Perception vs reality

The sad thing is, I'm not sure the perception has changed among many journalists or business people. Public relations has got a bad name in South Africa. It is not taken seriously enough by business professionals and is almost an afterthought in the marketing mix when it should be top of mind in building brands and company reputation. There has been criticism that this is PRISA's fault for not marketing the profession properly and also that there is no regulation of standards among all the independent consultants who are not members of any body.

PRISA CEO, Margaret Moscardi, admits that PRISA has not communicated externally, the initiatives it has undertaken to raise standards and reposition the profession in the business landscape.

By year-end the public relations industry will have one professional body to set standards and training protocol - and most of the profession know very little about it.

The Section 21 company, with the payoff line: "One Voice, One Profession" is being established by PRISA, Unitech (Universities/Technikons PR & development officers); Sarcomm (academics); PRCC; Consultants Chapter of PRISA; IABC (International Association of Business Communicators); GCIS (Govt Communications Information System); the Investor Relations Institute of SA and the SA Institute of Fundraisers.

It will liase with the international body, the Global Alliance; lobby Government; draw up one internationally recognised ethics standard for PROs and communication management in South Africa; and liase with the Services SETA where PR fits in under the Business Chamber.

Will this go some way to addressing the concerns of an industry where Public Relations is being dropped from company mastheads and replaced by Communications, because PR is not regarded as professional enough?

For an industry where reputation is the main tenet of the profession, it seems to be failing dismally at managing its own reputation and relations with the business community at large.

The fact of the matter is that globally, communications/PR/media strategy/publicity - call it whatever you're most comfortable with - is the most cost effective, measurable (in terms of delivery), strategic, yet under-valued part of marketing strategy. It should be recognised as an integral part of brand and corporate strategy, coming even before advertising campaigns.

Moscardi says the industry is also partly to blame for consistently undervaluing itself. She quotes from an international article in The Strategist, published in the United States earlier this year: "Our profession is suffering from an identity crisis. It's not the usual 'nobody-appreciates-what-we-do' crisis. Rather, it's the kind where top management does value us, but we don't quite believe it. On the one hand, when the PR function is viewed as making a significant contribution to the strategic objectives of an organisation, then it's held in relatively high regard by senior practitioners alike. On the other hand, practitioners often reported having a lower perception of our own contribution to the success of an organisation than other corporate functions such as finance and information technology, and when this perception is held, it is generally shared by top management."

These two contradictory, yet simultaneously held views are the crux of the Public Relations Generally Accepted Practices (GAP) study, based on a survey conducted last year. The Strategist magazine concluded that the profession was schizophrenic in its own lack of acceptance of success and its lack of agreement on those characteristics that are common among the most successful PR organisations.

If anyone conducted a similar survey here, they might not be far off gathering similar opinions. But we have one advantage in South Africa - our industry is actually small enough to make a measurable difference in a relatively short time.

PRISA's initiatives with the SETA's and the new training and educational curriculum deserve recognition. But they have a long way to go to convince the large body of professional communication consultants out there who are not members, to become part of the groundswell of change that is happening in the industry. Some serious PR needs to be done!

Public Relations and communications is at the heart of helping business grow. You should be leading the entrepreneurial challenge that Government has set...