Posted 3. April 2009, 11:59 by Sarah Andrews
Category : Home   Industry developments

Traditional PR approaches

Public Relations (PR) ‘helps an organisation and its publics adapt mutually to each other’ (Avila and Sherwin 1997). The aim for a PR practitioner is to target the desired publics in order to get the message across. May that be a product or an issue or anything else; it’s the PR’s job and deemed their expertise to have full knowledge of the media, how it works and which media channels would be best suited to target their publics.

Traditionally, it is the job of the practitioner to get the journalist on side and persuade them to get their message across in the magazine or newspaper. Journalists are seen as the gateway to the public that PR’s so wish to target.

Public Relations has developed massively in recent years partly due to commercial and non-commercial organisations realising the need for PR, but also because of the considerable increase in the means by which PR messages can be conveyed (Baines et al. 2004).

Rise of the internet and users of the web – PR 1.0

With the explosive growth of the Internet, computer communications have become the new media. According to research conducted by Netsmart in 1995, 81% of users turn to the internet to research new products or services, PR practitioners realised the potential of getting messages conveyed online (Avila and Sherwin, 1997).
Traditional media such as newspapers, magazines and television began to embrace the internet and began to establish an online presence. Almost every single national, regional and local newspaper has an online presence such as “www.thetimesonline.co.uk” and “www.thesun.co.uk.” In October 2007 the online edition of The Guardian newspaper gained 18.4 million unique users in a month (milnemedia.typepad.com). So, it is no surprise that PR’s had to now integrate an online presence in their campaigns.
Gaining coverage online from my experience at agencies, meant to most PR practitioners getting their releases featured in the online edition of a newspaper or magazine; however the move to online made no difference to the methods PR’s used to sell in their story. They were still relying on journalists to publish their press release and mention something about their client in the publication, with the hope of gaining coverage somewhere online too.
Other aspects of gaining online coverage was to target lifestyle websites such as “www.handbag.co.uk” as well as acquiring coverage on events listing websites such as “www.dreamline-events.com.”

Rise of interactivity and social networking sites- PR 2.0
Since the birth of Facebook in 2004 the realm of social networking has been a huge phenomenon. Since there were over 170 million reported users of Facebook in 2007, which is consistently growing it is evident to see that the way PR’s use the online sphere to communicate to their publics needed to be changed. Web 2.0 is used to describe web-based communities such as blogs, forums, social networking sites, wiki’s and video involvement sites such as you tube. Determined by the number of users visiting these sites and the frequency they do so, it can be argued that social networking sites create a ‘flow’ experience. According to Csikszentmiharli (1977) “flow is the process of optimal experience�. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

With PR’s, marketers and advertisers constantly trying to think of new ways to engage with their publics, web 2.0 gives them the chance to be a bit more creative and imaginative. There are no strict rules and regulations that you have to adhere to on the web and as campaigns have shown, the more radical, the more people will talk about it (for example, the Cadbury’s campaigns). Especially during a recession PR’s, marketers and advertisers are all relying on word of mouth in the hope to get their message across. According to the Nielson Global Survey, 78% of consumers trust other consumers’ recommendations above anything else (www.nielson-online.com).

For many years the marketing, PR and advertising world has concentrated on the 4ps approach, which until the emergence of online media has served it purpose extremely well. They are product, price, place and promotion (Brassington and Pettit, 2003). More recently it is evident that they cannot fully describe the activities going on. In today’s society it is more realistic to include ‘participation’ in the approach which in turn will make help make a campaign more successful as the public will be more involved at the fore front of the campaign.

By communicating with consumers through these interactive sites, have PR’s have finally found a way to cut out the middle man? They can converse with their publics more freely without the bribes, expensive lunches and endless holiday cards they to send to journalists in hope for a quick mention. Journalists do not seem to be holding the reigns as much as they used to. Especially in the current economic climate where newspapers are not making as much money, are the journalists losing some of their control?

