I am.
Apparently.
In fact, according to Brendan Cooper, I am the 90th tallest midget in the UK PR circus (blatantly ripping off David Brain’s expression there btw).
Anyway, I do love a good list and it is clear a lot of hard graft went into this one so thanks Brendan for including me and well done to other newcomers to the PR world order such as David Brain and Paul Stallard. Am off to have a nosey at the other 99 in the list….
Writing a PR proposal for a new client is always a challenge. You don’t know the business but you want to deliver results…..you haven’t yet experienced the culture and personalities first hand yet you have big ideas for them…and so the list goes on.
You’d think that writing a new proposal or programme for an existing client would be so much easier?
In theory, yes, however there are some things to remember that can make the finished article have much more impact and much more success down the line.
*I deliberately haven’t put creativity here because if you are doing this stuff, you should be creating something fresh, new and exciting anyway.
Interesting post on the changing role of the publicist by Ben Ayers at ITV. As celebrities and public figures continue to embrace new apps such as Twitter to engage directly with their fanbase, what does the future hold for publicists?
Publicists still need to have one toe in the old media pond, providing stories and stoking up excitement around a show for the traditional media outlets but to stay on top of their game the other must be fully submerged in the swirling new media waters.
On the downside, I think the future will bring a whole new level of public slip-ups too which given the highly visible nature of tools such as Twitter will require a large amount of firefighting. Let’s hope that this era of open communication that is a fan’s dream doesn’t become a publicist’s nightmare.
Ged tagged a few of us in a meme about the future of PR a little while back. As ever, my response is a bit later than planned 🙂
The tools, the rules, the results and the mistakes we make will continue to change but one trend I think we’ll see more of is a move towards humility.
The quickest way to spot someone who is just trotting out the same old ideas and the same old tried and trusted campaigns (despite their current relevance) is by their arrogance and cockiness.
Holding onto clients in a recession whilst continuing to be creative and do new things is scary so in my opinion, the future of PR is a humble one. People truly pushing things in new directions are the ones with their heads down sharing, measuring and continually improving what they do, not the ones with their well-beaten chests out.
A quick look through my feeds and it seems like everyone turns into Nostradamus this time of year… Rather than cobble together a post on what I think the business world will hold for us in ’09 (as I have no idea to be honest) I thought I’d jot down my business (PR) resolutions instead.
We know it is going to be a tough year and this is how I plan on dealing with it.
1. Work flexibly — Be as productive as possible, limit commuting/travel to absolute necessity and get through the most work I can during working hours
2. Reduce evening working — Often just because I haven;t been as productive during the day as I could be but it leaves me feeling peed off if I work late all the time
3. Service, service and service — Clients HAVE to come first in our business but I intend to ask for a lot more input into how we are doing, where we could improve and continue to make sure our service is impeccable this year
4. Ramp up new business — Keep networking both on and off line, look at new services we can offer and continue to be competitively priced in 2009
5. Don’t look for the answer to “How’s business?” in spreadsheets — Continue as I always do to get out there and speak to clients, participate in campaigns, direct programmes and be a partner for clients. the numbers only tell you so much….times like these mean you need to keep your head up and get out there
6. Keep hiring — New business was great for us at the end of last year so we are in a good place. In the past, I have seen agencies try to squeeze FAR too much work out of people when the economy is bad, it is essential to keep hiring within your means, be fair to employees, reward loyalty and make sure people aren’t ground into the floor or you’ll lose all your good people the minute the economy picks up
7. Keep listening and learning — Whilst it might be tempting to offer the safe old campaigns and ideas in PR this year, that is not where the results will come from in many cases or where the budgets will be….need to keep improving, trying new stuff and measuring it as we go because nobody’s an expert unless they keep learning
8. Keep collaborating and helping out — Last year really was the year of community for me and I want to keep that spirit up this year
Cross posted at http://www.ruderfinn.co.uk/blogs
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