Advice from the PR Pros: Alan Marks

The Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication has conducted oral history interviews with dozens of the nation’s most influential public relations practitioners. The Page Center website features a vast collection of transcripts and videos of these interviews. On this blog, we will highlight some of the advice given by professionals on attaining positions in the field of public relations.

Alan Marks is senior vice president of corporate communications for eBay Inc., and is responsible for leading communications strategy for all areas of the company, which includes business and consumer media relations, employee communications, executive positioning and issues and reputation management. Prior to joining eBay, Marks was at Nike Inc., Gap, Inc., and Avon Products. He began his career as a journalist.

Communications: No longer an afterthought, driving innovation

“The most significant change I see is that in leading companies, communications is becoming a core business strategy. Executives at these types of companies… see communications as a strategic operating tool and something that’s essential to the business.”

“I think that’s very different from when communications was seen as an afterthought, or communication was seen as more of a support function or a service function versus a strategic function in the organization.”

“So that change is very exciting… There’s more opportunity and more innovation happening in our profession and in the communications world than I’ve ever seen. And that’s incredibly exciting.”

“I was having a conversation a few weeks ago with a friend, and I was trying to imagine what it would be like to be in a journalism school today or in a communications program today… When I was going through school, you either picked the editorial track or the advertising track.”

“And now it’s like well, ‘How do I want to communicate?’ ‘Do I want to be my own media outlet? I’ll create my own blog and I’ll be my own publisher and I’ll create my own audience.’”

“It’s an incredibly exciting time. And I would encourage people just starting out in their career to embrace that… Push yourself to innovate because that’s what’ll help you grow and develop and it’ll make you a better communicator and it’ll make the organization you’re working for a better organization.”

“Always figure out where the next innovation is coming from and drive for that.”