For the next few posts, we plan to dispel several myths about public relations. It is a bit surprising how misunderstood PR is – especially considering how common and necessary the business is.

Myths and inaccuracies about PR range from simple misunderstandings, like “PR and advertising are the same thing,” to major falsehoods including, “PR is nothing but lies and spin for corrupt corporations.”

Perhaps the best way to tell what public relations is not is to reiterate what public relations is. The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations (and let’s be real, they should know) as, “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.” To put that idea another way -- PR is charged with strategically telling the story of your work, your organization or your company in a compelling manner that helps connect what you do to the people who would be most interested, in other words, your market.

PR is all about story, relationships and strategy. When done right, PR is invaluable in taking the work you do and spreading the word to more and more people who will care about it.

The common misunderstandings we will be tackling in future posts are:

Public relations and advertising are the same thing. (Nope!)
DIY: There is no benefit in paying professionals. (Spoiler Alert: There totally is benefit).
PR is nothing but dishonesty, spin and damage control. (Don’t believe everything you see on TV melodramas and certainly not the fake news).
Bigger firms are always better. (That depends entirely on your needs).
Once you get noticed, you can stop doing PR. (Have fun being a one hit wonder).
It’s nothing but press releases. (Then you’re doing it wrong).
PR is only for bad products and companies. (False again!)

Stay tuned for myth busting on our blog!

What is PR?

First things first, what on earth is public relations?

It’s a reasonable question about a service that quite frankly many people misunderstand.

Put simply, PR is the practice of managing communication between a business or organization and the public. It's the process of finding the best ways to let people know about the work you do -- and the effort to get you as much coverage in the media as possible.

If you’ve done the hard work creating something worthwhile -- whether it's a service, product, event or any other remarkable thing you’ve dreamed up to offer the world -- public relations is the best way to get your efforts noticed by people who will care about it.

When done well, public relations work is putting in the time to learn your story and then expressing that in a compelling way. This can help you find a larger audience -- and can increase the impact of your work by leaps and bounds.

PR is a service that has always been important, but in a digital age where millions are competing for global attention within any given market, we believe it's more significant than ever.

An effective PR firm gives you a partner you can trust when rallying others to your cause and promoting your work.

A good public relations company will take the time to understand you and your industry, as well as your audience and its interests.

As the current landscape gets more and more crowded, making it increasingly difficult to separate from the herd, having specialists in your corner can be a huge boost.

You do your work, let someone else handle the complicated process of getting the word out to the masses. That’s public relations.

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