For most enterprises, the demand for talents in marketing is greater than that in PR, while there may be only a few people in PR and IR. The work of traditional PR is relatively simple, which is nothing more than issuing press releases, preparing press conferences, contacting the media, evaluating and summarizing the media effects afterwards, and occasionally conducting crisis public relations. PR sometimes shares marketing work: doing PPT for market expansion, helping offline marketing activities and so on. PR receives the most external information and is also the closest unit to the media or investors. Its work habit is to pursue details, its format is well grasped, and it is most suitable for exhibition, publicity and promotion. However, marketing activities serve marketing. In the marketing department's view, public relations is still standing in the media reception, receiving business cards and sending news packages. Finally, the summary report is sent to the company's internal journals and the customer's electronic newsletter of the month. But in fact, although the marketing department has planned the whole event, public relations will be really busy at the event. This overlapping scene often happens between public relations and marketing, and sometimes I don't know which department I belong to.
The "big customer" of public relations is the media. In the era of internet plus, all media are seeking transformation, except content & quantity; Do channels (the new media platform has been launched, who will miss the opportunity to promote it). Public relations should also contact digital media/new media, learn SEM and HTML. But these online things originally belong to the marketing category. The internet has brought about changes in the entire public relations industry. Even a public relations giant like Wanbo Sandvik will recruit a large number of social media specialists every year, and finally assign these soldiers to various fields such as content, marketing and public relations.
There is a love-hate relationship between marketing and public relations.
I joined a WeChat group in the domestic public relations industry and read the comments of the group friends. The intuitive feeling is that many people who do marketing and social media, including myself, have gradually started Facebook marketing and offline activities.
My former boss, who used to work directly under Li Ka-shing, was a very powerful woman. She taught me that public relations starts with monitoring public opinion, and every article, every keyword and every KOL is spared. The first thing to do when I go to work every day is to search a range with Hong Kong as the center and Greater China as the radius through WiseSearch. The related news was compiled into a book, which was extremely boring but beneficial. According to my investigation, my boss will regularly recommend people to the CEO and invite them to meet with the CEO for further contact; It also tells top managers which media and who to watch out for, and how to make a supercilious response.
She can send WhatsApp at six o'clock on the weekend morning to inform us to deal with the possible difficulties of a certain media in the next few days (go back to sleep after sending it); But she really met a difficult reporter, and she was not in a hurry to explain, which made the loopholes of those small reporters in the tabloids smaller and smaller. The Chief Executive of the SAR sometimes comes to our company to participate in some activities, and she will stay with the CEO in case of emergency. When the company gives back to the society and invites the disadvantaged groups to participate in some CSR activities, she can have a cordial exchange with local residents.
She came from an investment background and is now in charge of the marketing and public relations of the whole company. She will be more partial to the little girl of public relations, even though I am a newcomer from Chinese mainland and have no qualifications.
When she was in her fifties, one day she said to me, "I also want to know more about WeChat in the mainland now." Actually, I really want to say that your hands-on spirit is really worth learning. If those who pretend to be PR don't pay attention to basic skills such as writing and sorting out materials, but only know how to play WeChat and Weibo and can't figure out why, they might as well jump ship directly. The core of public relations is creation? Consciousness and behavior. Brand, don't forget your initiative, so as to achieve your ultimate goal.
I firmly believe that the public relations market in China is still very large. From the government's point of view, the Tianjin explosion revealed that our quite high-level leading cadres have almost no public relations consciousness and can only do one-way publicity (if the government can accept our job-hopping in corporate public relations, I think it's good, I can be a civil servant! ); However, in terms of overseas public relations, a high-powered foreign public relations company like Wanbo Xuanwei will still be independent, and will promote the whole campaign for the westernization of the China government when bidding for the Olympic Games. In addition, with the development of the Internet and the rise of start-ups, the demand for high-level government public relations and financial public relations will be more and more extensive. Internet companies need government business departments even if they don't set up public relations departments, and listed companies also need public relations companies to prepare roadshows before IPO. Therefore, (high-quality) public relations based on investigation, communication and writing will not lose the "market" in the final analysis. For example, cursor, its home is still getting bigger and bigger in recent years (positioning integrated marketing).
Most public relations personnel have their own skills, and senior financial public relations may have passed CFA level and are working hard for the Secretary-General; Public relations writers from journalists are good at writing, and photography, PS and video editing may also be good at it. Long-term public relations experience has also accumulated a lot of contacts and found out the temper of many media. If you leave public relations to do marketing, there will be fewer opportunities to use these skills directly. I think it's a pity.
Marketing exercises the market sense of smell and eighteen martial arts. If it is linked to sales, it can still get a lot of commission, and public relations is unlikely to make a fortune.
In my opinion, good public relations in the future must understand the market, which is not something a public relations director can do. And the market sector, to some extent (just to some extent! In a way! Repeat 3 times! Lifeline is longer than public relations, and perhaps the prospect is better than ordinary public relations.
"Through our company, WPP provides comprehensive and integrated communication services when appropriate." ——WPP