PR on a Grand scale!

I have spent most of the last two weeks with the fabulous communications team at Welcome to Yorkshire. To be able to contribute to the preparations and delivery of the greatest Grand Depart in the history of the Tour de France has been an absolute privilege. From writing press releases and web copy to working on the media desk and media pit at the televised Opening Ceremony Team Presentation event at the Leeds Arena, I was desperate to be involved in any way I could!

Behind the scenes Dee Marshall’s small communications team worked tirelessly and meticulously to keep their loyal contacts happy as well as welcome the world’s media to Yorkshire. A purpose built media centre that accommodated 2,000 journalists and hosted media conferences with the cycling teams was a spectacular sight to see. The energy and excitement building to fever pitch in the three days that it was operating in the run up to the race launch on 5 July.
Since Yorkshire won the bid to host the Grand Depart, Welcome to Yorkshire (the regional tourist body) has done a stirling job working with regional businesses to realise the huge potential to the region. Most embraced this ‘gift’ which brought out the entrepreneurial spirit in many rural businesses who in turn contributed to the experience of the millions of people who turned out to support the cyclists – though I won’t mention the name of the pub that I visited on the route of Stage 2, after building up quite a thirst having spent 3 hours on the roadside in North Yorkshire, that had only one person serving on the bar!!

In terms of delivering PR for one of the world’s greatest mega events, the team at Welcome to Yorkshire deserve recognition for their contribution; from managing royal visitors and show biz style pre event parties – one for 800 VIPs the night before the start of the Grand Depart – to ensuring that the ITV comentators had a wealth of sound bites about all the villages, towns and landscapes the peleton cycled through whilst they broadcast live. So a big thank you to the guys at WtY for letting me get involved. We look forward to a few guest lectures at Leeds Met in the coming year to reflect on your great success and gain insight into your Grand Depart legacy work and plans for your ‘next mega event’, Allez Allez Allez!

Academics leading the way to PR’s professional status

Recent discussions about how PR academics and professionals need to work more closely together combined with a renewed debate about the professionalisation of PR by the CIPR are very welcome.

There is, however, some resistance around professionalisation of the industry, as practitioners presume the only way to be a ‘profession’ is by emulating established professions like law, accountancy and medicine.  And this is just one example of where academics are ahead of the game!

There is a great body of academic knowledge and research around the development of established ‘professional service’ professions, and how they are fiercely protective of their jurisdiction and keen to prohibit new professions developing in order to maintain their own stature and dominance in society.

Academics from a range of top UK universities have spent some years working on ‘new knowledge-based occupations’ and the notion of ‘Corporate Professionalisation’. They argue that ‘Corporate Professionalisation’ may present the basis for a new understanding of professionalism in the 21^st century and we should not attempt to adapt old definitions of professionalisation with new practices.

They define ‘Corporate Professionalisation’ as: co-production of knowledge with industry, focusing on competences, professional membership embedded in tendering and procurement, legitimised by market value, self regulated, multi-tiered membership of professional bodies, close engagement with clients whilst working globally.

Compare that to ‘established professions’ that rely on: abstract knowledge, statutory closure via Royal Charter, individual professional membership, regulated and legitimised by the state, working at arm’s length with clients within national boundaries.

And it all sounds a bit Dickensian!

According t academics: ‘Established professions are under attack from professions which emphasise innovation, entrepreneurship and active engagement with the markets, compared to established professions which are concerned with closure’ (Muzio et al, 2011).

Working out of Utrech University in The Netherlands, Mirko Noordegraaf supports the development of Corporate Professions, but refers to it as ‘Organised Professionalism’. Noordegraaf identifies that ‘professionals are strongly socialised, they will not easily redefine their own images of professionalism’ and he calls on ‘professional associations and schools that train professionals [to play] important roles in socialising and regulating professional action.’

With a successful history of working in global markets, and an established global association –the PR Global Alliance – as well as an ethos of entrepreneurship, active engagement with markets, multi-tiered professional membership and self-regulation and PR is well on its way to being a ‘Corporate Profession’ – we just need to be bold enough to say it!

