Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Billee Howard, managing director of the brand innovation group and creative development officer at Allison + Partners. Howard has more than 15 years’ experience in brand development, strategic media relations, CEO brand building, corporate positioning, business-to-business strategy development and economic and investment promotion.

With experience emerging as the foil to technological innovation, communications continues to emerge as among the most powerful and potent tools in the CEO arsenal. As such, programs that influence outcomes and drive business performance trump those that merely illicit approved awareness. As the year unfolds we see all of these principles unfolding broadly across the business landscape. The commercialization of many leading brands is being driven by the notion of Art + Commerce = Innovation (and winning experiences).

In the recent months, we have seen a change in the business model from a product-centric notion to an experience-driven culture. Experience continues to emerge as the defining factor of competitive differentiation, and the new cornerstone of the supply chain, as the age of total experience management unfolds. We see this everywhere, with brands from McDonald’s (multibillion-dollar investment in complete re-design of restaurants) to eBay (pop-up stores aimed at demonstrating their role in overall next-gen retail) investing significantly in re-imagining winning experiences as much as innovating beloved products and services.

With experience at the forefront it is also important to acknowledge the growth on an innovation-centric corporate culture. The notion of specialization continues to sweep the landscape working to define more unique and memorable experiences in every way, from the proliferation of niche businesses to the emergence of specialty focused roles inside leading organizations.

Continue reading " A CEO’s Most Powerful Tool is Communications "

Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Burghardt Tenderich, Ph.D., associate professor and associate director of the Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Burghardt manages the development of the biennial Generally Accepted Best Practices for Public Relations study, which assesses the scope of the public relations industry.

Corporate public relations budgets are mostly up, and the scope of the profession is experiencing growth in areas such as internal communication, customer relations and social media. These are some of the findings of a new study published by the USC Annenberg Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center.

GAP VII, the seventh biennial Generally Accepted Best Practices for Public Relations, shows some of the most significant findings in the area of measurement and evaluation: On average, corporations now spend 9 percent of their total PR budget on research-related activities, a sharp incline from 4 percent in the previous GAP study. This pronounced rise speaks to widespread adoption of social media monitoring tools and increasing use of primary research in program planning and evaluation.

The GAP VII research team, led by Jerry Swerling, Kjerstin Thorson and me, surveyed 620 senior public relations practitioners. This makes GAP VII the largest and most comprehensive study ever of the most senior communicators in public and private corporations, government agencies and non-profits in the United States. USC Annenberg conducted the study in cooperation with PRSA and other professional associations: Arthur W. Page Society, Institute for Public Relations and International Association of Business Communicators.

GAP VII aims to provide PR practitioners with actionable information they can use to better manage the communication functions in their organizations; identifies best practices against which they can benchmark their own organizations; and pinpoints trends to be aware of as they plan for tomorrow.

Continue reading " What the USC Annenberg GAP Study Tells Us About Public Relations’ Success "

Like many professionals, public relations practitioners (PRSA staff included) struggle with implementing new technology to make the user experience of their customers more worthwhile. It’s a problem that seemingly never goes away yet gnaws at any professional who wishes to stay abreast of trends in an ever-changing marketplace.

There are hot technologies that never quite become as ubiquitous as people predict. It seems like just yesterday that Second Life was being featured on the cover of magazines, bringing in an era of changed platforms and virtual reality. In truth, it was eons ago (OK, 2006) and we are no nearer to conducting all of our earthly transactions in a virtual world then we were then.

I bring this up because some institutions, at the behest of their PR and communications departments, pursued aggressive engagement strategies on the platform, often to the detriment of other mediums like Facebook or the blogosphere, whose proliferation continues relatively unabated.

This isn’t to excoriate those institutions or campaigns. Maybe for their audiences, utilizing those platforms made sense. Maybe they were bowing to the pressures of a CEO whose entire knowledge of the digital world was based on a magazine cover they saw in an airport (it’s happened to all of us.)

The point is, most PR and corporate comms departments are small and resources are limited. A prudent institution with limited means should be thinking very carefully before dipping its toes into a new platform or technology.

Which brings me back to my original point: when a shiny new technology comes out, we here at PRSA give serious consideration to its application and utility to our members. As I’m sure you guessed Pinterest is the buzz around here at present, as it is throughout much of the PR industry.

