As PR professionals become increasingly persuasive storytellers, public relations is becoming a powerful blend of relationship artistry and evidence-based digital science.

1. The persuasive storytellers: how the art of PR is becoming a science Bob Pickard presentation 2010 May 20th

2. Sweet Smell of Success (1957) A publicist pitching a journalist

4. Sigmund Freud had an American nephew

5. Bernays has been called the ‘Father of Modern PR’

6. PR has ‘scientific’ roots Bernays defined a PR professional as a “practicing social scientist” whose “competence is like that of the industrial engineer, the management engineer, or the investment counselor in their respective fields.” He said that to assist clients, public relations counselors use and apply their understanding of behavioral sciences such as anthropology, history, social psychology, and sociology.

8. There was attention span & focused thinking

9. Analogue methods were used to propagate information

10. Primitive technology

11. Deliberate and slow

12. Text was King

13. Ample time for stories

15. E-relationships

16. Digital methods

17. No attention span; distraction is a constant

18. People continuously online

19. Technology massively propagates pictures, videos and ephemera

20. ‘Content’ is King

21. Scant time for stories

23. ...what we want them to do or think

24. know of the company

25. feel favourable towards its brand

26. recommend its products to others

27. invest in the stock

28. make positive comments online

31. “According to most estimates, about 95 percent of thought, emotion, and learning occurs in the unconscious mind —that is, without our awareness.” [Zaltman]

32. Support for the fact that the emotions of the unconscious mind drive human behaviour comes from neuroscience (using advanced new fMRI brain scans), psychology, and is being widely adopted in advertising...but not much in PR“The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions.” -- Donald Calne

34. People tend to remember products when they are woven into the narrative of media content.

36. Because people can readily identify ads when they see them – and we tend to think that ads are supposed to be present during times and places we expect them to be – they attach less credibility to their claims.

38. News product has been produced by standards-based journalism that is supposed to be:

39. motivated by the pursuit of truth

40. resourceful in the use of research

41. informed by facts

42. governed by standards and edited with balance

44. As a result of lower quality, people trust media stories less than they did before:

45. there are fewer good reporters around, and not as many exacting editors

46. battles about editorial ethics versus just going with what a company hands you for content are less frequent

47. money is the only thing that seems to matter

49. Therefore, there are fewer eyeballs reading a shrinking number of trusted news media stories.

51. ...then what do PR people do if there are fewer trusted news sources producing a reduced number of stories that will be credible enough to have commercial impact even if we ‘earn’ coverage successfully?

53. Every company a media company? IF a declining media business can no longer generate an ample supply of compelling story content... IF, owing to its resource constraints, media is becoming an automated and uncritical B2C conveyor of pre-packaged marketing information passed to them by PR people... THEN why can’t corporations fill the void themselves and communicate stories directly to the public...

55. Increasingly, it seems people think marketing can be credible if they are involved, not just reading someone else’s story, but feeling like they are part of the plot themselves.

56. Old-style advertising assumes a passive person just sitting there consuming information. Individuals could follow cues and do what they were told, but they were atomized and felt insignificant alone.

58. friends

59. family

60. coworkers

62. Once PR-driven interactions make people feel important (‘someone is listening to me’), then stories are sold as conversations.

63. Much of this is designed with the objective of getting people to commit themselves in writing to a brand online (i.e. publicly, in front of others). “Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.”

65. e.g. ‘as the kind of cutting-edge person who uses this cool product’ – which they will advocate to others within their personal networks of trust – Trojan Horse-like – as a credible peer.

66. People will do and say whatever is necessary to conform with their new public image (including aping a brand’s PR-devised story), and to evidence complete consistency with what they’ve said in ‘conversations’ online.

68. Where the two meet allows persuasion marketers to tap into the massive PR power of metaphor.

69. Conversation communication enables the easy application of metaphors used in everyday language for the development of marketing narrative – e.g. ‘word pictures’ – to convince consumers about a product brand with story ‘frames’ that already exist in their unconscious minds.

71. Metaphor elicitation Research is key, asking people before starting a PR campaign things like: When you think about [company], what is the first thing that comes to mind? What do you feel when you see this [product] image? Can you share some of your past experience in dealing with [area where product offers some benefit]?

73. The ‘natural language’ words people are using to search can be discovered, the results of which can be used to tailor a narrative’s messaging elements.

74. Keywords can be crafted as metaphors, which can be integrated into media relations messaging, news releases, speech content, ‘elevator pitch,’ etc.

77. “The internet is there for snacking, grazing and tasting, not for the full...feast that is nourishing narrative. The consequence is an anorexic form of culture. Plot lies at the heart of great narrative: but today, we are in danger of losing the plot.”

81. Media producers know program ratings

82. Accurate methodology for developing, monitoring and measuring communications programs

83. We must understand the intimate relationship between searchability and measureability

84. We must understand analytics and master measurement tools to justify our budgets and sit at the same table as the CMO

85. Data informs insights, insights shape strategies, strategies drive communications campaigns

87. Satisfaction With PR ROI Needs Improvement About one-half (49%) of CEOs are just "fairly satisfied“ with their ROI from PR, suggesting that PR professionals are not successfully conveying the impact of their programs. CEO Satisfaction with PR ROI Very Satisfied, 35% Not Satisfied, 18% Source: Burson-Marsteller/PRWeek 2008 CEO Survey

88. CEOs Are More Concerned About PR ROI in 2009 Burson’s Evidence-Based approach helps address CEOs’ growing concerns about ROI. CEO Concern About PR ROI More concerned, 63% Source: Burson-Marsteller/PRWeek 2008 CEO Survey

89. What is Evidence-Based Communications? A scientific approach to communications, driven by data at the beginning, the middle and the end. Development (beginning) All components of the communications program are justified by evidence, not by guess work. Strategy Perceptions Stakeholder identification Tactics Programs are measured against organization’s objectives (sales, votes, transactions), not just tactics (media hits, reach). Measurement (end) Monitoring (during)

91. Do concept and message testing to understand what will resonate most effectively with stakeholders.

92. Based on the organization’s overall goals as well as the program goals, determine what metrics are appropriate to measure the impact of the program.

94. Measuring in the middle is a key differentiator of the Evidence-Based approach.

95. Take at measure of the program at one touch point at a minimum

96. Have a contingency planDevelop-ment Monitoring (during) Measurement (end)

98. It’s not just about reach and hits…tie the program results back into business goals such as reputation, sales, business leads, registrations, etc.. Also focus on changes in stakeholder perceptions and behaviours.Develop-ment Measurement Monitor- ing

99. Evidence-Based Tools: Message Gap Analysis Cola Soft Drink

100. Evidence-Based Tools: Stakeholder Mapping

101. Evidence-Based Tools: Internal Communications Audit Internal Communications Audit assesses employees’ awareness and understanding of the company’s business strategy and attitudes toward the effectiveness of internal company communications. Comparison of Communication Methods

102. SAMPLE : Real-time analysis MY NEWS ANALYSIS SHARE OF VOICE Over 20 such charts are available to the clients on a real-time basis.

103. Impact SmartMeasure – Online BI Dashboards

105. Thank you!