Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Do You Need PR Even if you Don't Need "Ink"?

A friend of mine, who is a very seasoned executive, recently wondered aloud if a company we know in common in fact needs PR. I understood why he would raise the question, since given the market space of the company, the nature of its customers, and a number of other factors, it is an easy case to make that the company doesn't need "ink." In spite of this perspective, with which I agree, I wholeheartedly responded: yes the company needs PR.

Of course, I don't think the company needs mindless press releases that put miscellaneous facts on paper hoping for some continuity. But this company, like most companies, will benefit from an integrated communications program that delivers consistent messages to its key constituents. Moreover, in this era of the "transparency" of communications over the Internet, virtually every company can benefit from the viral nature of communications today.

Thus, we encourage clients and prospective clients to think clearly about the messages they need to send and the conduits that are available in this day and age. And, in addition to thinking about delivering those messages, to think clearly about the architecture of how they will communicate. The flip side of a nearly transparent communications channel is that a company needs to see clearly how its messages will be received throughout the market and to architect their delivery carefully.

I guess the real point here is that what we used to call "ink" is a limited definition. There's lots of "ink" out there. It's just important make sure where it's going to end up.

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