PR Pros: A Bunch of Shady Sex-Crazed Skirts
OK. So maybe some of us are just two out of the three, but still….
Seriously, let’s talk about stereotypes of the Public Relations industry and its professionals. I came across two posts tonight that leave me a little bit concerned and a whole lot amused.
- PR and the ‘Chick Factor’: What Kent State Learned About the Missing Men of Public Relations - from Bill Sledzik at Tough Sledding
- Mistaken Stereotype of PR - from Caitlin Regan of TGC, a student-managed PR agency at California State University, Chico
It was purely coincidence that I happened upon these two posts side by side, both addressing stereotypes people have of PR pros, especially from a student perspective.
The Stereotypes
Here are a few of the stereotypes that were mentioned between the posts, as well as a few I’ve faced personally from people who should know better (feel free to add your own favorites):
- We’re liars.
- All we do is manipulate people.
- We spend all our time schmoozing.
- PR’s for chicks.
- Our job is easy or just one big party.
Caitlin seemed to take particular offense (and who could blame her) with the portrayal of Sex in the City’s character Samantha Jones, whom HBO refers to as “a successful PR exec who knows what she wants- and most of the time, she gets it. She radiates confidence in everything she does, whether it’s landing a star client, getting a table at the trendiest restaurant or bedding the hottest guy in a room.”
Sounds like a typical “day at the office” for me. How about you?
Does Sex in the City go too far with Samantha’s character? I’m honestly asking… I’m not a fan of the show. Yet this is where I’m amused. Call me an optimist, but I’d like to think that most people (or at least a lot of people) are smart enough to know the difference between fact and fiction.
I mean, do you imagine that most doctors act like Hugh Laurie’s character on House? Do you think most in law enforcement act anything like your favorite characters in whatever Law & Order or CSI spin-off you’re into? Maybe you believe in the Boogeyman too.
I’m not saying Caitlin’s got it wrong. I think pop media probably does influence the general view of the Public Relations profession. And I blame us.
Shhh! It’s a Secret!
Caitlin talks in her post about having to defend her PR degree. Do you even feel a twinge of embarrassment when you tell people you work in PR? Do you try to give it another name? Do you just not mention it at all when you can help it?
Personally, I’d rather shout it from the rooftops. “I work in PR, and I’m damned proud of it!!!”
I think that’s the only way we’re ever going to do our part to educate people about PR’s existence, nonetheless the truth behind us and what we do. And apparently, we really need to get on that.
Bill points out the gender divide in PR, especially with Kent State’s PR majors. A recurring theme seems to be that students are going into college having no idea what PR is (which was true in my own case - I pretty much stumbled into the major), or they have a preconceived notion that it’s a “chick thing.”
Hey… the testosterone pool in the PR industry may not be overflowing, but I have to say I’m generally pretty proud of the guys we do have. Even though I don’t always agree with them, I’ll admit that most I’ve come across are pretty competent in the work itself (even the ones I don’t particularly like on a personal level). And quality matters more than quantity, right?
I loved one student’s quote that Bill published, essentially saying that women are better liars and therefore more suited to PR work. Maybe it’s just because I’m the bluntly honest type, but I don’t see that. Do you?
What Can We Do?
Why don’t we have more men in PR? Why don’t students know what PR is before getting into college? Why are we still fighting this stereotype that we’re all a bunch of lying party animals who wouldn’t know real work if it bit us on the ass?
It’s no secret that we do an awful PR job when it comes to the image of PR itself. It’s been discussed seemingly endlessly. I’d like to think things are better now than a few years ago. I find that smaller businesses I work with are usually the most willing to learn about what we do and how it can benefit them, and go into it with the fewest assumptions. At the same time, other groups seem too far gone - their minds probably won’t ever be changed.
So in your opinion, where should we be focusing? Educating future PR pros? Educating our current and potential clients? Working over the louses who still give us a bad name? (I vote for this one.) What can we do? Not on a grand scale even, but perhaps the better question is what can we do right now?
Customer Complaints and Virtual Bitch Slaps: Dealing With Web-Based Criticism
Today anyone can publish anything, positive or negative, about you or your company quickly and easily. A blogger can rant about you (no surprise here). One of your customers can send out a scathing review to all of their social network “friends.” You could be bashed by a popular twitterer. You could find a nasty video criticizing you, your company, your product, etc. up on YouTube. The worst part is that Web-based critiques can go viral. They sometimes spread. Quickly.
So how should you deal with it the next time you come under attack in the social media realm? Should you lash back at the person? Should you pout and whine? Should you ignore it? No. You should take it as an opportunity to start a discussion, evaluate why you’re being criticized, and most importantly do something about it if the complaint has any merit.
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Do People Really Trust Bloggers?
I know I’ve been talking a bit much about blogging lately, and I’m not going to stop just yet. I was sent a link a while ago to a data chart from Forrester Research highlighting sources that people trust the most when it comes to information about products and services.
Not surprisingly, the results show that people most trust feedback coming from people they know. Apparently 83% of those surveyed trust the almighty word of mouth. What did surprise me is that only 30% of respondents said they trusted bloggers for that same information.
Now take those numbers with a grain of salt.
