Pr, the misunderstood profession
In the past week, public relations has been described to me in some interesting ways. One person said that what we do is talk on the phone all day. Another told me that it’s easy, you just call the editor and get a story written. And best of all I was told that you really don’t need publicists for anything at all. Anyone can do it.
The comments don’t offend me because it is impossible to explain to someone what it’s really like to do what we do. It reminds me of that old line about Ginger Rogers, how she did everything Fred Astaire did but backwards and in heels. We navigate tricky waters between often crabby editors, competitive journalists who want the “exclusive” rights to a story, and clients who don’t understand why they don’t have more coverage. Or worse, their coverage is not what they wanted. We have to balance all these expectations just like businesspeople do – but we have to do it with a smile on our face at all times.
It’s true, managing inbound requests for media is not that hard if you’re organized. But creating that interest BEFORE they find out about a product or service, and developing a strong brand AFTER they notice is where I’ve seen some real geniuses at work.
