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Public Relations CRM

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: …Take a Hint from the Internet, Redefine Customers

Public Relations CRM

Two recent events made me pause and wonder if public relations people shouldn’t step back and think long and hard about their priorities and their responsibilities.

First a trade publication editor asked if we’d provide a generic article for his readers on how to install and use Web-based support and CRM (Customer Relations Management), how they worked and options that were available to his readers. We determined it would be easy to complete since we have had more than 10 years experience in the Internet arena and more than five years in the support industry. All we would have to do was sanitize our discussion of any mention – good or bad – of a specific company or product.

With a little refresh research on the Web, we felt we could complete the piece for him in a Sunday afternoon. We committed to deliver another article that would be “good PR” for our industry expertise image.

At the same time, we moved ahead finalizing press materials and contacting editors and reporters for two upcoming trade shows.

In the midst of this we received a call for help from an editor who had been trying for a week to get the PR people from one of our larger clients’ sister divisions to provide him with the information and assistance he needed. The chances of our knowing the individual or anyone else in the division are similar to having people say, “Oh you lived in Chicago, do you know so-and-so?”

But we did attempt to help. We gave him the names and phone numbers of PR people in different divisions in the same locale. We also took down all of his information and forwarded it to the head of company’s US PR operations. We also gave the editor the corporate PR person’s name, phone number and email address.

Two days later we received an irate call from the public relations person in question asking why we had gone out of our way to get him in trouble.

In B2B and B2C Internet-speak the public relations person was simply practicing poor CRM.

The concept jelled a few weeks after the incident when we were talking with Dana Blankenhorn, an excellent freelance journalist who specializes in Internet issues.

In today’s Internet marketplace the mantra for being effective and successful is one-to-one relationships. It’s one of the most important things we do every day. One-to-one with bosses, clients, editors, industry analysts, company customers, security analysts and others.

We’ve been doing it for years. Each of our “customers” is treated as unique. We adapt our services to his or her wants and needs. We focus our activities and efforts to what they expect at a given point in time. But because the process hasn’t been automated we sometimes lose sight of the value and importance of each customer.

In the incident we discussed earlier, the PR person explained that he was very busy planning the press party for the upcoming trade show and coordinating the limo service for his boss and his guests. As a result, he had to put off most of the media inquiries for interviews and new product information.

The problem is that the digital marketplace has turned our world upside down and we need to pay more attention to our customer relations management activities even if we don’t have powerful CRM software or even a Palm Pilot. We have to use our instincts to constantly reevaluate and shift our customer priorities.

Are your public relations talent best used in arranging for limousines or arranging editorial meetings? Does your instinct tell you that at a trade show you should spend most of your time escorting your boss to his or her meetings or your meeting with industry and financial analysts? Does your gut feelings tell you that party planning is more important than assisting an editor – even if he or she is with one of your second tier publications?

Making these decisions and adjusting your public relations customer relations management activities in real time is what separates great PR people from the herd.

Fortunately for the good and great people in the industry there is a dramatic shortage of experienced, qualified public relations people. There have been a number of articles written in recent months about seasoned corporate PR people who are taking a stronger stand on the impact company policies and announcements will have with target audiences. Agencies have become more selective in the companies and management teams they will represent. They are taking stronger positions on what they expect from client management including firing clients because managers are insufferable jerks.

Do these actions involve too much ego? Are they the positions a prima donna would take?

In today’s digital economy we don’t believe they do.

Public relations isn’t a digital marketplace commodity. Quality, reliability and credibility matter. Good, effective public relations activities and efforts require focus, instinct and commitment. Even when we’re dealing in Internet time it’s the human factor that makes the difference.

Fortunately, reputation can’t be automated. Even in the digital marketplace there is no way to replace relationships. However, it does mean we’ll have to be more attuned to properly handing our CRM activities.

If we don’t our work will be distilled to pure market value – price and quantity. When that happens, none of public relations’ customers will be properly served. Even with commodity products, decisions are seldom made on price alone.

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