Continue reading " How Companies Can Effectively Respond to the Siren Call of Pinterest "

The latest monthly survey by the National Federation of Independent Business indicated a brighter employment picture and significant increase in future hiring plans. Similarly, the Manpower survey of hiring intentions, represents the most promising hiring outlook since 2008.

Monster.com has reported an uptick in online advertising in recent months, and a recent study from WantedAnalytics found that hiring demand, specifically in the public relations industry has steadily increased in 2011. In looking at the number of new online job ads hiring for PR managers and specialists over the past 90 days, the study saw a 10-percent increase compared to the same 90-day period in 2010. That report indicates that beyond an increase in specific job openings, there is a fundamental shift taking place in the way the job market functions.

The year ahead will see employers identify new ways to leverage the social networks of employees’ to recruit and retain talent. Over the course of 2010 and 2011, you likely read a great deal about social medial policies. According to the October 2011 Booz & Company/Buddy Media Survey, 65 percent of organizations have social media policies and another 29 percent are in the process of developing or planning a policy.

Social media policies and guidelines are essential; employee networks boast a formidable power.

As of November 2011, LinkedIn claimed more than 135 million members. With policies in place, and employees well connected throughout their respective industry, in 2012, companies will be poised to better harness their employees networks to strengthen the organization. Businesses will find ways to capitalize on these networks by utilizing employee referral programs.

In 2011, all employees became an asset (or liability) to marketing, publicly representing themselves and, as a reflection, their brand online. The coming year will find employees encroaching on HR territory, serving as brand ambassadors to prospective employees. A coordinated effort between HR and public relations to offer continued social media training and guidelines is essential. PR practitioners with social media responsibilities will begin looking at retention and recruitment metrics in their own analysis.

Even those organizations not yet prepared to commit to hiring must take significant steps in 2012, if they hope to retain valuable talent and survive the next decade. Employees whose profiles are on LinkedIn (and Google+) essentially have their resumes “out there” and are more likely than ever before to be approached by a competitor. Organizations that have been retaining employees simply as a result of a fear of the economy will be increasingly vulnerable as savvy growing businesses easily acquire their top talent.

The economic recession of the early 1990s was marked by several years of high unemployment, but five years later, the “dot-com boom” hit. Overnight, it seemed jobs were plentiful, with companies striving to outdo their competitors in perks as they fought to hire and retain talent. The economy will again turn, and the steps organizations take in 2012 will determine whether they are positioned for success.

Continue reading " #PRin2012: Talent Acquisition Goes Social "

Editor’s note: This is the 11th in a series of 12 guest posts from industry executives predicting key trends that will impact the public relations industry in 2012. Hosted under the hashtag #PRin2012, the series began Dec. 19, 2011, with a compilation post previewing all 12 predictions.

A confluence of events will make 2012 the year the public relations profession discovers that independent public relations consultants are its secret weapon.

With growing recognition that independent practitioners are not in a transitory blip between traditional jobs (in fact, a study found that less than 1 in 10 independent contractors would return to a traditional job if given the opportunity), there is a growing understanding within the business community that solo PR pros are experienced and savvy professionals, who play a key role in our profession.

As the economy edges toward recovery, the key to weathering the oscillating business cycles that have become the norm is the effective use of independent PR contractors. When new corporate business initiatives commence before a hiring freeze is lifted, or PR agencies endure a waiting period after landing new clients before hiring additional full-time staff, partnering with independent public relations practitioners offers significant benefits.

The U.S. Department of Labor confirms this, noting that “firms [will] hire contractors to provide public relations services, rather than support more full-time staff when additional work is needed.” With expected response times shrinking and real-time public relations — both planned, or in the case of a crisis, unforeseen — becoming the norm, 2012 will see new levels of interest in partnering with independent contractors as the most effective way to manage workflow without sacrificing quality.

Perhaps more importantly, as the media continues to fragment and niche influencers gain in importance, independent PR consultants can offer a strategic advantage by providing specific expertise  — from strategy and planning to execution — that can hit the ground running immediately. Why wait for internal staff to learn a new industry, market or specialized tactic, when an indie practitioner can deliver better results today?

The New Year will see broader understanding, by both agencies and in-house PR teams, that the challenges of maintaining influencer relationships across different business units can more efficiently — and effectively — be addressed by partnering with independent consultants.

Continue reading " #PRin2012: Solo PR Pros — The Profession’s Secret Weapon "