Deirdre Breakenridge is a talented human and Chief Executive Officer at Pure Performance Communications. Plus, she is an adjunct professor at New York University (NYU), an online instructor for UMASS at Amherst Journalism Department, and a reference to talk about PR, marketing and social media communications.
Deirdre opened up a little bit of her intimacy to us – right here in this interview for our blog Studying Public Relations – so you can see a side of Deirdre that many of us cannot see in our regular days. Beyond that, of course we asked Deirdre everything related to public relations, social media, cyberbranding and much more. So, stay with us and let’s move on!
Priscilla Rios: what are you reading now?
Deirdre Breakenridge: I always read two different types of books at a time … one business book and an unrelated topic (fiction, history, or biography). Right now, I’m listening to “How the World Sees You” by Sally Hogshead. I’m also reading an advanced copy of my friend’s book, “The Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Iranian Women” by Nina Ansary. I’m happy to report that both books are excellent so far.
Priscilla Rios: what is your favorite movie?
Deirdre Breakenridge: I love the movie Sabrina. The original version with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart is a timeless classic. Although the newer version with Julia Ormond, Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear is a great remake.
Priscilla Rios: what drives you?
Deirdre Breakenridge: Helping, giving back and educating others … feeling that I’m needed and there’s always more work to be done! I love to give back to the industry and the people that have given me so much over the past 25+ years.
Priscilla Rios: who inspires you?
Deirdre Breakenridge: There are many people who inspire me. You could say it’s a daily occurrence. Aside from my family, which has always been a source of motivation and inspiration, there are several of incredible women who really stand out in my mind. They include Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, Ellen Degeneres, and Arianna Huffington. There are so many more but these ladies definitely top my list!
Priscilla Rios: who is your PR professional icon?
Deirdre Breakenridge: Frasier Seitel is my professional PR Icon. As a seasoned veteran in PR, he is often seen on Fox Business, Larry King and MSNBC. Fraser is also an author for Pearson Education. I use his textbook, The Practice of Public Relations, for my Principles of Public Relations course that I teach at UMASS. He also happens to be an old family friend and a person that I’ve looked up to for many years.
Priscilla Rios: After all these years working hard, what do you dream to accomplish?
Deirdre Breakenridge: My dream is to make a difference and to be remembered as someone who always gave back. Not just in my communications work, but in business too. I spend a great deal of time mentoring and offering advice to professionals through my show, Women Worldwide. I also invest a lot of time in young professionals who need our attention and guidance. They are the leaders of the future.
Priscilla Rios: What things make you value your profession?
Deirdre Breakenridge: Open, transparent and ethical communication. It’s a proud day when companies and their executives not only say the right thing, but they also do the right thing. Thinking about the well being of the public, and acting in the best interest of the people you serve, makes me proud of the PR professionals who are helping to raise the reputation of our industry.
Priscilla Rios: How PR has been changing over the years in your opinion to reinvent itself as a PR 2.0?
Deirdre Breakenridge: PR is now collaborative, two-way communication in real time. We are much more connected and engaged with the public, which demands constant transparency and open communications. In addition, PR is not solely focused on earned media, we work with a mix of media including earned, owned, shared and paid. As a result, we are much more integrated with other areas of marketing and in helping the organization reach higher level business goals.
Priscilla Rios: You wrote a book about social media and public relations. What could you point out as some pros and cons of social media for a PR professional?
Deirdre Breakenridge: There are so many pros; I crystallized them in the form of eight new practices, which speaks to how PR pros are acquiring skills and competencies that they learn as a result of social communications. Our roles have expanded, creating more opportunities and value within the organization. At the same time, there challenges are numerous because social media can’t be controlled. Communication no longer flows in and out of the communications department. But rather, people across the organization, in different departments are communicating through social media. The result can be inconsistent communication, fragmented branding, and in some cases, crisis and reputation damage.
Priscilla Rios: You also wrote about cyberbranding. do you think our digital economy is ready enough to give full support to brand building or it depends on the playing field?
Deirdre Breakenridge: Yes, brand building is crucial today and needs full support. It starts on the inside of the company and then moves out. You must get your own employees to understand, value and live your brand at every touch point. Social media is a newer touch point that has the potential for incredible connections with customers and deeper engagement. At the same time, the brand expectations are higher in social communities, and the social brand must be prepared to react and respond accordingly to the needs of the savvy social customer.
Priscilla Rios: Can you forecast any trends in the future of communication?
Deirdre Breakenridge: We will be busy keeping up with new technologies, constantly having to be in tune with consumer behavior. Now it’s mobile and social media, but in the future anything goes. As a communication professional, changing technology affects behavior and vise versa. In order to truly stay connected and engaged with stakeholders, we need to understand how, when, where and what they prefer, finding the media channels they rely upon and communicating effectively through those channels to maintain brand loyalty and advocacy.
Priscilla Rios: When I talked with Pam Edstrom, she was very optimistic about the evolution of big data and analytics to an extent that communications practitioners could soon actually show to their clients the value of investing in strategic communication. How do you see this scenario, having in mind that marketing and public relations are more than ever before walking hand in hand, but marketing always ends up showing results in sales, and public relations (although very decisive in this process) still did not find its way to demonstrate figures in the return on investments. What do you think about it?
Deirdre Breakenridge: Public relations can show business value and impact. However, at times, we need to work with other departments to compare data. We build the awareness that drives the traffic to a website, often through the media we secure. Then, it’s understanding how people engage on a website from click to conversation that allows us to see how PR contributed to the ROI. However, we would not know this without having access to website analytics and lead generation / sales data.
In PR, we also create communications programs that help with employee productivity, customer satisfaction and innovation. Here, too, we will need to look at other company data to see a more holistic picture and PR’s contribution. Lastly, one of the areas where PR directly impacts the bottom line is through issues management and crisis communications. We can use metrics to show how PR affects the sentiment of consumers, customer satisfaction and overall public opinion, when issues arise. CEOs today understand the importance of PR and value reputation management.
Here is a video to hear more from Deirdre.
**** Thank you so much Deirdre for this openned talk!!
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