As a public relations expert, you’ve undoubtedly mastered the art of managing the careful distribution of information for your clients. Imagine, then, what you would say if a reporter interviewing you were to hint that you’re a little old-fashioned in your approach to the business.
If confronted with this audacious idea that you’re not quite up to speed on public relations, you will be quick to point out a four home truths:
- Unlike an ad agency, you efficiently brand your client’s business without buying ads, putting up billboards, and coming up with catchy phrases for print ads.
- Unlike a journalist, you’re not writing stories for magazines.
- Unlike an online marketer, you’re not spending all your time crafting clever humorous skits for YouTube commercials, writing blog posts, and hanging out all day on social media.
- Yet without doing any of these things, you’re able to effectively promote all your clients, whether they’re individuals or companies. You’re able to pull off this stunt because you’ve become highly efficient at leveraging editorial coverage. You carefully explain to the reporter that by leveraging free media, your stories appear on blogs and websites, get seen in newspapers and magazine, and might even get mentioned on radio or Television.
Wait, There’s More
If the reporter remains skeptical, you might also point out that by doing things your way, your clients are seen by the public as significant, electrifying, important, trustworthy, and, of course, uber successful. And, if that’s not enough, the fact that you’re deploying third-party validation rather than an obvious advertising promotion makes it easy for the public to view your clients business in a highly favorably way.
Additionally, just in case any of the interview readers has the nerve to think of you as a slacker, you might also mention that while you’re not an advertiser, journalist, or online marketer, you do write and send out press releases, compose speeches, write pitches, organize special events, conduct market research, expand business contacts, and, if that’s not enough, you also do some copywriting, blogging, and social media engagement.
The Missing Link
While all this is more than commendable, what you’re missing is that apart from some new tools in your tool belts like colored television, more radio stations, and the Internet, what you’re doing now is not that dissimilar to what Edward Louis Bernays, the Austrian-American “father of public relations” would have done in the 1930s.
The missing link, if you will, is time. You may not be keeping up with the times. What does this mean? It means that you’re that you may not be taking full advantage of the current wave of technological marvels that could take your business to the next level.
Since a discussion on modern telecommunications is a broad topic, let’s imagine the insolent reporter confronting you with the question, “Are you familiar with working within a mobile environment?”
Profound Knowledge on Mobile Environments
- Edwards Deming is famous for his theory of profound knowledge. He said that “It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and THEN do your best.”
How can you apply that idea to the PR business?
While you are doing a great job deploying the best practices of PR, you may not be harnessing the power of technology at your fingertips.
Since a discussion of technology and advances in telecommunication is to broad a topic, let’s narrow it down to talk about mobile phones.
If you’re waiting to get back to your office to catch up on your backlog of emails and voice messages, you’re not using the system of mobile telephony with profound knowledge.
“Unified Communications reduces costs and increases productivity. Use one business VoIP number on any device,” suggests a MegaPath tweet on optimizing mobile telephony.
3 Ways To Optimize Your Mobile Phone
Deming was all about optimizing systems, and three ways to optimize your mobile phone is to get a feature that will allow your incoming calls to be either routed or forwarded, get a voice Hosted Voice business number, or get a visual voicemail system.
Taking these three steps will double your efficiency. With call routing or forwarding, you will be able to take calls whether you’re in your office or on the road. With a voice Hosted business number (and calling plan) you will be able to keep your business number separate from your personal number on the same phone. And with visual voicemail, you can scroll through transcriptions sent to your inbox while still talking to another party on your phone.
Imagine what would happen to your business if you could combine the best practices of PR with latest telecommunication features. The examples used with mobile phones are just a small example. You can make your business much more effective by exploring what other overlooked benefits modern technology can offer your business. Right now, you have the power to speed up all your processes with telecommunication features that you may not have looked into. Deploying these features can create a quantum leap in your business. “Best efforts will not substitute for knowledge,” observed Deming.
Featured image credit: ShutterStock
