UK Study Will Help Australian In-House PR Managers

published 2004

A major study of the UK public relations industry should prove useful as a ‘benchmarking’ tool for Australian in-house PR managers.

Undertaken by the Institute of Public Relations and the Department of Trade and Industry, with nearly 900 respondents, the broad findings of the study were:

• Recognition that the role of PR has changed. Instead of being used primarily as a way to influence and secure media coverage, organisations are now using PR to communicate with their stakeholders.
• A continuing debate on the application of research techniques. In-house practitioners can’t agree about the role of audience research and how best to conduct it.
• The need for more training. The research showed that that less than 50% of agencies and in-house organisations had formal training for their PR staff.
• Differing perspectives on outsourcing. Most organisations with in-house PR also use an agency. However in house people are not always satisfied with the service they obtain while agencies bemoan the overall quality of briefing they get.

Some 120 individual elements of good practice were identified including - strategy development, structure and organisation, commissioning and resources, research and planning, professionlism, creativity, technology and evaluation.

Some of the specifics of interest include:

How well PR supports overall business strategy

Most in-house practitioners feel their PR strategy falls somewhat short of fully supporting their organisation’s overall objectives - perhaps signalling the transition from a media focus to a business focus. Click here to see the figures.

How effectively the main purposes of PR are achieved

Click here to see a list of the main purposes of PR as defined by the study and how the in-house public sector rates how effectively they believe they are achieving these.

A rating of individual competencies among PR professionals

Click here to see the 16 individual competencies of PR professionals and how they are rated by private and public in-house people and agencies.

Agency v in-house

Click here to see a summary slide showing pros and cons between the two.

Note: The author of this article is a senior Sydney-based independent corporate PR consultant who advises, coaches and mentors PR Managers and undertakesPR audits of PR Department structures and programs as well as helping review or select PR agencies. In addition he also provides specialist corporate PR and communications advice where issues or change are impacting on an organisation. He also blogs regularly on PR and communciations topics similar to those in this article.