Book review: Spin Sucks by Gini Dietrich

Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age - Edited by Gini Dietrich, published by Pearson Education Ltd in 2014, page count - 154.

Spin Sucks is a communication and reputation management handbook created by Gini Dietrich, the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. Gino Dietrich has created Spin Sucks as a follow on from the number one PR blog in the world, spinsucks.com, in which she has been described as top PR thought leader and blogger.

Rather than being a book which solely specialises in Public Relations, Spin Sucks combines effective tips and tools for effective and ethical communications for all business leaders that understand how important it is to recognise how PR and reputation management has changed in the digital age. This book highlights the importance importance of conveying messages in the right way while maintaining your integrity and credibility.

Spin Sucks has four sections, I) Tell Your Story Without Sex or Extortion II) Scammers, Liars, and Beggars III) Your Brand; Your Customers, and IV) Spin Sucks, opening with how communication has changed and ending with the future of communications in the industry. Each section contains a number of chapters ensuring it is covered in depth as possible, including a wide range of B2B and B2C case studies on companies, some more recent that others. Each chapter goes on to include a heavy focus on digital media, showing how the lines between digital marketing and public relations have become blurred.

Section II) Scammers, Liars and Beggars, I believe is one of the most important sections of the book. It provides an insight into ‘the dark side of content’ and how media can easily be manipulated, no matter how powerful a company or business may be. It offers in-depth ideas and relevant examples combined with actionable insights that can be applied to real-time PR, which I think can sometimes be rare to find in a business/non fiction type book. This has really impressed me overall. Throughout the book, Gini explains that “the secret sauce of your communication plan is that there is no secret sauce”. It takes time to build a strong reputation and establish a trustworthy interface between a company and its publics. A quality communications plan is a marathon, not a sprint to the finish.

Being a student, I found this book extremely interesting as it delves into the evolving world of communications. Certain quotations really stood out to me, including "Great companies don't lie. They don't steal. They don't cheat their employees. They don't become greedy. They don't allow people to behave badly just because that generates a lot of revenue. Great companies stop and listen to criticism. They commit to getting better, they set goals and a vision larger than themselves, and they truly behave better. When all of that happens, the storytelling is easy.”

I would definitely recommend Spin Sucks as an essential read to anyone who wants a better understanding of the ever-shifting communications landscape and how the industry is changing outside of traditional marketing and PR. Ultimately, it is a PR playbook with a storytelling tone, teaching not only PR professionals valuable lessons, but also me and you. It really highlights the way customers interact with a companies communication methods and more importantly how they can manage those communications to have a better interaction with them. I have learnt so much from this book, and as Gini notes - the best media relations starts with storytelling, relationship building, patience and time.

Reflection: My development as a student

Since starting my Public Relations and Communications degree at Leeds Beckett University, I have gained an understanding of PR as an industry, how it is ever-changing and the power it holds within companies and organisations. Through my theoretical knowledge and work experience placements, I feel I have acquired a passion for PR, not only as a degree but also a career. The more I learn, through my practical work or academic studies, the more I can be assured that PR is one of the most exciting and fast-paced industries to be involved, in which I feel enthused for opportunities in the future.

Within my degree I have studied a range of modules about public relations, from the history and trends of PR, to digital media, to my involvement with global projects such as Communication Campaigns. This has enabled me to gain a wider knowledge about roles surrounding the public relations industry, including marketing, HR, economics and finance. These modules have given me an insight into the various careers paths relating to the industry, but also the importance of having an understanding of them to build a successful career in PR. Throughout my degree, I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend a range of guest lectures such as the president of CIPR, Stephen Waddington to Verity Clark, social media enthusiast and account director at Approach PR. These guest lectures, alongside seminars and weekly lectures from professionals in the field including Chris Norton and Richard Bailey, has given me an insight into how real-time PR operates on a daily basis and has shown me the success working in PR can bring.

I have had a variety of work experience placements from agency work at Beattie Communications and Kindred Agency, to my in-house experience on the Panasonic European PR team. I feel that I have been able to gain an understanding of both in-house and agency work, which has allowed me to experience B2B for a global company and B2C for a wide range of clients, furthering my knowledge of the industry.

I have recently secured a position as a freelance writer for Student Wire, one of the UK’s top online student magazines, which has over 40 thousand twitter followers. During this role, I have been able to write articles for the magazine in which I have focused on health, fitness and lifestyle. This has been a great opportunity for me because it has allowed to further my independent creative writing skills but also work as an integral part of the team.

This year I have been applying for a year placement and have attended different interviews and assessment centres, from this experience and placements I have undertaken I feel that the PR skills has been the most helpful, as it has taught me

I have been offered to do my placement year as a PR intern for Disney, which is an amazing opportunity. I am very excited to learn about working within the entertainment industry and gaining an insight into the inner workings of the company as a global brand. Disney is a company I’m extremely excited to work for because it has had an impact on me since my younger years, and the idea of being surrounded by all things Disney enthuses me. I’m also very excited to move to London.

