Good PR vs Bad PR

What is good PR vs bad PR?

What con­sti­tutes good pub­lic rela­tions doesn’t have to be complicated.

Here’s a simple mat­rix to keep things straight:

Good PR vs Bad PR

Only PR prob­lems can be fixed with PR. Some prob­lems aren’t PR prob­lems, they’re just problems. 

Doing the wrong things + Saying the wrong things = Bad PR

The PR func­tion will only accel­er­ate the organ­isa­tion’s inev­it­able demise.

Doing the wrong things + Saying the right things = Bad PR

The organ­isa­tion’s lead­er­ship must adhere to stra­tegic advice from the PR function.

Doing the right things + Saying the wrong things = Bad PR

The organ­isa­tion’s lead­er­ship must reform or replace the PR function.

Doing the right things + Saying the right things = Good PR

The PR func­tion must main­tain stra­tegic advis­ory and good communication.

Read also: Good PR vs Bad PR

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What does this mean?

This means that you can fix pub­lic rela­tions prob­lems but can’t fix organ­isa­tion­al prob­lems (bad products or ser­vices, uneth­ic­al prac­tices, illeg­al prac­tices etc.) with PR activities. 

Every now and then, I have to point out that some organ­isa­tion­al prob­lems aren’t PR prob­lems; they’re organ­isa­tion­al problems.