What is PR?

Recently whilst I have been studying for my CIPR Foundation Award, I have been looking at textbook definitions of Public Relations.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations defines PR as:

"Public relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you."

This week I have put the textbooks aside, I've been thinking about what PR is and what PR people do from an agency perspective.

Based on my first few days working with Target PR, these are my observations on PR outside the classroom.

Good relationships

Put simply, PR is about people and your relationships with those people. Good working relationships can help get things done quickly.

Good writing

PR is about producing copy people will want to read. Press releases are short, snappy and newsworthy.

Good causes

There's interest in how local businesses are supporting the local community. Companies that have been going the extra mile and holding quirky fundraising events that support local charities get great coverage.

Good timekeeping

PR is about thinking ahead and being aware of internal, external and your client's deadlines. PR involves careful planning and effective time keeping.

Good tea

And perhaps my most astute observation of the week is that PR is fuelled by copious amounts of tea. Whether the PG Tips, or the Earl Grey variety - its official - tea makes the PR world go round.

Charlotte Sanville
Freelance Account Executive

A spa day – but not as you know it

Spas and beauty salons were the hot topic this week at Target, not just because the team is planning its next pampering treat, but as a result of a visit to Spa Life, one of the UK’s leading industry events.

A first for Target, this conference was certainly an insightful introduction into the world of wellness. Alongside a range of exhibitors from skincare to cosmetics and nail art to aesthetic devices, ran a series of talks and workshops. 

So what did we learn? Oriel Frank, Director of Marketing at Elemis, confirmed our suspicions about the booming market for prestige skincare products (not just based on our own buying habits here at Target), while, perhaps surprisingly, sales of ‘cheaper’ anti-ageing products (under £30) have declined.  Our ageing population is driving demand, and so too are our skin-savvy teenagers, while men – 88% of them – are apparently embracing their feminine sides by following suit with skincare regimes.

So what’s driving people to buy?  We were heartened by the credit, from a number of the speakers, to good PR – using both traditional, but more increasingly online channels.  The value of recommendation was highlighted by Lopo Champalimaud, Managing Director of Wahanda, who referenced research which showed that 70% of consumers trust an online review, while only 5% trust an advert.  Clearly blogger activity and social media are having a dramatic influence on driving purchasing habits.  

All in all it’s refreshing to see an industry that is bucking the economic trend, embracing new communication channels and challenging innovation. And of course it’s great that it’s all about making you feel and look good too.

Sam Kandiyali

Director

A picture is worth a thousand words

The UK Picture Editors’ Guild Awards were announced this week (my personal favourite is Anthony Chapel-Ross’s shot of a returning father being reunited with his son) and it got me thinking about the importance of photography in PR.

It’s something we place great emphasis on and is a fundamental aspect to much of the work we do. As PR’s we pride ourselves on being accomplished wordsmiths yet we can’t underestimate the impact a striking image can have alongside carefully crafted copy, to help tell the story.

I don’t think it’s over stating it to say that a photo can make or break a story, and it’s critical within our role to ensure we either brief photographers correctly or sell the photo opportunity in the right way to entice photographers to turn up. 

A campaign that we worked on for Westonbirt Arboretum required both these skills and the final photo (see above) really encapsulated the message we were trying to convey. Hoping to encourage visitors to come and see the Spring flowers, we asked fashion students to design a dress using the flowers and foliage from the Arboretum itself. The winning submission was created on site and worn by a model to create a stunning photo that was used extensively on a national and regional level, as well as online.  

There have been many iconic photos which stick strong in the mind – Princess Diana sat alone with her back the Taj Mahal just before her marriage to Prince Charles broke down or the two African American athletes raising their fists in solidarity at the 1968 Olympic Games. While the two are certainly very different, they ultimately tell the story perhaps even better than words ever could.  

Bethan Simkins

Account Director 

Finance: It’s not like it used to be!

I was reminiscing with a client recently about how different it used to be trying to raise finance from the bank, prior to the credit crunch.

Just over ten years ago our business moved office and had a lot of expenditure upgrading the premises, which put a strain on our cashflow. To help tide us over a quick email to our relationship manager outlining the financial projections of the move and the impact on our cashflow forecast moving forward, followed by a lunch, was all that it took to secure a 12-month loan, at a very reasonable interest rate and low arrangement fee.

The next day the paperwork was signed without any need for endless security, and by the end of the week the money was in the bank. I can always remember the manager’s words at the end of lunch. “Colin, you won’t let me down will you?”  Well no, I didn't let him down, and the loan was paid off in full over the 12 months as forecast.

