PR – is history repeating itself?

History has a habit of repeating itself. And when you’ve been around as long as I have it’s much easier to spot these repeats.

What I’m talking about is those in business constantly get beguiled by tactics and implementation. Putting the how (ie how do we do it) before the why (what are we trying to achieve)!

When I started in PR ‘way back’ I broke the mould. At that time the only credential for getting into PR was to be a journalist. PR was perceived to be all about the media and organisations were hiring PR people (directly and through PR agencies) to manage the media relationship which was seen as a ‘gap’ for most companies.

I didn’t fit the mould. Firstly I came from a business background. Secondly I had a qualification in PR – which was unheard of in those days. It was hard to break in!

But when I did (by being hired by an agency) the combination of my business approach with a real knowledge as to what public relations was about and how it could be applied to business was the key that unlocked the door. Within five years of entering PR I was running my own agency with operations in two cities and a host of corporate clients – with more at the door!

Why? Because businesses wanted to buy a service that had strategy as well as tactics. One that was more aligned to business objectives. And which reflected some of their corporate values.

Ex-journalists were great at talking to the media, writing the press release, establishing personal contacts with their ex-media mates and handling press enquiries. But (generally) they had no idea (because they had no experience) about how to develop strategies. They were great guns for hire – providing you supplied all the ammunition and pointed them in the right direction!

In those early days many organisations gained real value from hiring ex-journalists. But business soon tired of having to keep mothering them; plus they had a media-only perspective of the world. There was soon an exodus to the divorce courts. PR gradually became more strategic and moved beyond simply dealing with the media.

History is in danger of repeating itself now that businesses find themselves in the internet and social media era. Businesses are waking up to the challenge of a new world of connectivity and relationships through social media. But as in ‘yesteryear’ too often they seem to be putting the cart before the horse.

Once again I see too much concentration on tactics and implementation. They are turning to young social media savvy ‘experts’ for help.

Those they are turning to know how to blog, how to build a Facebook presence, how to tweet on Twitter and interact across many other social media platforms. But they don’t come from a business background. They have no knowledge of brand values. They don’t understand the principles of corporate reputation – or how to contain or handle a crisis.

My question to marketers is this: “Are you comfortable entrusting the reputation of your brand, or organisation to these people? Are you happy for them to be talking on your behalf? Do you have a strategy behind what you are doing and processes and safeguards in place?”

At least in the old days most of the journalists were ‘men (few women were hired!) of the world’. They had come up against some real life experiences.

I sense (and hope!) that as in yesteryear organisations will get more savvy before too long and start focusing on the ‘why’ and investing in strategy. But I fear there will be some tears first!