matt tidwell-presentation to kc iabc business communicator summit 2012

The Corporate Communications/PR function

Importance and Relevance for Business Leaders Matt Tidwell

Sr. Dir., Corporate Communications Saint Luke’s Health System -- Kansas City, MO

Times have changed?���You bet.

Widget, Inc.

500-employee manufacturer of injection supplies Traded on NASDAQ Non-union workforce

Suburban KC headquarters

Widget, Inc. 1998

Customers Employees

Shareholders Analysts

Beat reporters Legislators

Widget, Inc. 2012

Customers Employees

Shareholders Analysts

Beat Reporters Bloggers/citizen jours.

Social media consumers Regulators

NGO's/Nonprofits Legislators

[[Internal clients]]

So what?

Start with the premise...

•  Audience analysis, the first step in planning, makes or breaks your planning process •  The BEST plans pay the most attention to the audience analysis

Company

R

R

R R

R

R

R R

What else drives complexity?

Transparency PR 2.0

Content Creation

Transparency

•  It’s demanded and essentially non-negotiable •  PR/Corporate Communications is often the caretaker of reputation and therefore the caretakers of transparency •  Private companies/organizations don’t get much of a pass

Author: MaryLee Sachs

PR 2.0

PR 1.0 (1996) PR 2.0 (2012)

News releases Engaging with communities

Spin Relevance

Speaking in messages Genuine conversations related to subject

matter of peers

Wire services Social/conversation tools and networks

Building lists Building relationships

Communicate to ______ Communicate with _______

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, Brian Solis

According to data from Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a private-equity firm, spending on public relations in America grew by more than 4% in 2008 and nearly 3% in 2009 to $3.7 billion. That is remarkable when compared with other forms of marketing. Spending on advertising contracted by nearly 3% in 2008 and by 8% in the past year. PR’s position looks even rosier when word-of-mouth marketing, which includes services that PR firms often manage, such as outreach to bloggers, is included. Spending on such things increased by more than 10% in 2009.

- The Economist, Jan. 2010

What was that about PR as a management function?

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THANK YOU  Matt Tidwell, APR

Senior Director, Corporate CommunicationsSaint Luke’s Health SystemKansas City, MO

 Email: mtidwell@saint-lukes.orgTwitter: @matt_tidwell LinkedIn:linkedin.com/in/mrtidwell