From my experience, many people have preconceived notions about public relations (PR) and PR professionals; some may be correct, but some may be way off…

According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” This definition describes PR in a nutshell, but there are many, many elements that go into supporting a true understanding of PR.

Some people base their opinion of PR and PR professionals on past encounters or relationships with other PR people. So, depending on what type of experience you had will dictate what you think about PR.

According to marketing.about.com, one PR myth states “Public Relations is Spin, Slogans and Propaganda.”

In a past life at a former employer, I actually would have employees ask me, “What propaganda are you communicating today?” While I’m sure this cynicism was driven by other factors, the idea of being a propaganda-pusher really offended me as I was communicating pertinent information about the company, which was important for employees to know. More importantly, I was communicating feedback from employees back to management, helping make two-way employee communications a crucial part of the company’s success.

Whether you are communicating with employees or the media, I think ethical behavior plays a key role in how you are viewed. Unfortunately, I know there are some “bad apples” out there practicing PR, and their behaviors tend to hurt the reputation of the larger profession to a very disproportionate degree.

Some journalists have had a bad experience with a PR person, then refuse to work with other PR people. I would venture to say that every PR person knows at least one or two members of the media like this. I really think that this is too bad since the PR and media relationship can be a win-win for all involved.

While unprofessional practices may earn some public relations practitioners their own well-deserved reputations, it’s important to remember that we are all individuals and should be judged on our own merits.

by Tyra E. Haag

What’s your communications strategy for 2011? How do you plan to implement it?

According to a 2009 speech from Emory University Goizueta Business School’s Paul Carroll, “Plenty of lessons can be learned from the glut of businesses that have fallen under the swift sword of merciless recession. There are a number of mistakes being made, but the number one cause of failure is misguided strategy – not sloppy execution, poor leadership or bad luck.”

Although there’s a light at the end of the economic recession tunnel, it’s still paved with a few speed bumps known as fear, doubt, confusion and uncertainty.

This means being more strategic and purposeful in all facets of communications efforts. Most economic experts forecast a somewhat brighter economic outlook this year. Don’t get too excited yet. In order to get more bang for your communications-budget buck, take a moment to make sure your approach is an appropriate one.

This Thursday, Mary Beth West, principal of Mary Beth West Consulting, LLC, and Tori Rose of interactive firm Blue Media Boutique, LLC, will partner with independent market researcher Rebecca Bryant of Bryant Research to present do’s and don’ts of interactive tool development at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Volunteer Chapter meeting at 11:30 a.m. at Rothchild’s in Knoxville.

Their message to the chapter is a simple one: cookie-cutter approaches to social media are costly and ineffective. Template-driven approaches can be profitable for interactive agencies and firms that sell website and social media development, but they rarely produce good results for the client.  

Although social media is just one facet of an overall communications strategy, customization is the key when developing a plan for the New Year. Organizations must keep in mind that a communications strategy is not a one-size-fits-all deal. What works for one company may not work for another. 

Allow me to reach into my bag of sports analogies.

The University of Tennessee Men’s Head Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl’s mantra of having his players always be fired up, focused and prepared, has served both him and his teams well over the years.

Former Vol basketball standout Chris Lofton says of Pearl, “When he first got to Tennessee, I was just a shooter,” the three-time All-American said. “But by the time I left, he and his staff turned me into a scorer.”

Fired up. Focused. Prepared. Shouldn’t your 2011 communications strategy represent that same mantra?

Now, make it a goal to not only shoot but also score with your communications efforts in 2011. Of course, if you need a little coaching along the way, our team is here to help you with a game plan.

When Travis Parman’s presence became known as a student in the UT College of Communications in the early 1990s, that program was never quite the same (and neither was I). 

This Thanksgiving, one of the many blessings I hold closely is the set of friendships I’ve developed over the years as a result of choosing public relations as my career path when I was 18.   

