At the New York City #HAPPO Hour last week, professionals representing many top public relations agencies were on the lookout for talent. Representatives from firms such as Burson Marstellar, Peppercom, MS&L, Devries PR, and Ruder Finn worked the room, looking to meet potential hires. In fact, the number of professionals in the room, who were wearing badges identifying themselves as an actively hiring employer or mentor, nearly matched the number of job seekers and students.
“In 2009 and 2010, it seemed as though many of the clients we pitched were not ready to make a decision,” commented one NYC agency pro. “Recently, however, it seems like clients are starting to move forward. Whether they pick our agency, or another, they are making a decision.” And as firms gear up to take on new business, finding employees quickly becomes a top priority.
In a recent PRNewser post, Ketchum CEO Ray Kotcher noted an increase in the number of RFPs and account wins floating around. “There’s been a bit of a lift from the economy,” Kotcher said. But he said the “lift” was the normal course of business for this time period as “clients are lining up their comms partners for the coming year. You’re also seeing PR taking on much more importance than it has in the past.”
Kotcher noted three key areas of growth for the PR industry:
social media, digital media, and word of mouth
research, measurement, and analytics
continued need for corporate and crisis work (particularly in regards to B-to-B, electronics, and established tech companies
Harris Diamond, CEO of IPG’s Constituency Management Group, which houses its PR firms, including GolinHarris, Weber Shandwick, and DeVries Public Relation, also had a positive message to share with PRNewser readers, “We’re just seeing a tremendous focus with companies more and more seeing the wisdom of looking for programs the reach their constituent groups,” he shared, explaining that across all PR businesses, practices, and geographies, business has experienced and continues to experience growth. Diamond pointed out opportunities available for the industry in areas traditionally reserved for advertising specifically, “Mega events,” like the Super Bowl.
As I chatted amongst the attendees at the New York #HAPPO event, I was inspired to hear so many opportunities, but was struck by the sense of urgency. The last few years have resulted in lean staffs, struggling to provide excellence with very limited resources. Businesses have rightfully been cautious in making the investments necessary to embrace growth and opportunity. Headlines such as “Is PR dead?” questioned the very existence of our industry.
I believe the industry is emerging from these tough economic times stronger, and more necessary than ever before. Budgets are returning, but with a heightened sensitivity to the importance of efficiency and a deep understanding of the precious fragility of growth.
Growth will not be without its challenges. Is your organization preparing to hire or add additional resources for your PR efforts? How has the economic downturn impacted the way your organization is allocating resources?
MARTIN MURTLAND: Good afternoon. My name’s Martin Murtland. I’m vice president at Dow Jones Solutions for Communicators. I’m here at Bulldog Reporter News Summit.
BURKE: Martin, can you talk about the qualities that PR practitioners need to have?
MURTLAND: That’s an interesting one. I think there’s probably two key qualities that I see communicators needing in the future, first one being their alignment to the business media, both to truly align themselves with what the business is trying to achieve. And secondly, I would say regards to analytical skills, the ability to question things. I’ve sort of looked at the future and sort of tried to create a–I’m interested in scenario planning, sort of four scenarios what the future may, may not hold. You sort of imagine a two-by-two grid where you have, at one end, people who are very much aligned to the business, and the other end people that have sort of, “vanity publishing.” You’re just going to get a publication where the coverage of the story with their CEO is actually a hometown newspaper. And the other axis we imagine something like highly analytical skills and that augment, you know, very uncomfortable with analytical skills. So what I would say, somebody who’s got high analytical skills and a–and strong alignment in business are going to be the winners in the future. And those are the things we should strive to try to become as communicators.
But some of the other scenarios, what I would say, they’re what I would term the bluffers. They’re people with good–can talk the talk. They’ve got political alignment to the business, but they don’t have the strong analytical skills to back it up. And they’re typically people who’ll move on after shorter period of time, perhaps before they get found out. And the other end of this expert spectrum I would sort of look at people who I call ostriches. They’re people that are very much into vanity publishing, or a world future that’s sort of run by ostriches. They’re very much into vanity publishing, and their idea of measurement would be how large–how loud the clip book makes whenever it hits the desk.
