Background on the Issue
The Internet is affecting Public Relations in both positive and negative way. PR professionals (PROs) can research, communicate, listen, monitor and engage with their key stakeholders in much faster, therefore more convenient way. There are arguably many benefits of using the Internet but this brief is devoted to one of the negative aspects of the new PR practice: use of emails to send out irrelevant and often untargeted press releases and pitches to long lists of journalists, without considering the consequences. PROs have been spamming the opinion formers (journalists, bloggers and other non-traditional journalists) this way, and therefore the PR Industry is facing damage to its reputation and ability to achieve the influence it desires.
Recently, key PR industry figures have launched a campaign named ‘An Inconvenient PR Truth’ that aims to cut PR spam and help PROs and journalists work together better. The campaign includes a ‘bill of rights’, which is a list of demands on behalf of journalists and bloggers about how they want to be approached by the PR community. Prior to the launch of the campaign, several blog posts were published revealing the names and email addresses of PROs who had been spamming a particular journalist or blogger. This can be seen as a controversial step but it reinforced the debate about inappropriate targeting. The campaign was launched on the 28th January 2010 by Realwire CEO Adam Parker and is backed by Borkowski founder Mark Borkowski, Speed Communications MD Stephen Waddington and Umpf founder Adrian Johnson.[i] Since its launch, the numbers of supporters, such as the 3WPR founder Stephen Davies, have increased and even the CIPR published a statement of support.
The research that contributed to the launch of the campaign has found that “78 percent of press release emails are received by recipients to whom they are irrelevant and more than half (55 per cent) of recipients have taken action to block a sender of news.”[ii] This is shocking and potentially damaging to the image and reputation of the PR Industry.
The Importance of this Issue to the PR Industry
PR has gradually gained respect as one of the most cost effective and impactful marketing tools that are available to any organisation. The fact that some PR professionals have been spamming their key target audience – the media – may have a negative effect on the reputation and image of the PR industry. The media is central to PR activity. PR is about building relationships and should aim to achieve ‘balanced dialogue’ and ‘mutual understanding’ by the use of open two-way symmetric communication between PROs and the media (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). “Truly effective press relations starts with effective targeting” (Theaker, et.al., 2005). In order to establish and maintain good working relationships with the journalists, and therefore gain valuable media coverage, the PR “messages have to be tailored to the wide variety of media available, being clear about the target audience” (Theaker,et.al.,2005:59). There is a potential threat that if PR professionals don’t change their habits of sending out irrelevant and untargeted press releases and pitches, their key target audience may block their incoming communication, and as a result of this the PR message will not be received and published. PROs shouldn’t focus on”...filling up [journalists’] e-mail inboxes with unwanted material, but instead [provide] specifically targeted and relevant material” Theaker, et.al., (2005: 37). This practice will improve their relationships with the journalists and positively affect their success rate.
Time schedule
Week 1 (01/032010 – 07/03/2010)
Conduct initial research: “An Inconvenient PR Truth” campaign, media coverage (focus on the media side and PR side separately). Is that a PR stunt? Create a list of key journalists & PROs for a survey.
Week 2 (08/03/2010 – 14/03/2010)
Prepare two short surveys (media & PROs) based on the previous findings and seed them on LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Send them directly to the key PR Practitioners and the key journalists.
Week 3 (15/03/2010 – 21/03/2010)
Conduct research on potential reasons behind PR spam and what actions have been undertaken to stop this bad practice (CIPR and other educational bodies). Who or what is to blame? E.g. lack of skills and education, laziness of PR professionals, technology (Internet), payment by results oriented pay structures (problems with measurement and educating clients), etc.
Week 4 (22/03/2010 – 28/03/2010)
Evaluate and analyse the outcomes of the surveys. Look for the real reasons behind sending out untargeted press releases and pitches, and what steps have been undertaken on the media side to stop this bad practice. Do the journalists and bloggers really mind?
Week 5 & 6 (29/03/2010 – 11/04/2010) EASTER BREAK
Start putting the information together & suggest possible solutions to achieve two-way symmetric PR.
Week 7 (12/04/2010 – 18/04/2010)
Summarize the data and create first draft of the reports and presentation.
Week 8 (19/04/2010 – 25/04/2010)
Create presentation – select the key information and decide on the correct structure.
Week 9 (26/04/2010 – 02/05/2010) GROUP PRESENTATION DUE
Practice presentation presentational skills as a group.
Week 10 (03/05/2010 – 07/05/2010) REPORT DUE
Edit the report (individually) – Introduction, Conclusion, Executive Summary, Appendix, etc.
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