Does a PR qualification matter?

In any profession, one needs a qualification to add to the experience gained in order to prosper in a career. Personally, I decided to purse an MA in PR because I know it adds value to my way up in my career and gives me a better understanding of PR. There has been a debate on whether it was absolutely necessary to have specific PR qualifications in order to break in to the industry.

Our last class was marked with a debate on the relevance of PR qualifications, whether success in Public relations is driven by contact and personal qualities or not. Some of my colleagues argued that experience and contacts counted more than the qualification. To some extent, I would agree with them, but then again at the end of the day one needs to understand the theoretical part of the subject of work he or she is doing. Stuart Bruce founder and managing director of Wolfstar, a specialist in PR, says that studying and accreditation are essential for: "first, basic principles and fundamentals. That is the history and ethics of public relations and how it works as a management function."

Also, to have a PR qualification may be significant to help professionalise the industry, as there have been debates that the PR industry is not professional. The qualification may help to boost the reputation of the PR profession which many tend to be perceived as negative, or in other words spin.

However, many job adverts would emphasize on personal qualities and capabilities of doing the job, with less emphasis on a PR qualification. It could be for this reason many people have worked in professions they are not qualified for, but simply because their credentials and personality match the job descriptions, they are selected to do the work.

In some countries like Kenya and many others, one may only need to have a Journalism or communication qualification to work in the PR industry. This is because only one university in the country offers PR as a full course, where as others offer it as a module/subject. Yet those, PR professionals have been able to carry out their duties with such qualification professionally and successfully.

But, I think if having a PR qualification as mandatory for what one requires to work in the industry, will help create boundaries and people from confusing PR for jobs such as marketing or advertising. Currently, PR is going through massive transition and there is no doubt that in future it will be difficult to break into the industry without a PR qualification.

Finally, I must say that I have learnt a great deal from the course and this was an interesting class. I wish all my colleagues success in their job search.

Social marketing

What comes to mind when one thinks social marketing. This can easily be confused for social networking? But, it is actually not. Although, the networking bit can be important in social marketing.

Social marketing can be defined as a systematic application of marketing, alongside other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioural goals, for a social good.

Social Marketing seeks to influence people to change their lifestyle for the better. Sean Kidney, a social change strategist with 20 years of experience gave us an insight on what social marketing is all about and how it could be applied in campaigns. He explained through A social change strategy checklist, how social marketing can make positive change.

Social marketing seems to apply a “customer oriented” approach using concepts and tools used by commercial marketers in pursuit of social goals like Anti-Smoking-Campaigns, health promotional campaigns or fund raising for NGOs. The difference is that in social marketing the objective is to achieve some social good where as in commercial marketing the goal is financial.

When things go wrong!

When things go wrong in a company one needs to be thinking about how it affects the reputations of the organisation and what to do. First of all think about what the crisis is and then what might happen. Don't forget the 5Ws of Who to talk to, What about, Why and When, and How to approach the situation.

Ainsworth Maguire which deals with PR programmes in UK and Ireland has set out below some free tips and explained how to handle a crisis.

Ten things to do:
1. Get the facts -- know what happened rather than speculate.
2. Be honest in relaying the known facts openly -- If some facts have not been established explain what you are doing about it. Don't lie.
3. Show humanity and concern for any injured or aggrieved parties -- Before making any public announcements, ensure relatives and those directly concerned are informed.
4. Offer practical help if you can -- Lawyers may argue that to offer money to an injured party is to admit guilt. But to show concern is a sign of humanity.
5. Co-operate with regulatory authorities or investigators --They are doing their job and being obstructive will be interpreted as 'something to hide'.
6. Have a senior person as your authoritative spokesperson -- The person is briefed continuously and sticks to one consistent message.
7. Brief all stakeholders -- Employees and unions, shareholders, investors and brokers, trade bodies, the community, the media will all need to know the facts as soon as is possible.
8. Have a dossier of relevant facts to hand that could support your case -- Health and safety records, training practices, quality systems and accreditation's, test reports and so on can help refute any early claims of negligence.
9. Issue regular updates as more facts emerge - Inform media on when to expect updates on information available.
10. Monitor the media and the web -- It will help you see how the issue is being discussed.

Reference: Ainsworth Maguire, Public Relations - Free PR: Advice and Tips. [online]:Available from http://www.free-pr-advice.co.uk/handlingacrisis.htm. [Accessed 13 March 2009]

PR crisis management

Crisis management is a critical area for public relations. It requires one to be well prepared when there is a crisis, and be able to identify a crisis before it occurs as it might get out of hand if not careful. The way an organisation handles a crisis and communicates when there is a problem makes a real difference.

We had an exercise in class that involved different groups in a crisis. And the different groups had different roles. They included the media, a school, a hospital, a food company, education authority and parents. After the exercise which proved tough to some of the groups, it was clear that good communications during a crisis can help to limit damage and so place an organisation or company in a better position to recover from bad reputation.

What one says at the first few hours of a crisis matters. This may determine what the outcome would be. Remember a good PR crisis management can save a company's image, lives and money.

However, research shows that "there is no guaranteed recipe for success in crisis management, but there are key ingredients which are: knowledge preparation, calmness, control and communication which will see an organisation secure the best possible outcome." (Tech &Yeomans, 2006: p. 413).

It’s critical that leaders of businesses, nonprofits and associations are proactive with crisis communications and public relations.

If you want know how best to protect yourself and act appropriately, watch this video.

International PR and globalisation

International Public Relations (IPR) is an area that is still at its infancy, but in the future it cannot escape the global influence. The world is already becoming a small village, and what we see now is that public relations communication with international public is steadily becoming a reality both in big and small organisations. The convergence of new technologies, financial markets and globalisation of businesses is opening borders for public relations practice.

Similarly, international PR agencies play a significant role in the practice of IPR. With several networks across the globe, IPR agencies localise international campaigns as well as contributing a great deal to the globalisation of the practice. (Tench & Yeomans, 2006: p.120).

However, globalization has thrust public relations into the limelight providing new opportunities while posing immense challenges as well. There is likely to be a challenge of diverse cultures.
Although the world is becoming more and more interdependent to seek global solutions to problems, cultural diversity may also cause some misunderstandings. All this calls for better communication and it's important for public relations professionals to help organisations and businesses to think and act appropriately beyond the borders. Public relations practitioners must have an understanding of the culture in the country they are operating within and countries they collaborate with so as to be successful.

Wakefield R. (2000) in the book: Handbook of public relations, has outlined new ways of thinking that public relations people would require. In his chapter, Effective Public Relations in the multicultural organization, he quotes (Morley, 1998) as saying that: "what public relations needs is a 'paradigm shift' to reflect its emerging globalisation. This change should replace the misguided choices just described with a more comprehensive integrated approach to PR in the multinational." (P.641).

He goes on to explain that "international practitioners need to understand that it no longer is acceptable for corporations to impose their centralised mandates that do not fit local situations, as per the 'think global, act local' philosophies of the recent past.
Simply, local public relations activities must fit with the local community and still reflect the multinational’s core essence.