I am slightly unsure of my future career ambitions, however I wish to gain as much valuable experience and knowledge as possible in a range of different sectors in order to know exactly which area of public relations I would like to pursue in the future, and hope to meet various influential professionals a long the way. 

The future of Public Relations

As public relations continues to adapt to the ever-changing digital media landscape, it has resulted in changes in the industry. The importance of multimedia communication tools, the expiration of the traditional press release and the ability for real-time news to travel at high speed are just a few changes the industry is currently facing.

The media business is changing, and so is the world of PR. Consumers are increasingly reading their news online through news websites or blogs and commentary pages. Today, the majority of print content is readily available in digital form resulting in the convergence of traditional and new media. The lines have blurred. However, according to Jenkins, media convergence is an ongoing process that should not be viewed as a displacement of the old media, but rather as interaction between different media forms and platforms (Jenkins, 2006).

"There is no longer such a thing as ‘traditional media,’" explains Tim Tessalone, USC’s sports information director. "With the 365/24/7 news cycle and with the wide variety of media (and social media) platforms now available to journalists and non-journalists, PR professionals need to remain not only vigilant, but must be proactive and progressive.”

Gable (2003) proposed ‘five major PR issues for the next decade’. Firstly, the need to improve strategic planning and the link to communications. The next issue raised was the encroachment on public relations services by other consultants including management consultants, accountants and lawyers. This connects to the third issue, defined as credibility. PR was still seen as ‘spin’ rather than the profession of strategics comms, reputation management and maintaining professional relationships. Following on from this, the fourth issue relates back to ‘defining PR’ and part of my first blogpost of the digital media assignment, the idea that the profession can sometimes be misunderstood or mischaracterised. Lastly, the fifth issue was set out to be the emphasis on finding qualified practitioners by promoting PR as an appealing industry to be work in.

As a student who has studied public relations and undertaken various work experience placements, I believe the scope of opportunities within the digital media landscape is increasing. PR professionals need to continue to adapt to the conglomeration that is the media business, focusing on stimulating conversations while remaining at the forefront of the communications arena. It is essential for PR professionals to embrace forward-thinking while measuring goals and competitor strategies in a competent way. Ralph Tench, then course leader at LMU (2004), said “Professionalism of the industry is key to the future” which I thoroughly believe should continue to be adopted, in order to communicate successfully.

In my opinion PR is about telling stories and distributing news effectively, but I think the future of PR is about creating a shareable and interlinked experience between a company and its publics, and communicating in an ethical, effective way. 

How has PR changed?

With the ever-changing digital age and all pervasive social media, the world of public relations has dramatically changed.

It appears that the traditional term ‘press release’ has evolved over time.

The first press release was produced by Ivy Lee, a former financial newspaper reported turned public relations officer. In 1906 his agency was working with the Pennsylvania Railroad at the time of a train wreck accident. He proactively wrote up a press release and distributed it to journalists. The release told the story from the perspective of the Railroad and soon found itself enjoying positive press coverage in spite of the unfortunate accident (Cutlip, 1994) - and the press release was born. The official statement issued to the media for the purpose of announcing something newsworthy seems to have developed from the basic, and often categorised as ‘boring’ document. Due to new technology, press releases are distributed quite differently compared to 100 years ago. The advances in communication and technology PR has allowed releases to be shared with journalists in ways which are better received and more successful.

According to Meltwater blog by Mark Cowlin, here is a distribution history breakdown:

Press release in early years = paper

Press releases in middle years = paper + wire service

Press releases today = email + wire service + post on websites + social media

Press releases have developed many different multimedia elements such as SEO words for the purpose of search engine optimisation, interactive videos to offer more information on a story, photos to illustrate a message and links which can help drive traffic to a website. The structure and general purpose of a press release has remained the same, however new technology and the digital age has helped progress releases into a more modern and multi-purpose communication tool.

Following on from this, the need for real-time news is imperative. As new technology advances, so does the wide array of social media platforms and channels. This means that news is continuously traveling to a mass audience which can build awareness, maximise media coverage and stimulate conversations. According to a study published by Eric Schwartzman’s iPressroom, PR professionals are now being placed in charge of website content, blogging, social networking and podcasting. This means that they can communicate a message effectively and instantly through the digital media landscape, however this has resulted in a lack of control. News travels faster than before and it is vital for companies to exert control over any conversations they begin. It has become increasingly evident that the digital media landscape has allowed the public to utilise control, through the process of sharing information and interactions.

Due to the demand for information in real-time and the stimulation of interactions, it is essential for companies to be transparent. As previously mentioned, the digital media landscape has shown us that information and news travels rapidly, reaching a large audience. Gino Dietrich, author of Spin Sucks: Communication and Reputation Management in the Digital Age, explains “no amount of PR messaging can counteract one person’s negative experience” and bad news has the ability to travel fast, especially on social media, which could include tweets, complaints or negative reviews. It is vital to be accountable from the offset and provide honest, sound information. If a company fails to do so, it may be harmful to their reputation and undermine their image.