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Facebook Sucks: A New Perspective
Today a comment was left on my post, Top Ten Reasons Facebook Sucks, that I thought was intelligent enough as well as amusing enough to highlight in its own post (you can still find the comment on the original post as well). This perspective comes from a reader named Simone and goes a bit beyond the PR uses of Facebook or other social networks, touching more upon another issue: Facebook’s own hype (including message and delivery on the Facebook apps front and the company’s pandering to the tech crowd). Enjoy:
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Darren Rowse on Targeting and Pitching Bloggers
As promised, here is the second half of my recent interview with pro blogger Darren Rowse, on targeting bloggers and pitching bloggers with your stories or those of your clients.
The Case for Targeting Bloggers
No matter where you fall in the bloggers vs journalists debate, Darren thinks that PRs should avoid snubbing bloggers:
“One big benefit of bloggers is that they have an ability to build real trust with readers. I’m not doubting that this can happen with journalists too but blogs can be very personal and the relationship between blogger and reader can be quite deep.”
Stupid PR Quote of the Week: May 4, 2008
Normally the “stupid PR quote of the week” will focus on rumblings in the overall PR blog party. But I’m going to kick it off again with something a little different… a quote from a book I (finally) started working through this weekend.
The Offender: David Meerman Scott
The Source: The New Rules of Marketing & PR
The Quote: “Public Relations used to be exclusively about the media.”
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Bloggers vs Journalists: With Pro Blogger Darren Rowse
Should companies and PR professionals treat bloggers as journalists? Are bloggers entitled to the same perks as journalists, and can they handle the same responsibilities? For that matter, are bloggers a threat to more traditional journalists?
I’ll be kicking off the re-launch of Naked PR by sharing some of my own thoughts on those questions, as well as those of popular pro blogger Darren Rowse.
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Quick Update on the Status of Naked PR
As you can see, I recently updated the theme here at Naked PR. After taking a few weeks to focus on other projects, I’ve decided it’s time to get things moving again here. You can expect me back to regular posting in early- to mid-May if everything moves on schedule.
In the meantime, if you happen to come across any problems with the new theme, do leave a comment and let me know, so I can fix it - I haven’t run into any trouble yet with either Firefox or IE, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
When Naked PR is officially up and running again, you can expect some changes… but still plenty of good old-fashioned rants… yep… lots.
I’m currently contacting a few folks to set up interviews to go up after the relaunch on a couple of issues from media issues and education to handling negative criticism on the Web. I’m also consulting with a few people, preparing for a post series (rather than the originally-planned report) on SEO for PR professionals.
Edit: Just to give you a heads up on some of the interviews coming up, we’ll have:
- Joe Beaulaurier of PRweb discussing how you can effectively deal with criticism of your company on the Web,
- Andreas Charalambous, lecturer in film and media studies, discussing acceptance and avoidance of new social media technologies,
- I’ll be revisiting the social media news release with Todd Defren,
- and I’ll be chatting with pro blogger Darren Rowse about bloggers vs. traditional journalists.
Fun stuff.
I’ll also be reaching out to more of the webmaster audience that I get here with informational and tutorial-style pieces instead of focusing on PR and social media issues quite as exclusively as I was for a while.
I’m also planning to have a little more “fun” with this blog moving forward - frankly calling out BS can get rather dull at times. But more on that later….
Taking a Break
First of all, I’d like to apologize to anyone who posted a comment that wasn’t approved. I believe I’ve gotten to them all now.
I’ve been away from this blog for a little while, and just want to note that I intend to stay away from it for the time being. I left because of a death in the family, followed by another personal crisis. I took some of that time to re-evaluate some things in my work and life, and decided that, as much as I enjoy this blog, I just can’t justify the time and energy right now.
Actually, to be more blunt, I suppose I’ve come to the realization that I just don’t care that much anymore about the constant stupidity in PR on the Web. Very little has changed on that front in the last year, and frankly, the energy is wasted with the same old crap being talked about over and over again.
Watching a certain blogger go from hypocritically grumbling about negative blog posts to the epitome of the whiny little bitch on the Web; watching that same certain blogger resort to censorship instead of accepting criticism and participating more actively in that lovely “conversation” on the Web PR bloggers are always talking about; watching people debate the neverending issue of marketing vs. PR; watching the cliquiest of PR blog cliquemates exposing themselves through their denials without actually being accused of anything personally… it’s all been so damn funny for the last couple of weeks. Funny just isn’t good enough at the moment for me unfortunately.
Instead, I’m going to be focusing on finishing up my book proposal, finally getting to a report on SEO for PR professionals that I’ve been meaning to tackle for a while, and of course clients and my other Web publishing projects. So as of today, I’m instituting a strict anti-bullshit policy. It’s a shame much of the PR blogosphere doesn’t amount to much more.
How Far Should We Really Go to Please Bloggers?
I was contacted the other night by Joe Beaulaurier of PRweb. He sent me a link to a post on BL Ochman’s blog. Ochman’s post was basically a critique of PRweb’s editorial guidelines, saying they should be more flexible in allowing more casual and promotional releases to be published through the service, because that’s the kind of content bloggers want. Being critical of various PRweb policies in the past, I was asked for my feedback on the suggestions made in the post.
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