How many of you go to cocktail parties and, when you say you’re in public relations, the person you’re speaking with says something along the lines of, “Oh. You’re a spin doctor.”?  And how many of you own businesses that need external PR help but have spent way too much money for nothing in return?

I don’t have proof of this, but I believe, as industries go, public relations is at the bottom of the heap…with attorneys and used car salesmen. As an industry, we have done a horrible job of doing our own PR, as evidenced by the “PR is not publicity. Publicity is not PR.” blog post I wrote last week.

Last night I participated in #SBT10 chat (or Start Blogging Today), as a guest, with moderators Danny Brown, Grant Griffiths, and John Haydon. Never have I so violently been reminded about how unethical, demanding, and just plain old wrong some professionals are in our industry. The first few questions I received were along the lines of, “As bloggers, how do we pitch PR firms so they pay attention to us?” (more…)