PRfect.

For this week's entry I chose to do a close reading of an article I found while searching for something related to PR. 5 Tools Modern PR Pros Can Use to Maximize ROI discusses the question which Shakespeare asked ages ago, what's in a name.

"In a world where office managers have become “Campus Innovation Advocates” and HR reps have metamorphosed into “Company Culture Experts”, it’s no doubt that the act of reinventing traditional roles has benefits beyond morale."

Apparently, a good deal of depth. What I initially thought was hair splitting semantics may actually play a role in how an employee feels about the work they're doing. 

"the titles of today push employees to redefine their place and purpose within an organization. Case in point: diet ice cream is far less inspiring than sorbet. Which makes you want an extra scoop?"

This is a compelling analogy and some decent writing. It also smacks a bit of spin and Orwellian doublespeak. Do these fancy titles actually mean anything special? Do they actually motivate workers or define roles? I don't know, but I'm sure it feels better to write something like that on a resume. 

"Sure — there’s the fun-factor, but reinvention also raises expectations for roles altogether, and if you want your company to be cutting edge, you’ll want to consider some role revamps during your next round of organizational restructuring."

I don't know how "fun" these titles are. Funny perhaps, but not really fun. I do like the concept that with a big fancy title comes further responsibility. There's a troubling term in this quotation and that's "organizational restructuring." 

To find out what it meant I did a quick search and found a website with a workable definition. However, even the definition is business jargon and boils down to entire departments of people being let go. Fired.

Later in the article the author references another post which makes a case for why every company needs an English major. Companies need more wordsmiths.

The author discusses how the most effective PR professionals have, in recent years, expanded their skill set to include a better grasp on data literacy, strategy, community, measurement and more. Thus these folks get an interesting, "fun-factor" packed new title as well. It's PR Engineer. 

The author explains that the real difference between the two is that a PR Engineer has to have more data literacy to make more informed decisions. Does there actually need to be a difference in terms here? 

The list of tools to maximize return on investment are as follows

1.     HubSpot is a tool to which covers search engine optimization and social media tracking, content creation, e-books and conversion.

2.     Flurry is a number of analytics products that measures consumer behavior, advertises to your A-list audience, and monetizes apps. Their blog is a good resource for information about mobile behavior..

3.     Quora is a content platform that lets users get their message out on news sites.

4.     PR.co is a tool that can create an all-inclusive, online pressrooms for clients. Users create a page that allows journalists or clients easy access to all the PR info they might need.      

5.      Marketo  covers any marketing requirements you may have.


http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/5-tools-modern-pr-pros-can-use-to-maximize-roi_b98814


http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/corporate-restructuring.html