Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-nrx9f-13fcc40

Are you weary of people calling themselves PR professionals who seem to be storytelling their careers? The few who talk a good game, leaving a trail of disgruntled clients? In this episode we talk about ways PR practitioners – from those new to the profession to seasoned pros – can represent our profession well.
 
Transcript:
Michelle Kane (00:02):
Thank you for joining us for another episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters, and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen, how are you today?
Karen Swim, APR (00:19):
Hey, Michelle. I'm doing great. Solidarity to the writers who of this recording are on strike. We stand with writers, hang in there WGA, we hope that you get what you need and deserve. And if I were in California, I would be out there with you on the picket line.
Michelle Kane (00:42):
I fully agree. Fully agree. I hope that the WGA gets everything they are asking for because they are the backbone of all of the projects on which they serve.
Karen Swim, APR (00:54):
Yes.
Michelle Kane (00:55):
You know, if you like watching things where words come out of people's mouths, <laugh>, you need to thank the writers.
Karen Swim, APR (01:02):
Absolutely. And that's kind of a funny segue. I mean, serious topic, but yeah. Writing, storytelling. Hmm. And PR peeps who might be storytelling their careers just a tad too much.
Michelle Kane (01:20):
Just a little bit. Yes. We're going to to carefully edge into these waters. I'm sure we, you'll soon be nodding listeners, these people that come into your path, these self-declared am I going to say the word, the G word, gurus, the people that come across as very flashy, but you soon find out there's precious little substance, however they present themselves as seasoned PR professionals. And, you know, it just really, it doesn't do any of us any good. It's not a service to us. In fact, it's a disservice of the hard work that truly seasoned professionals put in. And you know, I say this a lot and I think just as technology grows, and I'm not even talking about AI, I'm talking about the Canvas of the world, the people who, “I have a MAC, I'm a designer.” That whole mindset of you can do anything. Well, yes, but to a point. To a point. Even though, we're not licensed, we're not doctors. We don't get to call ourselves “Dr. PR professional,” there's still a lot of training and experience that goes into doing what we do well.
Karen Swim, APR (02:41):
There should be yeah. And I mean, while we have the APR credential and some people do have a degree in comms, the access point to practice the profession, like so many these days is, is very low. You could just set up shop and call yourself a digital PR person. I came up in PR from a very non-traditional way. And the reason that I pursued my APR is because I wanted to have that foundation. I wanted to have the language, I wanted to have the breadth of information to be able to really practice as a professional. So this discussion today is not saying that you have to go the traditional way in order to be a professional, but what we are imploring people to do is to strive to be a professional.
Please do not be out there, as Michelle said, calling yourself an expert, calling yourself a professional, calling yourself professional when you can't even write a PR plan. There are just some things going into running your own business that you really should know how to do. And you should know how to do some of the things well. You don't have to know how to do everything. You don't have to be perfect at everything. If social media is not your jam, that's okay. You can partner with people to walk you through that. But if you do not know how to research, plan, implement, evaluate, notice how I used RPIE. Please learn. Please learn. I beg of you to go learn. This came out of previous discussions because I think it's very frustrating when people who take this profession so seriously and do consider ourselves to be professionals, when we see questions coming from other people, or we see content being produced by other people that we know is not at the level of professionalism it can be very, very frustrating. And people get very angry about that and they feel as though it diminishes the entire profession by bad actors.
Michelle Kane (05:17):
Indeed, indeed. And like you said, there is a huge difference between aligning with or putting people on your team to fill certain roles at a professional level. That's not what we're talking about. I spent some time as an account executive at an ad agency, and really that's been my model ever since. You are the person, you are the hub, you build the strategy, you work with all of the players to make things happen. And of course, you know, I'm also a writer, so I wear that hat as well, which comes in handy. But I noticed