This week in PR (22 March)

Author: Richard Bailey, Editor
22nd March 2019 16 min read

About the author

Richard Bailey Hon FCIPR is editor of PR Academy's PR Place Insights. He teaches and assesses undergraduate, postgraduate and professional students.

Windy @carrierosepr
Windy @carrierosepr

In the news

Academic

  • ECREA conference: Innovations in risk and crisis communication, Leeds call for papers (deadline 15 April)

Insights and opinions: Pick of the posts

These are the editor’s pick of posts about public relations this week (UK focused, but with a global outlook). Recommendations are welcome to editor@prplace.com or @pr_place

Purpose and professionalism

  • Deb Sharratt: 10 ways to open up two way communication channels (18 March)
    ‘Clear, honest and open two-way communication is quite a revolutionary concept in modern football.’
  • Laura Sutherland: Become a Fellow and help lead our industry (20 March)
    ‘I know there are many CIPR members who have given their time and have injected their own energy into giving back to the CIPR and wider industry. That’s why, as Chairman of the CIPR Fellows’ Forum, I thought it was important we recognised who the Fellows are and also put a call out for nominations for new Fellows to apply.’
  • Chris Measures: 5 things that Public Relations can – and can’t – do (20 March)
    ‘We’ve moved from a situation where media relations was king to a more nuanced, wider ranging and more interesting world, where PR is more strategic and (hopefully) more valued.’

Consulting, careers and skills

  • Polly Snell: How to Freelance in PR While Travelling (21 March)
    ‘The earning potential in Australia for a PR account manager is higher than at home, so it makes my life a lot more straightforward to take on short-term freelance contracts here instead.’
  • Ben Capper: Why there’s no such thing as luck in freelancing (18 March)
    ‘You can’t control what clients will want, when, or how they choose to tell people about it. Sometimes you are, literally, in the right place at the right time. But you still have to put the work in to make the most of opportunities.’

Politics and public affairs

Public and third sectors

  • Charlotte Parker: Communicating communications – the importance of telling our stories (22 March)
    ‘In 2018 I was elected as one of the Vice Chairs for the Association of Police Communicators (APComm). We provide extensive training and professional development opportunities for our members, and represent police communicators at a number of national meetings and working groups.’
  • Sheila Taylor: PR’s vital role in targeting child sexual exploitation (20 March)
    ‘How do you ‘PR’ a subject which is so challenging, when silence contributes to perpetuating the crime, when people are still willing to make jokes about the rape of children and yet would never tolerate in other subject areas of sexuality or crime?’
  • Amanda Coleman: Who really matters? (17 March)
    ‘From my work position there are people that often get forgotten and that is the victims of crime.’
  • Lauren Kelly: Whatsapp coming over the hill: is it a monster? (17 March)
    ‘Have you seen your personal use of WhatsApp shoot up over the past year or so? Well you’re not alone. So how can public sector organisations maximise this as an opportunity to engage?’

Gender, diversity and wellbeing

Brands and influence

Trust, crisis and reputation

Internal communication

  • Rachel Miller: What writing a million words on my blog has taught me (21 March)
    ‘I’ve written a million words about internal communication since creating my blog in March 2009, which equates to 10 books!’
  • Paul Sutton with Keith Lewis: Employee advocacy as a route to social media success [podcast] (20 March)
    ‘You look at firms who are starting to do [employee advocacy] and they’re in areas you wouldn’t necessarily expect: financial services, legal. It’s those who don’t necessarily have a product that people are naturally going to talk about.’
  • Emma Bridger: Money can’t buy happiness… or engagement (no date)
    ‘Why [are] employees loyal to a company or, on the flipside, why [do] they decide to leave. It’s very rare the decision is just about the money, there are a range of other factors involved, including the people they work with.’
  • Martin Flegg: “Becoming a trusted advisor”: thoughts from the recent CIPR Inside event (16 March)
    ‘There are a few longstanding myths in the world of internal communications and PR. One of the bigger ones is that you need to have a seat at the boardroom table to have any credibility or influence with senior leaders and be regarded as a trusted communications advisor.’

Campaigns and creativity

  • PR Examples: RSPB sets its sights on UK charts with single of British birdsongs (21 March)
    ‘The track will feature 25 calls of some the nation’s most endangered yet beloved feathery friends, including the blackbird, robin and nightingale. The RSPB says that the UK’s bird population has shrunk by 44 million since 1966.’

