At the turn of the millennium, I gave a talk for the then IPR on public relations and the internet.
I decided to simplify the message and describe a case study of how a small, volunteer-run community club had saved money and improved its publicity and relationships with members by turning to simple electronic means, namely a website and email communications. This was the web 1.0 world, remember.
One practitioner in the room was clearly unpersuaded. 'Yes, but is it strategic?' he asked.
I still regret not countering this by saying, 'it's only as strategic as communications and relationships'.
This is the key message from David Phillips's updated Online Public Relations, written with Philip Young. (You see, I'm probably ten years behind Phillips.) This book, the most ambitious in the PR in Practice Series, provides a framework for developing a corporate internet strategy. It also challenges us to rethink the role of public relations. I have reviewed it together with Rob Brown's Public Relations and the Social Web for Behind the Spin.
PR Studies 
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