To PR or Not to PR?

This month, the Herd team decided to redirect our blog themes and focus on sharing insight about PR as a whole. That being said, it seemed fitting to start with the basics and use this time to clear up a point of confusion for many organizations– To PR or Not to PR? 

Most PR practitioners have been asked the question, “Can you PR this?” at some point in their careers. The answer is, and will always be, no, we cannot because PR is not a verb. PR is the practice of maintaining a business/organization’s public perception by managing how information is disseminated to the public. It is not a blanketed action you ask someone to do for you.

The issue is that many people combine the work of all communications professionals, which is understandable. Many firms do offer more than just public relations, but those are additional services and not just something that falls under the PR umbrella. For instance, if you look at our website, you’ll see we offer branding, marketing and public relations solutions. These are listed as separate offerings because they are separate entities. Marketing is the promotion element, focusing on elevating your mission and vision. Branding is the distinctive design that is unique to your organization (i.e. logos, font styles, color palettes, etc.). Public relations is the behind-the-scenes work of sharing stories, managing media relations and providing council on how to best achieve the perception you’re looking for.

Each of these individual fields are important for the success of a business/organization, but they are not interchangeable. So, in order to answer the question, “To PR or Not to PR,” you first have to ask yourself, “What is it that I’m trying to accomplish?”