Comments on: PR identity crisis http://strivepr.com/2008/02/15/pr-identity-crisis/ experts in digital PR and social media Thu, 07 Apr 2011 05:01:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Mike Driehorst http://strivepr.com/2008/02/15/pr-identity-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-11280 Mike Driehorst Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:49:55 +0000 http://strivepr.com/wordpress/2008/02/15/pr-identity-crisis/#comment-11280 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 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

]]> By: Stu Peters http://strivepr.com/2008/02/15/pr-identity-crisis/comment-page-1/#comment-11277 Stu Peters Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:34:48 +0000 http://strivepr.com/wordpress/2008/02/15/pr-identity-crisis/#comment-11277 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... 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…

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