Measurement and evaluation

Media and digital

  • Neville Hobson: The fork in the road for social media and our society (18 March)
    ‘The worst part of [the Christchurch shootings] is the way in which the awfulness played out live in a 17-minute video event that was planned with malicious foresight by an individual who leveraged the ability of having unfettered access to a truly global broadcast medium to expose his evil act in real time.’
  • Marcel Klebba: Key takeouts from Vuelio’s UK Bloggers Survey 2019 (18 March)
    ‘Those who seek to monetise their blog (the professional bloggers) have been growing quite rapidly – an increase of 17 per cent since 2016.’
  • Mike Davies: Why yesterday’s PR skills don’t hack it in an Inbound PR world (no date)
    ‘To survive today, PRs must retain their more traditional story-telling and relationship building skills but must also become ever more comfortable with new technology if they are to prove their worth in the boardroom.’

#CommsSchool

Comms school Facebook group

  • India Minton-Barker (Wolverhampton): Routine and Structure (21 March)
    ‘I’ve turned my writing habits into a 10 step process you can see on the infographic below.’
  • Jessica Pardoe: #CommsSchool Homework – My Writing Habits (21 March)
    ‘How do you find the time to work a full-time job, go to the gym, eat 3 square meals a day, keep up on your reading, maintain a blog and try to have some form of social life – all while getting your 8 hours a night?
  • Stephen Waddington: How to build a blog (19 March)
    ‘Don’t overthink the process of writing. Turn your notifications off and just do it. Then edit. No first draft is perfect. The editing process will make it great.’

#prstudent #bestPRblogs

PR Careers: 2019: 150 PR internships and graduate schemes

  • Yana Miladinova (Bournemouth): Stepping out of your comfort zone (21 March)
    ‘Stepping out of your comfort zone is not easy. Networking, public speaking, presenting; these are all normal fears that shouldn’t prevent you from developing your skills. Everyone can overcome those fears, even if you start with baby steps.’
  • Sian Jones (South Wales): Brexit: A PR Crisis (21 March)
    ‘Taking out any political agenda and rather focusing upon a PR perspective, things have not been handled well.’
  • Orlagh Shanks (Liverpool John Moores): Do You Have to be an Extrovert to Work in PR? (20 March)
    ‘There is no one-type-fits-all in PR. In a team, it is usually better to have different personalities so that everyone brings something different to the table.’
  • Celine Russell (Ulster): Suite dreams are made of this (20 March)
    ‘Over the 2 years I worked for the Europa I have checked in numerous celebrities including;  Van Morrison, Conor McGregor, Lee Evans, Jimmy Page and the entire cast of Game of Thrones.’
  • Lucy Hayball (Bournemouth): #Startingout: Career profile with Jessica Pardoe (19 March)
    ‘#Startingout will consist of interviews with recent graduates who are now working in a PR/Communications related field. These individuals will be sharing their experiences of going from University to full-time work, giving tips, guidance and insight into how they started their careers.’
  • Megan Tidbury (Southampton Solent): The Dark Side of Influencers (19 March)
    ‘As an audience, we are becoming far too invested in other people’s lives; it makes these influencers feel like they can’t have a day off and adds so much extra pressure on their shoulders.’
  • Katie Gebbie (Sunderland): Does Media Relations Still Have PR Relevance? (19 March)
    ‘Online platforms are undoubtedly revolutionising public relations and should, rightly so, be used to raise brand awareness, but media relations should still remain a vital and pivotal part of the profession. Here’s why…’
  • Andrew James (South Wales): Politics in the Fog of Brexit (18 March)
    ‘We now have a deal that’s being rejected by both sides. One side is rejecting the deal because it would leave us worse off. While the other side claim that it wouldn’t give us independence anyway.’
  • Niamh Murray (Ulster): Reasons I’m excited to go back to uni (18 March)
    ‘When you’re in uni, nothing else matters. You get to forget about actually having to figure out what you want to do in life. You can postpone making actual life decisions for a whole other year. How fabulous.’
  • Nichole Thornton (Sunderland): Meet the PR: Sara-Anne Mills-Bricknell (15 March)
    ‘Get experience! It is so cliché but honestly, it’s so necessary. Many people leave university ‘book smart’ but lack more of the interpersonal skills that are necessary in day-to-day working life.’

Related topics

#bestPRblogs #CommsSchool #prstudent #ThisWeekinPR