At the old PRSA headquarters on Irving Place in New York, 1993.

Almost 20 years ago, Travis and I found ourselves as two PR peas in a pod, both at UT and through our involvement in the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), where we both served on the national committee (Travis went on to be elected the first national president of PRSSA from the University of Tennessee). 

During those years, we probably took 20 trips together to PRSSA conferences and leadership meetings across the country, often with other good friends in tow, like Jennifer Miller Fesmire, Jackie Carpenter Cavnar, Amy Jones Schwinge (who now is a co-worker with me), and our friend from Ball State, Sonja Popp-Stahly, among many others.

Travis and I had a special connection because we probably recognized in one other an almost mirror-image wiring for the public relations business and the places we each wanted to pursue in it.

Our individual careers have taken several twists and turns – mine ultimately in an entrepreneurial direction and his on the corporate mover-and-shaker circuit (you can check out one of the industry reflections when he took his leave as General Motors CGO at jalopnik.com, which I’ll pass on hyperlinking to for those with more delicate sensibilities).

Suffice to say, Travis’s professional accomplishments have been typified by much of the same zest and zing as he brings to his friendships.  There’s never a dull moment.

Together at the Washington Hilton for the 2010 PRSA Conference. Photo courtesy of Sonja Popp-Stahly.

It was terrific seeing Travis as well as our friend Sonja in October at the 2010 PRSA / PRSSA Conferences in Washington – our old stomping ground, of sorts.  It’s an event that always brings about some sentimentality for me tied to the collegiate glory days.  I look forward to seeing what the next 20 years will bring.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 19, 2010)

“Public relations generates success for businesses and organizations throughout our society, and PRSA’s Educators Academy contributes to the profession’s greatest potential by driving academic research, professional standards and the qualifications of future professionals,” said West in accepting the award. “It’s a tremendous honor to be recognized by these educators whose work I value and respect.”   

West’s 16-year career in public relations includes a range of posts in the agency, corporate and banking sectors. For seven years, she has managed a public relations consulting firm in Maryville, Tenn.

“The Ferguson Award gives us an opportunity to again honor David Ferguson who truly believed in and supported public relations education,” said PRSA Educators Academy Chair Terri Lynn Johnson, ABC, APR. “We honor him by honoring another PRSA member, Mary Beth West, who also thinks as he did. West has been an outstanding contributor to PRSA and to public relations education. She was nominated by Betsy Plank, who described her as ‘one of the best.’”

West’s involvement with PRSA and its student organization, PRSSA, has extended over two decades. She served as national public relations director for PRSSA while a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UT), where she was honored as the public relations student of the year in 1994, and received the UT Chancellor’s Citation for Leadership and Service. 

Her early Chapter leadership roles in PRSA included serving as educational liaison to several Tennessee-based PRSSA Chapters. She went on to serve in board leadership positions with the Nashville and Volunteer Chapters of PRSA and, later, served on the national board of PRSA, and led the Society’s National Advocacy Advisory Board. 

West worked again with PRSSA as national professional adviser this past decade, during which time she co-founded, alongside Gail Liebl, APR, the PRSA New Professionals Group, now one of the largest Professional Interest Sections in the Society, and helps transition PRSSA students to PRSA associate membership and active career involvement. 

On a local level, West serves on the UT College of Communication & Information board of visitors. Her firm has sponsored more than $25,000 in local and national scholarships and academic program support, student attendance to PRSSA National Conferences and more than a dozen paid internships for PRSSA students. A career-long member of the Champions for PRSSA and a contributor to the Betsy Plank Endowment, West was the founding donor of the Travis Parman Public Relations Scholarship and the Dwayne Summar Essay Contest at the University of Tennessee, in honor of two close friends and mentors in the profession who are alumni of UT.

