The New PR

PR is broken. Not PR as a concept – the idea of building relationships between an organisation and its publics – but PR as it is practised. The press release. The media list. The spray-and-pray.

The new PR is not about broadcasting. It’s about participating.

It’s not about pushing your message to journalists and hoping they amplify it. It’s about earning a place in the conversations your publics are already having.

This requires a fundamental shift in how organisations think about communication. From:

• Message → audience to conversation → community
• Control to contribution
• Broadcast to participation
• Talking to listening first

The organisations that are getting this right are not necessarily the largest or the best-resourced. They’re the most human. They’ve understood that in a world where everyone has a voice, the brands that win are the ones that help people use theirs.

New PR is old community. It’s what we used to do before we got too busy and too broadcast. It’s time to go back.