Monday, March 16, 2009

Recession being blamed on “Public Relations” ? We wish we were that important...

As the economy worsens and it begins to affect each of us personally, we begin the very human process of finger pointing and blame gaming. Lately the focus of some of that blame has been leveled at our own profession…public relations. Guess who’s to blame for the recession? It rhymes with ‘shublic belations’

I’ve had a few good rants myself on the subject. But to be fair, my criticisms have not been at the profession overall, but at certain practices and firms that seem determined to black all of our eyes. And there lies a bigger problem for some of us that practice PR a little differently…that is, smartly, honestly and fairly.

In the meantime, headlines continue to be made by not only the extravagant hiring of PR firms, like AIG running amuck, to the City of Chicago’s recent firing of PR firms. Bad PR forces City Hall to cancel contracts

Let’s be clear…PR did not cause this recession and PR is not extending it. And here’s an even bigger blow to the PR blogosphere…we’re important, but not that important in the grand scheme of world geopolitics and geo-economics to be having a significant impact one way or another. That is not to say, we’re not an easy target. We are. And that’s our own fault. PR’s job and those of us who have been proud to practice it for a living over the years, is to facilitate information, to assist in communicating, and at times to educate…and in so doing, to often influence those to whom we’re communicating. We’re our clients’ storytellers when they have things of significance to tell. But we should never be their shills nor their “spinmeisters” and we should never ever become the story itself. And most importantly, when a client asks us to tell a story that in the best case is of little or no news value or worst case, is disingenuous or misleading, we should be honest and give them the best of professional advice…no.

But the most egregious of PR practices and the single greatest target of criticism during an economic downturn is the size of many of the large firms’ fees and the lack of accountability in how the traditional PR world is compensated. Inflated hourly fees for highly subjective and non-tangible results deserve the criticism…and I personally hope the outrage continues.

We as a country and as an economy will weather this crisis, bad as it is and bad as it may yet become. And while keeping our individual and professional roles in some humble and realistic perspective, we as PR practitioners can help and make a difference. How…by demanding that PR go beyond the image of high priced counselors to a more equitable compensation system based on fair pay for tangible performance.


Tuesday, March 10, 2009

How many PR consultants does it take to change a… Oops! Right joke, wrong profession

AIG PR firms now up to four… and AIG CEO on Today Show just does “ok.”

Sometimes it’s really hard to keep reading the depressing headlines in this lurching economy. Oh, I don’t mean the those headlines declaring the unemployment rate has hit a twenty-five year low…or that the U.S. is now facing a trillion dollar plus deficit…or you’re your neighbor may lose his job and his home…and even Bernie Madhoff may have to give up his penthouse (God forbid.) No, I’m talking about the sad state of the public relations profession that in spite of itself, can’t seem to get it’s act together and get some good press. (Or as we prefer to call it…Ink.)

AIG, the insurance giant with the largest hand out (literally and figuratively) has decided that it simply must have additional help in spinning it’s story to an even greater number of audiences, and of course, in so doing, spend even more of our tax dollars. AIG’s actions remind me of the old adage about the lone man in a lifeboat that assumed the more people he added, the better it would float. See
“AIG's dizzying PR binge ”

And what’s even more depressing is that with all these supposed heavy hitters with the astronomical hourly fees in the AIG line up, one good media trainer can’t be found to provide some sage advice and counsel to their client’s CEO before making an appearance on the Today Show? I know that Tom Cruse might disagree, but Matt Lauer isn’t exactly Mike Wallace. Some where, some how, buried within Kekst & Co., Hill and Knowlton, or Burson-Marsteller is a media specialist at a zillion dollars an hour to rehearse CEO Liddy to ward off those tricky Lauer zingers. AIG CEO draws mixed review on Today. Of course, an even more important question might be, why the Today Show?


My preference would have been to have Liddy’s butt grilled by Congress as to why AIG is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on PR firms’ hourly fees to make excuses rather than humbly and diligently fix the problem.

As a point of full disclosure and a nod to the late Senator Bensten, I know Kekst & Co and Burson-Marsteller, I’ve worked with and for both, and they’re friends of mine…or at least the founders. Both however, along with Hill and Knowlton, the other PR counsels of record, and an enormous internal PR group, should not be above the criticism from the rest of us in the PR profession any more than AIG should be exempt from the wrath of Congress or the tax payers for wasting extremely valuable dollars to benefit the elite few over the many. Yes, AIG, could use and needs professional PR assistance…obviously. But exactly how many very expensive “suits” does it take to give a few solid pieces of common sense advice, to write a non-nonsense annual report, to tell this client to be humble, work hard, react truthfully and openly when asked, but keep a low profile and until you’ve earned back the public’s trust?

The answer evidently is the same number as it takes some to change a light bulb...


Sunday, March 1, 2009

Smaller independent PR firms…surviving the unsurvivable…

At the risk of being labeled with the new, old buzzword…dare I say, “socialist”…I actually believe that the new administration is doing everything it can with the knowledge and skills it has available to it, to push, drag, cajole this economy back to a level of respectability. But I also know that if we sit, wait, and expect the newly elected folks in Washington, D.C. to do all the heavy lifting than economic failure is a certainty. This is particularly true in the entrepreneurial and small business sector of this country…dare I say, “capitalist?” ( see WSJ article “Entrepreneurs Can Lead Us Out of the Crisis”)

We in the public relations business that are proud to be considered smaller non-traditional and boutique PR firms, certainly fit within that sector. Most of us have built our businesses and practices, large and small, through innovation, a fierce independence , and an awful lot of hard work over more trial and error than any of us wish to remember. Ok, not all. There are the “lemmings” in the world of boutique PR just like everywhere that believe duplication of the big old boys is the greatest form flattery and quickest path to PR riches….an oxymoron if ever there was one. There is a reason that our, not their, client rosters are most often weighted heavily with entrepreneurs and start-ups beyond smaller budgets. There is a kinship and an understanding of what drives these young companies as well as the processes needed to reach and convince their audiences that “different is good.”

So what can those of us that have taken more of an entrepreneurial PR path be doing to survive and maybe even grow during these days before we all begin to see some light over the horizon? First and foremost, recognize and remind ourselves that two of things that got us here are key to our survival…innovation and a smaller more flexible size. We’re built to adapt and move quickly to rapid shifts on both a macro and micro economic level. We’re the sailing sloop darting amongst the waves compared to the mega tanker with all its bloated weight charging headlong to an unseen reef.

At the risk of offending my fellow PR firms with my audacity and even possibly strengthening my competition, here are a few specific tips that this smaller size and flexibility allow…

  1. Realize and accept that your clients and everyone’s interest and focus is totally on efficiency and accountability… and savings. Be prepared to demonstrate value in the form of real price/performance for your fees. Time to drop the B.S.
  2. Listen to them and be prepared to adapt if necessary. Again…listen to the client. It’s a buyers market.
  3. Shore up what you do best and make sure your current clients are highly serviced (extremely important).
  4. But honestly analyze where there may be weaknesses in your firm and form alliances to offset these. There are other complimentary firms…advertising, marcom, web design, social media…also in the same slowing predicament. It is much less cost intensive to form a complimentary alliance to compliment your strengths than investing in new people and infrastructure.
  5. Market yourselves aggressively with the tools and expertise at hand: publicity and the Internet.
  6. Stay alert to the market. Keep listening to the client marketplace and stay flexible.
Lastly, keep the faith… and keep moving forward. We entrepreneurs have been through tough times before.