It's too bad that so many firms
waste so much money on public relations activities that have
little or no impact on the press or, more importantly, on their
prospective customers.
One of the key reasons these activities fail is that
management lets their in-house staff or an outside agency handle
the company's PR without management's direct involvement.
Another reason most efforts are a wasteful is that too often, the
people doing the writing of the releases and/or articles would
have a hard time writing a ransom note, let alone something an
editor and/or his or her readers would want to spend any time
reading.
Most heads of companies feel that they can "assign" their
public relations activities to someone. Then, when they are
completed, the managers wonder why the PR activities don't
reflect their views and directions.
Public relations starts with management, and it ends with
management. The people who "do things in between" merely
facilitate management's messages. The PR person's job is to take
a few statements and thoughts and put them into a form that makes
the corporate managers sound knowledgeable and professional. As
far as the company's public is concerned, the visible activities
are all a direct reflection on management.
We once told a company president that we would be happy to
help him carry out his public relations program, but that since
he was responsible for directing, guiding and projecting the
company to the outside world, the success or failure of the program
was really up to him. No public relations staff or agency can assume that
Responsibility. They can only make it easier for management to
communicate internally and externally--which aids in achieving
the company's goals.
Today's Images
Lee Iacocca did something in the automotive industry
that hasn't been done since Henry Ford. He humanized Chrysler
Corporation. Very few people can put a name and face with
General Motors, Ford, Toyota or Honda. But you could put a
name and face with Chrysler.
Bill Gates (despite current problems) knows one of his key jobs is the proper projection,
internally and externally, at Microsoft. Lou Gerstner at IBM
takes a very active role in the company's PR activities. Al Shugart
was Seagate to the world, but today can you visualize Seagate?
These key executives realized the importance of their
roles as spokespersons for their companies and industries.
Putting themselves in the public eye isn't a matter of
ego. These people know that they have a responsibility to their
shareholders, suppliers, employees and customers. They must
present a strong, consistent image of the company--in good times
and in bad.
If they didn't take their jobs seriously, their companies
would blend into the background along with the hundreds of other
firms you have difficulty recalling.
These people make a PR person's job 150 percent easier.
PR Person's Job
It's not that management doesn't need an internal,
external or combination PR team. Professionals are needed to
present the company to editors/reporters; write technical and
user articles; develop corporate, technical, product and appli-
cations backgrounders; set up press meetings, hospitality suites
and other activities; as well as handle routine queries from the
press. It's their job to help humanize the company to both the
press and prospective customers.
Communication is generally carried out with the written
word, so it is important that the individual doing the PR is able
to string words and sentences together into a clear, concise and
intelligent concept.
Liking people is not a main prerequisite for the job.
But being able to interpret what people say is important.
People outside the organization determine how the company, its
products and its image are perceived. People inside the organi-
zation determine the quality of the projected image of the
company and its products.
PR people have to interpret the messages of both groups.
Pivotal Person
Even though the PR person is interpreting the messages of
many groups, it is the management team that the PR person is
reflecting and presenting.
The president of a company can equate himself to a
precious gem. The PR person's job is to bring the gem out of the
vault and present it in the proper light and setting.
It's his or her job to prepare the audience for the
president, properly present him or her, and then carry out the
nuts and bolts of the job by providing editors with the material
they need for their article and/or interview.
Without that precious gem (or president), no PR person is
going to sell the company and/or its products to the media. If
the boss is only paste, then it follows that the company and
products are also paste. No amount of PR effort or rhetoric is
going to make a difference.
As a result, PR people have to spend much of their time
properly preparing management for their meetings with the press.
And they have to know how to support both management and the
press.
Anyone who says that they do it differently and that they
can completely remove management's responsibilities is only
blowing smoke. And any president who believes that a solid
communications program can work without his or her involvement is
wasting precious time, money and opportunity.
#######
MOST PR EFFORTS ARE A WASTE OF TIME ... MONEY ... ENERGY - To learn more about this author, visit Andy Marken's Website.
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