PR identity crisis
Colin says PR is having an identity crisis. Well we certainly should have an identity crisis, but I like to think of us more as being chameleons.
With each and every day, we take on the identity of other professions. One day we can be setting up a Facebook page for clients’ in the space industry; the next we are experts discussing the environmental benefits of another our client’s flooring product.
The life of the PR professional is understandably confused and can lead to a mashup of egos. But could you truly expect a bunch of wallflowers to take on these roles?
The outside world looking in is baffled by the our ability to turn little snippets into news. And I often feel that reporters themselves see us as trying to be journalists’ replacements, or perhaps maybe they see us as just nuisances who can’t take no for an answer. But more often it’s the journalists who can’t say NO, because we have what they need.
It’s true even our families avoid the work conversation as they are unsure who we work for and what exactly it is we do. But the bottom line is we do a job that puts us in the line of fire.
Take a look around at the next crisis hitting the headlines. It’s not the CEO we blame for the daft statement nor that Z-list celeb with a slip of the tongue, (or falling out her car with no underwear), it’s always down to the PR advisor behind them.
So, why can’t we work together on building the PR community? Behind every great product launch, top tips list or industry issue is often one of our own working to get an important message out.
There are snakes in every profession and every office, we can’t avoid them. Instead we must be confident in ourselves and assured that what we are doing a tough job well.
Filed under: public relations
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Hmmm. Having worked on both sides of the great divide, I think the problem is down to proper targeting, professional responsibility and appropriate behaviour.
In my day job as a radio hack, I am bombarded by PR agencies who buy media address lists and bombard everyone with the same message. On the Isle of Man I have no interest at all in the latest community scheme sposnsored by their client in Tower Hamlets, and am even less likely to ‘pop along’ to the NEC for the launch of a new rail users initiative.
Similarly, we’re not ALL stupid. We understand that you have boxes to shift for your clients, and we play the media/commerce game (we also have columns or slots to fill). But supplying a celebrity expert to talk about an important issue, and then insisting it’s peppered with product plugs isn’t going to make it likely we’ll come to you again.
Similarly, fielding an expert from a pharmaceutical firm to front ‘World Herpes Cure Awareness Day’ is clearly more the result of an expensive liquid lunch than any real need (except to justify the retainer and expensive lunch).
The final straw is the stroppy or inept PR type who doesn’t understand the brief, the industry, the client or the medium. I’m talking about the eternal leech who puts him or herself between a client and the media, adds nothing to the result, and has the audacity to make a bloody good living from it.
But maybe I’m just a jaded hack these days…
Because public relations is so much a fragmented industry — low cost of entry and even the unethical ones can make a living — it is nearly impossible to really develop a community. At least a large scale one.
As you mention, there are definitely snakes among us. Hopefully, there are enough ethical and qualified professionals who can continually educate clients and etc. to keep those snakes down.
Mike