What is PR?
It’s been 424 days since I left the chalky world of teaching in pursuit of happiness in the form of a PR career. And since then, I’ve been asked approximately 424 times what it is that PR people do.
And my answer, for each person that asks – which is largely my husband – is this. Everything.
For PR – like love - is all around. I’m not saying I feel it in my fingers (nor my toes for that matter), but it’s written in the wind. It’s everywhere I go. It’s on the train, and in the station. It’s on the screens increasingly attached to our palms. It’s in print and on social and broadcast. It permeates every area of life. We can try to escape it, but as the saying goes, it conquers all.
“It’s the very essence of who you are and how others perceive you – whether it’s you as a person, a company, brand, service or product. If you can’t communicate that effectively then you have nothing.”
- Sharon Brigden Managing Director SLBPR
As our lifestyles have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, PR has become more important than ever. We have found a renewed sense of unity in community; at the start of lockdown, we were united by a common enemy. I resist the urge to place an easy joke here. As Boris Johnson pumped his fists on his podium, his rhetoric hung thick with the metaphor of war; Covid personified as a foe to be vanquished.
“It’s less about the story and more of how you tell it. Effective communicators never go in all guns blazing - there’s always a complex strategy behind everything that makes the whole thing work.”
- Sam Johnson Account Director SLBPR
Beyond government messaging, society looked to brands to find purpose. Covid fecundated the ground for social and societal change. Our priorities shifted. And as we navigated our new territories, we found refuge in words.
“PR professionals are like the Wizard of Oz. We’re hidden behind the curtain. We’re the heart and the brains and the courage of a campaign. And occasionally we wear fancy red shoes whilst we’re doing it all.”
- Eve ‘Good Witch Glenda’ Griggs Account Executive SLBPR
PR shapes not just people’s perceptions, but people’s experiences. Our words have power and comfort and authority. We have a huge responsibility as PR practitioners to abide by our code of ethics and our own integrity.
We are proud to work in PR. The PRCA’s findings that (82%) CEOs and CFOs from large companies view public relations as ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to protecting and strengthening corporate reputation is comforting. But there’s still work to do.
“Words are our currency in PR. We deal and trade and barter with them. We count them precisely and spend them carefully. And sometimes we are richer if we hand over fewer.”
- Teela Clayton Account Executive SLBPR
What is PR? PR – like love - is all around.
There’s no beginning, they’ll be no end. Because on PR, you can depend.