About the Educators Academy
In 1978, college and university public relations educators, both full and part time, and practitioners who share with educators a commitment to improving the quality of teaching and scholarly research in the field, were invited to be members of the Educators Academy. Established that same year, the Educators Academy was developed to reach those college and university public relations educators and practitioners to further the advancement of teaching public relations in higher education.

About the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
With more than 31,000 members, PRSA is the largest organization of public relations professionals and students. PRSA is comprised of 111 local Chapters organized into 10 geographic Districts; 16 Professional Interest Sections that focus on issues, trends and research relevant to specialized practice areas, such as technology, health care, financial communications, entertainment and sports, and travel tourism; and the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), which has more than 300 Chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. PRSA is headquartered in New York.

By Mary Beth West, APR

Mrs. West Goes to Washington . . . I’m making my second trip to D.C. this month.  The first was a legislative trip I attended with my husband, a Chervolet dealer, along with other members of the Tennessee Automotive Association.  The second is to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) International Conference, coming up this weekend.

Whenever I’m in that town, I can’t help but feel the almost palpable energy and vibe that goes hand-in-hand with the sheer weight of everything that Washington, D.C. is – from its history and architectural presence to the miracle of democracy that plays out there every day, in ways small to the most grandiose.

And, admittedly, there is a part of me that wishes I could work in the thick of it.  To me – and I acknowledge there’s bias here – the public relations profession plays as significant a role in our democratic process as any other vocation.

After all, there are few lines of work that operate more directly to help formulate, share and advocate ideas tied to government legislation, policy and action. 

Mid-term elections are only weeks away, and with the ramp-up, the media marketplace will be overflowing with those ideas, from diverse voices and points of view.

In the maelstrom, you better believe that it’s an army of public relations professionals who are driving a great deal of research on the issues, reaching out to stakeholders, helping develop their clients’ positions on those issues and crafting the appropriate communications to make those ideas heard – with an end goal tied to the most quantitative of outcomes . . . an up or down vote.

For the remainder of the month, my team is taking a look at public relations in the political process.  “Political PR” is a heavily loaded term in this profession – largely because so many people both working inside and outside of public relations associate it with unethical communications practices.  Sadly, much of the bad rap is deserved, which is why PRSA has clocked overtime in the past decade to combat unethical and unprofessional practices with its own advocacy effort.  We’ll talk about those issues, too.

Chime in and let us know what your ideas are on public relations’ role in the political process.

What is ethics anyway? According to http://www.merriam-webster.com/, ethics is “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.  a : a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values <the present-day materialistic ethic> <an old-fashioned work ethic> <an elaborate ethics> <Christian ethics> b the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group <professional ethics> c : a guiding philosophy d : a consciousness of moral importance <forge a conservation ethic>.”

As part of promoting the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA’s) September Ethics Month, several of my colleagues have blogged about the details of the PRSA Code of Ethics and Member Statement of Professional Values, which does an outstanding job of outlining professional ethics.   

Very early in my career, I worked with a manager who always focused on “doing the right thing” in running the business and in the way he treated people.  During strategic planning meetings and when talking with him, he always said, “We need to do the right thing.”  He seemed to do the right thing as the company flourished while he was the executive in charge.

Honestly, I didn’t realize the impact that this manager had on me until I started writing this blog entry.

When I find myself in a position of questioning what I should do either in a professional or personal setting, I always ask myself, “What is the right thing to do?”  Then, I try to make the right choice (and generally, I get it right most of the time).  My hubby may not agree with that statement, but I won’t get into that.

Getting back to the subject of ethics, I think what most people learned in Kindergarten could be applied to ethical behavior in adulthood as well.  Not to oversimplify ethics, because “doing the right thing” can be complicated, but whenever you have a question about what is wrong or right, think back to the basics that you learned as a child.

I believe that my five-year-old daughter in Kindergarten gets the concept of ethical behavior. Even though she may not always do what she is supposed to do, I believe she knows right from wrong. She actually keeps me grounded sometimes, especially with her honest, blunt questions that children can ask. My daughter said “that wasn’t right; he shouldn’t have done that” when she was telling me about an incident when one of her fellow classmates “got in trouble.”