Challenges to PR in the boardroom

Thank you to Victoria Tomlinson, founder of Northern Lights PR, for an insightful interview into the role of PR in the boardroom.  With over 50 per cent of senior practitioners reporting to CEOs, but only 6 per cent sitting on the board the PR profession continues to struggle to earn its place at the top table.

With business objectives that directly link to the bottom line being the primary concern of the CEO, public relations is not doing enough to demonstrate a return on investment. Victoria is concerned that the terminology used by PR practitioners, around reputation management and sustainability, is not practice that CEOs are engaged in or even language that they recognise.

Whilst other professions have codes of professional practice that are entrenched with the urgent ability to demonstrate a return on investment, PR has spent too long discussing how to demonstrate its value to clients.  The continued use of AVE (advertising value equivalent) as a tool to measure success is outdated and, according to Tomlinson, has damaged PR’s reputation as a profession.

To become a profession that is dominated by strategic advisers rather than tactitioners, PRs must understand the business requirements that CEOs are challenged with, and advise on the benefits of PR to achieve these goals.  CEOs need to be educated in the benefits of strategic communication and how it relates to the bottom line; PR’s professional bodies should be challenging CEO training to include the benefits of PR and PR education should be focusing on business objectives and balance sheets.   Despite being a creative industry PR’s
inability to create a strategic role for itself in the boardroom is perhaps a sad reflection on our tactical rather than chief advisor role to the board.

The maturing of Public Relations

A Flashpoint conference in Sweden in October brought academics and practitioners together in a unique forum to discuss the future of PR. It generated a lot of online discussion about the relationship between academics and practitioners, not all of it positive!  Meanwhile the CIPR annual members’ survey  ‘State of the Profession’ is asking pointed questions on how professional PR practitioners think they are or aspire to be.

This year’s survey is significantly different from previous surveys which have focused on skills development.  A few years ago, as an academic studying for a Masters in Corporate Communications, I asked the CIPR’s Policy and Communications Director, Phil Morgan, how important it was for the CIPR to be championing the professionalisation of the industry.  He replied that the CIPR focused on objectives identified by members which at the time did include raising professional standards, but not the overall professional status of the industry.

In a new climate that seems more willing to discuss the professional standing of the industry, and the role of its academics and practitioners, it is worth exploring the development of other professions, where strong academic training and research are a key to professional development.  Respected academics in the field of HRM identify four key routes to professionalisation of an industry: ‘tightly defined professional standards, a highly prescriptive nature of principle texts for training and education, promotion of its own commissioned research, and deployment of highly technical processes of quality assurance that govern the delivery of its education programmes.’

With a professional body that finally appears to be striving to improve both professional standards and standing, the CIPR could learn from other professions and take a lead in the professionalisation of the PR industry. By encouraging practitioners and academics to work together to generate a united approach we could surely reposition PR as a profession and the professional aspirations of its practitioners.

Mentors will talk to you, sponsors will talk about you

An article in Forbes magazine this month cites the growing success of career sponsors with some fabulous examples of career success in what may appear to be a very imbalanced relationship of power and influence.

So, I hear you say, what’s the difference between a sponsor and a mentor?  A mentor can coach you, give advice and help you prepare for the next stage of your career.  But a sponsor will go out on a limb for you, open doors to your next job and introduce you to the right people.

A Harvard Business Review study (2010) of 4,000 high level employees reported that 19% of men say they have a sponsor, compared to 13% of women.  The study found that those who have a sponsor are more likely to see more promotions, higher salaries, and more career satisfaction as well as get to the top of their organisation.  ‘Sponsorship is the only way to get those top appointments’ says Sylvia Ann Hewlett, President of the Centre for Talent Innovation.

The study emphasises that performance counts; great work is still a must before anyone can take a chance on you.  You must volunteer for bigger assignments, attend conferences, become active in your industry. But relations must evolve naturally, and won’t happen if you ask directly for someone to be your sponsor.  And, as detailed in my last blog post, don’t put ‘all your eggs in one basket’, have a number of sponsors who can potentially provide different opportunities.  As for the balance of power in the relationship, your sponsor’s support is not all a big-hearted, altruistic, gesture. They will get credit too for the role they play in encouraging talent within their organisation.

