By Dara Hollingsworth
I read The New PR An Insider’s Guide to Changing the Face of Public Relations by Phil Hall for this blog. It is an easy and quick read that provides an interesting look into the public relations industry from the perspective of an experienced PR practitioner.
Hall begins his book by discussing the negative connotation that many times is associated with PR. He made an interesting point that I have never really thought about, that the public relations industry needs better PR.
“PR needs better PR. Oddly, this is an industry that does a great job in publicizing everything…except itself. From an external image dilemma, PR needs more work in defining its strengths and opportunities with the general public,” Hall says.
I think this a very good point. When I tell people that I am majoring in PR they either ask what PR is or they ask if I want to be like Samantha Jones from Sex and the City. So it seems clear to me that PR is in need of better PR as Hall suggests.
Hall also gives a brief outline of the history of PR. He discusses the pioneers of the industry as well as classic PR examples. Hall then moves onto the who and what of PR, listing the PR associations such as PRSA and PR media such as PR Week that are available to practitioners.
The next chapter, which was about media relations, especially interested me because at one point I thought I wanted to go into media relations and even thought I have since changed my mind, the topic still holds some interest to me. The chapter discusses media relations and its impact in the world of journalism and mass communication.
Next, Hall mentions the many different areas of PR from grassroots PR to guerilla marketing and many places in between. Hall then moves onto areas that PR practitioners need to work to improve. I believe that one of the most important things to remember from the book comes from this chapter.
“PR should be proactive, not reactive. Even in the response to a crisis, the strategy should be one of getting ahead of the story and not being held hostage to it,” Hall says.
Hall concludes the book with some advice about what to do and what not to do.
Overall, this book wasn’t really what I was expecting. I was prepared to read a boring book about PR, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think that this book is one that we can all learn from, especially those of us who are graduating and going into careers in the PR field.
