Behind The Spin: How and why PR should sharpen up its focus

The business community views public relations with uncertainty and even mistrust – a situation unlikely to alter as long as too many definitions of PR allow too many types of practitioner to cluster under a single umbrella title. What is needed is to find a single coherent definition of PR, with a clear methodology that is comprehensive and understandable to both supplier and customer. Chris Taylor suggests an answer.

The British public relations industry embraces a range of practice from those who call themselves PR consultants, PR agents, or simply PRs. Some are publicists, who offer clients an opportunity to reach towards fame or fortune. Some are promoters, seeking simply to put a positive “spin” on an organisation’s, or individual’s, actions, products, or circumstances. Some are agents, or personal assistants, seeking to protect their client from any publicity that might damage their image.

Are these people working in PR? Not by many classical definitions of the practice.

Yet the publics that the PR industry seeks to impress, not least the business sector, see all these and ask whether PR is a route they can afford to take, given the confusion and a widespread disrespect for the practices of some of these operators.

Of course some individuals and consultancies do operate within the classical context of PR, which seeks after the truth and works to inform key audiences of this truth, with the goal of helping the organisation or individual towards qualitative improvement.

But by allowing these other categories to share the same professional bed, the discipline does itself no favours.

Business holds a wary view of PR, and may even mistrust it. The general public know more of the publicist and promotion side, for obvious reasons - their daily newspapers collude in and contribute to this definition.

Even undergraduates studying for a degree in PR, or those taking CIPR qualifying exams, cannot offer a single agreed definition, citing instead the shortest, or most memorable to them, from the number that exist - and which can contradict each other. This suggests the situation will not change any time soon, as there is no groundswell of common, coherent, and informed structure of what PR is and should do, moving from academic study into the business environment.

What business wants above all is something it can understand, and whose performance it can measure. Until then, PR, unaccountable and unpredictable, will be viewed with suspicion. It seems unlikely that Chartered status will alter this, due to the sheer mass of operators who continue to offer their interpretation of PR outside the classical model. This article is based on a paper I have written which offers a definition that can help resolve many of these problems. It is brief, easy to recall, simple to illustrate, and equally effective when applied to consultancy or an organisation’s in-house department, whether applied to an individual, a brand, or a multinational organisation, and whether seen from the viewpoint of the PR supplier, or the buyer.

PR, then, is “... the discipline that works to align what others think of you, with what you think of yourself, and seeks to elevate both” .

One qualification only is required, namely that “what you think of yourself” should be the truth - at least as you see it. The definition can be seen as a set of scales (Fig 1) with A representing what others think of you, B representing what you think of yourself, and C representing what you want others to think. In most circumstances this will be better than both the foregoing. Under this definition, PR’s role is to balance the scales - and as it is unlikely you will wish people to think less of you, or for you to think less of yourself, then the ratchet effect will work towards continuous improvement.

When A is higher than B (Fig 2) your organisation is held in higher regard by your external audiences than by your internal ones. Here the role of PR concerns issues such as motivation and pride amongst employees and other internal stakeholders. It may also be about issues like improving theèè When B is higher than A (Fig 3) you hold a higher opinion of yourself than your external important audiences do.

Here the role of PR is to pursue the recognition and acknowledgement of overlooked - or underestimated - assets, be they places, products, people, or any other aspect of the business or individual offering.

If this is what PR is, we can use the model to describe what PR is not. It is not about “stunts”, “hype”, or “puff’” it is not about “being famous for being famous”; it is not about creating your “fifteen minutes of fame”; it is not about advertising; it is not about “spinning” if, as many believe, by this you mean manipulating the truth.

And finally it is not a one-off hit, rather part of a continuous improvement process.

So how does this definition suggest PR should be carried out - remembering we want to render it accountable, and hence measurable? Figure 4 offers the PR Circle of Work - a four stage process. First comes attitudes. Research determines who thinks what - so we can establish how the scales are tilted.

Next comes outcomes, where it is decided what needs to be achieved to bring the scales to equilibrium, in the classic PR context of whose opinion needs to be altered, who needs to be positively influenced, who needs to be informed etc.

Third comes audiences. Who we need to speak to, or otherwise communicate with, in order to achieve this. And finally comes actions. How we can most effectively reach this audience and using what medium? Each step can be followed to illustrate PR as it is often understood.

Broadly this can be seen as:

1 - something happens, an event, a good trading cycle, a product launch, etc.

2 - the decision is taken to seek publicity for this.

3 - you prepare and send a press release, trade article, whatever media tactic most appropriate to the audience and the circumstances.

4 - the message is received by the desired audience, who respond favourably. But by our definition this is not PR. This is publicity. The scales may have levelled, but there has been no learning, no improvement. There are no performance measurement opportunities, so if PR is to be measurable, and hence accountable, this model is lacking.

Measuring at the outset Figure 5 completes the PR Circle of Work by introducing the feedback loop. This is where PR becomes a strategic discipline, and measurement becomes a given. This strategic area fits into the 1978 Mexican Statement definition of PR, which refers to “... counselling an organisation’s leadership.” It implies a review process. It means measuring at the outset to establish the inclination of the scales and again at the end of the process to establish what movement has taken place and how to define future tasks. This model sees PR not a series of one-off events, but as a single, iterative, process of finetuning and qualitative improvement.

I commend this definition and model as a practical guide to accountable PR which would be more readily understood and adopted by business than today’s selection of definitions, of varying levels of strategic value. Together they provide an easily understandable role for PR that would help elevate the discipline to where it is more likely to be seen as professional, in every sense of the word. Using this definition and model also makes PR easier to understand for university undergraduates - and hence easier to teach.

Implicit within it is the need to understand research methods and metrics, the value of which has always been difficult to demonstrate to undergraduates. It also underlines the purely tactical level of media communications, countering student perceptions that PR comprises the single essential skill of being able to write a press release. It offers an unequivocal explanation what PR is, and what it is not. And beyond other arguments, it helps to instil in prospective entrants to the discipline a strategic understanding of the profession, and how it can be employed to benefit the business community.

If this can be achieved, PR practitioners can surely then join the high table of those who can proudly declare themselves to be professionals.