Key to success

The most successful managers spend 70 percent more time engaging in networking activities and 10 percent more time engaging in routine communication activities than their less successful counterparts.  This is from a study conducted in 1980s when networking was arguably more challenging and steeped in hierarchy compared to the flatter structures both within and outside of organisations.

As a university PR lecturer at I am very impressed with the amount of strong networks my students have via social media, engaging in conversations with CEOs and senior practitioners, often leading to internships and graduate jobs.    CEOs’ senses have surely been stimulated by the variety and influence of conversations they can have with wider audiences and today’s students are confident in engaging with them.

Perhaps we’re finally breaking down social barriers, one Twitter thread at a time.   The benefits of networking are also felt at the mentoring level; career mentoring is most strongly associated with employees’ job satisfaction as well as gaining more promotions and higher incomes.  Yet mentoring is still relatively informal and often at the bequest of the mentee to ask for career advice.

Indeed studies show that multiple mentors or having a ‘mentoring network’ is most beneficial to the mentee. One mentor might provide emotional and spiritual guidance, another mentor might assist with tasks and technical advice, another to help in coping with organisational politics.  And of course mentors don’t have to be from within the organisation you work for.  Using your networks to find a mentor seems like a great opportunity for any aspiring practitioner.  I would love to hear your experience!

 

Managing the PR Brand

The history of public relations is well documented, as is the history of professions like accountancy and law.  Having spent some time analysing them both there are many similarities that can be drawn from our ‘more established’, ‘professional’ cousins.

The rise to prominence of established professions is now steeped in legislation and highly complex rules of engagement that are ‘essential’ to business. But it hasn’t always been that way.

A review of existing practices in the boardroom and PR’s increasing role at this level is where the lawyers and accountants were around a hundred years ago.

I know that most practitioners, and even our professional bodies, don’t want PR to become a ‘profession’ bound up in complex rules of engagement and that no two PR jobs are the same, and that it would stifle creativity. It would also be impossible to produce a set of rules, or codes of conduct, for us all to adhere to. Not to mention the fact that as a self-regulated industry, relatively few practitioners are actually members of a PR professional body.

The research also indicates that board level PR practitioners are in positions of power based on their own individual set of skills rather than the reputation of the industry. That’s quite an achievement for those operating at very senior levels and having spoken to some of them it appears they all have different views on how they got there!

I’m sure many PR practitioners aspire to operate at this heady level of an organisation.  And it may be helpful for them to have a more defined route to get there, supported by professional qualifications and sound industry reputation.

Well documented studies conclude that PR’s professional status is most likely to be granted by its rise in prominence in the boardroom. So here’s where our target audience resides, relatively few in numbers and relatively easy to target, with the help of trade/professional bodies and bit of education.

In fact I believe education is crucial; education of the board as to the value of strategic PR to manage reputation and brand value as well as educating PR practitioners to the ways of the boardroom; think bottom line and shareholder rather than coverage and stakeholder!

PR students gaining jobs and winning prizes

With our final year students approaching the last few weeks of their undergraduate studies at Leeds Met many are on the hunt for jobs.  We’ve had some great success so far with a number of students being offered places on graduate schemes and some returning to their placement employers after a successful 48 week placement before their final year.

With dissertations and portfolios to be submitted, an exam to take and reports to submit the pressure is on to juggle studies with job hunting.

This year our students have had plenty of relevant work experience in their final year with live consultancy projects, the Grayling Pitch, as well as some great guest lectures from industry experts and all those work placements they’ve been doing.

Thanks also to Umpf for provided a final year prize, inviting students to submit a blog for their website, so please take a look and comment on their entries – the most hits/comments wins!

Good luck to our shortlisted final year students who will pitch to Grayling North next Wednesday to compete for a £500 prize, as one group has commented on twitter ‘let battle commence’!

