Any time you introduce yourself as working in PR, people’s eyebrows shoot skyward as they ask “Ah, is it true that…?” before bringing up the ‘dark arts’ or whether bad publicity is actually good publicity. (It’s not.)
Let’s break down the eight most common myths and misconceptions about the PR industry.
1. “PR is all about parties and popping corks” ❌
This chestnut reached its peak in the 90s when ‘Sex and the City’s’ Samantha Jones was racing around New York glugging cocktails and effortlessly throwing together society shindigs that were, inevitably, fabulous. Great fun but, sorry to be a party pooper, total fiction.
Today, PR is a serious business. Our client teams are tasked with crafting integrated strategies designed to help companies establish awareness and credibility through media relations, thought leadership, clear messaging and other activities. More than ever, the work we do has a direct link to our clients’ overall business success, making PR a vital tool for brands today.
That said, we do still like the occasional party.
2. “PR works best for big brands” ❌
Not true. While we as an agency have worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, we’ve also partnered with SMEs, start-ups and challenger brands who find that PR is a great way to level the playing field with the big boys.
PR can be a really smart, cost-effective strategy for smaller brands that wish to establish visibility in a competitive marketplace. It can help SMEs to build trust and credibility with their audience without spending big on advertising. And it can secure highly relevant media coverage and a boost in the search rankings through focussed tactics like SEO and link building. Size doesn’t matter – there’s a PR strategy to suit every brand.
3. “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” ❌
This hardly even counts as a myth anymore. So many global household names have found out the hard way that bad publicity can hurt a brand’s reputation and send even loyal customers running for the nearest competitor.
In today’s instant news ecosystem, bad publicity must be avoided at all costs. That’s why most PR agencies have a watching brief with their clients, keeping an eye out for anything that might threaten to turn into a negative story. We also have crisis playbooks, updated to reflect clients’ latest messaging and positioning, and ready to deploy when needed.
If a crisis situation does develop, the goal is not to make the story ‘disappear’. It’s to respond quickly and calmly with facts, giving the client’s side of the story in a way that aligns with their brand values.
4. “PR is spin or dark arts” ❌
Following on from the last point, it’s been a long time since PR executives had a reputation as shadowy ‘fixers’ who could conveniently bend the facts to suit their media agenda. There are no Malcolm Tuckers in the boardrooms of Irish PR agencies today.
These days, PR is the complete opposite of spin. It has to be. Consumers today are savvy, street-wise fact-checkers who can tell when a brand is not being true to itself or claiming to be something it’s not. PR is about clear, consistent messaging that presents consumers with the facts and invites them to build an authentic connection with your brand.
5. “PR is an instant magic wand” ❌
In the world of communications, nothing is an instant magic wand and that includes PR.
As we always tell clients who have never used PR before, to succeed you have to be willing to play the long game and give a campaign enough time to execute, land with your audience, and start delivering results.
For brands that are in a hurry, this can sometimes be a turn-off. But remember that PR is a series of building blocks – building relationships, building trust, building credibility – that solidify and add value and only get better and stronger as time goes by. An investment in PR is an investment in the long-term success of your brand – something that can’t be rushed.
6. “PR is just about getting media coverage” ❌
This myth is partially true because for some clients, the most important PR metric still relates to old-fashioned column inches. For these companies, it’s all about getting their name in the business pages or landing that slot on Morning Ireland.
But today more than ever, there is so much more to PR. The building of stakeholder relationships alone – without which most media coverage wouldn’t happen in the first place – is practically a full-time job in its own right.
Meanwhile, the explosion of digital marketing and PR services has created a whole industry that has nothing to do with traditional media. Our clients increasingly turn to us for SEO, influencer marketing, social media management, Google ads, content marketing, website analytics, and much more – all part of the service in today’s PR landscape.
Relevant Insights
7. “Media coverage is easy, just send out a press release” ❌
Ah, if only this were true. For clients who are looking to generate positive media coverage, there’s sometimes a perception that all we have to do as an agency is issue a press release, then sit back and wait for the coverage to come rolling in.
There’s a bit more to it than that. Pitching a news story to the media requires patience, determination and a plan. Journalists are literally snowed under with emails from PR professionals so even getting their attention requires a fresh, topical, worthwhile angle – and sometimes the flexibility to adapt your content to what the journalist is looking for.
The sheer labour intensity of media pitching is why PR professionals invest so much time in their networking strategies, carefully building up their circle of contacts to make it that little bit easier the next time, and the time after that.
8. “You can’t measure PR success” ❌
In years gone by, the only way to quantify PR success was by measuring the AVE (advertising value equivalent) of a campaign. However, it became clear to agencies that AVE doesn’t go far enough in measuring the true value of PR, which has a holistic impact far beyond a simplistic comparison with ad placements.
Today’s PR industry has worked hard to develop a more realistic set of metrics to assess the impact of campaigns and strategies. These include positive sentiments or relevant talking points in media coverage; target audience reach; share of voice; spokesperson mentions; website clicks or visits; social media engagements; lead generation; brand awareness; consumer sentiment; the list goes on.
By measuring the success of a PR campaign with relevant, tangible metrics, agencies like ourselves can draw a direct line between the work we put in and the success of our clients in the real world. This helps to support the ultimate truth about PR – that it delivers real impact.
Let PR deliver impact for your brand
If you’re looking for a creative, cost-effective and highly impactful strategy to enhance your brand standing, we’d love to chat to you about what PR can do. Contact us today for a free consultation and let’s get the PR machine working for you!
About the author
David Powell is a copywriter and content specialist with Cullen Communications