When I tell people that I am a PR professional, I get questions like:

1. You must do a lot of “spin,” don’t you?
2. What ad campaigns are you working on?
3. Do you know any celebrities?

These questions reflect some of the myths surrounding public relations.  While most people have heard of the phrase “public relations”, they aren’t sure what it is and how it can help promote a business. After all, who can blame them? It seems that the only time people see a public relations professional is in a television show or movie and something is going wrong.  Usually, the PR professional is a person who is seen either protecting the company’s CEO from a mob of reporters when something bad happens, or they are tasked with keeping something untoward a secret, with the injunction: “We can’t let this get out to the press. Our stock price will go down.”

The problem with that trope is that if all a company uses public relations for is crisis communication, there won’t be much of a company left to promote. In fact, the former chief communications officer of Ford Motor Company, Ray Day said, “… just dousing the fire would only leave us with vacant factories, empty showrooms and a weakened company.”

So, my answers to the previously mentioned questions are:

1. No. I work on spotlighting the good things that a business or organization is doing.  Think about it, wouldn’t you rather hear good news than bad?  While there are times when it is necessary to let the public know about an organization or company’s bad news, spotlighting their good news leads to name recognition, increased goodwill and more business.
2. None. Advertising is a paid placement. Public relations is an unpaid placement. An ad states “We’re great.” a PR placement in broadcast or print media provides third-party validation and states “They’re great.”  This leads to the best kept secret about PR, which is that it can help even a small business or solo entrepreneur get noticed.

I have seen time and time again how even an article in a weekly community newspaper boosts name recognition and sales for a business.  That leads to the question of, if PR is so great, why aren’t more businesses utilizing it? Part of it has to do with the fact that most people don’t know what public relations can do for a business.  Another reason is that since an ad is a paid placement, it gives a business more control over their messaging. The trouble with placing an ad is that unless people are looking specifically for your item or service, they are likely to ignore it. We’ve all done this while perusing through a newspaper or when going through Google; we look for a specific item and ignore everything else. When reading a newspaper or an online publication, we are doing so to be informed. So, when we come across an interesting article, which was most likely placed as a result of the efforts of a public relations professional, our interest is piqued and many times, we’ll share it on our social media channels. Now imagine other people doing this with an article that a PR professional secured on your behalf and you’ll will understand the power of public relations.

As for Question 3, I have met and worked with several local and national celebrities over the past 12 years. And if you’ll allow me to “spill the tea,” I will let you in on a little secret….they are people…just like you and me. They are just better known for what they are good at and most likely have impressive PR teams behind them!