And then there’s the–sort of the final scenario for what the future may hold, is a world that’s sort of controlled by the gamblers. They’re people who do have strong analytical skills, but then they’re basing on flawed content or data. And so they’re doing the sophisticated analysis on not complete information. That’s why I call them gamblers. But what I–what I think, and certainly what I’m getting across in this conference is there’s a lot of winners out there, and how there’s a very good future in store for communicators as we look forward.
BURKE: Martin, thanks so much. And where can people find you in social media?
MURTLAND: I’ll try and do the–without doing the funny dot-com bit. You can find us at the conversationofcorporation.com.
I wasn’t able to attend this year’s Bulldog Reporter’s Media Relations Summit workshop (in New York) in person earlier this month. However, I did have the opportunity to attend virtually.
Speakers for the panel “The Future of Public Relations: Seizing the Opportunity” consisted of:
Aedhmar Hynes, CEO of Text 100
Matt Harrington, president and CEO of Edelman U.S.
Peter Land, SVP, communications, at PepsiCo Beverages Americas
Martin Murtland, VP, solutions for corporate communications for Dow Jones Inc.
I’ve listed some of the key points that I heard in the podcast. (NOTE: Unfortunately since there was only audio and no video, I was unable to keep track of exactly who was speaking at some times – so my apologies, in advance, to the panel if I’ve not credited you with your quotes.)
Hynes talked about marketing, advertising, public relations, etc. all being separate departments with separate budgets, as this is the business model that’s served well in the past. However, in reality, the future of the industry is about communicating the brand of the organization. What are the goals as a whole and what are the skill sets that match those strategic goals? This is the time for organizations to think about the fundamental concept of moving away from managing information or news to shaping and directing conversation.
Companies must influence the influencers. The concept of third-party advocacy has never been more important than it is now.
As in any discussion of PR these days, the conversation moved to changes in ROI and measurement and analytics. We all know we should get away from ad value equivalency, but what do we use in its place (aside from media value)? How do you know your campaign is a success? There are many tools out there that measure “online buzz.” Yet what does that really mean? It goes back to where you start – when you set your goals, they must be measurable. Measurable goals will drive your reporting and allow you to determine which strategies were successful.
So, what does the future look like for public relations?
PR now has more opportunity and voice as it relates to corporate strategy. In other words, PR professionals are gaining more access to the C-suite.
The future (of PR) is about confidence and being nimble. According to Land, we must be able to move incredibly fast and confident to walk into our CEO’s office and make suggestions.
The move away from “agency of record” was briefly discussed because corporations have multiple needs (e.g., advertising, digital, creative, B2B, direct to consumer, etc.)
The next decade in public relations is predicted to be the most exciting in history thus far. It may seem like it’s “back to the future,” as some have lost sight of fundamental best practices, but we must now come back to this strategic consulting in shaping views, per Hynes.
What would you add? What does the future of PR look like in your mind’s eye? If you attended the conference virtually, what are some of the points you took away from it. Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.
Leah Schmerl is a senior vice president at Kaplow, a New York City public relations firm. She is the leader of the firm’s Internet and e-commerce practice. Leah also spearheads Kaplow’s measurement thought-leadership and oversees the development of the agency’s measurement programs. Leah earned her Master’s degree in U.S. History from the University of California, San Diego, and is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Rochester.
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the PR News PR Measurement Conference, and grappling with some of the toughest issues the PR industry faces.
In my mind, the fundamental question that united the day: how do we make sure the decision-makers within our organizations understand the value public relations brings to their businesses? The speakers who asked and answered these questions were brilliant and the attendees thoughtful.
Here’s my biggest “a-ha” related to the day: when presenting PR results to the C-suite, we need to “talk the talk” of those executives. Meaning, we need to make PR results relevant to the issues and concerns most critical to them.
