Council of Public Relations Firms (COUNCIL)

Council of Public Relations Firms (Council)

11 Penn Plaza
Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10001
877.773.4767
[www.prfirms.org]
Contact: Sarah M. Drennan, Vice President

CEO: Kathy H. Cripps
Budget: $1.1 Million
Staff Size: 2

Plexus Consulting Group, LLC
1620 Eye Street, NW
Suite 210
Washington, DC 20006
Phone:  202-785-8940
Fax:      202-785-8949
Email:   info@plexusconsulting.com

Vital Stats:

The Council is dedicated to building the business of public relations by advocating to business professionals the value of public relations as a strategic business tool, promoting the benefits of careers in public relations to prospective employees, and assisting members and their clients in setting the standards for the profession.

The Challenge | The Solution | The Process | Unintended Consequences | Unforseen Benefits | Measurements & Results | Lessons Learned

The Challenge

How to establish a trade association that would represent and serve the interests of all public relations firms, regardless of size?

Developments in the communications industry resulted in the need for a trade association of public relations firms that would:

• Engage in advocacy and government relations
• Set professional standards
• Offer professional development
• Conduct market trend analysis
• Create benchmarking standards
  
  One major obstacle to building such an association, however, was the differing priorities of small and large firms. Industry leaders, representing the largest firms, were persuaded that to be successful, the association would need to include firms of all sizes to be truly representative of the industry.
  

The Solution

"A five-phase plan was developed, proposed and implemented to create the association of public relations firms."

A steering committee, composed of public relations firms of various sizes and committed to developing a trade association, decided to take action. In order to turn their idea into a reality, they needed a sound approach and effective procedures.

The Process

Phase One

During Phase One, the Steering Committee outsourced an intensive survey of both large and small firms designed to elicit their opinions about the needs and challenges facing the industry.

Phase Two

Upon completion of the survey, firms were asked to participate in one of nine group sessions held in three cities, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles during December of 1997. These focus groups were conducted to:

Review and explain the survey results
Position the association as a voice for members of every size
Create volunteer task forces to develop and rank the association's strategic objectives

Phase Three

• Part One
  Based on the results of the focus group sessions, which synthesized the needs of the industry as a whole and potential member companies, volunteer task forces were created to develop business plans to strategically address four main areas of the fledgling association:
  
  • Governance and bylaws
  • Member services
  • Public relations
  • Government relations
    
• Part Two
  Remaining faithful to survey findings and drawing heavily on the advice of the task forces, the steering committee was led to:
  • Design a Board structure
  • Design a dues schedule
  • Draft articles of incorporation
  • Draft association bylaws.

The steering committee took care to Design a Board structure and dues schedule that emphasized the quality of members to effectively represent the interests of smaller firms without alienating the largest ones.

Phase Four

During Phase Four, the steering committee met to refine and adapt the focus group ideas. The outcome was a strategic working plan for the association that doubled as a marketing resource and guide to services. The plan also affirmed the original goals of those interested in making the association viable and representative of all firms in the industry.

Phase Five

The final step of this project involved the following steps:

Selecting and hiring its leader to serve as both spokesperson and industry expert
Committing the necessary financial and administrative support for operations
During this final, transitional phase, the new entity became a fully self-operating organization. An effective, new association came to exist "from scratch" -- a testament to the success of research-based business planning.

Unforeseen Benefits

In the process of defining the common needs of the industry, new information was uncovered revealing historic and far-reaching changes that were taking place in the public relations profession. This information served not only to define the purposes and areas of focus for the association but also to help individual members question and redefine the focuses of their own, individual businesses. These changes were affecting small and large firms alike. In fact, during the whole exercise, there were many more similarities than differences between the big and small firms in this “bar bell-shaped” industry.

Furthermore, the creation of this industry group allowed the U.S. to be represented for the first time in the global federation of the public relations industry whose members consist of national trade associations.


Measurements & Results

Within the year following the creation of the association, the Association of Public Relations Firms (APRF) changed its name to the Council of Public Relations Firms to emphasize the egalitarian nature of the association. While the association is small in terms of budget and staff size, it has been widely accepted as an able representative and guiding force for an important segment of the national service industry.

Lessons Learned

The whole effort worked out extraordinarily well. It achieved it objective in less than a year and produced a vibrant association that, four years later, is dynamic and growing. However, the challenges were real. The strong personalities within the industry and the historic lack of trust between large and small firms presented ever-present resistance and threatened to undo the consensus that was being created at every step of the way. The exercise and the information that it generated was proof that there were good reasons why the association should be created, and that it was in the self-interest of all American public relations companies to help do this.