How things have changed since the credit crunch! I know that banks are constantly saying they are open for business, but I cannot imagine a loan being granted at such short notice these days on the same terms.

One thing that still remains constant though, is the need for robust forecasts, both profit & loss and cashflow, that allow business owners to plan for the future.

These forecasts are vital if a business is looking to invest in new products or services, and if a bank is going to grant a loan they will want to ‘stress test’ a company to ensure that it can afford the repayments, as well as having necessary security in place.

Having a Finance Director within your business, whether full- or part-time, who is adept at putting these forecasts together, will help your company to gain considerable credibility with the banks and help secure funding. I believe this so strongly that I now work part-time with small businesses as an Associate at South West FD (SWFD), in addition to my long-standing role as Chairman and Finance Director within my own business, Target PR.

As the UK hopefully continues to recover there is likely to be more borrowing requirement to boost the economy. So let me unashamedly plug SWFD, which has a number of Associates who can give businesses financial credibility by putting in place budgets, forecasts and cashflow statements that will ensure you will be in the perfect position to approach either a bank, or external investor, to raise funds and move your business forward.

Colin Spencer

Chairman

The Art of Managing the Media – with ex-BBC Journalist John Rockley

Managing the media, what John Rockley referred to as ‘Journalist Whispering’, is becoming increasingly more complex. This was one of the opening admissions made by John at a Chartered Institute of Marketing seminar in Cheltenham this week.

Not only are journalists busy being journalists, they are also answerable to publication sales and marketing directors responsible for driving advertising spend, making them twice as busy and therefore even more elusive.

Remarkably, as with the chicken and the egg; John claimed without PR there is no journalism. So given these challenges, how can both PRs and journalists work together to do our jobs?

According to John, all a journalist wants is an easy life, to be able to go home after having written a good article which received a great response. In reality, what is often achieved is a mediocre article, with masses of effort, and not even the slightest bit of recognition from the editor.

In order for PRs to develop strong relationships with journalists they need to help them achieve their ultimate goal – to go home having made the world a better place with their article (and a pat on the back from their editor).

John was hugely insightful and provided sound advice on how to build strong media relationships. He also guided his audience through the pitching process and how to secure coverage. His suggestions were really simple and most PRs probably already do many of them as second nature, but these are a few of the most helpful things I took from his seminar.

Always look at the bigger picture

Give a journalist some ideas, show them where to access the information, put the story into context and consider the big stories consuming the media at that moment. And remember, there is nothing wrong with piggy-backing.

Wait for those opportune moments where you can get your, or your clients’, professional opinion across. Radio is perfect for this. John shared an astonishing statistic, less than 1% of an audience listening to a radio show calls in, and if they do call in, it’s to share an often uncompromising view.

Explore all means of communication

Media communications are evolving; when Alex Aiken said ‘the press release was dead’ he wasn’t necessarily discrediting the press release, but stressing that as the industry evolves so should the way we communicate. Now more than ever it is about responding to the change in attitudes, and by developing strong media relationships PRs will be able to determine the best way to reach the journalists.

Don’t be afraid of social media

Pretty much every journalist uses, reads, monitors, communicates through social media. Journalists are ridiculously busy, are rarely at their desks unless they are working to a deadline, and even then they are difficult to reach. Social media is mobile; it can be read when they are on their way to meet an interview or in between meetings. Ultimately, platforms such as Twitter can be a PRs golden ticket to reaching a journalist.

Do your homework

Although they may have a harsh exterior, be mindful that journalists are just people who like to be remembered for their work. Mentioning that you read their last article, saw their Tweet, listened to them comment on a particular story, especially if it is relevant to what you are pitching, could be the difference between you building a strong media relationship or not. If you demonstrate you know what you are talking about and that you are interested you could become a key contact of theirs.

Be creative

Do you know what time your media contacts’ daily news meeting is? You should, because they need to take news with them to brief the editor. If they are struggling to find the relevance but like the angle, invite them to see how the product, client or system works.

Always be available

Journalists will remember you for your reliability, availability and quoteability. Remember, a journalist wants a relatively easy life so if your copy or quotes can be lifted and regurgitated, you are more likely to be called upon in the future.

And always remember...

Finally, John was kind enough to share his top tips, namely things PRs should ALWAYS remember when they are talking to journalists:

• Control your mouth
• There is no such thing as ‘off the record’
• The journalist is not your friend.

“A journalist doesn’t see you as a person, they see you as content; there is a cognitive dissonance between you as a person and you as a story”

John Rockley, CIM Seminar: The Art of Managing the Media, 2014.

