Public Relations : The Rejected Cornerstone.

As I was fighting insomnia a few hours ago I bumped into this lovely blog on  How to Identify Your PR Niche. Reading through it I discovered it had answers to many questions that I have been asked by both new entrants into the practice as well as seasoned ones who intend to venture into consultancy.

Public Relations is quickly becoming the cornerstone of any organizations after continuously being rejected by many professionals, because they believed that PR was an addition to the business and not part of the business. This year will even see more competition as many of the digital communication roles are moved from advertising to Public Relations as brands strive to get space in the blogosphere.

Blogs and webzines will quickly creep into the space currently being occupied by web banners and other online advertising tools in order to generate online conversations with the targeted online audience. In Kenya I expect many bloggers to move away from just plucking tit bits from press releases to deeply analyzed pieces that will keep readers glued to their blogs.

Nonetheless, all sorts of outfits have discovered the power of persuasion. Charities, trade unions and protest groups create stunts and “facts” as powerful, and sometimes as dubious as the piggy demonstration we had last year. Did they achieve their objectives? Only time will tell.