Overall, PR has and will continue to change within the digital media landscape. Recently, in a lecture by Richard Bailey, we discussed converging communications and how Shirky (2008) argues ’the distinction between broadcast and communications used to be clear’ in the 21st Century media landscape. Traditional PR has evolved into a source of multimedia communications, the digital media landscape has made information more readily available and connected on various channels, and content is now distributed to millions through social media, furthering the need for companies to be transparent and ethical in case of crisis. From the ride of new technology and new media, broadcast conversations and communications have been converging. Here are a few examples listed below.

One-to-many: TV, video, news, celebrity, tweet

Many-to-one: RSS, aggregators

Many-to-many: Twitter, forums, comments on popular blogs, Facebook groups

One-to-several: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Group email

One-to-one: IM, email, DM, Skype

It has also become apparent that it is vital for companies to keep on top of the changing digital age, through innovative ideas and effective communication strategies. As quoted by Richard Bailey and a concept I feel strongly about, it is essential to ‘be interesting’.

Defining PR and the digital media landscape

Today, it is argued that there are many different definitions of public relations and that it is becomingly increasingly difficult to define the practice.

A blog post on Ragan.com caught my attention recently. It is based on the idea that the term 'public relations' appears extremely fuzzy to many, with more than one definition circulating online and offline. According to the author, Frank Strong, if you ask 10 PR professionals to define PR, you'll get 10 different responses. This appears to be an problem, a conundrum, a complication for any PR practitioner or individual with involvement in the field.

Similarly, Phillip Kotler, a widely published scholar, critically analyses public relations in Marketing 3.0. Kotler emphasises the need for a distinction between public relations and socially responsible actions, mischaracterising what public relations is all about. This leads me to question why are the terms 'public relations' or 'PR' used as synonyms as lipstick on the proverbial pig?

"We have observed that many companies undertake socially responsible actions as public relations gestures. Marketing 3.0 is not about companies doing public relations. It is about companies weaving values into their corporate cultures."

"In Marketing 3.0, addressing social challenges should not be viewed only as a tool of public relations...on the contrary companies should act as good corporate citizens and address social problems deeply within their business models."

In contrast, Richard Edeleman, from Blog 6 A.M rejects the characterisation of PR in Marketing 3.0 and says "This mischaracterisation of PR is deeply degrading and flawed. PR informs and connects companies/organisations with the new expectations of consumers, NGOs, employees and others in the stakeholder society." In agreement with Edelman, I believe it is vital to properly define the discipline regardless of the number of definitions. By collectively addressing the problem, we able to emphasis the sound, honest and transparent qualities of PR and begin to gain consensus.

Furthermore, here are some of my favourite and in my opinion, most accurate definitions of PR:

1. Public Relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. - Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)

2. Public relations is the occupation responsible for the management of organisa - tional relationships and reputation. It encompasses issues management, public affairs, corporate communications, stakeholder relations, risk communication and corporate social responsibility. - Theaker, A (2011). The Public Relations Handbook. 4th ed. London: Routledge. 5-6.

3. Public relations helps an organisation and its publics
adapt mutually to each other.Public Relations broadly applies to organisations as a collective group, not just a business; and publics encompass the variety of different stakeholders. - Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)

From studying PR and undertaking work experience placements, I have come to realise PR is an extremely diverse industry which has to adapt in ways due to the changing digital media landscape.

The digital media landscape comprises of a variety of different channels, such as social networks, new platforms, tools and data sources. According to Digital Marketing Analytics, written by, digital media is effective at creating data about who you are, what you like and dislike, and where you’ve been online. Similarly, social media has been a huge influence in the adaptation of the way PR professionals operate. It has given the industry the ability to engage in two-way conversations with its publics, building and maintaining relationships and intrinsically linking brands reputations online and offline.

Nigel Ferrier, director of Optimise PR, explains “social media lets us reach to people more directly through Twitter and Facebook and an ever-growing array of platforms. It used to be B2B and B2C, but now its B2P - with P being people. Social media cuts across channels and is all about engaging with individuals, holding conversations not relying on press releases and launches.” 

The constant scrutiny that runs alongside social media can be a potential threat to companies and organisations. It is vital to be fully adaptable to different issues, whether that be feedback, complaints or crisis management. As an example, Bodyform was hugely critiqued on ‘false advertising’ but hit back with an brilliantly witty video response. As described by Sticky Eyes blog, “it showed the brand to be human, because it responded with humour” and generated popularity and discussion online. This shows the importance for PR professionals to prepare successful strategies within the digital media landscape, and be ready for anything at any time.

The changing digital media landscape is evolving, and PR has no choice but to evolve with it. Today, it seems the use of traditional journalism is declining due to no longer being the publics main source of information. Social media platforms and online channels have increased the speed of conversations and interactions across the digital media landscape, meaning it is essential for companies to be accountable and transparent in terms of measurement and cross-team working.

Digital Media Assignment

Please find any articles for the digital media assignment in the category titled assessment or digital media assignment. Alternatively they can be found here:

2000 word commentary

1) Defining PR and the digital media landscape

2) How has PR changed?

3) The future of Public Relations

Book Review

Book review: Spin Sucks by Gini Dietrich

Reflection

Reflection: My development as a student