In naming an agency effort that deals with the complexities of PR in our very wired world today, Ogilvy PR has nailed it with ‘360 Degree Digital Influence’. Few agencies can do better because “360 Degree Influence” is exactly the challenge that businesses face today in reaching out to the public and other stake-holders, and influencing them. (Well, almost the perfect name. I think ‘digital’ wrongly puts the spotlight on the technological aspect of the media revolution. It is primarily a sociological change, with technological second. But that’s another post altogether.)

The Case for 360 Degree (Digital) Influence
Corporations today are forcibly more transparent than before; with citizen journalists probing at every outlet, and with the power to draw public attention – for good or bad – vested on every employee from CEO to janitor.

Rohit Bhargava in his post on Corporate Bloggers and the Rise of the Accidental Spokesperson offers an insight into the complexities of PR today. He points out that individuals “working for an organization and blogging, but are not considered official spokespersons” can become ‘accidental spokespersons’; and he cites the example of Robert Scoble who became that very accidental spokesperson who humanized Microsoft to the rest of the world.

Similarly, outside corporate walls (and payrolls), there are customer evangelists who speak more for a company than the designated spokespersons or individuals from the corporate communications team itself. Mike Kaltschnee of HackingNetflix.com fame is one such example. So great is his influence on, and for, the online DVD rental service that Steve Rubel constantly talks about what Mike does for Netflix.

The Naked Corporation and its Many Public Faces
The point is – there are more faces to a company today than there were three years ago; and there are more public inquirers in the form of citizen journalists. The world is rife with ‘Accidental Spokespersons’ like Scoble, evangelists like Kaltschnee or unwitting newsmakers like the Comcast technician who fell asleep at a customer’s home while being put on hold by his own company’s customer service!

The Changing Role of PR Managers
In recent months, I’ve been thinking about the role of the PR manager amidst all these changes. The dynamics of PR has changed, but observably, the role of the PR manager hasn’t. And it should. With public spotlight on every inch of the company at all levels and in all departments, the PR manager has to stop focusing on mere publicity and media relations. He has to start influencing public relationships through every department and at every level of the company’s structure – orchestrating, in effect, a concerted PR effort.

The Concerted Effort
John Cass, in his response to my previous post on “Being transparent…”, accurately observed that “many public relations professionals were [not] formerly in the business of creating trusted relationships with customers directly, though certainly maybe indirectly.” He added that “product builders, customer service people and the people who traditionally were the first contact with customers were responsible for creating trusted relationships.”

Now, when you realize that customers (with the power to blog and to be heard online) ARE the Media as well, you can’t help but wonder about the need for PR counsel in Customer Relations, and the many other functions within the corporation.

Why PR Has to Lead
Because PR professionals have the skill-set to deal with the intricacies of public relations and corporate reputation, the PR manager/director must take the leadership reins in preparing the company to deal with the ‘360 degree’ landscape of digital influence.

John Cass observes that “blogging is a team effort that borrows many skills from the public relations profession, [and] also much from other professions.” And that is true. This is why PR must be considered in every aspect of the business; for counsel on the impact of every business function on public relations.

Clearly, PR (in the true sense of the word) is no longer the sole responsibility of the PR team, or designated spokespersons. The reputation of a company and the relationship it has with the public lies in the hands of many.

And the PR manager must lead this concerted effort with an effective strategy – energizing employees to be effective spokespersons, engaging customer evangelists and integrating them into the media and marketing strategy, holding customer service accountable to stringent demands that corporate reputation is built upon etc.

Earning Our Place in the C-suite
Along with this responsibility comes PR’s opportunity to prove our place in the C-suite.

It begins when CEOs recognize that corporate walls have vanished and that the company – like it or not – is made more transparent than ever. And there is a need for effective counsel in the C-suite, because in the ‘transparent organization’ phenomenon lies both danger and opportunity:

Danger, for the company that does not have its house in order. And opportunity, for strong companies to bring vital relationships with the public to a much deeper level.

The way to do it?

Before developing strategy at the C-levels, corporate PR managers must first earn that trust and equip themselves by understanding how every department in the company operates and its intrinsic relationship with the public. When they do, they will see their (transparent) company as it truly is. And this understanding will enable them to forge relationships with the public that views the company, not through the windows of the CEO office or the communications department, but through every pore. Only then, can Influence be truly 360.

Updates:
John Bell and Walter Lim have made two comments that are worth expanding here

PR’s Catapult into the C-suite – Direct Impact on the Bottom-line
John Bell affirms that today, we have an increasingly important place in the boardroom because social media has greater impact on stock prices than before; and “traditional marketing is going in only one direction”.

We need no more evidence than corporate crises like the Kryptonite lock case, or the numerous research papers that forecast higher online expenditure. The imperative is now on CEOs to bring PR into a calm boardroom with a solid game plan; rather than yank them in later with the panic button.

