Effective public relations is central to successful economic endeavour. It is highly demanding profession; it requires appropriate skills and expertise; and it is a strategic value – adding business management function.
I believe these self-evident truths become even more apparent as digital technology continues to minimize the gloal village and the world economy shrinks into one giant supermarket.
This is why public relations and professional practitioners are under such relentless pressure to perform at their most efficient level all of the time. To achieve this high degree of performance the practitioner must be well prepared – starting from the entry level through to the accredited practitioner’s level of the profession.
A few examples from a South African perspective of some recent spectacular public relations blunders that prove my point are; the (mis) handling by the spokesperson in the Presidency office of the trip to Dubai by the Deputy President of South Africa; Eskom’s Koeberg Power station “loose bolt sabotage”, the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s political commentators blacklist controversy… the list is endless. Clearly, public relations practitioners need to sharpen their skills to avoid such damaging behaviour.
What then are some of the current trends in the public relations industry?
Global Economy
The globalization of businesses has required companies to learn foreign cultures, business practices and languages. In addition, the advent of the World Wide Web has accelerated the need to relate an organization’s message to a wide array of audiences in different countries and subcultures.
Quality of environment
People in many countries have come to believe that protecting the environment is important and that environmental issues influence their quality of life, so they now take a personal interest in such issues as the greenhouse effect, global warming, acid rain, pollution and toxic waste.
Increased management role for business
Impediments to sales success, such as environmental concerns, have convinced companies to include public relations in their strategic planning and policy formulation. There is still a long way to go before we gain the full confidence of senior management and become an integral part of the top management team, but I believe great progress is being made and our contribution to the triple bottom line is being acknowledged.
New emphasis on issues management
Keeping abreast of public policy issues is a top priority for public relations in the current business environment. This requires experts skilled in problem analysis and conflict resolution. Managing the HIV/Aids pandemic is of particular concern in southern Africa and elsewhere on the African continent. Having a well structured, performance-driven corporate social responsibility programme is now a must for all medium to large size companies.
Proliferation of publics
In addition to traditional publics such as consumers and stakeholders, audiences are increasingly being fragmented into special interest groups. Public relations personnel now use micro-demographics (closely defining target audiences by sex, level of education, and the like) to reach multiple publics with tailored information.
Decline of the mass media
Perhaps the biggest change that has occurred in recent years is the decline of the mass media as a vehicle to reach audiences. The key terms now are “niche programming” and “narrow casting”. Technology now provides many avenues for transmitting messages to specific audiences and public relations practitioners are becoming adept at tailoring messages to narrow, well defined audiences.
Rapid spread of new media technologies
It is estimated that over 100 million people are using the Web. This figure could be very conservative as the numbers are growing daily. For this reason public relations practitioners are increasingly using electronic media as their principal means of communication.
It is predicted for example that the mobile phone will rapidly evolve over the next five years and effectively take over the existing functions of the electronic notebook and PC in a cost effective and dynamic manner. In other words, future businessmen will carry all the information and data on their markets and client base literally in their pocket. What is more, by simply pressing a few buttons on their cell phone, a full update will ve provided with all the latest information available.
As in so many situations therefore, the mobile phone has become the main access and instrument by which we can communicate with clients or customers in the marketplace by means of SMS or text message. This technology is also likely to advance further and allow us to dynamically change the way we communicate with our target publics, advising them timeously, for example, of what is happening within our organizations, our immediate marketplace and of course globally.
International media relations
Press conferences and briefing by public relations professionals are now being transmitted by satellite. This has led to the decentralization of the public relations function, and the need to be multilingual and multicultural in the public relations field. It means we have to be a lot more sensitive about what we say and how we say it so that we do not cause offence.
Greater emphasis on employee communication
Interestingly, much greater emphasis is being placed on good employee communication. The past decade has seen the severe downsizing of labour forces to satisfy the demands of the global marketplace and company stakeholders, accompanied by large increases in the salaries of chief executive in the major corporations as well as various corruption scandals. We have had our fair share of these in South Africa.
Education and training
Public relations has become a serious academic discipline and in a South African context universities, universities of technology and selected colleges are now offering BA Communication degrees, national diplomas, B Tech degrees with a public relations focus. PRISA’s preferred endorsed provider, ProVox, also offers a number of certificate courses for students who cannot afford to study full time or who enter the profession having qualified in another field.
Kaynak
By Chris Skinner
PRISA Accreditation Committee Chairman
Communika
