Cut-It-Out Communications: PR and Politics

Differences Between Online and Traditional PR, Part 2: A Gatekeeper

In addition to the push versus pull models of public relations described in yesterday’s blog post, there are other important areas of difference between online and traditional PR.

One of these involves the central component of a gatekeeper. The value of traditional public relations, defined as unpaid publicity, compared to advertising, involves a neutral party who determines whether or not an article is newsworthy. The editor or reporter of a print publication generally plays this role. In doing so, the reader, or potential customer, knows there is a certain inherent value to an article, otherwise it would never have been published in the first place.

Online PR, in many instances, does not involve a gatekeeper. Thus the reader does not have any assurances regarding the reliability of the information and must find some other way to make that determination. Instead of a gatekeeper, a lot of online PR is validated by the number of visitors, generally resulting in a higher search engine ranking.

However, there still remains a possibility of being misled without a knowledgeable industry gatekeeper making a determination. This means, in many instances, that print publicity retains a higher overall value than online publicity.

It is important to note, however, that there are certain online situations where gatekeepers still play a role. Many online forums and publications are moderated, and this screening function serves as a virtual gatekeeper. In addition, many print publications have established online versions where all the original rules to achieve publicity still apply.  

Differences Between Online and Traditional Public Relations

The development of online public relations has expanded and empowered traditional public relations, but it has also led to some important differences that could trap the amateur practitioner.

Perhaps, the most important involves the push versus pull model for the creation of publicity. The push model, typical for traditional public relations, involves proactively distributing your message -- pushing it out to the general public, target audiences or other selected groups. This involves a blatantly promotional angle, even if it is framed within vendor neutral material to achieve coverage by the press.

In online PR, however, you must rely on the pull model, and if you pursue the push model in cyberspace you will alienate or be blocked by many potential customers. The pull model involves attracting interested parties to your web site or other online location (Facebook Pages, Twitter, etc) through search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Promotional material is viewed as spam on the web and inevitably rejected.

Ideally, companies should pursue both push and pull models in their respective spheres. And they should select public relations companies with experience in both areas.

Of course, there are many other differences between traditional and online public relations as well, and this blog will address some of them in future articles. (To read more articles about traditional and online public relations, visit public relations instruction.)

Public Relations and Economic Reality

There’s one field supposedly immune from public relations spin, and that’s economic markets. Traders make decisions based on underlying fundamentals, and people invest their money on the same basis.

However, the rationality of the markets is wildly overrated. Yesterday, we saw the Dow Jones plummet by 1,000 points (before recovering to a loss of “only” 300) based on a cascading set of fears triggered by a computer error.

Supposedly, when a trader in Chicago transmitted a sell order for a billion instead of a million, computer algorithms set in leading to a broad-based sell off. But humans were complicit as well, causing a panic and much consternation.

In general, financial markets may provide independent evaluation of various companies, currencies and national economic health, but they are not immune from bubbles and busts as we have observed all too clearly during the past few years. Investors are misled by feelings, stoked by unethical public relations campaigns designed to create a false impression.

Does this mean that public relations is bad per se? Of course not. Like any powerful tool, public relations can be used for good or evil. It can spread joy, inform people and create a more prosperous society. When used for more nefarious purposes, it commonly goes by the label “propaganda” instead. One remembers the Nazi line, “if you repeat a lie often enough, people will take it for the truth.”

The key when evaluating public relations campaigns is the execution of due diligence. Try to go beyond the headlines and ascertain the facts of a matter before taking precipitous action, as happened on the stock markets today.

Public Relations: The Industry Meaning versus the Public Meaning

Public relations, as a career, is often misunderstood because the public thinks of the term in a different way than the practitioners do. To the man in the street, public relations is all about image and spin, about trying to sell a politician or a point of view through non-substantive deception, for lack of a better word.

