Posted on PR Sense

Integrated reporting and strategic public relations

Guest post by Benita Steyn In November 2011, Benita Steyn and Estelle de Beer from South Africa delivered a paper, The Strategic Role of Public Relations in the Process of Integrated Reporting at the Corporate Governance and Strategic Communication Congress in Milan, Italy. We welcome back contributor alumna, Benita Steyn, who kindly agreed to provide an abridged version of this paper for PR Conversations. Backgrounder: Integrated reporting and strategic public relations The collapse of the...

Posted on PR Motion Seasoned Posts

Do you know where you’re going to? Public relations career advice

What was your route into public relations?  In 1943, Averill Broughton (a public relations and advertising executive with his own firm) interviewed leading PR executives for his book, Careers in Public Relations: The new profession. He observed that these successful practitioners had: “backed into the field, as it were, by accident, and sat down. Afterwards it seemed natural enough, and their preliminary experience seemed as though it created public relations opportunity later” Has much changed...

Posted on PR Motion

Sex sells – faking it in public relations

Women are successful in public relations – UK data shows a 64:36 female:male gender split  in an industry worth £7.5bn.  In particular, young women are attracted to the occupation – dominating specialist degree courses (by 4:1 in my experience) and reflecting the largest demographic group in practice. The secret of their success is often stated as strong communication and relationship building skills – however Romy Frölich identifies this as a “friendliness trap” which stereotypes women...

Posted on PR Nexus

Future leaders need more than digital PR

Everywhere you look, those starting out on a career in public relations are urged to focus on developing skills in digital PR.  But as such competencies shortly will be little more than a commodity possessed by most young graduates and practitioners in the field (as well as many with years of experience), future leaders will need much more than an ability to craft a Tweet or build a network of Facebook friends. Looking at the...

Posted on PR Axis

The serious business of public relations

It is interesting that the word ‘consultant’ derives from the Latin, consultare, meaning to debate or discuss.  That implies its function is to assist in two-way communications – yet, the role of management consultancy is positioned as assisting organizations to improve performance, through logical analysis and development of plans.  The focus is more on management rather than consultancy. The history of management consultancy is tied closely to analytical processes and a rational, scientific approach to...

Posted on PR Vision

PR lessons from 2010 – the year of the mega crisis

Undoubtedly 2010 has been the year of the mega crisis, which as the Guardian’s City editor, Richard Wachman recently commented [when talking about BP’s reaction to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill] provide ‘a textbook example of how not to do things and will be studied by students of PR for years to come’. Not suprisingly, the PR advice from Wachman is to be high profile and apologise.  If only life was that simple –...

Posted on PR Motion

Facing up to the PR talent challenge

One of the interesting outcomes of my position on the boundary of PR academia and practice is that I’m often asked for recommendations about finding PR talent. This frequently applies to recruiting placement students (interns) or young graduate practitioners.  However, at the PR career starting point, there are many who advocate a specialist degree is not important.  For example, a study by the PRCA in 2009 found three-quarters of its PR Leaders’ panel were unimpressed...

Posted on PR Vision

An international view of crisis management of the Chile mine disaster

On the face of it, the handling of international media relations following the Chilean mining disaster has been a triumph.  It appeared to strike the perfect balance between control and lightness of touch. The open communications approach that was evident from initial reports of the collapse of the mine reflected the leadership style of the Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera.  Recently elected, engaging and able to undertake interviews in English, he was the perfect figurehead for...

Posted on PR Axis

The four Cs of centralized vs localized message development

Cost, Complexity, Control and Credibility By Diane K. Rose We’ve all heard the mantra that organizational messaging must be consistent across all stakeholders — that it solidifies branding, builds trust with customers and employees, communicates the value of products and services and so on. Got it. Understood. Now throw globalization into the mix. Whether you embrace or detest it, globalization has increased complexity for public relations practitioners as more businesses find expansion across borders easier...

Posted on PR Sense

World's leaders in PR congregate in Stockholm

Marc Whitaker’s breathtaking chorus opening -fully embedded in the Forum’s context and contents; Sven Hamrefor’s intellectually challenging description of value networks; Mervin King’s key note on organizational governance and stakeholder relationships; FERPI’s six faced presentation of the Accords implementation process taking off in Italy in September; Anne Gregory and Ronel Rensburg’s engaging and courageous session on public relations’ value to organizational governance and management, and Karl Schwab’s lucid description of the coming phases of societal discontinuity and of the World Economic Forum’s vision of togetherness through a global multistakeholder platform, will remain in my mind as the more striking achievements of the Stockholm Forum.