Among the many advantages that public relations offers marketers of products and services with complicated value propositions is its emphasis on explanation.  The conversation that is created enables substantive exchanges of ideas and information.  The intended target gets to know – and understand – the story (and hopefully a story we help to create).  The next step is what makes PR such a remarkable process; the target takes on the role of messenger, if not advocate.  The reason is obvious.  S/he has such a firm grasp of the story that it can be repeated to others with accuracy and passion.

Anyone who knows me will nod in agreement that I’m a tad impatient (to put it uber mildly).  I talk fast but listen quicker. Part of what a PR professional does is take raw thought and distill it to the essence and then frame it in a few, compelling words that will resonate.

So that brings me to a question:  How well are PR people able to communicate really complex ideas in 140 or fewer characters?  The explosion of Twitter – the microblog service that allows any and all to opine online in parcels of 140 or less letters – is a great way to get the word out very, very fast.  I’ve seen tweets on breaking news from the Fox News feed on my Blackberry many minutes before it appears on TV. 

Those publics with whom we seek to relate to are less and less able to maintain a focus.  So is this simply the new-PR of the ADD generation? The challenge for anyone in PR is to grab attention…really grab it…and hold onto the shoulders – figuratively – of whomever we need to talk with and, then, tell it straight, clear and with utter precision. 

Ronn Torossian

5WPR

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 12:38 pm and is filed under PR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.