Given that this week I’m spending a couple of days at “Strategic Communication for Professional Services”, a forum run by the Ark Group in Sydney it got me thinking about the special corporate public relations challenges faced by PR Directors and Managers who work for Australian accounting, law, real estate and other service firms.
Over my years in the PR consulting business I’ve been exposed to my share of professional service firm clients. As a consequence I’ve seen a few PR Directors and Managers close up.
My over-riding conclusion from this exposure is that PR and communication in this environment is ‘different’ to other in-house corporate public relations positions. I think those who take up these roles often need a different personality and a different skill set.
Above all I’ve always felt that to hold down a senior PR or communication position (especially in a law, accounting or consulting firm) one of the strongest attributes required is intellectual robustness. This is because you are working with people who often consider themselves as experts – in everything! It’s certainly not an environment for the shrinking violet!
So what do I think are the four ways management of PR and communication in a professional services firm is different from other in-house corporate public relations roles?
1. Winning internal senior support for PR and communication is so much more crucial.
Most professional firms are partnerships – or think like partners. That means the task is more than winning the support of the CEO because there’s often not just the one decision-maker. It’s absolutely vital to win internal senior support for the role of PR and communication across a broader group. Some have told me they can spend 50% of their time on this alone! Some thrive on the challenge- others find it a distraction from what they see as their real job.
2. There is more pressure for the PR and communication function to be more accountable.
In my experience there is pressure for the PR and communication function to more accountable. Firstly, because expenditure within a professional services firm is more directly connected to the wallets of the decision-makers than it is in a conventional organisation. Secondly, because the firm lives in an environment where accountability to its clients is demanded internal PR and communication is pressured to meet this same criteria. That means more formal planning, more research and more measurement.
3. To get multiple messages to a diverse range of stakeholders and audiences the PR Director or Manager needs to employ communication techniques and tactics that are both subtle and varied.
Planning and implementation is more complex than for many other in-house corporate public relations and communication specialists. That’s because the outputs are definitely more than media coverage – although that’s not to say that the firm doesn’t still have this expectation and that it’s not a constant battle to educate partners! Yes, media is in the mix, but a broad-based program of what I would call ‘meaningful’ communication – using research, seminars, studies, white papers, speeches, conferences and a myriad of other techniques has to lead the way.
4. Getting internal alignment and ‘buy-in’ is absolutely vital.
For professional service firms the whole PR and communications effort is undermined unless staff ‘buy-in’ and are aligned to the over-arching messaging. In many other organisations such an outcome is desirable; for professional firms its essential. That means that the PR Director or manager needs to devote considerable resources, time and effort to internal stakeholder communication. This is to an audience that is often both intelligent and skeptical. Winning them over is often no easy task!
While all of this means that those who hold down senior PR and communication roles in Australian professional services firm do need what I’ve called superior “intellectual robustness”, I’ve felt that sometimes this can result in professionals in this role becoming so involved that they lose their objectivity and the ‘devils advocate’ perspective that I’ve always believed is an essential attribute of any PR or communications advisor.
But that’s a small criticism about a group who in my view face, and in the main surmount, some of the most difficult challenges in corporate public relations.
I’m looking forward to a couple of days mixing with them, and learning about what is current best practice in professional services public relations and communications.
PS: If you are interested in further articles of this nature take a look at PR Influences, which I also write.
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