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The New PR Toolkit

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Book Review -- Strategies for Successful Media Relations – Diedre Breakenridge, Thomas J. DoLoughry; Financial Times Prentice Hall, Pearson Education, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458; (201) 236-7000, www.pearsoned.com, ISBN –0130090255, January 2003, 272 pages, $24.95

The New PR Toolkit

You are wrong…dead wrong.

We know because we thought the same thing you did when you read the title…oh goodie, another boilerplate, anyone-can-do-this-stuff book designed for the flower club publicist or person who is getting into PR because he or she really likes people.

The emphasis on this book really is on the new PR toolkit for people who have to really work in today’s ever-changing environment. In our opinion the book is strong on tactical learning and less on strategies. The authors don’t spend a lot of time giving you their opinions on the proper strategy in today’s new media environment. Breakenridge and DoLoughry get you involved in understanding and getting comfortable with the ever-widening circle of media available to today’s PR person who has a solid foundation in the strategy and basics.

They really help you step forward with confidence to make the most of tomorrow’s PR tools. They tell you what works and when it works. They give you the proactive guidance you need to deal with the myriad of challenges you’re going to face…if not today, tomorrow!

Most important in our opinion, they help you actively market the value of your PR efforts internally without being overly blatant. That information and guidance is worth the price of the book alone.

The authors don’t beat their own drums on all of the successes they have had in today’s new PR environment. But they do give you an analysis of recent PR programs and quite precisely looked at how and why they succeeded or failed. These are programs that take advantage of such things as opt-in newsletters, internet-based brand monitoring, webcasts and online pressrooms.

Whether you are relatively new to the day-to-day practice of PR or have been in the industry 15-plus years, they help you understand what today’s audience wants and needs. They show you how to use the internet to strengthen your company and brand as well as to defend it when necessary. They give you information that will help avoid the landmines of journalist relationships, working with and monitoring blogs and proactively monitoring use lists.

Without talking down to people who have gained years of solid experience, they stress that a good founding in the basics is vital even as we leap into the internet, everyone-connected world. For the student or soon-to-be-professional they show that if you don’t know the fundamentals, the basics, there are plenty of opportunities to stumble and fail. Heck the roadsides in every technology area of the country are filled with the bones of failed PR programs and efforts. The authors are your archeological guides to understanding what lead to their demise.

On the one hand we wholeheartedly agree with Breakenridge and DoLoughry that PR people have been deluding themselves with the ideas that they are doing a great job if they spend the majority of their time developing and email broadcasting releases. On the other hand, they don’t focus on – and perhaps this is beyond the scope of a meaningful how-to book – the fact that we have to reprogram how management gauges and measures a program’s success.

They dance around and touch the subject periodically and perhaps that is the best approach. If you’re working with/for a 50-plus year old CEO and VP of marketing getting them to understand and embrace the 21st century communications tools isn’t something that can be accomplished overnight.

Perhaps the best way of bringing along these executives is to share the book with them?

Having worked with three of the earliest firms in the Internet arena; we agree that research and planning are luxuries when you are working on ‘Internet time.” When the here-and-now is here-and-now the best approach was to handle it and modify as you go forward. The authors offer some very excellent examples of companies that have really leveraged the Internet to maximize their return on investment in PR activities.

Breakenridge and DoLoughry emphasize that no organization has bottomless pockets and endless patience for public relations to deliver – sometime. The 24x7 world of the Internet means that online and offline PR efforts have to be perfectly meshed and have to produce concrete results for the company and its brand.

Talking the talk is no longer a good strategy for the PR person who must develop, carry out and measure his/her activities. You’re going to have to walk the walk – rapidly – and The New PR Toolkit is a good place to start!

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