The Public Relations Society of America announced this week that it’s planning to enhance the profile and prestige of the Accredited in Public Relations (APR) Credential.
In an article titled, “Should PR pros get accredited?” on PR Daily, I talk about how accreditation helps separate the contenders from the pretenders. That’s because public relations is an experience-based profession, meaning that you learn more on how to do it outside the classroom than inside. As a result, it has a low barrier to entry, and anyone can claim they “do PR” without an education of the basics.
Let’s take a look at media relations (e.g. pitching), what a lot of people associate PR with. Many so-called PR practitioners will promise only media coverage for their clients. But all accredited professionals know that media coverage alone is not a goal or objective, it’s simply an output.
Thus, it’s unfortunate that a few bad apples can spoil perceptions about the profession, an example being Facebook hiring a PR firm to plant negative news about Google. I’m hopeful that as more professionals earn their accreditation, the perception of PR–both internal and external–will be much improved.
I network a lot. I’ve even given three presentations on how to network. I always recommend that meeting people in-person will bring you more success than meeting online. Of course, I supplement my networking through social media tools like LinkedIn and Twitter, but nothing beats face-to-face interaction.