Here is the bottom line:  whether it’s treating people the same way you would want to be treated or conducting business, just try to do the right thing—you usually won’t go wrong.

I wonder how many professions have a Code of Ethics Pledge or a Member Statement of Professional Values. 

In recent weeks, the topic of ethics has made headlines in East Tennessee. From University of Tennessee Head Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl’s interactions with the NCAA to a local East Tennessee businessman being sentenced to 27-plus years in prison after being convicted of a Ponzi scheme, the news media has provided us with high-profile examples of the importance of professional ethics and the consequences that can come when they are violated.  

Mark Twain once said, “It is curious – curious that physical courage should be so common in the world, and moral courage so rare.”

So then, how do we maintain our integrity while representing our clients?

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Member Statement of Professional Values presents the core values of PRSA members and, more broadly, of the public relations profession. These values provide the foundation for the Member Code of Ethics and set the industry standard for the professional practice of public relations. These values are the fundamental beliefs that guide our behaviors and decision-making process. 

         ADVOCACY
We serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent. We provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts, and viewpoints to aid informed public debate.

         HONESTY
We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public.

         EXPERTISE
We acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience. We advance the profession through continued professional development, research, and education. We build mutual understanding, credibility, and relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences.

         INDEPENDENCE
We provide objective counsel to those we represent. We are accountable for our actions.

         LOYALTY
We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest.

         FAIRNESS
We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public. We respect all opinions and support the right of free expression.

When I joined the Public Relations Society of America, I took a pledge to conduct myself professionally, with truth, accuracy, fairness and responsibility to the public; to improve my individual competence and advance the knowledge and proficiency of the profession through continuing research and education; and to adhere to the articles of the Member Code of Ethics 2000 for the practice of public relations as adopted by the governing Assembly of the Public Relations Society of America.

Either ethics guide our behaviors and decision-making processes or they don’t. 

Of course, if you need a catchy tune to help you keep ethics on your mind, you could always take a page from Michael Scott’s Ethics Seminar at Dunder-Mifflin (from Season 5 of The Office).

A couple weeks ago, in her post “Get Your Ethics On,” Mary Beth West encouraged all of us in the profession to take a look at the PRSA Code of Ethics as a way to reinforce and possibly re-introduce ourselves to the industry standards we have promised to uphold. Mary Beth was encouraging this revisiting because September is PRSA’s Ethics Month.

 Just in case you haven’t gotten to it, here are the main themes that run through the Code.

The Code was written and is maintained by the PRSA Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS).  BEPS sets out principles and guidelines in the Code that are built on fundamental values — such as “advocacy, honesty, loyalty, professional development and objectivity.”

The Code uses these values as building blocks to move to a series of principles underpinning the public relations profession.  These principles, found on the PRSA website, specifically counsel professionals to:

• “Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.
• Foster informed decision-making through open communication.
• Protect confidential and private information.
• Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.
• Avoid conflicts of interest.
• Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession.”

From these principles, BEPS evolved a collection of guidelines to help professionals manage day-to-day situations. These guidelines include:

• “Be honest and accurate in all communications.
• Reveal sponsors for represented causes and interests.
• Act in the best interest of clients or employers.
• Disclose financial interests in a client’s organization.
• Safeguard the confidences and privacy rights of clients and employees.
• Follow ethical hiring practices to respect free and open competition.
• Avoid conflicts between personal and professional interests.
• Decline representation of clients requiring actions contrary to the Code.
• Accurately define what public relations activities can accomplish.
• Report all ethical violations to the appropriate authority.”

