Over the past several weeks and months, industry gurus have offered an abundance of advice about how to refocus and weather the current economic tsunami and keep management or clients from cutting back on PR programming.
If you think I’m going to suggest that PR and marketing are not where you should seek to belt tighten, you’re right. But what I really want to focus on is trust and “keeping the faith” with stakeholders and employees during these troubled times.
The challenges of building trust have never been greater. The Wall Street meltdown, bail out, and lowest all-time approval rating for our government have lead to a prevailing sense of betrayal felt by voters, consumers, customers, workers and investors. We are living in a unique time where an unfortunate confluence of economic, social and political issues has eroded people’s trust in companies and institutions.
Public relations is the communications discipline that is critical in this environment, because the most credible source of information about a company or brand today is coming from people talking to people – peer-to-peer dialogue among stakeholders sharing personal experiences. According to Dan Gillmor, director of the Center for New Media, smart companies recognize that “PR is the new advertising and conversation is the new PR.”
To read this full article, CLICK HERE. Courtesy of PR NEWS ONLINE.