To do that well, we must fully understand the business objectives against which executives hold PR accountable. Stop being preoccupied with delivering the fanciest metrics on the block (“marketing mix modeling” or “weighted media costs” at the end of the program. The best investment of time and resources is spent at the very start of the PR planning process. This time should be spent clearly articulating the relevant business objectives, and creating clear, measurable PR goals that map to those business objectives. If that’s done at the outset, good measurement becomes so much easier. And our results will be the kinds that make the C-suite sit up and take notice.
Another great take-away from the day: PR has many illustrative metrics available that make setting PR goals (and delivering the corresponding results) much more impactful than ever. It’s critical to examine the measurement tools available (quantitative and qualitative) and hand-pick the ones that will best “make the case” for the positive impact of PR on the organization’s specific business. This reinforced my belief that PR cannot live in a silo. We need to access the metrics available from other teams – like sales and marketing – to help us create the richest measurement reporting possible.
I left the day feeling inspired by the work my PR colleagues are doing in measurement. We’re facing some of the industry’s most challenging times. We’ve got some really smart people asking (and answering) tough questions. I’m excited by where we’re headed.
In a recent PR News Q&A with Tim Marklein of Weber Shandwick,leading up to the Measurement Conference in D.C., a number of points resonated with me – particularly those relevant to our media measurement work.
Some of the highlights were:
The more you can frame metrics in the context of your own organization, the more they’ll matter.
Bridge the gap between PR language and the broader language of the business when presenting media metrics and when attempting to convey the value of your efforts to the C-suite.
Think of a good measurement structure and process before looking at measurement tools and cost.
Define clear, crisp, desired outcomes for your communications objectives; get more specific about your target audiences and clearly define each one.
Some long-held measurement assumptions — one is impressions – are being called into question. So carefully consider the types of metrics you are using.
The last two points, in particular, struck a cord when reflecting on own my experiences with our clients:
First, as we design custom measurement programs with clients, many clients struggle to be able to define clear target audiences for us. In providing quality rating scores (QRS) for stories, we marry the story content score with the media importance score, so the clients’ ability to provide their targeted tiers of media by importance is crucial, but often difficult for them to do.
Secondly when we do provide impressions or “opportunities to see,” we judge these by favorability and we always encourage clients to present all media metrics in the context of favorability.
This Q&A served its purpose in whetting my appetite for the actual live discussions that will be presented by my BurrellesLuce colleague Johna Burke and the other presenters at the PR News’ Measurement Conference. I am particularly curious to learn more about the measurement challenges PR and marketing professionals face in the ever-expanding world of media.
What areas of measurement do you struggle with? What areas have proved successful for you, your company, brand, or client? Will you be attending the measurement conference? If so, what are you hoping to take away from the experience? I look forward to continuing the discussion here on the Fresh Ideas blog.
Bio: I’ve been in the media business all of my adult life, first in newspapers before going full circle and joining BurrellesLuce, where I now direct the Media Measurement department. I’ve always enjoyed meeting and especially listening to the needs of our customers and others in the public relations and communications fields; I welcome sharing ideas through the Fresh Ideas blog. One of my professional passions is providing the type of service to a client that makes them respond, “atta girl” – inspiring our entire team to keep striving to be the best. Although I have been lucky enough to travel through much of Asia and most major U.S. cities for business or pleasure, my free time is now spent with my daughter, visiting family/friends, and of course the Jersey shore. Twitter: @domeasurement LinkedIn: Carol Holden Facebook: BurrellesLuce
At the New York City #HAPPO Hour last week, professionals representing many top public relations agencies were on the lookout for talent. Representatives from firms such as Burson Marstellar, Peppercom, MS&L, Devries PR, and Ruder Finn worked the room, looking to meet potential hires. In fact, the number of professionals in the room, who were wearing badges identifying themselves as an actively hiring employer or mentor, nearly matched the number of job seekers and students.
I wasn’t able to attend this year’s 