Kalli Soteriou
Account Executive

A bad day for British Gas? #AskBG

So the temperature outside is dropping and the dark nights are drawing in. Yes it’s that time of year again people, time to announce the annual round of energy price rises just as everyone starts to think about switching their heating back on.

So there we have it, Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) gallantly went first this time with an increase of 8.2% for gas and electricity from 15 November. Energy was already high on the news agenda after the party conferences but SSE fuelled the fire, starting the speculation as to when the rest of the ‘Big Six’ and others would follow and how much higher would they go. Probably nothing unusual in this, the politicians and the national media have been doing the same dance around the energy issue at roughly this time of year for the last few years.

But then something remarkable happened.

British Gas announced an 8.4% rise in gas prices and 10.4% for electricity with dual-fuel bills roughly in the middle and rising by 9.2%.

While the news itself came as a surprise to no one, I don’t think anyone was expecting them to voluntarily line up the organisation’s Customer Services Director in front of a social media firing squad.

Unbelievable.

BG opened the floodgates themselves, inviting in an inevitable stream of criticism and, in my opinion, some well deserved loathing and abuse. But while it looked like a social media blunder of seismic proportions, surely they can’t have been so naive? So why did they do it? Here’s what they said:

"We know people are worried about rising energy prices and they want to talk about this – including on Twitter – and it's important we're there for them to talk to. That's why we offered a Q&A session with our customer services director. It was the right thing to do because we are committed to being open and transparent with our customers at all times. We also want to make clear rising prices don't have to mean rising bills and there is help available.”

What do you think? Personally, I think @jamesrbuk asked a very pertinent question, “Will you pass on the cost savings from firing your social media team to customers?”

Seriously though, I can see their rationale in using the Twitter Q&A as a tactic to tackle things head on and be seen to be ‘transparent and open’ with its customers, but the PR team should’ve known better. To me, their main mistake was timing.

Timing is essential for getting maximum impact but in this case it should’ve been more about having the right impact and this would’ve helped them to time the Q&A more appropriately. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing? But hopefully BG will learn from this for next time. And you can guarantee there will be a next time, probably October 2014.

Rachel Meagher

Account Director 

Clever communication is key to future success

At the heart of what all PRs do lies creativity, not only in terms of content but approach. Whether you’re writing an engaging press release or a short and snappy tweet, the aim of the game is to attract interest in your story and your client.

At a recent PRCA National Conference, executive director of government communications Alex Aiken said ‘the press release was dead’ during his speech on the future of PR. Aiken argues that this method of communicating with journalists, which dates back to the early 1900s, has become too ‘cosy’ for press officers, and they should be using multiple channels to distribute news.

He refers to a new era of communications, where press officers should be content creators; ‘You should not start with three pages of A4, but a tweet, an infographic or a video. If you are writing more than 200 words on any subject, you’re probably in the wrong place.’ But as PRs, are we not content generators by nature?

Before the invention of email and social media, PRs posted (in the traditional sense) press releases or issued them by fax machine. While the ways in which we present and distribute press information may have changed, we still use some form of ‘press release’, just perhaps not in its ‘traditional’ guise. A press release enables us to deliver information in a concise, engaging and factually correct manner; it has benefits especially when delivering sensitive information and when part of a clear strategy, it can be one of the most successful means of communication.

I think what Mr Aiken is discussing is a change in approach to communications rather than the literal sense of the press release being ‘dead’; what is dead is the traditional, fragmented process of just sending out a lengthy document. Communications should be issued in a way best suited to the individual/sector/audience you are trying to reach; whether that is a 140 character tweet, a cleverly placed direct mail campaign or a press release. Now more than ever it is about thinking outside the press release and developing strong media relationships, only then will PRs be able to determine the best way to reach the journalists.

I believe the press release is, and will remain, a classic form of communication. However, you can’t deny that communications is evolving; readers are receptive to broader information and far less detail, 140 characters rather than 600 words. The skill here is tailoring the content as well as the means by which it’s issued. I keep a personal media database where I note the quirks and interests of a journalist; rapport is just as important as a direct email address or mobile number.

With stringent budgets, PRs not only need to be innovative in the delivery of their communications but also consider cost-effective solutions for their clients. Social media does have its perks as it requires little ‘funding’ however what it does require is time and a good understanding of the platform you are using.

Yes, the rules of the game are changing, but press releases are still very much part of the communications mix. If your story is worth reading, it will be read. But what the press release should not do is supplement a good PR/journalist relationship.

Kalli Soteriou

Account Executive