PR agencies - members of CIPR or PRCA?

[Publicity Oxford]

Hi there,
I hope you are all having a good Tuesday.

I just wondered amongst the PR folk on here, whether you are an agency or one man band, if you are members of any professional bodies such as the above?

If so, how beneficial has this been to you? Has it helped your reputation, or helped you to gain new clients?

Thanks for your help.

Catherine (in sunny Oxford!).

[moo]

Hi Catherine,
I am a one woman band with freelancers I call on from time to time.
I am a member of CIPR and get discounted fee on courses, a free subscription to PR Week and a host of other benefits.
To be honest, I am not sure whether clients are swayed either way. But, I like to think it shows professionalism and commitment.
Lou

[publicityheaven]

Hi again Catherine

We are a 3 person agency (fourth person on the way if any former journalists with stunning writing skills are reading this and have a CV handy)

I joined the CIPR last year and have used their training courses for the rest of the team. I'll certainly be pushing the others to achieve CIPR membership as part of their continuous professional development (it's a great way to show they have transferred their journalism skills into PR)

Does it generate business? Too early to tell, it certainly can't hurt

Looking into PRCA membership right now

And the free PR Week is oddly compelling on a Saturday morning... man, I need a life...

[publicityheaven]

PS Hello Louise; I used to live in Godmanchester and had my wedding reception in the village hall in 2005.

Great place, miss it a lot!

[10 Yetis]

Watcha, we are in neither but that will soon change.

Ever since I started in PR I have taken slight issue with the CIPR and the core values you have to sign up to when you join (cannot remember the exact statements. there is, or used to be, 8 or 9 values, like commandments, you had to agree to adhere to).

I started out in crisis communications (in house) and as a team we felt that there was no way that a PR working in the crisis sector could ever agree to abide by the various commandments it lays down.

Now I have moved into more of a consumer PR I can see how the commandments fit with this area of PR so my mind is more swayed towards getting the team signed up.

In fact, we will be joining and the only reason is because at the recent PR Awards we were told by a rather tipsy CIPR bod (we were tipsy too) that had we been members we would have won our category!

As you can seen, joining for all the right reasons :-)