If you take a scroll through public relations sites of late, you’d swear the profession was a second-function that gets knocked down by marketing bullies every time it’s about to achieve its full potential.
We have a lot to say about the state of our profession, and none of it is very encouraging: Public relations plans are being cut in the poor economy. Public relations doesn’t get the same respect from the C-Level as marketing and advertising does. Public relations practitioners aren’t taken seriously because the majority of them are women. And so on.
It’s enough to wear even the most positive person down. And I, for one, am tired of the whining.
We’re all guilty of it-and I’m guilty of it on this very site. But I’m tired of writing again and again that we’re not getting our due. I want to focus on what we can do to get it instead.
Are we not communicators? Do we not have the tools to campaign for our profession’s respect?
If we’re treated like second-class citizens, we need to find ways to change that. If the executives and decision makers feel our results aren’t as measurable as they are in marketing and advertising, we need to show our success is measured in alternative ways. And if the women of PR feel we are underpaid, we need to speak up.
I know it’s not that simple. But maybe if we put more energy into solving these problems instead of moaning about them over and over, we could finally see change.
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