All of the above are core ideas that underpin this model of professional behavior, but you should really check out the full document. The Code is regarded as a premier example of how other organizations and practitioners should manage their affairs. You can access the document at PRSA Code of Ethics – another opportunity to get your ethics on.

by Tyra Haag

Each weekday, PRSA Issues and Trends, an online publication of the Public Relations Society of America, reports top industry news related to the field of PR along with current events, professional development opportunities and job resources — just to name a few. 

Since subscribing to this national e-newsletter listserv, I’ve noticed a clear trend—it seems more than 50 percent of the top industry news stories revolve around social media, its impact on the field, controversies surrounding it and best practices.

One such news story led me to Willis Wee’s recent blog post on 30 Social Media Business Case Studies. He compiled 30 business case studies (good and bad) during the past year and how each utilized social media platforms to achieve their goals.

For non-profits, social media platforms have the potential to increase not only brand awareness but also the bottom line if utilized strategically.

How Non-Profits are Using Social Media for Real Results details how non-profit leaders from around the country are using social media to achieve business objectives.

And who would’ve thought the folks at Harvard and Northeastern University would team up and research mood trends experienced throughout the day via Twitter? Researchers from these institutions recently published Pulse of the Nation: U.S. Mood Throughout the Day Inferred from Twitter. Within their site, you’ll find a time lapse video of actual Twitter mood variations, with the happiest tweets occurring during the early morning, late afternoon and weekend hours.

Although several businesses have jumped on the social media bandwagon, it’s important to keep in mind that there’s no such thing as an “easy” button when implementing these platforms. To achieve the most effective social media campaign goals, it takes a clear plan and supporting strategy, so that effort put into utilizing these tools is time well spent—not wasted.

If you have questions related to navigating the waters of online communications, I encourage you to visit Interactive Springboard.

By Gary McCormick, APR, Fellow PRSA; Director, Partnership Development, HGTV; 2010 PRSA Chair/CEO

I recently had the opportunity to ring the opening bell for the NASDAQ – a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I clearly had never placed on my bucket list. Even more curious, it was done for an organization that is not a listed or public company. I was there representing a professional association of public relations professionals, which represents a multibillion-dollar global industry.

So how did this happen? It was the result of an advocacy program for public relations launched by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) to outline the value and impact that public relations has on an organization’s success – The Business Case for Public Relations^TM.

Many don’t understand the essence of our business. Stylized notions of celebrity publicists and Beltway spokespeople pervade the news and popular culture, and the term “PR” itself has become common shorthand for the impression – good or bad – that organizations create.

That’s why PRSA developed The Business Case for Public Relations^TM. The program showcases the role of public relations and the professional value it delivers to essential business outcomes:

• Distinct skills provide services like crisis mitigation, reputation and brand building, wealth creation and consumer engagement.
• More than other communications and marketing disciplines, public relations engages all stakeholders of an organization, identifying and delivering impacts that are strategically aligned with concerns of the boardroom, employees, customers and investors.
• Public relations skills are critical to restoring waning public confidence in government and financial institutions as well as being essential to define, develop and maintain the transparency that consumers expect from the companies with whom they choose to do business.

Today more than ever before, companies and organizations need the value that public relations can deliver. As consumer engagement grows through social media, companies will need to outline an increased ability to manage the relationship and conversation that impacts their success in the marketplace. But companies need to engage a public relations professional that understands how to research, plan, execute and evaluate based upon the organization’s defined objectives in order to achieve value.

If your public relations activities are focused on business output and media clips instead of business outcomes, then you are coming up short in a return on your investment. On the other hand, your investment in public relations will garner attention when you can show how that investment delivers value in financial performance by generating sales, revenue and profit; improves your brand equity and reputation; allows for stronger and more efficient employee recruitment and retention; and increases the support you seek for policy decisions or achieving market position.

I hope that you will take time to find out more about the value of public relations on an organization’s performance by visiting www.prsa.org/intelligence/businesscase/.  Moreover, I hope that you find and define the value that public relations is currently delivering or can definitely deliver in your organization.