A new white paper from Cymphony — called The Changing Face of PR (PDF; free, but registration required) — describes three forces affecting the public relations business:
- Increasing overlap in marketing and public relations. PR is expected to do more product focused activities. Advertising embraces publicity-generating “buzz marketing†tactics to reach influencers. The growth of “social media†such as blogs gives PR more direct contact with the end users of their companies’ products.
- Improved measurement. The C-suite demands more rigorous performance and efficiency measurement from all functions. PR departments are under greater pressure to shift from measuring “outputs†like clip counts to “outcomes†like revenue and brand equity growth.
- Increasing importance of social media. The rapid proliferation of blogs and social media sites has created a new class of media influencers and new tools to deliver a company’s message to the market.
The white paper also offers a four-step action plan. No spoilers here, though. Download the document and read for yourself. It’s worth the time it takes to register.
Hat tip to EducationPR for the link.
Andy writes! 
Hi Andrew,
I always enjoy reading your blog, and thanks again for blogging the CASE conference. What I found interesting about this white paper is that it suggests that PR is overlapping with marketing. In reality, PR is just beginning to acknowledge that it is marketing. Whereas once, on college campuses at least, PR was mainly press and government relations, now it’s brand marketing. All that has changed is that PR has entered the world of marketing, not that marketing has “discovered†PR. I’d argue that you could replace the word “PR†in this post with the word “marketing†and no one would know the difference. In my opinion, the real “force affecting the public relations business†is the realization that most of what’s being called “PR†today is really just marketing. OK, did I say the words “marketing†and “PR†enough?
Rob