Being a PR Pro in the Age of Mistrust

That Solo Life, Episode 273: Being a PR Pro in the Age of Mistrust

Michelle Kane (00:18):
Hello, and thank you for joining us on yet another episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with Voice Matters. I'm my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hey, Karen, how are you doing today?

Karen Swim, APR (00:34):
I am doing well, Michelle. How are you doing?

Michelle Kane (00:37):
Same. Doing well. Doing well. Yeah. I can't believe it. We are well into the fall season and checking towards that end of the year. It's wild, wild times all around is what's happening.
Karen Swim, APR (00:49):
It's wild.

Michelle Kane (00:50):
Hi,

Karen Swim, APR (00:50):
My name is Karen Swim and I am still in PR,

Michelle Kane (00:56):
Isn't everybody these days, it feels like, and that's kind of what we're going to cover today. I'm sure many of you will nod at this. Do you ever find that sometimes you think people think, oh, I could do that job, or I know how to say things, I can do your job. And how does that factor into really the credibility of our industry, the credibility of really something that's been rampant these days of what people are willing to believe? The loss of trust has been going down considerably, I would say within the last decade. Would you reckon?

Karen Swim, APR (01:34):
It has been. I mean, we've even seen it with the trust measurements, like the Edelman Trust barometer, that trust in institutions has steadily been declining. That includes employers. People don't trust organizations, they don't trust hospitals, they don't trust the media. And it's created to me that lack of trust has allowed for these factions of people to create a reality that fits their own perceptions and beliefs. And so they reinforce that by simply dialing into people that believe the same thing. And some of those things are wildly untrue, but that doesn't matter. And so this breakdown of trust scares me a lot. It's one of the biggest issues facing humanity in my mind. I'm not sure how we regain that trust or if we can or if we have to create something different so that people once again, trust in something.

Michelle Kane (02:42):
Yeah, I mean, it's bad for society, right? It's just not healthy that so many people groups can have a different version of the truth. And I think the internet has brought wonderful things, but the internet has also brought, what's the word? A level playing field where you can put forth anything, whether it's satire or fact. And like you say, whether it's by algorithm or by our own choosing in what we search for, we can just be nice and comfy in our own reality. I'm sure you and me and many of our listeners might have come across people saying, Hey, how about that insert news story? And it might strike you as what? I haven't heard of that. What are you talking about? And over time, you realize apparently they've come across some misinformation, and yet it's getting increasingly difficult to discern. And let's face it, as a society here in the US, critical thinking is not exactly at the top of things that are taught. And that's really coming back to bite us.

Karen Swim, APR (04:02):
It is. And you hit on a really important word, and that's misinformation. And we talk a lot about it because it's so rampant. But I do believe that misinformation and lack of trust are completely interwoven.
(04:19):
And the lack of trust causes misinformation to spread even faster. Because again, people don't, it's not that they don't only trust organizations or institutions, they don't trust truth. So if you say something that is 100% true, it's factual, it can be verified, it can be checked. Those people who are choosing not to believe that truth can say it's all lies. And AI adds to this because now we have artificial intelligence. And so people can claim that this has been manufactured and that your truth is not my truth. We can present them with credible news outlets and they'll say, no, those are fake news outlets. These are the true ones, and they're actually not. And that has made the job of public relations inherently more difficult and more challenging because we used to be fighting against misinformation like Miss Mal disinformation in a way that makes sense. And now we're fighting against ideologies. And those ideologies run so deep that people are willing seemingly to suspend reason and logic to latch on to whatever reinforces their deeply held beliefs.

Michelle Kane (05:43):
And good luck with that. And at the same time, it makes our jobs in PR so much more challenging. It also makes what we do so much more important and vital to the people we serve. And we're increasingly up against that, right? Staying on budgets, making sure that we have a seat at the table. How often have our clients started to go down a road and you're like, whoa, how did we get here? What's happening without our council? And so that is just certainly, we just have to keep at it. We do, because it is that important. I mean, no, we're not doing heart surgery, but our role is vital. And in the end, it will be helpful. And in the end, which I know companies want to hear this, in the end, you may feel like you're spending more. You're going to not only save money, you're going to be healthier for it. And I

Karen Swim, APR (06:44):
Can't agree with you more that brand trust and reputation are things, and these are the things that I feel are, there's misinformation about our jobs. People don't understand it. So for example, today I went onto a social network and I typed in public relations because I was looking for posts about public relations or from public relations people. What I found was a string of posts from just very different people, just regular consumers, no PR people whatsoever. And all of it was about in some way in their mind that something had happened because public relations had failed or because public relations had lied about something. And of course, none of it was anything that we as PR people are responsible for. And it just shows that if there is that level of misinformation about our jobs, there's an equal level of lack of understanding about the true role that we play. And you're right, Michelle, it's people want to look at the bottom line only. And I'm not saying that what we do doesn't impact the revenue of companies, but there's something that's even deeper than that that I think companies often fail to recognize and put to the side what happens when you don't have a protector of the brand?
(08:07):
What happens when you don't have a structured strategic expert counselor that's managing the trust of your audiences? Because we do that. When you take that away, when you take away your protections, when you take away the people that protect you from crises and are proactive and have systems in place and know how to do this job, we're not just digital people that get you stories on online outlets. It's so much more than that. And if you take that away, you may not realize it in month one or month two, but you will realize it the moment that something doesn't go to plan, ha ha ha. Which is we can control none of things, but now you have no mechanism to deal with it.

