The Smithson Report:
Removing Issues Management From Its Strait-Jacket
By Kate Smithson

From one-way to interactive

The current public relations model of communicating is one-way: we make announcements, stage events, conduct tours. We have something to say. We say we are successful at getting our message out when we see our work reflected in traditional media. We had a certain number of column inches, we made the front page, we were first or near first in the television news line up, we were the lead story on all the radio stations. But do people hear us, really? Do they believe us? Do they have enough information on the issue to make an educated judgement when a special interest group uses its varied and more successful approach? No, no and no. The new public relations model would be interactive. We would ask people, we would go directly to our own audiences. The technology exists. We would no longer rely solely on media clippings to prove that our message is being heard. We would no longer rely on polling companies. We can get specific real-time information(via the Internet) to determine for ourselves what our audiences think of our message.

From reactive to proactive

The current public relations model is to make announcements sometimes, and to stay silent the rest of the time. Our job is to keep our clients out of the limelight, and to provide damage control if the limelight finds them. A new public relations model would incorporate a paradigm shift. Instead of being reactive, the new model would become overtly proactive -- it would seek the spotlight, talk about everything the company is doing, provide a constant stream of factual information to the world. The new public relations model embraces accountability and accessibility. It advocates engaging the planet with an unexpected and unprecedented vigour.

2. Technology

Technology can provide huge opportunities to provide new value to the public relations industry. Using the skills that public relations professionals already have as a starting point, it is time to begin cranking those skills up several notches so that they develop a talent for communicating using multi-media technologies. This will put them ahead of the curve.

The technology used by the public relations industry is currently paper-based. Even though documents are transported electronically and posted online, paper is where we live. Public relations also focuses most of its technology energy towards traditional media. In a new model, public affairs technology would become web-driven, and public relations firms would become their own media.

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