We have now spent almost three years listening to a shocking flow of news about failing property developers, failing banks, failing businesses and a failing economy.  Solutions have been volunteered from all industry sectors and from all corners of the globe. These solutions have been debated and rightly so, but right now, collectively and individually, we must turn talk into action.  Like every sector of Irish industry, the PR industry has a duty and responsibility to consider what contribution it can make in helping to put Ireland back on the road to recovery.  

If enterprise is our ticket to economic revival, then the power of good public relations, is a business tool which every Irish company should be able to access, afford and activate. PR is the fastest and most cost effective route to gaining awareness and credibility for a business and building a brand. Start-up businesses engaging in PR campaigns are 30 percent more successful in securing funding within 1 to 3 months than companies without a PR campaign. PR is a unique accelerator. Brands get a disproportionate return on investment from a well-executed PR programme. Companies that hold their marketing budgets in a downturn are the ones that fare best and it’s well documented, that brands that increase spend in a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on their investment.

The reality is news doesn’t stop during a recession and while many organisations may be cutting back on spending, they still need to find ways to connect and communicate with customers and key audiences. PR is one of the most efficient, cost-effective ways to do this.  PR is so much more than winning headlines or avoiding them.  It is a communications discipline that engages and informs key audiences and builds important relationships. Public relations serves as an organization's "eyes and ears," monitoring outside events and issues that can impact an organisation, and bringing the information inside for analysis and possible action. PR can educate, create awareness, save money, change perceptions and even strengthen employee morale.  If used strategically, PR can help every aspect of business.

Difficult times call for new measures and the Irish PR industry, like every other industry sector needs to consider new billing models and more innovative ways of costing PR campaigns.  A recent report by law firm Eversheds, concluded that law firms cannot go on believing that an hourly rate is still an acceptable way of billing; the market is at a tipping point, and it is those who can address the change that will be the next generation. Coca Cola, one of the truly venerable American brands has made lots of noise about shifting its outside marketing services to a pay-for-performance compensation model.

There will be continued pressure on PR budgets but the smart money will still be there and PR companies are going to play a key role in advising clients on how to navigate very difficult and for some uncharted waters.  There will be complex messages to deliver.  More than ever when times are taxing the media needs substance not fluff. 

The bottom line is PR can be a cost-effective vehicle for connecting with your key audiences and maintaining visibility during tough economic times. While you may not have the money to do a full blown PR programme, many PR consultancies are willing to work with you on a short-term or project basis to devise and execute a strategy that will yield results and drive your business.

There are some interesting findings in Edelman’s 2011 ‘Trust Barometer’.  This annual study looked at consumers trust in institutions and industry sectors across 23 countries around the world including Ireland. 

In America, the ‘Trust Barometer’ study showed sharp drops across most sectors. Only 46% of Americans trust business, a drop of 8% compared to 2010.  American’s trust in mainstream media has also plunged too over the past 12 months.  Only 27% of Americans now believe what the media is reporting - an 11% decline, while only in four US citizens Americans believe what the US Government is saying, a fall of 6% on 2010.  Trust in NGOs is also down by 8% to 55%.

When it comes to our domestic situation, Ireland ranks last of 23 countries surveyed in this global trust survey on the composite score, an average of a country’s trust in government, media, business and NGOs, behind Russia and the UK.  Irish consumers trust in government is the lowest in the world at 20% compared to global average of 50%.  Good news though for Irish business; trust in Irish business is on the rise and has gone up 15& from last year to 46%.

Increased competition, a more informed healthcare consumer and a discerning, recession-savvy shopper is driving wholesale change in Ireland’s pharmacy sector.  Against this backdrop, many pharmacies are cutting back and hiding in fear instead of learning, planning, and attacking a huge opportunity - social media.  Social is a compelling tool for pharmacists, providing a suite of communication channels to reach out to patients and customers.  

Social media offers unique features to advance the community pharmacy agenda, drive out new healthcare initiatives and build patient relationships.  The relative low cost of social media applications, increasing patient familiarity with mainstream social media applications and the ability to distribute information rapidly to different patient constituencies on both an individual and public level can position pharmacists to gain even more market share and increase profits. 

Although social media applications can reach large audiences, they offer message-tailoring capabilities also to effectively target specific populations. Another powerful aspect of social media is that they facilitate the organisation of people and distribution of content-two necessary components of public health services.

The most common types of social media websites are:

·     Social networking – websites that allow you to create a personal or business profile then chat, discuss and share information with others. Prime examples of social networking sites are Facebook and LinkedIn.

·        Wikis – wikis are websites that allow you to create, edit and share information about a subject or topic. Wikipedia, or E-how for instance, are some of the world's most popular wikis.

·        Video sharing – video-sharing sites allow you to upload and share videos with the rest of the web community. A perfect example of a video sharing website is YouTube.

·     News aggregation – news aggregators provide a list of the latest news stories published by users from a range of different websites.

·     Social bookmarking – social bookmarking sites, users to publicly bookmark web pages they find valuable in order to share them with other internet users. 

·     Micro-blogging – these websites allow you to post micro blog-like posts that are text based to announce what you are currently doing. Twitter is a good example.

·     Message boards - is an online discussion site, chat room or discussion forum.  The sites allow you to publish discussions on any subject or a particular topic or interest.

·     Review and opinion based - there are many examples of these types of websites on the internet and they are best explained as providing advice or recommendations to other site visitors.

Social media is an evolving for marketing luxury brands. Affluent internet users are spending more and more money online, and luxury brands can capitalize by building their presence. As well as having a website which allows one way communication with the customer, social media can form an intrinsic element of a brands relationship marketing. It can either be open to everyone, selective or target a specific audience.

Gucci has almost 1,275,000 fans on their official Facebook page. At time of writing, Gucci’s last posting received over 1000 feedback from its fans, in the form of comments and ‘likes’.

Another luxury brand which has chosen to use an open social media community is Tiffany and Co. Like Gucci, Tiffany and Co.’s, membership of Facebook enables everyone to be a ‘fan’. Despite the fact that all fans may not be able to afford the brand, there is an aspirational appeal of aiming to purchase it in the future. Tiffany and Co. fans importantly post pictures of their Tiffany products, and discuss how much they like them.

Tiffany and Co. has recently branched out into another aspect of  social media with their new engagement ring iPhone App which allows users “Browse styles, view actual carat weights, determine your ring size and learn why a Tiffany engagement ring is the best there is.”

DKNY uses the social media site of Twitter to communicate with their customers. Twitter members add @DKNY and read the tweets that come from a PR girl who works for the luxury brand. She tweets: “I'm your well-placed fashion source bringing you behind-the-scenes scoop from inside Donna Karan New York & DKNY and my life as a PR girl living in NY”. This communication is not only marketing based, fun tweets like describing the messy sand on the DKNY runway give readers, the target fashion following readers a sense that they have a real insight into the brand, thus making a connection.

As well as open social media, some luxury brands are using closed social media to connect with their customers. GenerationBenz.com is an invitation only social network, open only to previous buyers, Mercedes members and potential customers. This exclusivity allows Mercedes to connect only with their target audience. It emphasises the exclusivity of the brand and promotes loyalty between Mercedes customers and the brand.

Both open and closed forms of social media are important for a luxury brand because they build and nurture relationships with the customer. Customers can build a connection with the brand and the brand can reach out to its audience and increase brand loyalty.

-Niamh McCaughey