wendy glavin

Wendy Glavin

Stereotypes and generalizations exist across all industry and demographic sectors. Unfortunately, these attitudes oversimplify, and often, pejoratively classify a group of people, only perpetuating inaccuracies and misinformation.

This election cycle demonstrates the changing worlds of politics, government and business and offers new rules of communications and public relations. The tenets of public relations are the same but as a profession we need to work differently to be effective.

In Media Influencers May, 2016 Webcast: “Celebrity, Politics and Feeding the Media Beast,” Ronn Torossian, founder and CEO of 5W Public Relations, Doug Simon, founder and CEO of DS Simon Media and Michael Levine, author and Public Relations expert discussed what they learned from the campaigns.

All agreed that Trump has done masterfully well in driving the media cycle by using all the tools. He has been outspent by all the major candidates and demonstrated with a tweet, he controls the narrative.

New Age of Content Pollution

At, “Insights to Action: Improving PR Performance” in July, 2016, Andrew Bowins of Samsung America said we are living in an age of content pollution: With 1.65 Billion people on Facebook monthly; 4 Billion You Tube views per day; 310 Million on Twitter; 400 million active monthly users on Instagram, we need to change and operate in a new world of content pollution.

PR Week reported that journalists are dissatisfied: Of the 95% of journalists who go to a digital newsroom or website once a month, 70% said their expectations are unmet. Reporters cite the biggest problems as, lack of information and access to contacts, lack of access to multimedia content, no easy search solution, outdated information, no media kit with logos, bios and information and sites’ media tools, look and feel.

In terms of PR people, like everyone, some complain, some think they or their clients are misrepresented; some have selective memories about what has been said or reported. However, a vast number of professionals and brands that use PR deliver substantial value with third-party endorsements, enhanced credibility, which builds trust.

What Successful PR Pros Do

Successful public relations professionals conduct in-depth research, collaborate and strategize with their clients to become “the voice” of the company. Learning the client’s business, customers, competition, unique value proposition, media and key influencers takes time, hard work, commitment and passion.

PR is undervalued but the rewards are significant. Obtaining “earned media” provides visibility, credibility and expanded reach, at a fraction of the cost of other types of marketing, digital or advertising investments. It’s a win-win for PR people, companies and the media.

Instead of negative categorizations and unbalanced viewpoints, why not improve on our predecessors’ traditions, acknowledge that we live in a different world, learn and adapt new ways of doing business and help to move the industry forward.

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Wendy Glavin is founder and CEO of WendyGlavin.com, New York. Her 20-year marketing communications, PR, social and digital career includes working for large global corporations, marketing, PR and advertising agencies. She has consulterd for software companies, a publishing firm, and for small businesses and start-ups across numerous industry sectors.