PR Professionals: The Silent Professionals Working Behind the Scene

8/15/2010

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During a recent assignment, I had the pleasure of working with a team of dedicated interns and temp staff attached to my PR Team.  A common gripe among them was that no one seems to appreciate the hard work and sacrifices of the PR Team and that people only remember the mistakes.

This reminded me of an assertion made by the author of the book The Black Swan.  In the book, the author highlighted the flaw in our society where we reward those that let mistakes happen and then save the day, rather than reward those that are so good at their jobs in the first instance that mistakes don't happen.

This is an unfortunate but sad fact of the PR Professionals' role in any company.  The only consolation that I could offer my team was the knowledge that we were the silent professionals working behind the scene to ensure everything went smoothly.  Hopefully, some day, company CEOs will remember us and give us our due rewards.  Until that day, my advise to my team of PR Professionals was to seek personal satisfaction for a job well done.
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News Release: Legally Binding?

8/14/2010

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Today, an international celebrity who was scheduled to perform at a local event did not show-up.  In a bid to "manage the crisis", the PR Team was called in to craft a News Release.

As with all Releases concerning multiple parties, the final draft was a collaborative process with the celebrity's management company proposing that the celebrity's absence be explained as "unavoidably delayed".  Realising that the celebrity had likely broken a legal agreement, the PR Team decided to consult the company's lawyers on the suitability of this statement.  Thankfully this was done and, on the advise of the lawyers, the word "unavoidably" was removed.  This was to prevent any potential wiggle-room for the celebrity to avoid paying the company compensation.

While the word "unavoidably" sounds like good PR Speak, it was designed to protect the interest of the celebrity.  As I explained in an earlier blog about the working relationship between reporters and PR Professionals, as PR Professionals we must also remember who is our pay-master.  This is no different even when we are dealing with other PR Professionals from other companies.
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Can Reporters and PR Professionals be Friends?

8/12/2010

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One of the operating principles by which PR Professionals work is to develop good working relationships with reporters.  To do this, the PR Professionals try to be friendly and "please" the reporters.  The premise is simple.  If the reporter "likes" the PR Professional, the better the chance that the reporter will cut the PR Professional and his client some slack.

Personally, I think nothing can be further from the truth.  To me, reporters and PR Professionals need each other and the basis of the relationship should be based on professionalism.  Friendship is a by-product and should not be the basis of the working relationship.

This is because as professionals, our loyalty is always to our pay-masters.  To do otherwise, compromises our professionalism.  I have come across too many examples of PR Professionals who assume that they have developed a close friendship with the reporter.  Based on this friendship, and a false sense of trust, the PR Professional divulge sensitive information to the reporter only to see it being used against his client.

Thus, it is my opinion that PR Professionals should focus on developing a professional working relationship with the reporter and not developing friendships.  Don't get me wrong, I have many good friends who are reporters, but whenever I hang out with them, I always remember that we are all professionals and that our loyalties lie with different pay-masters.
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