What is it that people don’t get about PR? (and how to help them)

A few things actually!

First comes the awkward pause followed by the lengthy ah! sound once you’ve explained that, in a nutshell, you are basically a ‘reputation guardian’.

The odd person is genuinely intrigued and asks for more details at which point you have a captive audience at your mercy to unleash the full PR in you and elaborate on the concept of brand gatekeeping.

But in most cases it is a total waste of time, a lost cause akin to that facing a young father who is trying to persuade his four-year old daughter that he is not a little pony for her to ride on.

In some of those cases people will question the very reason of your existence. But let’s face it, why should a sales manager, or somebody whose own existence relies on sales figures and pie charts, spend more time understanding what I do for a living?

There are only two types of professionals who should try a bit harder. The first is the Marketing Head, Chief or Manager. Yet, when was the last time you met any of those with a PR background or at least some basic knowledge of what PR is really about? Beats me!

The second, is the head of the business, the top man (or woman) of a company. In fact, if he or she doesn’t get it then people like me should really take a hike in search of a parallel universe to make ourselves more useful.

But the reality is that on this earth, you are only as good as your reputation and thankfully – for me and the PRs of this world – more than 60% of C-Level executives agree that reputation is the most important asset their company has, ranking it above the quality of products, stock price or employee loyalty.

They call the media the Fourth Estate for a good reason as it has the power to make you or break you. Social Media may usurp traditional media as the next most devastating destroyer of reputations but thankfully PR is still here to save the day.