Boosting PR's credibilty - is it as simple as changing its name?

We all know how powerful language can be. But have you ever stopped and considered what damage the term "public relations" might have on our profession? Now, because of my internship, I certainly have. 

When I met the Director of Corporate Affairs (CA) for Alcoa, along with my supervisor (Manager Corporate Affairs), I was quizzed on my education and degree. Both had studied at Curtin University some years ago, my supervisor in Marketing/Communications and the Director in creative writing.

I was asked what my degree was called "these days". When I answered "public relations", the Director let off a little giggle and a look of disbelief as he processed my answer. My supervisor commented that this was a surprise given that spin doctoring is strongly associated "public relations", in which the CA head then agreed.

This had me a little confused. We have been taught that as PR professionals that a major challenge for our profession to trying to gain credibility in the corporate arena and eradicate misconceptions of spin doctoring and press-agentry. However, how can that ever be achieved if key players in our own industry still associate public relations with such misleading terms?

A few days later, in a meeting I was asked to sit in on, a point was raised that the generic contact for the department will be changed from "PR" (before the remaining address) as it is outdated and no longer represented the name of the department (which is now called Corporate Affairs). I agree that "info" or "queries" is probably better suited than "PR", however it  got me thinking even more about what public relations really meant in the corporate world.

It began to dawn on me that maybe the issue isn't necessarily with our profession, but rather the term "public relations" as we struggle to gain credibility for our role in business. Think about it. There actually aren't many jobs advertised with the term "public relations", but rather jobs titles (and even departments) tend to refer to communications, corporate affairs or specific PR fields such as employee or media relations.

It's an interesting question. Should we be advocating our profession as communications rather PR professionals? Does "corporate affairs" or "communications" suggest a more strategic role in an organisation than "public relations"? Admittedly, it probably does.

So maybe, as part of the efforts to improve the credibility and promote a more strategic function of PR professionals, we should look at the language we use. After all, language and sending the right message to our audience is (one of) our specialties, right? Who knows, maybe in 20 or 30 years' time, when we are all experienced  professionals in the field, public relations will be an old term and we'll tell our interns that back in our day, our degree was called public relations.

I'm not suggesting that we should stop calling ourselves PR professionals or any radical action. It's just food for thought. But I am suggesting that you start challenging what you think you know and looking at PR from a different view during your internship. Also, keep in mind the wide range of job titles PR professionals are qualified for when looking for jobs. Chances are, your first job out of university will be some variation of the profession!

Language; The Bridge and The Barrier

Before I begin, I’d like to thank my classmate Gunadevi Chengalaram (also known as Lorna) for giving me the idea to blog about this experience after I shared it with her and a group of friends. I hope you will find it as interesting as they did.

I wanted to share a bit about the importance of communication in public relations. We all know it is a vital part of the process, but to what extent? A lot of our attention and focus is given to the technical part of drafting correct and innovative PR briefs in university classrooms, but the truth is once you are on the field, the way you communicate and share your ideas are almost as important as the idea itself.

The most basic example of this is perhaps the most challenging part of my internship- the language barrier. When I pick up the phone and say, “I’m calling from Blast Communications…” and follow up with a bunch of technical words and questions in English, the most recurring reply I've had is, “What? I can’t understand, can you please repeat?”  

Being a student with Mauritian roots who has lived abroad for so long, I find it hard to master the local language, Mauritian Creole, and even French at times. My education has mostly been conducted in English. While it is the official language in Mauritius, I cannot necessarily speak to all journalists and head of companies in English.

In order to truly relate to a group of people, the best approach is to use their native tongue, so as to make them comfortable. Sure, using English will get you places and people will be able to understand what you are saying. But this does not mean you have made a connection with that person, and they might not go out of their way to help you or to get tasks done on time. Some might even think that you are trying to make them feel inferior by using a language that is widely spoken, but that they are not necessarily comfortable with.

Language therefore acts as both a barrier and a bridge, depending on how it is used. I’d encourage all undergraduates to avoid using complicated terminologies and jargon when on the phone with people, and to bear in mind that creating a relationship with the person on the other end on the line is the first step to getting the task at hand done. 

Sasha-Lee Marivel