What is good PR vs. bad PR?
Now, what constitutes good public relations doesn’t really have to be so complicated.
Sure — I’m biased.
And sure, our profession does have a bad reputation.
Honestly, our professional reputation sucks. And the whole thing with publics can be confusing.
But at its core still, public relations is quite basic.
Here’s a simple matrix to keep things straight:
Good PR vs. Bad PR
Bad organisation + bad communication = bad public relations
Bad organisation + good communication = bad public relations
Good organisation + bad communication = bad public relations
Good organisation + good communication = good public relations
What does this mean?
This means that you can fix public relations problems with public relations, but you can’t fix organisational problems (bad products or services, unethical practices, illegal practices etc.) with public relations.
Every now and then, I have to point out that there’s no public relations problem; there’s an organisational problem that must be addressed first.
Photo by Andrei Stratu on Unsplash.
