Why PR’s Homecoming may not be so sweet

For those of you who follow the PR Moment Blog you may have seen Ben Smith’s post last week about how many PROs are spending only around 50% of their time on media relations these days:

A couple of years ago the vast majority of PROs’ time was spent on media relations. I think most people believe media relations continues to dominate the average working day of PR execs, both those in house and at agencies. That said, in a recent straw poll on PRmoment.com, we asked PROs how much time they spent on media relations. To our surprise, you said only about 50%. Imagine looking the PR agency bosses of the 1990’s in the eye and saying that. You would have been out the door, and quick.

As I mentioned in today’s article on PR Moment, a lot of time is spent developing longer term campaign strategies, that all the more often these days are influencing the marketing directions of clients, far outside the boundaries of PR.

Holistic marketing and taking a 360 approach to client briefs is meaning more time is being spent by PROs developing engaging content for both the on and offline word, analysing conversations taking place in social media, and developing new and exciting “value exchanges” for journalists (be them citizen or paid) and social users.

The change is gradual at the moment, but particularly when engaging with social media influencers, traditional media relations (Press Release & Push Tactics) will not cut it, as these people are not used to (for now anyway) being pitched to. Hence it is no surprise to me that more time is taken up on these other elements of what @briansolis would call PR 2.0.

This has vast ramifications for the next generations of PROs coming through the ranks – as we saw from last weeks skills report from Major Players (See Ben Cotton’s interview with Edelman’s Marshall Manson on the topic here), many PROs are not embracing these new practices and the changing role of the PRO at the rate that the market demands. Those who want to succeed in this changing space need to adapt. And Fast.

Station Platform

a pinch of salt in the air
gritty faces stare down their tracks
looking for something to whisk them on their way

doves settle on the sewage works
Waiting for the warmer climbs to return
and those on the platform long for them
and for the jubilee line’s revival yearn

changing times and changing lines so often effected
by the strength of the will against that of the pound
and the need to rage against the machine

mr evening standard shows no sign of The Times
yet his decline lies deeper than his pockets
or the lines around his eyes

crows feet pitter patter in puddles on the platform
equaling their knowing discordant song
they truly see what’s going on

for changing times and changing lines
are all so often another sign
that we are buying the lie

the people on the platform look back
down the lines and track the fact that
they no longer search for what’s to come
but long for what’s dear, but long gone

Countdown to 140Conf London

So just under a week away from 140 Character Conference London. Which I am thoroughly looking forward to.

Joining me on the brand panel at around 12PMish will be Rachel Fellows, Corp. Comms director at Kelloggs – you can find her on twitter @KelloggsUK. I also have the privaledge of welcoming Mike Matherson (@mikemath), CEO of Cake Group to the stage and Mauricio Samayoa from wearesocial to join the panel aswell.

For those of you who haven’t yet signed up to come along you can get a 50% discount with my “friend of speaker” code, click here to use it.

Thank you to all of you who contributed your suggestions, in particular @jangles and @brynmorgan.

As a result check out:

@nectar

@jamesoncultfilm

@magnersuk

@innocentdrinks

@britishairways

@virgintrains

@guitarherouk

@doritosuk

and

@waterstones – all as a good starting point!

If you have any questions for the panel don’t forget to DM me or submit a comment here!

And finally for those who missed it check out http://london.140conf.com/schedule for the full line up!