This is an assignment submission as part of a course requirement for Principles of Public Relations (CCM745) at Seneca’s School of Media, Public Relations-Corporate Communications Program.
The world is the stage. Technology is the driver. Engagement is the strategy.
Public relations and corporate communications anyone?
Not one industry has the monopoly of the abilities to rise to these challenges. Who does it better is the real game-changer. In a globalized world with a tech-driven engagement, the communications discipline that PR brings is an edge, but also puts it at the crossroads.
This crossroad is one where PR is an established contributor to strategy formulation and not just as a marketing tool (Sally Dibb), and the other is where it can find a nexus with marketing to deliver branded content that builds trust and establishes a voice (Prezly).
Relationship with the media is important, but not required to get a press release out. Distribution platforms can do that. Media contacts database is handy, but social media has changed that. Conversations, advisories, and fast Q&A’s now happen in chat groups and SMS. Even media interviews and press conferences are now virtual. With journalists and the audience getting used to this, retaining digital workflows perfected during the pandemic makes sense (Kuhnhenn).
In an era of convergence, multi-platform delivery of information at the speed of a mouse click is expected. PR practitioners are doing a remarkable job keeping communications discipline, but convergence also means flexibility and agility. Packaging of news releases and information dissemination need not be confined to old-school format and channels. The audience out there are now fed visual press releases, video statement, and boiler plates presented in corporate trailer videos.
“The aesthetics of the content are not up to usual standards, and consumers expect more,” media architect Sumita Arora said. Long-held traditions of writing is a good foundation. But PR practitioners are not the only wordsmiths out there. It’s a transferrable skill. Good writing goes a long way but how digital media is overtaking journalism – which is a different story – offers the same lesson.
According to a study, “Competition, strategy, technology and people: The challenges facing PR,” the explosion of information technology has obvious impacts on the world of PR. “Segmentation of the media, including cable television, interactive software and the growing use of direct mail, has clear implications in terms of the application of PR and the greater range of skills required by PR practitioners.”
The study proposed “creating new areas of the PR function such as infomercials and advertorials which broaden the scope of the industry, resulting in industry growth and a swiftly changing, ever more complex operating environment.”
Other industries such as marketing and advertising have already embraced the realities of a global audience, the digital technology, and new roles. The latter has put PR in a gray area with marketing and or advertising as PR is still thinking inside the box in terms of approaches and strategy. Where audience engagement requires innovative thinking and creative strategies, marketing or advertising has recreated a box where PR is part of the package.
The gray area between PR and content marketing, more than a trend, has become a pragmatic approach to achieve strategic business objectives. Marketing campaign can only sell so far, but public relations is a strategic investment to create a deeper connection with stakeholders, a key to long-term success (Prezly).
“As marketing becomes more like PR, there is an opportunity for PR professionals to play a greater role, leading and influencing the way the organization communicates with all its publics,” Daniel Tisch wrote for the Canadian Public Relations Society.
PR becomes a strategic necessity to the integral function within a client organization when it continues to focus on strategy-formulation, and applying critical thinking and problem-solving to organizational issues (Tisch). PR will never be off-track if it takes that high road “to become organizational storytellers — not simply messengers — in building relationships with stakeholders and publics.”
According to Tisch, this is a PR challenge because marketing remains a better-defined, better-understood discipline, with a clear return on investment (ROI). But calling a spade a spade, “public relations and marketing strategies must remain distinct, yet integrated.”
“Marketing is necessarily about building brands and relationships with customers first and foremost; public relations must necessarily take an enterprise-wide view, one that looks for business opportunities and risks in relationships with all stakeholders, and in the organization’s role in the society.”
Where the primary purpose is to communicate and engage, there is no turf war. A strategic adviser or a communication partner, these roads converge. PR can take advantage of the core underlying trends and become more competitive and create new vistas in which it can function (Sally Dibb).
That is the crossroad. Either way public relations will go, there’s always a place for it where credibility is the currency of the ROI.
Bibliography
Kuhnhenn, Jim. “Journalism Institute National Press Club.” 8 May 2020. What will the post-pandemic newsroom look like? This media architect explains. 17 November 2020.
Prezly. “7 PR Challenges for 2019 .” 28 January 2019. Prezly PR Academy. 17 November 2020.
Sally Dibb, Lyndon Simkin and Adam Vancini. “Competition, strategy, technology and people: The challenges facing PR.” 2020. WARC. Internet. 17 November 2020.
Tisch, Daniel. “The Elevation of Public Relations.” n.d. The Canadian Public Relations Society, Inc. 17 November 2020.
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