IN recent years the public-relations (PR) profession has been challenged by the increasing demand for research, benchmarking and measurability. Yet, many PR practitioners still move on with their plans, using limited research tools or totally doing away with any kind of exploratory activity or thorough evaluation of the impact of what they implement.
This situation adds to PR’s notoriety among those who don’t really know the real essence of its practice and, sometimes, even among those who profess to be its practitioners.
Benchmark surveys that determine where PR stands and where it is headed have already been conducted by professional PR organizations and institutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Japan. Not to be left behind, the Philippines, through the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP), launched its own version of the benchmarking investigation, called the State of the Public-Relations Profession in the Philippines survey—a first-of-its-kind industry review of Philippine PR or of any industry in the country.
VOX Opinion Research, the research arm of Publicus—which is owned and managed by Malou Tiquia, APR—conducted the survey, and the results were first revealed to the 240 participants in the hugely successful National PR Congress, held at Taal Vista Hotel in Tagaygay City, Cavite province, on September 25 and 26.
The survey—which was conducted online—was e-mailed to invited respondents—members of the PRSP and the International Association of Business Communicators Philippines; officers from the Philippine Information Agency; information or communication personnel of government agencies and private corporations; university officials and professors; and other private companies. Fifty-three PRSP members and 60 non-PRSP members responded the 51-question survey, which ran from July 22 to September 5.
Here are the highlights:
- Wide age range and gender parity. PRSP members who participated in the survey were generally older (median of 35 to 44 years old), compared with nonmembers (median of 22 to 34 years old), which range from young to mid-career professionals in the industry. There’s also gender parity, with an equal distribution of male and female participants among members and nonmembers alike.
- Respondent distribution. The majority of participants came from the National Capital Region. Six in 10 participants, meanwhile, are “Tagalog”, which implies that the practice of PR is, at the moment, largely Manila-centric. Unsurprisingly, most PRSP respondents work in the in-house departments of private companies, while most nonmembers work in-house for the public sector.
- Years of practice. The majority of PRSP members have been practicing PR for at least six years, with a significant number of them mastering their profession for close to two decades. Non-PRSP members have, at most, two years of PR experience and can definitely benefit from joining the organization. Consistent with their longer tenure, most PRSP members belong to top management, while nonmembers are mostly mid-career executives.
- Professionalism as a key factor. With intensive work experience, the majority of the respondents consider professionalism as highly important in their work. PRSP members demonstrate their professionalism through their membership and compliance with the organization’s Code of Professional Standards.
- Knowledge and skills set. More than half of PRSP members and nonmembers expressed satisfaction with the appropriateness of their talents and wisdom vis-à-vis their current role. They are, likewise, satisfied that their acquired professional skills and knowledge can help them deal with the changes in the practice of PR in the future.
- Good paying job. Owing to their current seniority level, PRSP members receive a significantly higher gross basic income, bigger bonuses and more benefits than nonmembers. Interestingly, many respondents refused to declare their financial status.
- Career for life. Despite the disparity in compensation, respondents expressed high satisfaction with their current job. About one in five respondents want to make PR their career forever. Fascinatingly, a significant number of PRSP members (23 percent) say they enjoy their job, but feel under pressure.
- Stable turnover. Financial revenues remain relatively constant over the past two years for all respondents, the highest of which is more than P20 million among PRSP members and P3 million to P4 million among nonmembers. Over the same period, PR/communications budgets remained the same, although more PRSP members reported an increase.
- Direct reports to company head. Most respondents also reported that the company CEO or president exercised direct supervision over their PR division. Notably, about a fourth of nonmembers say their PR is part of marketing (21 percent) or the executive committee (21 percent), compared with PRSP members who say the same (both at 8 percent).
- Dealing with the media and advocacy. Media relations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) received the biggest chunk of the PR budget, according to the respondents. Predictably, respondents from all sectors say they spend most of their time on media relations, while internal communications (mostly among PRSP members) and information provision (among nonmembers) came in second and third, respectively.
- Integration and collaboration. Convergence or synergy is the norm in all organizations, with increasing teamwork with marketing, events and advertising departments. PR has also seen increased sharing of social- or digital-media management and CSR responsibilities with other departments.
- Expanding roles. Overall, both members and nonmembers say PR professionals have a significant contribution to the development of their companies’ communication strategy. They also say the spokesman’s function is now added to their job description.
- PR professional must-haves. Both members and nonmembers agree that professionalism, experience and an adherence to a code of conduct or ethics are significant assets of a PR practitioner. They also say the broadening skills set required among PR professionals, and the lack of an understanding of measurement and evaluation, will be key challenges to PR in the future.
- Merry and effective mix. Respondents also agree that PR teams can produce more effective PR campaigns if they have the right mix of sociocultural diversity in their teams, composed of members who are apt representations of the audiences they communicate with.
- Appraisals and metrics. The first state of the PR industry study in the Philippines poses a challenge to an otherwise Manila-centric profession: How to find ways to better relate to a diverse audience base in the Philippines. It also accentuates the need for a thorough evaluation and measurability in PR.
The study underscores the importance of being in step with change and of keeping up with an ever-changing landscape brought about by social-media technology, while retaining core values of professionalism, transparency and accountability.
Gail Keily declares, “In this digital age, there is no place to hide behind public-relations people. This digital age requires leaders to be visible and authentic, and to be able to communicate the decisions they’ve made and why they’ve made them, to be able to acknowledge when they’ve made a mistake and to move forward, to engage in the debate.”
Bong R. Osorio is the communications consultant and spokesman of ABS-CBN Corp.
PR Matters is a rotating column of members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association, the association of senior PR professionals around the world.
PR Matters is devoting a special column each month to answer readers’ questions about public relations. Send comments or questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.