Why PR is Underrated

Lapses in communication

PR requires a bit of tenacity to get right. I am still trying to come to terms with it. The key is understanding public relations is actually communication and not hoping for anything more. The goal of the PR is actually to create another level of communication between him / herself and the client and him / herself and the designer so that they can understand each other because they do not speak the same language.

Which sounds pretty simple. But it isn’t. Because the nature of the business person who values PR, marketing and advertising means that they are generally incredibly busy. They are also generally not the best communicators. They are, after all, business people, and not PRs.

The nature of the designer or creative is generally an acquired taste. I mean that with respect- it is a statement of fact, not a judgement. Designers usually cannot follow more than one train of thought or instruction, and they usually get all caught up in whatever they are working with at the time. They read but generally do not respond to requests, and may very well be actioning them, they just don’t communicate that to anyone until they have finished. While most professionals use their professional know-how to educate and inform clients when their expectations are unreasonable, designers will refrain from communicating this and scoff at the ignorance of the client.

Here are my tips at surviving a career in public relations:

1. Use a numbered list when communicating more than idea at a time
PRs, it appears, have a bit more of a capacity to work through an email which contains more than one instruction / piece of information. Clients and designers do not. While the art of crafting a paragraph is a skill appreciated by PRs, journalists and media professionals, it throws an invisibility cloak over itself when seen by the eyes of a designer or small business owner. Use short sentences. Do not use bullet points. Use a numbered list. Where possible make the list a different colour. Despite these tips you will find it only on very rare occasions that anyone ever makes it to the end of the list. When that happens, record date and time. For the rest of the time, refer to point three. The logic? While neither may be able to work from top to bottom, they generally both understand numbers.

2. Chasing the deadline is your problem
Regardless of whether the designer misses the deadline or the client never supplies the vital parts of the project. Don’t just tell them both when the deadline, lay out your expectations and hope for the best. On some very important occasions it may serve you to go to the place of work of the designer. And remain there until the project is finished. Really.

3. Follow up on number one because of number two
Yes, there are only three things. Three nearly-impossible things to achieve and survive times x clients times x designers times x projects. Ha ha.

Note- I use the words generally and usually a lot in this blog post. The use of these words is intended diplomatically, not to demonstrate generalisation, because they generally apply to all designers and business owners I have worked with to date, and because I would like to continue to work with them going forward.

Bogey Wonderland

Toddlers cry for many reasons: hunger, tiredness, pain, or to deliver an opinion with impact, among many. Toddlers are also notorious for behaviour commonly referred to, in some circles, as tantrums. Scientists have yet to identify a primal need fulfilment associated with, or caused by, tantrums. Psychologists have raised numerous hypotheses, opinions and suggested coping mechanisms for the emotionally draining experience of the aforementioned state of being. After bearing only one child, who has reached the ripe old age of 19 months, I can say with confidence that I have discovered the physiological reason behind the Throwing of the Tantrum.

Toddlers, without the rather acquired skill of nose-blowing, coupled with the tendency to force obstacles up into, as opposed to out of the nasal cavity, require a reasonable force with which to rid the nose of boogers that multiply on a par with household bacteria. Enter the opportunity to rinse the nose with salt, tears and excess mucus, while break dancing hysterically on the floor. Never in my life have I seen bigger boogers emerge from my daughter’s very cute, but oh-so mucky, nostrils as after a championship Throwing of the Tantrum. And never in my life have I been faced with so daunting a task as the clearing of the child’s nostrils. It generally requires both parents, a cotton bud, reams of tissues and one hell of a fight before the parents retreat from the task tail-between-legs and the toddler is left in a crumpled, tantrummed mess on the floor. On closer inspection, there is something more to the scene though: the willing exit of the offending booger, moving in and out of the nostril in time to the child’s breathing. One wipe... and one clean nose.

While the information contained herein is based on no scientific evidence, and completely on lay observation, I do hope that it will, in some way, give hope to the parents who fight day-in and day-out to perform the mandatory duties such as nose cleaning and nail cutting. And, to those at the end of their tether, perhaps there is a reason behind the tantrum, that serves everyone...

On Marriage

AKA wedlock (rhymes with headlock)
Why is it, when a happily-living-together couple is blessed with the news of a third life entering the equation, the ever-so sensitive topic of marriage has to enter the fray?
The ring: my absolute favourite! The close-up Hollywood scene of eligible bachelor kneeling down with little box in hand, slowly opening to reveal multiple-carated ring to the gasp of soon-to-be fiancé…what is that? Is the size of the ring over compensation for little man syndrome?
The dress: favoured by traditionalists and dreamt about by girls from knee-height onwards, oh the white dress? Come on? In this day and age? Let’s all get over ourselves.
The handover: from father to be husband, does she really need male guardianship for her entire life?
The definition of self in relation the man: why is it that so many women take such exuberant happiness out of being Mrs. so & so?
** Note: these are not entirely rhetorical questions; if someone out there really does have one or more of the answers, I would love to be enlightened.