Everyone thinks 360 anyway. It’s time we do too!
Walter Lim points out that another motivation to think 360-degrees – is simply because everyone else does! Even if ‘traditional PR folks’ don’t think so, journalists are even more aware today, of a company’s many public faces. This means that more reporters will want to talk to bloggers with a point of view on customer service, and interview the shop-floor operators who sit 10,000 cubicles away from the HR directors.

If there ever was a motivation for those holed up in ‘traditional media’ to embrace the mandate to think 360-degrees, this is it!

Natural Progression
And a final point – natural progression. The world is clearly moving towards greater social public disclosure. Financial standards, food and drug labeling and manufacturing data, amongst many other aspects, have to abide by stricter standards of social disclosure than before.

Sure, we could wait for a global public disaster the likes of Enron, before bringing PR higher up the management agenda, or we could be proactive in creating constructive transparent relationships at all levels of the business.

It’s your call.

Like Shift Communications and Edelman, I’m attempting to change the way a Press Release is developed. Yes, it may end up looking conceptually the same as Shift’s Social Media News Release (SMNR) or Edelman’s StoryCrafter, but the approach is entirely different.

Enter the Community Press Release.

I’m testing this on a technology conference that’s taking place tomorrow – Nexus 2007 – organized by The Digital Movement, a non-profit organization that I am a part of.

In the actual implementation, I’ve labeled it The Committeeunity Press Release. Because that’s what it is… I’m scratching out the “Committee-dictated”, top-down approach to writing the event press release, and instead, handing the task over to the Community of conference participants.

They can write the release, link their blog posts (about the event) to it, share their best photos and Podcasts of the conference, and do just about anything that they feel will best present the conference to reporters and the rest of the world. In fact, they’ll probably be more thorough in reporting on the incidental (but significant) news that my team may have missed out in the process of running the event! PLUS, there is an added layer of authenticity in a piece that’s written and checked by a Community of participants. (Think Wikipedia.)

Here’s a step-by-step guide I developed along the way (note that all this is still work in progress):

A. Set it up

1. Start the Community Press Release on a public wiki
2. Ensure that it has a short and intuitive URL (domain forwarding helps)
3. Consider password and registration requirements for participants

B. Create a framework

4. Provide a structure for the press release (because not all bloggers know what a press release looks like); and include sections like:
1. Headline/s
2. Facts (5W1H)
3. Quotes
4. Interesting events
5. Provide links to:

1. Official website/s
2. Blog posts on conference segments (consider categorizing the blog posts according to day/session/theme)
3. Photo-sharing sites where participants upload their best photos
4. Podcasts
5. Conference coverage in mainstream media (perhaps more relevant after the event)
5. Appoint a facilitator to ensure that participants are making meaningful contributions, and that technical issues are quickly resolved

C. Provide guidance

7. Provide background and essential information to start with
8. Give clear instructions on how conference attendees can participate in the Community Press Release, and how to get help/further guidance (Give them the phone number or an the IM details of the facilitator)
9. Under each section header, provide annotations

D. Call to action

10. Announce it at the start of the event and/or place signboards of the announcement
11. Encourage each attendee to be a participant in sharing their experience with the “Invisible Crowd”.
12. Some people learn more when they participate, and this will be a good incentive for participants wanting to get more out of an event!
13. Offer prizes?

E. Putting the results to use

14. Send it to reporters who ask for a press release
15. Make the URL available to everyone

Note: The Community Press Release is probably only suitable for conferences at this point of time.

What are your thoughts on the concept of a Community Press Release? Apart from events, how else do you think a Community Press Release can work?

Nexus 2007 will start in about five hours; and by the end of the day, I hope to have a Community Press Release that is succinct enough to hold a reporter’s attention at first glance. Yet it should also be comprehensive enough – with links to other sources of information and rich media – for reporters and the rest of the world out there!

Look out for the Nexus 2007 Community Press Release

Wish me luck!

The launch of Highrise – the shared contact manager I first wrote about in Media Follow-ups 2.0 – is an awesome example of brilliant PR.

Observe how creators 37signals first announced the upcoming product.

How they teased the public and satisfied their curiosity for news, with regular previews through their blog.

How they launched Highrise on their blog and accepted genuine feedback in the form of comments (both positive and negative) on the blog post.

How 37signals responded with rapid changes to Highrise‘s product packages; and how they ‘relaunched’ it. Observe the comments that follow.

To distill the lessons gleaned from this online product launch (via a corporate blog), here are five reminders to bear in mind:

1. Talk to your key stakeholders like you would to a friend
2. Let them talk back
3. Get them involved in your product design
4. Listen carefully to what they have to say
5. Act fast! (or be prepared to explain your inaction)

Granted, most companies don’t deal with web products that are somewhat easier to tweak at customers’ wimps and fancies; but the principles outlined here are timeless, and especially true in the Internet age today.

What a brilliant show by 37signals.

And what I’d like to know is this: What were the thoughts that went on in the CEO’s mind between the first criticism on the blog post and 37signal’s announcement of the ‘new, improved’ product?