 

When to reach for Market Research

My colleague and expert researcher Lawrence F Bailey has kindly drafted the article below for the benefit of PR students and practitioners alike.

Most PROs would probably agree that Market Research is a Good Thing. After all, if nothing else, the collective wisdom is that journalists like a press release that includes a mention of some relevant research. But being relevant is the key. What can market research actually do for you? Put simply – Market Research can confront you, your clients, your potential clients, and their sundry publics with what is true, as opposed to rumour, opinion, bluster or ‘gut feel’. A good quantitative survey can tell you just what proportion of the population holds particular views, buys particular products, goes to certain kinds of events.

If you commission an ad hoc survey, you can also specify exactly what sort of people you want data on – mass market? professional and managerial? people who visit art galleries? those who favour ethical investment? And you may not even need to commission a survey: some data may already be available. The Target Group Index (TGI) survey has been running regularly since 1965, monitoring all sorts of consumer behaviour.

Did you know that only 50% of households had more than one television set in 1995? TGI does! Then there’s qualitative research, which usually involves a programme of focus group discussions or individual depth interviews. A skilled qualitative researcher can find out why people buy what they buy, do what they do, and believe what they believe. You can imagine how useful such data can be, in helping to get the language, and communication style right, for whoever you’re addressing. IT and consumer electronics companies are notorious for speaking a language that is almost foreign to the consumer.

In the early days of digital broadcasting, a radio manufacturer wanted me to ask consumers whether they would like a teeter switch, a dongle, or more RAM. Not a good idea… only the techno-receptive types know what those terms mean. Which brings us to market segmentation. Suppose you’re pitching for a new client. What do you know about the sector? Research has shown, for example, that there are five or six quite different types of people who might take a new credit card.

A lecture on YouTube (already embedded in several independent blogs) will tell you more http://bit.ly/wYwgxl.

Sometimes research can be extremely useful in auditing PR. Take Internal communications, for example: what ‘gets through’ and what doesn’t? Or customer opinion: what do they really think about your client? Or research pre- and post-an event: proving that PR really works! Finally – some do’s and don’ts. Don’t rely on a little bit of vox pop. Are the people expressing these views really relevant? or representative of the publics that matter to you?

Do give ad hoc research enough time to be done. properly; you’ll need to think ahead about what you want to find out. Do accept what turns out to be true: things go better with reality. And don’t buy research if you really do already know the answer. There have been some odd reasons for doing market research. If you’d like to find out about some rational and irrational reasons, dig out an old article from Management Decision journal (Bailey and Scott-Jones, 1988) – still cited today!

 

Networking your way to a job

Teaching students how to network surely can’t be done in the classroom. Unless you sweep back the chairs and tables, leaving an island in the middle with drinks and nibbles, and arrange an early evening event with a great line up of award winning practitioners!

Thanks to colleagues at the PRCA, who invited their members to network with Leeds Met’s PR students, we created a vibrant and lively ‘how to network’ event last night.  Highly valued in business, networking is a skill that is usually developed on the job, but we’re very aware that employers are increasingly looking for confident networking potential in our graduates.

With a quick introduction from each of the guests, and some brief rules of engagement – students have to ask the questions and were asked to move onto a different guest every three minutes – the evening was a great success. Students felt challenged with their role, as the naturally inquisitive PR practitioners held back just enough to let the students lead the conversation.

Our guests were asked to feedback what they thought the students did well at and where they could improve which included being more probing with your questions and working on a way to stand out in a crowd. Doing your homework is crucial, understand who will be attending and find out about them and their company in advance so you already know a bit them really helps as an ice-breaker.  The next challenge for our students might be to work out how to leave the conversation and move onto another potential contact without the urgent clinking of a glass and a loud ‘time to move on’ from me!

Thanks to Aakriti Kaushik and colleagues from Premier Farnell, Natasha Stone from Golley Slater, Finn Communications’ James Newman , Kristal Ireland from Propadanga, Monica Green of The Partners Group and the PRCA for supporting this event.