Alison Owen's presentation at the PRCA conference outlines the fundamentals of public relations (PR), career opportunities in agency versus in-house roles, and the distinct differences between PR and advertising. She emphasizes the evolving media landscape, the significance of reputation management, and the skills necessary for success in PR, highlighting its rapid growth as a career choice. The presentation also covers the impact of digital channels and social media on PR practices and strategies.

1. Alison Owen
Head of PR at BDB
International business-to-business PR specialist
www. bdb.co.uk @bdbmarketing @alisonmowen
Presentation at PRCA ‘Breaking into PR’ conference
11 February 2013
Manchester Metropolitan University

2. Summary
 What is PR – the classic definition
 Different career opportunities
 PR vs advertising
 Is it for me?
 A typical day
 The changing media landscape
 The career choice of the future?

5. What is PR?
 Reputation management
– what you do
– what you say
– what others say about you
 Planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain
goodwill and understanding between an organisation and its
publics
 Presenting a company favourably
– Shaping information
– Targeting
– Engaging relevant audiences

6. Different career opportunities

7. Agency vs in-house
 Agency
– Small business or global network
– Can offer faster promotion than in-house
– Broad spread of clients – across different
sectors
– Variety of work / disciplines
 In-house
– Corporate culture
– Structured career path
– Focused on core sector / related sectors
– Marketing team – may work with an agency

8. Consumer vs B2B
– Consumer (B2C)
– Brand you may have heard of
– Products/services more accessible
– Entry level usually junior
– Media challenges
– Faster pace / project turnover
– Can be more UK-focused
– B2B
– Often more technical
– Can offer better opportunity for
progression
– Media challenges
– Longer term / longer lead times
– Can be more international

9. PR vs advertising
 “News is what somebody somewhere wants to
suppress. Everything else is advertising.” Lord Northcliffe
 Advertising
– Hard-hitting
 Space paid for
 Raising awareness
 Quicker results
 Public relations
– Softer skill
 Editorial space free but earned on merit
 Shaping attitude
 Long term results
 Editorial promotions /
advertorials
– Blurring lines

10. Is it for me?
 Personable
– Build relationships
 Good copywriter
– Variety of material
 Organised
– Good time management / deadlines
 Good memory
– Lots of projects ongoing
– Eye for detail
 Flexible
– Late nights / travel
 Initiative
– Self starter
 Creative
 ‘Passion for PR’

11. Don’t rule it out
 Don’t necessarily need a PR / marketing
communications degree
– Scientists
– Linguists
– Humanities

12. A typical day?
 No such thing!
 Maybe
– Editor ring-round to ‘sell-in’ a story
– Client meeting about a forthcoming event
– Compile and evaluate a clippings report
– Research for a new business pitch
– Attend an exhibition to represent a client
– Take part in a brainstorming session for
future project
– Put together press lists for new product
launch
– Research / draft press release
– ...

13. The changing media landscape

14. Safeguarding reputation
 Transparent environment
– Instant / global
 No reputation is bulletproof
– “When everyone has a blog or Facebook entry,
everyone is a publisher
– “Your reputation is going to get set in stone so
much earlier…a digital fingerprint that never gets
erased”
Thomas Friedman, New York Times

15. How has PR changed?
 New digital channels
– Accelerated pace of working
– Fragmented media
– New skills / tactics
 New influencers
– Engagement

16. It’s all in the story
 Discipline of PR remains the same
 Creating a consistent message thread
– Across fragmented media
 Engages audience
– Relevant message
 Create and protect
corporate reputation
/ brand loyalty

17. The power of social media
 Influence of bloggers

18. The power of social media

19. Headline news

20. Fast growing career choice
 Corporate reputation is critical
– PR is booming
 $10bn business in 2011 1
 Employs 66,000 people worldwide 1
 Growing at 8% pa 1
– PR ranked no 5 “Hot Careers to Watch 2013” 2
1 Holmes Report, 2011
2 prnewsonline, 27 Dec 2012

21. Any questions?