For the industry, public relations carries a much more narrowly defined meaning. It involves using non-paid publicity to increase your client’s visibility. This involves a much more widely accepted connotation because PR, in that sense, is superior to advertising or other forms of paid publicity.

A central reason involves the concept of a third-party gatekeeper, the editor or reporter who must decide whether or not to accept the story the PR professional is pitching. In advertising, the contributor can say just about anything, while in PR, the story must be newsworthy, factual and accurate.

For this reason, public relations is widely considered to be about ten times more effective than advertising for the same column inch. Think about it yourself, what would you prefer to read: a large advertisement or a much smaller interesting news story on the same page?

There’s really no contest.

(For more articles on public relations, visit <a href="http://www.cioediting.com/media_content_provision.asp">public relations articles</a>.)

The Public Relations of War

Public relations during wartime situations goes under another name, propaganda. This moniker assumes that pronouncements during a war are necessarily untruthful or exaggerated.

While this has been the case throughout time, there are no inherent reasons for it to be so. It doesn’t affect the troops on the ground, who possess a much better real-time understanding of the situation, and the local population in the 21st century has become so inured to pronouncement by the military, such as in Vietnam and Iraq (see Mission Accomplished), that it can even have a reverse effect.

If the military is careful to investigate unnecessary casualties, it can even gain a reputation as a positive force among the civilian population in the theater of battle. General Stanley McChrystal seems to have a firm grasp on this possibility in Afghanistan.

It’s important to understand that PR, in itself, is not to blame, only those who misuse it, often to little effect. This is true of nearly every profession. There are honest politicians, for example, but a few bad apples can tarnish the entire field.

One arena of war where PR can have a positive effect is in the Middle East. President Obama’s attempt to play the honest broker there, based on his trip and speech in Cairo (excellent PR), may yet achieve positive results.

Copywriting and PR

Words are to public relations as bricks are to a wall. They represent the essential component of communications, and the ability to convey your thoughts in a written document may prove essential to your success.

 

Unfortunately, writing for clients can present a major conundrum to public relations professionals. Everyone thinks they know how to write, and people can become very sensitive about their writing skills.

 

So, if you send back a document full of editing, your client can express displeasure, to put it mildly. If it involves sample work for a prospect, forget about winning the account.

 

However, PR practitioners must push forward with their craft so it makes sense to teach clients a few basic rules beyond their college writing course. These three basic steps can result in immediate improvement in your client’s writing:

 

1) You should generally avoid subordinating your ideas with “that” or “which.”

2) When possible, instead of the verb “to be,” try using more active verbs.

3) Express your ideas in as few words as possible.

 

Describing the writing process in terms of the above helps your client understand your editing as well and leads to a more harmonious relationship. It may also save you some time if the client actually takes the time to implement them.

 

It’s always good business practice to empower your client, and to prevent any contention regarding a particular editing item, you should stand ready to defend the reason for each one. This will build confidence in your abilities and increase your credibility as an expert in your field.

Why Does PR Get a Bad Name?

Public relations is held in derision by much of U.S. society. PR pros are referred to as “flaks,” and the term “spin” conjures up an inaccurate portrayal of any given situation.

 

But if you view public relations as an essential element of any communications strategy, and consider the resulting implications, you will come to a very different viewpoint. It’s public relations that sold President Obama’s health plan when he started stumping around the nation, thus fulfilling a generations-old Democratic dream.

 

Public relations helps to convey a viewpoint, generally in a concise, factual manner. It differs from advertising, or paid publicity, because it must pass the muster of a neutral gatekeeper, the reporter who decides whether an article is newsworthy.

 

Because of this gatekeeper effect, PR is widely believed to be about ten times as effective as advertising for the same space.

 

The more general public definition of public relations could be accurately translated as image control. However, the most effective images are not divorced from reality but convey it without any countervailing distractions. PR, in this sense, conveys a stronger, unvarnished version of the truth.