Now, this is not to say that traditional media channels should be ignored. There are still millions of consumers reading newspapers and magazines, listening to the radio and watching television and more importantly trusting these sources. It would be foolish to think that a campaign would be successful purely on the basis that a Facebook group has been set up, but it is a way of interacting with the public more. The aim for PR’s is to get the target message out to the public, to get them noticing it and talking about it. Interactivity is a way of bringing the focus back to the public. Being reliant on a third party to endorse the message carries a danger of the message being distorted or even ignored. Harrison (1995) adapted Shannon and Weaver’s model of communication, proposing that messages can become interfered with noise and as a result may become distorted and misunderstood (Theaker, 2004).

Online campaigns are becoming increasingly popular, our favourite brands and companies are doing it all over the world. But as a relatively new phenomenon is the standard PR practitioner skilled enough to do it well? According to research 49% of companies out-source online PR campaigns to non PR firms (www.marketingpilgrim.com). In my experience at PR firms, (they all have been at consumer companies) I found no one in the organisation had the first clue about setting up a successful online campaign or even how to begin. I realise that there are specialised PR companies and consultancies out there but is the standard agency going to lose out to these companies if the standard PR’s aren’t able to do it well enough?

Bloggers and online journalists are in high demand. Everyone wants to get their message across online. But where do we PR’s start? Do we treat them the same way we would a regular journalist? Wine and dine whilst we encourage them to print our release?

When the automobile ‘Renault Twingo’ was re-launched in 2007, the team at Renault felt that creating a strong online presence as part of the PR and Marketing campaign was crucial to the success of the re-launch.

They targeted 10 of the most influential bloggers within the online motoring world and invited them to a prestigious motor event where the re-launch of the Twingo was taking place. The bloggers were able to talk about the product whilst away for the re-launch and as online blogs are instant the word was out about the Twingo. There were offered a ‘money can’t buy’ experience by the company who obviously wanted to impress them not only with the new car but with the whole experience. In this instance, the way the bloggers were invited and wined and dined in true PR fashion is very similar as to how you would try and get the press to any event. However, which worked for them so well is that the news was instant. There was no embargoed releases, no deadlines for print just bloggers’ opinions about the new model of the car which was on the internet within hours. Luckily for Renault the news was good!

It is crucial for products like the LG watch phone to have an online presence. When typing the product in Google the actual LG website is not available on the first page, instead you are flooded with blogs and opinions about the product. The product also has over 10 videos on you tube where potential buyers are able to see what the product can do. It seems obvious for technological products to create an interactive sphere for their consumers as the target market will probably source the internet as a means of information anyway, but it is also important for other brands too.

Even for brands in the pharmaceutical sector. Nurofen, for example have an interactive website for their customers. They encourage users to take the ‘what’s your pain personality test’ “(http://www.painprofiles.com/)”. Needless to say that this is just a basic way of getting people interested in the product and what the product has to offer but it is also an example of how many companies are utilising interactive media to engage with their consumers. It just highlights further that PR company’s need to up their game when pitching for business-it simply isn’t enough to have good relations with the features writer at GQ-they need a good relationship with the key influential bloggers too!
On my placement I was lucky enough to be sent on many training courses, none of which though was about the use of online media. It just seems that the traditional PR methods are being totally outshone and in such a rapid way that some companies just have not had the time to get up to speed.

References:
Anon,. Flow (Psychology). Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) [Accessed 17 March 2009].
Avila, E. N., and Sherwin, G. R., 1997. Connecting Online. Oregon: Oasis Press.
Baines, P., Egan, J., Jefkins, F., 2004. Public relations : contemporary issues and techniques. London: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heineman.
Beal, A., 12 December 2008. 49% of Companies Outsource Online PR Campaigns to Non PR firms!. Available from: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/12/49-of-companies-outsource-online-pr-campaigns-to-non-pr-firms.html [Accessed 18 March 2009].
Brassington, F., and Pettitt, S., 2003. Principles of marketing. 3rd Ed. Harlow : Financial Times Prentice Hall
Holtz, S., 2002. Public Relations on the net. 2nd Ed. New York: Amacom.
http://www.nielsen-online.com/solutions.jsp?section=sol_1&nav=1 [Accessed 16 March 2009].
Milne, S., 2007. How many people read their newspapers online?. Available from: http://milnemedia.typepad.com/milne_media/2007/11/how-many-people.html [Accessed 16 March 2009].
Theaker, A., 2004. The Public Relations Handbook. 2nd Ed. Oxon: Routledge.