PR is All Around

Public relations is tough. For one thing, it is not easy coming up with a sustained campaign. But even more than that, the amount of competition is almost overwhelming. Every entity that puts forth a service or product is doing all it can all day, every day to promote itself. It is all that those of us on the receiving end of these non-stop messages can do to keep track of all that exists in a particular field; never mind trying to figure out which cereal, for instance, is the best or which toothpaste actually makes our teeth whiter. This represents the challenge of public relations as it relates to promoting "things."

This does not touch on the public relations work each of does on behalf of ourselves. The challenge of that far exceeds what any manufacturer faces when devising campaigns to boost sales. As journalist Will Storr observes in his most-interesting book, "Selfie," all of us are, "to some degree, anxious and hyperactive PR agents for our selves." Such effort revolves around the concept of trying to determine what others think of us. Regardless of our individual morality, I do not believe there is a single person who does not contemplate strategies on a daily basis that they believe will influence others to think of them in a positive way.

With the world population now in excess of 7 billion, that means there are billions of self-directed PR agents that go to work every day promoting the single product that means the most to them: themselves. Even if that person works as a public relations agent and has clients they have been assigned to promote, you can bet they are in all likelihood putting more energy into promoting themselves. After all, each of us is the hero or leading man or woman in our lives. We all want our hero to succeed, do well and have others like them as much as we do. Whether we like it or not, public relations is all around us.