What is PR? What people think it is vs what it actually is. 

It has been a while since I have done this, but I think it’s time to go back to basics and talk about what PR actually is. Since having my own business, I have come up against people’s ideas of what they believe PR is and having to spend my time disproving them through my work and experience. 

Public relations. I’m sure you’ve heard of the term is absolutely essential. It’s a great way to enhance a marketing approach. Very few know why they need PR, or why organisations invest so much of their time and efforts to stay at top of the stack. 

They often see it as pointless or that it doesn’t require any particular skill. They don’t see any outcomes at all, because they judge it based upon immediate results. 

PR is the most important tool for a business when it comes to getting your brand seen and known, building and protecting your reputation, boosting your brand awareness and establishing your credibility. 

In simple terms – it makes you and your business visible in the right way with the right messages consistently so that you are in the best position for customers or clients to buy from you. 

PR is not: 

• unnecessary. Removing marketing would mean doing no publicity, no social media, no blogging, no website, no branded vans, no research, no prospecting, no branded office, no trade shows, no networking! You would just sit in an office with a phone and wait, purely relying on who you know and who knows you at that time and that’s it.  
• cannot control the media or read a journalist’s thoughts. A PR specialist doesn’t have the psychic ability to determine if your story will be a good fit for a certain journalist. There is no guarantee that a journalist who did a story last week about a business like yours, will run a story on you this week. PR experts can’t promise that your story will run. 
• just talking to journalists, writing, and sending press releases. It is often part of a larger campaign. Some campaigns involve no media content or focus on getting in front of the right customers, employees or influencers directly through other channels outside the press. Think social media, social influencer campaigns, digital marketing funnels, video channels, podcasts, blogging campaigns…. 
• immediate sales. Being in one article or posting a LinkedIn post does not mean a sale per post. PR creates opportunity, it doesn’t magically stir up sales skills on a business owner who has a poor website, is never contactable, never responds to emails or consistently turns up late for appointments. PR is the canopy of the tree, if you like, sales are the roots. 
• PR will not cover up mistakes. It may help you deal with them honestly, but it often won’t make a crisis go away. PR will be a key to recovery by telling positive stories too.  

PR takes time, budget and patience to build your presence, and gain the brand or personal visibility you want – it doesn’t happen overnight for anyone – even if it appears so. 

This form of marketing helps with organic growth, working in the third sector, and business growth. Building an audience, building awareness of your work and who you work with, and to then crowdfund and gain business from that. It makes you visible. And should you ever need it, you can use PR to rebuild reputation. 

PR needs to be taken seriously. It is your shop window. Effective PR strategies, carried out by staff members who are experienced, and it is their priority will enhance your business exponentially. 

If you are overwhelmed from your in-house PR, maybe it is time to outsource this aspect of your business. Send me an email at