Post-Edelman - You Are Your Own Public Relations Agency

Yes, you can do and probably already are managing much of your own public relations. 

RIP LARGE PUBLIC RELATIONS AGENCIES

This is a post-Edelman world. It has been taking shape even before Edelman signaled, through two massive layoffs, that things were changing - a lot. The analysis on Reddit Public Relations of those RIFs essentially provides a RIP for the era of the large public relations agency. Here is a comment which sums up much of shift:

" ... PR agencies are no longer valuable to me. I only use them for media relations. With less media to pitch, there’s less value there. I don’t need them for social posting and article content and internal comms, etc. I handle all of that myself. I just want someone to take the pitching off my hands and that part is just less fruitful these days."

EVERYONE A PUBLIC RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE

So, with the exception of having a well-connected media relations pro pitch to the declining number of legacy media centers for you, your own staff as well and the profit centers have probably already evolved into an efficient and effective influence vehicle, both internally and externally. 

Law firm Paul Weiss, for example, does its town meetings which can trigger HR changes. 

In addition, for a number of years Paul Weiss has leveraged for new business development a series of monthly newsletters which capture key developments in a niche such as M&A. Overall, in a growing number of businesses newsletters are proving out to be influence workhorses. They carry the aura of insider intel. 

ACTION, NOT STORYTELLING

But more and more you can ignore that supposed need to "tell your story" and move ahead with making it your business to take action. In a sense that has been the MO of law firm Jones Day. It is secretive. Right now it is in the catbird seat, given its deep ties to Donald Trump. Way back in 2016 it "shocked" the media that it was handling the legalities of the MAGA campaign. 

This new game, be it recruiting top talent or developing new business, is the implementation of the strategy. And that strategy is usually a reset. 

Seemingly out of nowhere (legacy media hadn't been on to that) Paul Weiss chair Brad Karp reinvented the law firm during the past few years. Like iconic change agent at IBM in the early 1990s - Lou Gerstner - the focus was on getting the overhaul done. Not abstract strategic debates. Not thought leadership. Not all that personal branding consultant Tom Peters made to seem as a must in another era. Such image engineering might be what got in the way of Disney bounced-back CEO Bob Iger's ability to quickly get up to speed in a business that was mutating. 

LARGE AS TOO LARGE

If you do need some very specific public relations help such as for crisis communications during a scandal you might be totally post-large PR firms. Another comment on the Reddit thread is:

"Clients are moving toward more specialty boutique firms rather than large agencies." 

Those can zero in on very specific needs such as reputation restoration.

Meanwhile, big names like Steve Rubel whom you might have worked with are probably gone. Rubel went in this second Edelman layoff. 

CREATING THE INFRASTRUCTURE 

Now, you are the big name - that is the internal player who is expected to accomplish what traditional public relations had. Former Jones Day managing partner Stephen Brogan was Jones Day. 

In concrete terms, this disruption means you are putting in place your own channels, being prominent on social, reaching out to influencers and connecting internally. 

The scope of this development - You Are Your Own Public Relations Agency- mirrors the impact of You Are the Media when digital communications tools became available around the turn of the century. 

INVESTOR SCRUTINY

Not funding too much third-party public relations work could settle into a major investor issue. Part of that could include having your thought leadership professionally placed in The New York Times. What value is that creating, an activist investor might hammer.

(I have followed Paul Weiss and Jones Day since 2005, therefore I know a lot about them and zero in on that background to support points I make.)

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