Becoming One with Your Client

Many times when I tell people I work in PR I get a variety of responses. “Oh, so you work in advertising?” or “what exactly does working in PR mean?” This got me thinking-- what exactly is it we do in PR?

As PR professionals, our main goal is to secure coverage for our clients. If our client is a new brand of cereal we want them to be in all sorts of cereal newspapers and magazines. As PR pros, we are the extension to our client that most people see. As a result, PR and the client must be one. The PR department needs to know the ins and outs of the client company. They also need to know how the CEO thinks and what types of things worry him or her. Their worries must become your worries; their success is your success, etc.

The client/PR relationship is vital on both sides. The client needs the PR to spread the word and open doors they cannot. The PR pro needs the client because without a client there is no PR. Like all good relationships, when two forces become one they become stronger than imagined.