The Big Picture

Management Believes Public Relations Contributes to Advancing the Reputation of Their Organization

When asked if top management believes public relations contributes to moving the organization forward, respondents to a new survey from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and Bacon’s Information Inc. indicated that most felt their top management or CEO believes that PR contributes to moving their organization’s reputation forward. PRSA and Bacon’s Information conducted the 2006 State of the PR Profession Opinion Survey to gain a better understanding of the opinions of its members and those interested in the field of public relations.

The research conducted by Delahaye, a division of Bacon’s Information, explored several areas of interest to PRSA members and nonmembers interested in the field of public relations. Specifically, areas analyzed in the research included:

• Demographic information, including type and size of organization, authority level, salary, number of public relations department employees, reporting order for public relations (hereafter referred to as “PR”) within the organization.
• Respondents’ beliefs on how top management views the contributions of public relations.
• Typical budget for PR-related purchases and if PR spending in their organization experienced an increase or decrease in 2006.
• How respondents spend their work time, as well as how their PR budget is allocated across various services.
• Perceptions on the single greatest issue facing the PR profession.
• Identifying which organization has the strongest voice against PR and PR issues, and perceptions as to how PRSA should be involved in advocating for such issues.
• The importance of various attributes when selecting a PR service company.

Download a copy of the 2006 State of the PR Industry Opinion Survey here.

Most overused phrases in press releases

Factiva Insight has issued a new report listing the most overused used phrases in press releases for 2006 for the US, the UK and globally. The most frequently used term in the U.S. is "next generation." Not far behind are "flexible," "robust" and "world-class."

Read the full analysis here. (PDF)

(And is it just me or should that big headline on the first page of print be "The new way to analyze the world's media" and not "the worlds media"? Maybe it's a British thing I don't know about. I know, I know. Once an English major, always an English major...but still.)

New International Survey on New Media Practices Uncovers Disparity in PR

According to a new survey, public relations professionals in the U.S. and the U.K. increasingly recognize the importance of blogs, but comparatively few from each country participate in the blogosphere by monitoring, writing or reading blogs.

The survey, commissioned by The Daily Dog and Peppercorn Communications, was originally meant to see which country had the more digitally savvy PR folks. But the findings showed that neither really had a lot to brag about in that arena.

Among the findings:

• An overwhelming majority of respondents (85 percent) believe blogs are an important digital communication—the top two responses given being the ability to share information quickly and broadly (U.S.: 84 percent; U.K.: 74 percent), and the opportunity to influence public opinion and decision making (U.S.: 74 percent; U.K.: 65 percent)

• Most respondents (or their clients) do not have an official company blogging policy (U.S.: 87 percent, U.K.: 82 percent).

• Only 37 percent in the United States and 36 percent in the United Kingdom are actually blogging on behalf of their company or client.

• Fifty-four percent of respondents whose companies are blogging are not involved in the writing, creative or approval process for corporate or CEO blogs.

• Forty-nine percent of respondents did not monitor blogs at all.

• Sixty-three percent have not adapted their communications strategy to include proactive outreach to blogs, message boards and other forms of digital media.

Peppercom and the Daily Dog have released a podcast offering further analysis of these findings.

Five Best Books on Public Relations

Michael Kempner, in a Five Best column for the Wall Street Journal, recently listed what he considered the five best books on public relations. Mr. Kempner is president and CEO of MWW Group. Here are his picks:

• Propaganda By Edward Bernays
• American Hero By Larry Beinhart
• The Eloquent President By Ronald C. White Jr.
• Thank You for Smoking By Christopher Buckley
• All's Fair By Mary Matalin and James Carville

Interesting choices. None of the usual suspects, for sure (besides Bernays' book). But I'm sure that was the point.

The Ugly Truth about Media Bias—and What It Means to PR Practitioners

Joan Stewart, publisher of The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Trade, had a very interesting op-ed piece in The Daily Dog about journalism and partiality. At first it caught my attention because she was once a journalist herself. But her basic tenet - that whatever any of us writes has a slant by default - probably deserves more exploration.

The article caught my attention because the dismissal by journalists of most bloggers (because of impartiality) is increased twofold when you are representing a trade association. Any quotes, statistics, data or arguments you give are solely to benefit your members - which is true, of course, but that doesn't make the statistics, data or arguments that you supply any less powerful if they are factual too.

Joan writes:

There is no such thing as “fair and impartial” reporting, despite journalists’ claims to the contrary. My upbringing, education, opinions and perceptions shaped the stories I covered and assigned, the questions I asked my interview subjects, the length of the interview, the quotes I included in my stories, and the slant I put on particular stories. The same is true for every other journalist, though few would admit it.

Anyone that's ever been interviewed by a reporter can testify to that - especially "the quotes I included in my stories" part.

As Stewart points out, with blogs and all of the other online avenues open to all of us, we all have a way now to tell our own story - and to make sure that if a reporter gets it wrong it does not go unrecognized or uncorrected on our end. She gave the example of Overstock.com President Patrick Byrne who posted a complete transcript of an e-mail interview with Business Week e-commerce editor Timothy Mullaney—before the story was published in BusinessWeek or on its Web site. (You can read more about it here.)

Obviously, "on the record" and "off the record" might become part of the business vocabulary of journalists too.

Are embargoes outdated?

The big question last week amongst PR types seemed to be, Are press releases dead - or should they be? But Robert Scoble is an interesting example of how the more outdated PR practice may be embargoes. (You have to scroll down a little to get to the entry titled Shhh...Don't Tell Anyone.)

For the second time in a week, Robert Scoble, the "official" Microsoft blogger, could not talk about Microsoft products that bloggers around the world were already talking about. How does that make sense?

Steve Rubel writes about the launch of Microsoft's Virtual Earth:

It should be interesting to see which outlet breaks the story in the press. However, by soft launching it over the weekend, Microsoft put Virtual Earth (which rocks by the way) out there for all of us to blog about, basically jeopardizing any embargo that may exist.

Obviously, Microsoft launched the site on Saturday but has an embargo in effect until Monday a.m.

Scoble writes:

I was asked to hold off until 9:01 p.m. PT tonight on the Virtual Earth stuff. A few people discovered our URL's while we turned on the servers to perform performance tests and now we're off to the races. Tons of blogs are talking.

Scoble recognizes the initial purpose of the embargo was to give everyone the same shot out of the gate, but concludes, "The word-of-mouth network is just getting too efficient to try to live by these rules anymore."

What do you think?

Yes Virginia, you can measure word-of-mouth marketing

The WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) folks recently released what they're calling a new set of standards to measure the impact - and ROI - of word-of-mouth marketing. Download WOMMA's 12-page PDF here. It explains measurement terms and methodology - including the WOMUnit, the "single unit" of information that is passed from one consumer to another. (via BlogWrite for CEOs)