Best Practice in PR
Posted by: prdepiction1 on: August 13, 2008
It’s hard to argue with the results of a research programme that has been running for five years and is focusing on Best Practices in public relations, but what’s your response to the list that follows.
It has been prepared by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication, which each year investigates the Generally Accepted Practices (GAP) in public relations practice in the US. This year, using data from 520 senior professionals, their researchers have identified these Best Practices.
– Maintain a higher-than-average ratio of PR budget to gross revenue
– Report directly and exclusively to the C-Suite
– Optimize the C-Suite’s understanding of PR’s current and potential contributions
– Establish effective strategies for
o Social responsibility
o Digital media
o Issues management
– Optimize integration and coordination within the PR/communications function, and between it and other organizational functions
– Encourage across the organization, beginning with communication,
o Highly ethical practices
o A long-term strategic point of view
o Proactive and flexible mindsets
– Optimize integration of PR and reputational considerations into organization strategies
– Measurably contribute to organizational success.
Prof Jerry Swerling and co-author Major Jim Gregory say their approach to identifying the Best Practices is “a bit subjective because we cannot scientifically demonstrate causality” but that the consistency of the patterns is unmistakeable. The full report can be found at www.annenberg.usc.edu/sprc and the Best Practices can be found in the GAP V report, Section VII.
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