Designer PR

PR, by nature, should have attributes such as trustworthiness, credibility, accountability and the processes that make provision for implementation and feedback from top management to the administrators / labourers and back up the communication pyramid again.

Yet these very attributes, the "haute couture" of PR that should be tailor made to suit the company's needs, are what organisations are still trying to master.

There could be a number of reasons why so many companies / PR professionals have not succeeded in mastering these attributes. One of them might be because PR is not viewed as a strategic role within most companies. The profession finds itself forming part of the marketing division ready to conjure up a press release at a managers request.

Also when investing in good relations:
1. It costs money and during the lean times the budget for PR, sometimes considered as marketing, is thrown out the door
2. Understand the vision of the company and developing well defined standards can be a time consuming investment. Communicating this understanding and / or "spirit" of the organisation to both internal and external stakeholders demands that a vast amount of attention be spent on the details of managing and/or maintaining perceptions.

PR (I believe) is a misunderstood role and the challenge lies in having to educate companies about the value that the profession can bring to any organisation. To illustrate think of what fashion icon Ralph Lauren could do to a clothing store on a street corner?

It's not just about the clothes but about communicating the importance / valuable attributes of the brand.