I have read some really interesting blogs recently about the frustrations that PR and communication professionals face on a daily basis. They range from being amusing to making me really angry.
Like most comms people I have battled the demands of colleagues in the business coming to me and the team and asking for a product rather than a discussion where we provide the advice. I have blogged before about my dislike of posters and this is borne out of years of them being demanded and provided inappropriately.
We are now in an era where posters are being replaced by a request for a video. Back to being asked to just ‘PR’ things.
The key to tackling these issues, the demands, the lack of understanding and the perception of what we do lies with us. It is up to us to challenge the situation we face and not just to moan about it.
When was the last time you really explained to someone why you were recommending a particular course of action? When did you show the operational benefits to the business? When did you provide evaluation data to show what works?
I have said many times that we don’t do PR for ourselves and yet we expect people to know what we are about. Something has to change and we have to reclaim our world so that we are seen as the professionals we are striving to be.
The time is right to get positive and start explaining to educate our colleagues.
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