Doctors, it
is said, are often the worst patients. Why? Well, not to generalize too much --
but many feel compelled to interfere with their own health management,
trampling the jobs of accomplished nurses and other qualified physicians
because, after all, they are doctors too. And damn it, they know what’s best
for their own bodies!
True enough.
But doctors aren’t the only professionals blinded at times by their own
confidence and arrogance. Many others are guilty of letting pride block
rational thinking, stymieing best courses of corrective action.
Countering
the signs and symptoms of a communications illness
Right up
there with MDs are our very own PR professionals. As we close out 2012 and face
a New Year, I fear our industry has developed an infection -- caused in part by
an outdated way of measuring our own “health” (or revenue and client success) and
the failure to cede some of our communications control to others in our
industry who might be able to heal our ailment. Maybe we should call it acute
communicative technological undermining and paralysis, or ACTUP for
short.
The signs of
ACTUP include:
· The reliance on dated metrics like
advertising value equivalency, as well as the Web’s equally rickety ad value
formula that is as much substantive as it is subjective. While both formulas no
doubt strive for empirical accuracy and consistency, they fail to incorporate
the vagaries of a news story’s importance to a reader, and whether the length
of an article is truly a measure of its worth. In other words, bigger isn’t
always better and color (versus black-and-white) may not always bring in more green
(cash).
· Failure to appreciate that in many circles,
public relations gets some rather bad press -- even from within its own ranks.
An October 2012 study by research
firm Edelman Berland (part of the Edelman PR empire) found that when asked the
question “Which profession provides the most value to society?”
only 11% of consumers felt “PR Professional” met that standard. Think marketers
themselves would reach a healthier conclusion? Think again. Less than a third
of those working in communications (23%) felt their job held societal value.
Coming from an industry that prides itself on message management, this is an
abysmal finding.
· An almost allergic reaction to many forms of
social media. And in the select cases where it is adopted, its integration into
the messaging plan is haphazard and ad-hoc. Sometimes that means big failures
with little impact. Case in point: a little error, one keystroke long, caused
quite the embarrassment for the United Nations in
November 2012 when UN Information Officer Nancy Groves tweeted about the UN
General Secretary’s desire for a 1-state Palestinian solution when in fact his
official position supports a 2-state resolution. Oops.
PR patient
prognosis: healthy if we ACT now
To be clear,
I’m not saying I have ACTUP’s cure. Nor have I been holding out all this time
as the PR industry was ridiculed both privately and publicly earlier after it
tried to give itself a new definition of
what exactly it does -- the first attempted definitional overhaul since 1982. I
won’t bore you with rehashing it, but suffice it to say it’s loaded with enough
jargon and wordsmith gobbledygook to make you hang your head in shame and
consider a new profession. Doctor maybe? But as we begin 2013, the adage
remains sound: recognizing there’s a problem is the first step toward
recovery. It’s the conversation starter that inspires feedback, makes waves
and, frankly, gets sh*t done.
In fairness,
the fact that the PR industry has tried to redefine itself speaks to the
beginning of that conversation. However, that’s not good enough. Traditional
metrics aren’t likely to change much any time soon. But as the Web, carried by
smartphones and tablets, grows ever more complex and critical for
communications, we must as an industry better embrace these technologies. Not
as gimmicky add-ons and apps, but through integrated, ground-up measures.
Although we
may struggle to define ourselves and ad values remain notoriously suspect,
there’s no doubt that in the tech-savvy, 24/7 news world we live in, our
services are vital to the clients and corporations we serve.
So we better get healthy and ACT fast.
Here’s to a
happy New Year knowing we’re actively addressing our communications
shortcomings. And here’s to a healthier one as little by little, brainstorming
session by brainstorming session and conversation starter to conversation
finisher, we tackle and triumph over each of our collective symptoms! It won’t
happen in a day, a week or a month. But as with medical professionals, nothing
inspires us quite like a challenge and the discovery of a new
illness.
Together,
let’s prove we can be better patients after all.
I would love
to hear what your hopes or wishes are for the PR industry in. Feel free to
email me at vanessa@thinkinkpr.com.
You can also find me on LinkedIn or visit my company’s website
at www.thinkinkpr.com.
Here’s to a
healthy and successful 2013!
PS – the above article originally appeared in Marketing Daily on December 27, 2012.
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