Heartland Media & PR

How often have you heard that a great philanthropist ‘shuns publicity’?

So-and-so has done laudable things but ‘shuns the spotlight’, preferring to work away in the background.

That’s great.

It may even be true in some respects. But not all.

For a start. How do you know they are notoriously publicity shy?

How do you know about them at all, if they are constantly in the background, working magic in a cave?

Ready-made personas are not ‘buy- off- the- shelf and fit’. They are crafted, over time. Very often in a very deliberate and very strategic way.

There are many ways to craft a persona.

Perhaps appearing publicity shy, to the outside world, is your bag.

But it’s not just a happy accident that the wider world begins to know and understand that that’s your thing.

Individuals, companies, causes, no matter how big or small, can develop an interface and relationship with the media that helps to get their persona out there, which ever persona they choose for themselves.

That could be kind, philanthropic, ambitious, weird, the next big thing, pioneering, willing to challenge orthodoxy, a disruptor, a dictator (yes, some might want that) or whatever.

For a business, it may be ‘trustworthy’, ‘fast’, ‘cost effective’, ‘local’- the qualities they want their name associated with.

Rarely does this fall into place totally by accident.

In most cases it requires values, clarity: how do we want the world to see us? How can we maintain that persona or reputation over time?

And after the thinking is done (and you do want that persona to be seen beyond your family and the dog), you need a messenger.

Today, the winged Mercury messenger is media (in all forms and guises).

This is part of what PR is. If you want to grow beyond your own four walls, you need to be seen outside of them.

Crafting and managing the message. Fine tuning the ