I hadn’t realized I was the only one in the public relations field who disliked (OK, hated) being called a "PR" until I received an invite for an educational webinar directed at PRs.
In a rare moment of occupational venting, I posted my disdain on the Facebook page of an industry forum known as the PR Czars.
It turns out I’m not the only one in the media relations field that wanted to vent on the topic.
I’m not a PR. I work in public relations. It’s my career. I occasionally write press releases for clients.
But I’m not a PR.
PR, at least in the marketing and business world, is generally accepted to mean public relations. Or media relations, as that’s what most of us really do. We work with journalists (YouTubers, IG’ers, bloggers, etc.…define journalist however you like) to get the media (again, define that as you like) to feature the topics and products of importance to our clients.
It’s not rare that we hear “that’s good PR,” or something along those lines. Many of the firms we work at, along with some of our industry trade media, have PR in their name. XYZ PR, The Journal Of Disruptive PR, etc. Few would assume the name of the firm is XYZ Press Release or that something considered “good PR” is actually a good press release.
The confusion factor -- One reason to be careful when writing PR
In today’s era of email first, check for clarity later (and I know I’m not alone in this), I often receive typo-laden messages from clients that look like a cat walked across their keyboard. I love cats, and while I don’t need my emails to be in AP style and am no stranger to typos myself, the use of PR in marketing to mean more than public relations can cause pause or confusion. And when you confuse your team, even for just a little bit, you slow us down.
Lest you think my piece here is just one man’s rant (and please keep in mind I was asked to write it by the Muck Rack's editor Jessica Lawlor who saw my rant on the Facebook group) I’ve heard from colleagues that they’ve been told they need to “PR something” by clients. Or need PR. And sometimes, they want a PR. When that partner or potential partner tells us they need to PR something, we don’t want to assume they actually need a press release. Because we all know you don’t actually need a press release to land media coverage. But that’s another topic.
And while many of us say we’re PR consultants, and been called someone’s PR guy, gal, guru, etc., by clients, I would never say I am a PR or that I do PR. Saying that I am a public relations or a press release sounds silly.
Our friends overseas and in other industries
I’ve heard from a few that PR practitioners overseas are called PRs. Turns out that may be true. However, I refer to the sheet of metal covering my car’s engine as a hood, not a bonnet. I refer to what many around the world call football as soccer.
Flip it to other industries. Some of my colleagues work in advertising. They’re not Advertisers… or Adders. Or Ads.
The person who helps you find your mortgage isn’t called a loaner or a mortgager.
I have never heard my favorite barista in San Diego (if you don’t know Kristen, the manager at Java Earth, you really should!) referred to as a coffeer. Or a coffee-r. And I never ask her to coffee me… unless it’s very early.
Call me what you want, just don’t call me late to dinner
Am I making too much out of too little? Maybe.
Consider this just some fun venting on a day when I’m not on deadline. Venting is important…you know what happens when machines can’t vent! But judging by the comments my post received on Facebook, I’m not the only one in this industry that feels this way.
And again, I was asked to write this.
Maybe I’m a bit old-fashioned, but I’m not a curmudgeon. I only look slightly down on you because you use the word guru on your LinkedIn description and feel that saying pivot makes you sound smarter than saying change direction. If you want to optimize the disruption of something with a thoughtful design that is critical to your business, so be it. I can get on board with that, regardless of if your design is thoughtful and results-oriented or not.
Truth be told, you can call us what you want. As a group, we tend to be pretty thick skinned (you need to be in this industry) and we generally enjoy what we do. Every time we land great media placement we get a little dopamine hit that keeps us going and makes it all worthwhile.
But we’ll still snicker a little if you call us PR. Venting and snickering is just how us PRs are ;)
Bill Byrne is a veteran PR pro with serious disdain for people who call themselves gurus or ninjas, unless they’re spiritual leaders or feudal Japanese mercenary. In the last 20 years Bill has worked with a diverse range of brands, ranging from the youth marketing space to financial entities, tech products, general consumer goods, along with beer brands and snowboard companies. A former NYC agency guy, he spent years in the Manhattan offices of Cohn & Wolfe and PainePR before eventually co-founding Remedy Communications in San Diego.