 

Public relations in the age of electronic media is undergoing a further expansion and sea change to include many versions of online activity. Tools such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs have expanded PR to many elements of society who use it for their companies or their own online presence.

 

However, it’s important to remember that public relations is like an empty vessel that can be used for good or harmful purposes. Only the practicioner can make the difference.

 

(For how-to articles, visit public relations pointers.)

When Public Relations Requires Flexibility

High-end public relations requires a certain amount of flexibility from practitioner and client alike. The concept can be described succinctly by the aphorism, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” In other words, you should be able to tell when your PR strategy is failing and be astute enough to change course.

 

A prime example would be the Republican opposition to healthcare reform. At an early stage of the debate, they decided to try to defeat the President on this initiative and were fairly successful in the attempt. They unified their whole caucus and actually had an impact on public opinion as well.

 

Then, after another Republican success in electing Scott Brown as Senator of Massachusetts, the President invited key Republicans to a healthcare summit at the White House.

 

The Republicans were flummoxed. They couldn’t refuse the invitation to talk, but they knew their blanket opposition to the legislation would be exposed as obstructionist to the American people. This was the time to change their PR strategy.

 

Instead of using the blatantly obvious formulation of starting over from the beginning, clearly not an option, they could have agreed to participate in a more meaningful way. This change in strategy would clearly not be expected by the White House, and, as a result, the Republicans’ image would be catapulted forward in the process.

 

However, in Washington, it seems to be anathema to change your mind, and the lack of flexibility will hurt the Republicans severely in the end. Because when the healthcare legislation passes, a lot of people will see immediate benefits, and the Republicans will only be remembered as the party of no.

Practical Public Relations

I was honored today to receive an email from a local student asking to interview me about public relations. It made me think about the daily life of a PR professional and how it differs from the public image.

 

For public relations practitioners focused primarily on corporate communications, public relations is a very different practice than is immediately perceived by the general public. The public views PR as a dirty word, an attempt to affect a person’s image, or a craft used by politicians to deceive them.

 

Few even know the actual definition of public relations: “unpaid publicity.” Thus, public relations complements advertising (paid publicity) in raising awareness of a company, product or person.

 

But PR goes beyond advertising because it involves a neutral third-party gatekeeper who must evaluate all press releases, bylined articles, etc. to determine their newsworthiness prior to publication. Thus, PR can be up to 10 times more effective than advertising because of this gatekeeper effect.

 

Think about it yourself. What are you more likely to read, a large ad or a small interesting story on the same page?

 

Public relations people try to tell a story about a company, product development or other newsworthy item. It can have a local angle, e.g. Greenwich Church Sends Contingent to Rebuild Home in New Orleans,” or it can be of wider general interest.

 

So, next time you hear about public relations, know the difference between the real meaning of the word and the popular vernacular.

Public Relations and Search Engines

Public relations is undergoing a sea change as it adapts to new challenges in the online arena. Copywriting has become an integral part of achieving high search engine rankings because the Google algorithm judges web sites based on inbound links, and creating these inbound links involves writing copy for a variety of purposes.

 

Inbound links, defined as clickable text from another site pointing to your own, can be increased by distributing online press releases, writing articles for content provision sites and creating text for blog entries.

 

In each of these cases, publication of the material must carry attribution from the original author, and this includes the author’s URL. When the text appears on another site, the URL serves as an inbound link.

 

The centrality of content for online activities is ideally suited for the PR professional because of the importance of creating well-written interesting material. This can be integrated with traditional PR campaigns as well. For example, it makes sense to combine online distribution of a press release with pitching targeted at print publications.

 

Web site copy is important for search engine purposes as well, and this requires a new skill for a unique tone, combining promotional copy with factual, concise statements. The PR professional must often work in tandem with web site developers to ensure keywords appear in a prominent placing without affecting the visitor’s experience.

 

Of course, the online arena continues to evolve, and the PR professional must evolve with it.