are usually working on tight deadlines and a well written story already in their style is more likely to be placed immediately than one that they had to try to interpret and doctor to suit the paper’s style. I have seen a number of press releases that came to the paper and wondered where exactly is this person going with this – no news value and poorly written.

From my experience as long as the news value is high editors may look pass the quality of the writing because at the end of the day, what they want to put out is an interesting product. Press releases are looked on firstly as companies’ propaganda. In more recent times they are being viewed as ads. This has created a new set of tension between the media and pr professionals, especially in those organizations where the measure of the success of the pr is judged only on column inches in the newspaper. Is it then correct to say that if your releases don’t get publish that you are not doing good work? (This sets me off on a totally different road of what is the role of the pr professional and how should success be measured? To be explored in another article.)

Editors try to be fair and impartial in placing releases. Of course with tons of releases hitting their desk everyday and the space in the paper for stories rapidly diminishing due to ever increasing aggressive ad ratios, the onus is on pr professionals to do what I consider to be job 101 of the profession – build relationships.

Relationships should be established with all the persons on whom your success and the success of your company or client depend. It is not enough to write a great press release because it may be shelved because a bus load of people crashed in St. Joseph and seven people died and suddenly all the vacant slots in the newspaper are taken up with all the human interest, eye witness stories for weeks. And hey, this will sell a couple thousand more papers, your release won’t. You need to have a relationship with the editor so that you can pick up the telephone and remind him or her of your great release.

I have spent a mighty long time on the press release because I think that it is a useful tool and should be used in a lot of instances instead of a grand press conference. (To be continued).

Barbados' Business Communicators Board 2008

VP Administration, Petal Barclay Smith; VP Professional Development, Richard Thomas; Executive Vice President, Pamala Proverbs; President, Christal P. McIntosh; VP Membership/ Marketing, Cliona Donohue; VP Finance, Fay Best; and VP Communications, Lynette G. Taylor. (Photo compliments PBS Communications)

A New PR Chapter In Barbados

T.S. Elliott referred to April as being the cruelest month. He probably was a Bajan hotelier because April signals the end of the booming winter season and the start of the low occupancy period for hotels. April however for the rest of the world is a glorious month ushering in spring - flowers, butterflies and all things bright and beautiful.

For pr professionals in Barbados April also brought great news. The online community which had been gathering for the last six months or so will finally be meeting. The community was occupied for a long time with which international association it should align itself to, PRSA or IABC.

As a member of both organisations for a very long time, I felt the topic did not need much discussion it needed a decision. Both organisations give great value to members, it is really a question of preference. I maybe a little bias towards PRSA, being an accredited member and the only person in this part of the region with the APR for the last six years.

At one stage when my good friend Cheryl Procter-Rogers was president of PRSA I had flirted with the idea of establishing a chapter in Barbados. All the materials were sent to me and I passed them on to another professional but I was knee deep in a MBA and she was a new mother, at a tender stage in a very big organisation. All our good intentions remained just that.

I was delighted to see Christal McIntosh, full of youthful zeal and clearly a web 2.0 junkie leading a serious discussion on the Internet encouraging local professionals to gather. I immediately offered her my full backing although I warned her that having just launched my own company my time would be limited. Of course if you know Christal you would know that this was no deterrent and she is somehow able to squeeze every ounce of advice and work out of me.

The inaugural meeting will be held on Thursday May 8 at 6pm at the Small Business Development Centre on Fontabelle. Judette Coward, the Chapter President of IABC Trinidad will be on the island to tell of the T&T experience and to give us some advice on starting the chapter. Judettte, like Christal, was responsible for the formation of that chapter. Christal has also sought the help of IABC International and has received a lot of support from that organisation to facilitate the first meeting. All business communicators are invited.

Can anyone guess which organisation Barbados will be going with?