It's a lot more than making people look good, and it doesn't always stand for Puerto Rico.
Unfortunately, the entire field of public relations is ridden with, and often defined by, myths, rumors and misconceptions.
It comes with the territory. Most PR practitioners will spend a good deal of their professional lives justifying how they put food on the table.
It’s time for some transparency. Let's move our attention from the rumors, so we can get on with redirecting the hype to the right places.
1. Schmoozing, wooing and nothing more.
Sure, stellar people skills might make the job a bit smoother, but public relations is much more than ice-breaking and chatting. In order to craft communications programs, you need creativity, impeccable writing and an intuitive knack for dealing with the media. Those are things a little mingling can't save.
2. It's about making people look good.
While it's expected they support their clients, PR practitioners aren't always spin doctors full of hot air. Image building is more symbiotic than self-fulfilling. The profession boils down to building healthy relationships with the public, both sides of the coin involved.
3. Never trust facts from a PR person.
The profession is held accountable for accuracy and honesty just as much as any other job. Journalists can't make up stories, accountants can't fudge the numbers and lawyers can't skew the truth. Plagiarism and fabrication run rampant in a series of classrooms and corporate offices across the world. In no way are such fallacies limited to public relations.
4. PR and advertising? Same thing.
Take a look at their basic definitions, according to the Free Management Library.
Advertising is bringing attention and revenue to a particular product or service. Public relations is creating mutual understanding and communication between parties.
5. Glamour and glitz: rest up for a life of red carpets.
Far from it. Most PR work goes unnoticed and is relatively thankless. PR practitioners don't enjoy the perks of the events they plan. They toil over ensuring that they happen in the most effective and tactful of ways. If there were any sort of "party" involved in the profession, they wouldn't be invited. They’d be the planners who dull the jagged edges and tie up the details.
Take a look at this spoof on public relation's misconceptions.
