Why PR Matters to the Everyday You

Why PR Matters to the Everyday You

The following is an excerpt from “The PR Fix for the Everyday Person” © 2013 by Jenny Fujita and Joy Miura Koerte.

Have you ever been caught up in a drama with family, friends or co-workers? Those incidents usually boil down to what someone told so-and-so about someone else who told the next person, and so on.  In the midst of it, you feel like you’re back in high school, where everyone is acting pouty and impulsive.  One of the reasons we celebrated our high school graduations was to be done with those shenanigans!

When you think back to the times in your life when you had conflicts with others, the root issue almost always came down to one thing: bad communication. Inevitably the wrong thing was said at the wrong time in the wrong way. Or the wrong thing was heard at the wrong time in the wrong way.

Alternatively, if you think back to the most wonderful times in your life, those usually involved positive communication. The first time you said or heard “I love you,” when you said, “I do,” when you read the offer letter for the job or school you wanted, or the first time your baby smiled at you.

Since we have no recall on words or expressions though, and since communication is so impactful in human interactions, the way we communicate is critical, whether we’re talking, displaying body language, listening, or writing.

When people hear the term “public relations” they usually think of a consulting service that’s provided to a company or celebrity to shape up their image, promote them, and help them talk to their respective audiences.  Well, public relations is just as important for the everyday person. It will only serve you to have a great image, to present yourself well in public, and to be able to communicate positively with the most important people in your life (your spouse, parents, children, boss, in-laws, etc.). If you boil PR down to its essence, that’s all it is: relating well to your publics. That’s what we teach our clients to do every day through our work at our PR firm. And that’s what we teach you to do in “The PR Fix for the Everyday Person” © 2012.

PR has gotten a bad rap for being “spin,” presenting a fake image, or lying to people. This is not the case.  Good PR is about putting forth who you really are in a positive way.  It’s about knowing yourself — the good, the bad and the ugly — but maximizing the good and minimizing the bad and the ugly.

PR is also about mindful discretion, both in our words, tone, and body language. We all get in trouble in life when we gossip, make assumptions, exaggerate, react impulsively, scowl, roll our eyes, stay silent when we should speak up, or speak up when we should be silent.

Often, we are so embroiled in our emotions, defending ourselves, or justifying our words and actions that we don’t even know how we’ve gotten ourselves into a mess, and we certainly don’t know how to get out of it. As your personal PR consultants, we’re here to give you concrete tips, scripts, and actions to help you live a happier, healthier, conflict-free life.  Communication is that powerful. So we’re going to tell you how to get your PR fix and use it well. More to come!

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