Public relations is an eclectic mix of disparate analogies

by Matthew Weigand

I have only worked in public relations for a few years. I come from a background in web development and journalism. So in my relatively short time in this industry I’ve been struggling to summarize it in one analogy, because, well, communications is at the heart of everything I do, but also because if I can explain it better I can probably do it better.

But it hasn’t been easy for me to sum up what it is that we do here at Insight Communications. Of course I can list the tasks that I accomplish in any given day, but to summarize them all up into one phrase takes a little more thought. One of the reasons is because what I do now seems so different from my experiences in my previous professions. In journalism, the end result is a story that you publish somewhere. I have worked at a couple of different magazine companies, so the end result was a monthly magazine, a physical copy of 4 weeks of work, sitting in hand. That has a finality that can easily be appreciated. In web development, the end result is basically a virtual magazine, weightless, and yet with a lot of statistical information about how many people look at it, how long they spend doing that, where they come from, and any number of other factors that show the real, tangible results of your work.?

But public relations is a more intermediary profession. These days I serve as a type of middleman between companies that hire our services and the journalists that create content in the way that I used to. I seem to spend all my time sending information back and forth – stories to journalists that may or may not use them, and reports to our clients about what journalists are or are not doing. The work feels more gossamer, with less definitive results.?

After some years pondering, though, I realize that we offer some important intangibles to our clients – we offer an assurance that their reputation is being taken care of in the best way, and that nothing too bad will happen. In that sense we are like security – we are on guard against something that may happen rather than specifically producing tangible results at this very moment. We guard against a loss of reputation.

We also give another intangible benefit. We act similarly to a concierge at a hotel. Not every company hires a public relations firm, and not every hotel has a concierge. But for those that do have them, there is better communication between guests or stakeholders, more assurance that unexpected events in the lobby will be taken care of, and always someone on hand to ask about the latest gossip.?

Finally, with more life experience I have learned to recognize that a second perspective is more valuable than gold. Another head outside of any given situation can always provide invaluable advice and perspective that a person simply cannot get on their own. Even the best boxer needs a coach. I have lost count of the times I’ve made a grammatical or spelling mistake when writing my own pieces, even though I am ostensibly an editor for my colleagues. No matter what method I use, I can’t completely separate what I’ve actually put onto the page from the version that’s still in my mind. I need a third party critique in order to polish the work. We all do. So a public relations firm offers invaluable outside insight that a company structure simply cannot provide, much like a boxing coach.?

So now, if I have to sum up what Insight Communications does for companies, I go with a mix of analogies. We are security guards, concierges, and coaches for your company’s communications. We got your back three different ways!