This is an archived blog from when I ran Conscious Public Relations Inc. from 2008-2018. Excuse the potential outdated-ness!
PR, we’ve got a long way to go, baby.
I was out of ideas on things to blog about today, until I went through my e-mail inbox and got my weekly dose of articles that Linkedin thinks I should read based on my profile. It recommended an article from BBC News entitled “Does Public Relations have a PR problem?“
In my interview with Allan Knight last Thursday I would have liked to talk more about the future of PR and where it’s going – in addition to simply evolving online – and the fact that it will be more consumer generated. It is already beginning. Mat Wilcox knew this as soon as breaking news was – er – breaking, on Twitter, and it was one of the many reasons why she decided to close down her successful firm. I will never forget her talk to the Canadian Public Relations Society Vancouver chapter about how our industry is not on the same page with regards to what we are supposed to be doing.
The BBC News article continues in this vain and talks about how the general public has such a varied perspective on what PR people actually do. Some of it is linked to PR stunts, and others to corporate communications, and public manipulation.
The fact that I am slowly trying to evolve my own business from one that specializes in a traditional PR campaign to digital branding via social media strategy and management is reflective of the bigger industry that is also struggling to keep up, evolve, and then be seen as the authoritative department. It is not going to be easy, but it will be an interesting view from inside the beast to see how it all unfolds.
