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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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PR is a two-way activity

While I think Josh Bernoff has hit the nail on the head in terms of a corporation’s participation in social media, I had to sigh when I read this line: “PR and advertising are mostly one-way, broadcast type communications, and these folks continue to try to adapt those one-way modes of thinking in the two-way, read-write world of social computing.”

That’s true of advertising but decidedly not of public relations. I’ve made this point in several venues but I don’t think I’ve ever addressed it head-on here. Now’s my chance.

Most people, when they think of public relations, equate it with media relations. Media relations is, in fact, just a small subset of PR. True, a lot of it goes on, and it is clearly the most visible PR activity to most outsiders, but behind the scenes and away from public view, PR practitioners engage in a great many other dimensions of PR, the ones addressed in textbooks and reviewed carefully in “Excellence in Communication and Public Relations Management,” the PR literature review from James Grunig and his colleagues, commissioned years ago by the IABC Research Foundation.

Let’s consider just two characteristics of excellent public relations practitioners, according to the Excellence study:

  • Negotiation skills—Good PR people engage in negotiation with publics all the time, clearly a two-way communication skill.
  • Boundary spanning—If you’re going to communicate with (not to) a constituent, you need to understand things from their point of view. Boundary spanning requires a communicator to get out of his comfort zone and truly perceive things from the other side. If you do it well, your bosses may wonder whose side you’re on because you can speak the other side’s language so incredibly well.

Public affairs, including government relations, is a subset of public relations—most PR agencies have government affairs practices. The counselors in these practices engage routinely in both negotiation and boundary spanning. Investor relations is another practice in many PR agencies that requires two-way communication. A lot of PR practitioners get involved in investor and labor-related communications, which also require direct engagement.

In fact, if you read the PR textbooks, you’ll find that media relations usually occupies only one chapter. The rest deal with topics like research and direct engagement with critical publics. Even the most basic of PR departments focus much of their effort on seeking input from constituents and responding to the issues and concerns they raise. Again, that’s a two-way activity.

Yes, media relations can be one-way, but most PR is two-way, which situates the PR function perfectly to guide an organization’s social media efforts. Unless, of course, media relations is the only thing the PR function in your organization has ever done.

03/11/08 | 20 Comments | PR is a two-way activity

Comments

  • 1.Shel,

    I couldn't agree more with you on this! How are we any different from advertising if we do just talk to our publics and not listen to their feedback.

    Yes, PR is often relegated to only media relations. My first two internships were with PR firms focused solely on media relations. I remember at the second agency, overhearing partners pitching publications day in and day out. Sheesh, I don't want to reach that level and only be pitching the media.

    Adam Denison | March 2008 | Detroit

  • 2.To add: even the media relations pros are being pushed into broader roles. Social media has turned us into bloggers, commenters, podcasters, and returned us to "relationship" PR, including and especially with the meida.

    It's all two-way. One-way PR is arrogant.

    Doug Haslam | March 2008 | Boston-ish

  • 3.As Eeyore said, "Thanks for noticing me."

    I guess I think of PR as one-way because I'm so often a target or victim of it. It sure feels like spamming half the time. Some PR person got my name off some list and is emailing me (useless, 90% of the time), or trying to set up a briefing with me (useless about half the time).

    Of course, occasionally, those same people are either trying to get my opinion of some company they're pitching or representing, or every once in a while, trying to figure out why I said something bad about their client in a place a lot of people read. And you know . . . those conversations about why I said something nasty tend to be the most interesting. I learn things, and they learn things. A cynic would say nasty things just to be able to get into a dialogue.

    I like PR people. Often, they help me. What they want isn't a brain twister. They're full of useful information for me. They help me make connections.

    I just wish I didn't so often feel like there was a target on my back. That's when I'm a victim of one-way PR.

    Josh Bernoff | March 2008

  • 4.Thanks for dropping by, Josh.

    As in any profession, PR has its fair share (and then some) of lazy practitioners and those who don't represent the best of the craft. And a lot of people have been lashing out at PR as a whole because of the very visible actions of these people (Chris Anderson's post listing the email addresses of all the transgressors he'd encountered leaps to mind).

    To be honest, I work in PR and I've become the target of about half a dozen pitches per day! But rest assured, for every one of these, there are dozens of truly professional practitioners engaged in ethical and thoughtful endeavors that are most certainly two-way in nature. After all, the goal of real PR is building relationships, not getting ink.

    Shel Holtz | March 2008 | Las Vegas, NV

  • 5.In every message, it is always a two-way communication, even PR. So, the audience should be open-minded just as the pr persons are.

    JJ | March 2008

  • 6.Had to comment back on this:

    >> After all, the goal of real PR is building relationships, not getting ink.

    99% of the PR activity I encounter is about getting ink. You're spitting in the wind.

    I WISH you were right, but let's check back in 5 years and I bet nothing has changed.

    Josh Bernoff | March 2008

  • 7.Josh-- good callon the "getting ink" comment. Building relationships-- and trust-- is not the goal, it is a means to the goal. I type this at the risk of sounding cynical, but at the end of the day we get paid to get attention for our clients.

    Building relationships helps us do it in a more honest and less forced fashion.

    Doug Haslam | March 2008 | Boston-ish

  • 8."Building relationships-- and trust-- is not the goal, it is a means to the goal."

    Whoa! I would say that you have it mixed up here, John. The aim of public relations is to build relationships and trusts with our publics. Media relations (getting attn for clients) is only a tool to reach those publics. The media is a channel, not a public.

    I agree, though, that the best way to engage in media relations is to build solid relationships with editors.

    Adam Denison | March 2008 | Detroit

  • 9.Adam,
    I only mean the relationship is not the end result. Even with the customer. There, the end result is their patronage (ok, their wallets in most cases).

    Doug Haslam | March 2008 | Boston-ish

  • 10.I'm with Doug.
    Interesting to hear people referring to media relations as being one-way. I've never thought of it that way. Sure you send releases out and pitch, but for me that's the opening of the dialogue.
    As a journalist I always got more out of PR people by trying to engage them - it is vital when you covering a beat that requires a call once or twice a day, five days a week. Especially if you are a trade media competing with a national.

    Andrew Arnold | March 2008 | Denmark

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