{"id":3878,"date":"2020-03-17T14:18:07","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T18:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/?p=3878"},"modified":"2020-03-17T14:18:07","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T18:18:07","slug":"trust-within-the-agency-setting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/2020\/03\/17\/trust-within-the-agency-setting\/","title":{"rendered":"Trust within the Agency Setting"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hailey McKee, Account Supervisor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trust within the Agency Setting<\/b><\/p>\n

2020 has been a year of novel changes. Though we\u2019re only halfway through March, we\u2019ve already experienced revolutionary political campaigns, the sudden death of a basketball superstar, the first non-English film to win best picture at the Academy Awards, and the outbreak of a global pandemic\u2014just to reference a few of this year\u2019s headlines. But what do all of these newsworthy events have in common? To put it simply, as audiences are relentlessly exposed to a wealth of information, it is becoming increasingly important that those audiences can trust in the information they receive.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most reputable voices relating to this issue comes from Edelman, the world\u2019s highest-earning public relations firm. For two decades, Edelman has released its annual Trust Barometer report that seeks to understand audiences\u2019 views on communications, leadership, government, and the economy, among other timely topics.<\/span><\/p>\n

As public relations practitioners at PRLab, some of the most interesting findings include the public\u2019s opinions on the quality of their information. For example, 57% of the participants believe that the media is contaminated with untrustworthy information, and more severely, 76% worry that the false information in the news is being used as a weapon. Not only does a majority of the public distrust information itself, but 66% of the respondents do not have confidence that leaders\u2014like CEOs, journalists, and politicians\u2014can handle the ever-changing pressures and challenges in managing information. In addition to asserting a general distrust in social leaders, many of the respondents find no institution\u2014whether that be government, media, NGOs, or businesses\u2014to be both ethical and competent.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, what does this research mean for public relations practitioners? These findings demonstrate that there is a rather substantial disconnect between communicators and their audiences, and if we want to effectively tell our clients\u2019 stories to propel them within their industries, it\u2019s time to dig deeper to create and build that necessary trust.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>At PRLab, each team member desires to embody a reliable sense of trust in delivering measurable results and crafting strategic communications for our clients across the country. We hope to combat the statistics found in this year\u2019s Edelman Trust Barometer within our agency by operating upon five core values to invigorate trust: performance, reliability, leadership, adaptability, and balance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Performance:<\/strong> We consider it our responsibility to achieve meaningful, measurable results for our clients. In addition to the weekly agency meeting, team meeting, and client meeting, every team member does behind-the-scenes work to make sure these operations run smoothly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI like doing the work for PRLab because it makes a difference for our client,\u201d said Xinxin Liu, account executive at PRLab. \u201cWhen our client is pleased and trusts in our work, I know the work our team does is worth it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Reliability:<\/strong> When we say we will make a graphic or write a story, that is exactly what we will do. At PRLab, teamwork makes the dream work, and that team truly includes the client.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so rewarding to share a completed project with a client,\u201d said Yutong Wu, account executive at PRLab. \u201cShe is so enthusiastic to talk about projects with us, and I know she is thankful when we are open and honest about our progress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Leadership:<\/strong> The structure of our agency is strategically layered, so there is always someone to talk to if an account executive runs into any setbacks or if a client has great news to share.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI feel like our team itself is free to take leadership on projects for our client because she truly loves to hear our ideas, and that makes completing the assignments very engaging and rewarding,\u201d said Amanda Tran, account executive at PRLab.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Adaptability:<\/strong> Problems happen! Just as we are navigating taking an entire agency from a classroom to an online learning setting, setbacks are inevitable. It is up to one\u2019s attitude in addressing those setbacks that can really foster trust with a client.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt is easy for a project to take a different course,\u201d said Jordan Eng, account executive at PRLab. \u201cAs long as it stays within the client\u2019s scope of work, I think demonstrating adaptability in following their ideas really helps clients build trust with an agency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Balance:<\/strong> PRLab is a student-run agency, meaning everyone has a class in addition to contributing to client work. To build trust and credibility in presenting deliverables, finding that balance really is key.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt can admittedly be tough at first to find a balance for both clients and team members, but once we all start to get into a groove, really great things start to happen when those relationships are formed,\u201d said Elizabeth Coleman, account executive at PRLab.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Trust truly provides the backbone for everything we do at PRLab, whether that involves speaking with a client or working with members of our account team. As we move even farther into 2020, we are eager to continue living out this value in our daily operations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hailey McKee, Account Supervisor Trust within the Agency Setting 2020 has been a year of novel changes. Though we\u2019re only halfway through March, we\u2019ve already experienced revolutionary political campaigns, the sudden death of a basketball superstar, the first non-English film to win best picture at the Academy Awards, and the outbreak of a global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15996,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15996"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3879,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3878\/revisions\/3879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/prlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}