Michelle Kane (08:59):
So true. So true. And the word you mentioned was stories, right? We are storytellers at the base, and I don't mean making a fables,

Karen Swim, APR (09:10):
Yes,

Michelle Kane (09:11):
But we are the crafters of the story that companies present. And what does that mean? That means this is who we are. This is what we do. This is how we make your life better. This is how we impact our world. That is so important. And it's so much more than trying to cobble something together themselves, because I feel like I say this way too much, but people in these companies, they already have a job, and that job should take the bulk of their day. So it's okay to need help telling your story. Now, you might have in-house, that's fine, but there's nothing more important than letting your audiences know who you are, what you stand for, and what you offer. Well, how else is that going to happen? Except with communicators?

Karen Swim, APR (10:06):
I mean, I think that we as public relations professionals, our industry needs to do a much better job about elevating what we do

Karen Swim, APR (10:15):
The level of public perception. We have to educate. We have to advocate, we have to speak up. Our voices need to be heard a lot louder because they are not being heard right now, and we're being overshadowed by what people think it is that we do. And we don't have time to play around these days. There's so much on the line. And the decisions that we're making today and that companies are making today, and the way that we're seeing trust ot, this is not just an impact for right now. It's not just, oh, well, it's election season, things get a little chaotic. No, these things are going to have a ripple effect for many, many years to come. And again, this terrifies me.

Michelle Kane (11:05):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there's an adage that I'm going to butcher, but you can spend 25 years building your brand and building your story, and all it takes is 10 seconds, one sentence, one thing that can just undercut it all. If you haven't built a proper foundation.

Karen Swim, APR (11:22):
100% agree. And it's like anything, when you want to tap into something, you have to deposit into it first. You can't tap an empty well, so trust to me is like that. And it means a series of things that you do. It's not just what you say, it's who you are. And it's having people that are going to hold you accountable for staying true to who you are as a company. And that includes the little things that sometimes people don't think about. It's what are you weighing in on publicly? What are you doing behind the scenes? It's all of those little decisions that are made sometimes in departments that overall as a company you may miss. But PR people do not miss that. And they ask these questions, and they're going to keep you accountable because you want to continue to deposit in that bank of trust, because then if someone does say something that doesn't align with who you are, what you value, who you have really purported to be as a company and demonstrated that you really are as a company, your audience will rise up in defense of you. And more importantly, your audience will not give in to the false narrative because they know who you are. Like, no, that's not them.
(12:40):
But these days, we can't even get our own employees to trust us. I mean,

Michelle Kane (12:45):
That's an issue

Karen Swim, APR (12:46):
For sure. That's a problem.

Michelle Kane (12:47):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I've had a front row seat. I'm sure you have too, to a lot of that, right? And experienced it yourself where you're told one thing, but your experience of it is completely different from the words that came out of a superior or point person's mouth, and you think, we see and hear you. This is not good, and this is going to trickle throughout your company. Don't think that people don't see they get it. They absolutely get it, and you just can't do it. And another point of, yeah, our skillset as professionals, our industry does need to do a much better job because it's not just going down this list of tactics, and I'd love to hear how you feel about this, but there's just something innate in those of us that choose communications that you just have a sense of the direction to go and what is and isn't, right. And it's difficult to textbook that, right? It's not like you can go to the psychological evaluation, oh, you're a code 3, 3 0, 2 0.3. We can't quantify it that way, I think, which makes it far more difficult for us to establish. Yeah, we are a profession. I've got the college bills to prove it.

Karen Swim, APR (14:08):
I think what people forget is that in any job that you do, and this is why it's so damaging, when tenured people leave an organization and you haven't gathered and documented their knowledge, you do something. And as you do it, you perfect ways of doing it. You have experiences that impact your approach. You have knowledge from things that you've learned that maybe you haven't put that down on paper, but you know it because you have these experiences that have helped you to become more adept at doing your job. So we forget about that institutional knowledge that comes along with being a PR professional, which is something that you're speaking to now. So you're right. It's not just the things that we learn in school or learn from our certification, it's the actual doing of the job and that knowledge that gets acquired by actually practicing this profession. That's something that, that's where a lot of our value lies is because we have that, and each of us has it in a different way depending on your experiences and the type of work that you've done. But it's not to be diminished because that is where you really, really get that expertise and that ability for people to give you strategic counsel that's so deep and so robust because of that institutional knowledge.

Michelle Kane (15:35):
So true. Couldn't think of a better note to end on. Karen. Well, we hope you found value in this today and our time together. Please do share it around. Hit us up@soloprpro.com for more podcasts, or if you have a question or if you have a topic you want us to cover, please do let us know. And until next time, thanks for listening toThat SoloLife.