Petya GoergievaPetya N. Georgieva is a PR specialist and a blogger who lives and works in Bulgaria. We asked her to blog for us today because we are going to begin exploring the similarities and differences of the communication industry in different countries. Thanks, Petya, for being the first from Bulgaria!

As I am the first Bulgarian PR pro to guest blog at Spin Sucks, I am not entirely sure what you would like to know about the PR industry in my home country of Bulgaria.

I may start with the fact that the profession is a young one and has been getting more popular during the past 10 years.

I may also say that the bigger part of society has the wrong perception on what is is that we do. This is because Bulgarian singers and fashion models pretend they work in the field because they organize parties and cocktails.

I may add that some of the clients that I have worked with have no idea how our industry functions, what its essence is, and how to evaluate success. Hence, I was very often asked the PR pros’ most hated questions, such as: ‘Can you tell the journalist to publish the article about us on the first pages?’.
I may also tell you that I’m still educating our clients mainly on traditional PR. (Not to mention PR 2.0).

On the other hand, I would not like to emphasize all those obstacles that the Bulgarian PR pros are dealing with. The image problems of the profession as well as defining the essence of it are the two biggest issues, which we all face, no matter where we live and work.

That’s why, I would like to tell you that even though the profession is immature, even though we as pros are working with small markets and low budgets, and even though there is still a misconception of our industry, there are still very good PR professionals in my country. They are doing their best to educate the business and the public, to provide quality services, to be creative and effective, ethical and professional.

Slowly but surely the profession is changing its face. As I am part of the younger population of PR pros, I am even more optimistic about the future. I am sure that knowledge, ambition and patience [read also ‘Patience is a PR virtue’] are our strongest assets, which can help us develop and do our job better.

Petya N. Georgieva is a PR specialist and a blogger from Bulgaria. You can check out her communications blog Higher & Higher or follow her on Twitter @pgeorgieva.