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In this section, the cPRf looks at key issues in the public relations consultancy industry. Click on the topics below to read the full article.

So Why Hire A Public Relations Firm?

Would you go into a court of law to state your case, without being represented by a lawyer who understands the rules of the game?

The Council of Public Relations Firms in Hong Kong (cPRf/HK), which represents 25 leading consultancies, argues that companies and organisations that don't hire a professional public relations practitioner face the same risk in “the court of public opinion”.

What is public relations?

In a nutshell, the formal definition of public relations is: “Helping corporations and organisations to manage their relationships with key stakeholders.”

However, the commonly held and narrow view of public relations is that it's about nothing more than having a junior “PR girl” call up the media to spin a positive story, or to attempt to prevent a negative story from appearing.

The truth, however, is quite different. David Ketchum, the Chairman of the cPRf/HK and the CEO of Upstream Asia Ltd., explains: “It's about helping your brand to enter the public conversation, get your point across articulately, and manage your relationships with many different stakeholders. How your brand or organisation is perceived is basically an open debate in the public, so why should any corporation or organisation wander out there into the world and just naively hope things turn out OK?”

He continues: “People get their impressions of companies from magazines, newspapers, television, radio, websites, blogs, chat-rooms, word of mouth, event marketing etc., and I believe there's no-one better qualified and positioned than a public relations professional to be a strategic partner and provide senior managers of companies with the right counsel, develop and implement the right kinds of communications programmes, and build the necessary relationships.”

And what can a public relations firm do for you?

Genevieve Hilton, a Director of the cPRf/HK and Senior Vice President of Ketchum Hong Kong, says: “Public relations firms work directly with senior management on devising, implementing and measuring an overall communications strategy, both internal and external, aimed at all kinds of stakeholders – that can include employees, competitors, suppliers, volunteers, sponsors, government, regulators, industry analysts, activist groups, shareholders, and of course the media.”

So companies need to hire an independent, objective public relations firm, she states. “We deal every day with lots of different clients in lots of different industries. That means we have a very broad view of the issues and challenges that our clients face. In terms of working with stakeholders, we deal with the media every day, we're talking with activist groups, we're tracking trends, and we offer specialist expertise.”

That specialist expertise includes skills in lobbying, issues preparedness, crisis management, public affairs (i.e. relations with all kinds of stakeholders), reputation management, defining and articulating messages, negotiation, strategic planning, training clients in media relations, and much more.

As Genevieve points out, a good reputation is probably a company's best asset. Apart from the obvious benefit of helping a company to “sell more stuff”, a good reputation also helps it to:

1. Attract and retain good staff;
2. Influence legislators to pass desirable legislation (and not pass undesirable legislation);
3. Build support among activists, and dissuade them from taking action against the company;
4. Demoralise the competition;
5. Attract better suppliers – and negotiate better prices from them.

The key to working effectively with a public relations firm is to involve it in every business decision, at the highest levels of management. “Clients sometimes call us in at very short notice, in a panic, and ask us to deal with a crisis or call up the media to get a story.? But by that time, it might be too late to do anything more than damage control,” says Genevieve.

The growing importance of public relations

In the past 10 years, public relations has become more and more important, according to Martin Spurrier, the Vice Chairman of the cPRf/HK and Chairman Hong Kong and Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, of Edelman Public Relations Worldwide (HK) Ltd. “That's been driven by such forces as the democratisation of Hong Kong, globalisation, consumerism, citizen journalism, the Internet, and increasing awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility,” he suggests.

So here's the bottom line:
1. Whether you like it or not, people inside and outside of your company are talking about you and your company; what they say and believe determines their behaviour, and their behaviour affects the success of your company.
2. To influence that process in an ethical way, you need an effective public relations strategy.

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