Honest PR = Effective PR

It seems like a widely accepted idea among strategic communications professionals that good PR does not draw attention to itself or its biased messaging,.  I’m skeptical of that idea.

I think it’s worth exploring the idea that PR is so pervasive in society that it’s often noticeable. Think about it! How often do we watch politicians shamelessly stump for themselves on national television and think nothing of their self-promotional PR? How often do we see businesses publicly sponsoring a charity event and draw the conclusion that they are sponsoring the event primarily to further their brand reputation? Do we in the field of public relations really think that the public fails to recognize strategic messaging when they see it?

I’ll take my skepticism one step further and suggest that strategic communications can be effective even when it is conspicuous.  My background is in political communications, so I’ll elaborate with a political example.

President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns, like all electoral campaigns, were essentially strategic public relations campaigns. President Obama’s campaign used messaging strategies of change and continued hope to achieve the obvious objective of winning the election. The campaign rallies, fundraising and press appearances were clearly efforts to persuade the public to help him achieve his electoral goals. People were still influenced by President Obama’s political PR despite its inherently conspicuous persuasive nature. Politicians don’t generally frame their campaigns as mere PR efforts, but I think people often understand when they are being persuaded and let themselves be persuaded nonetheless.

I used a political strategic communications as an example, but I think public relations campaigns that are open about being PR can also be effective across throughout society and between sectors. For example, a business that donates a certain percent of its profit doesn’t have to pretend like it’s donating merely out of good will. I think most people would appreciate the charitable donation regardless of if business donors were open in their motivations of being seen as an important community partner. The money would be helping either way!

This all comes down to the idea that communications professionals seem to feel the need to downplay or hide the strategic motivations behind their PR campaigns. I think that this exacerbates public relations’ bad public image. The more open and honest public relations professionals are about their persuasive work, the more audiences will be willing to ENGAGE with the message, as they won’t feel like they’re being subtly manipulated. This might even result in more effective PR in general, but there might be caveats depending on the exact situation.

What do YOU think?  If you don’t work in PR, do you think that strategic campaigns that are open about being campaigns are easier to engage with? Or, if you are a public relations professional, what is your perspective on being open with your publics about your persuasive goals?

Marc Patnode
University of Minnesota
Jour 3279
Blog Assignment