Don't Disrespect My Gangster: The Miseducation of the Clientele

Have you ever met individuals that let out the red carpet for PR professionals? Yeah, me neither. As a young PR pro I have encountered many individuals that doesn't take my colleagues and I career field seriously or give us the credit we deserve. This is where I wonder: "Are we giving out the right message about Publicists in which our positions are consisted?"

Before I meet with a potential client I ask them my ELLAquestions to understand their business, who they are as a brand and how I can help with their branding to obtain the appropriate media exposure. However, if the client is CLUELESS or possess false theories on public relations the relationship is doomed at the beginning.

The key to an effective Public Relations campaign is communicating what you actually do to your clientele. Most clients confuses public relations with promotions and rely on us to help the name advance. I personally feel that promotions is a SMALL aspect of public relations and that branding should be incorporated into your PR plans. How can you get media if the brand isn't developed?

I met a certain Comedian (He who I shall not name) and his management and talked to them about utilizing my services. His management responded that Twitter was his Publicist (If you have the same WHAT THE HELL face I accumulated don't worry I know that was a bonehead statement).  In our day and age SOCIAL MEDIA has become a source that just about everyone rely on for news, jobs, gossip etc. which makes it very difficult for anyone to understand how social media is a "prop" for careers dealing with PR, branding and  marketing to name a few. If social media was PR then who will pitch and shape your brand to the necessary audiences? It takes more than reaching to achieving!

If Social Media was PR how can connections and pitches be made for brand endorsements? How can you effectively merge markets? These are questions that I suggest you ask your clientele before they think you should Tweet or Facebook their name a million times.

So to my fellow PR pros and to the bidding PR pros let's come together and let individuals know who we are and that PR isn't just some easy task or Twitter itself. We have sleepless nights doing what we love and it takes time, patience and a few lattes to get those pitches delivered and those brand exposed. I consider PR Pros a mafia of Godfathers so the next time someone insults our field let's respond by saying DON'T DISRESPECT MY GANGSTER ^_^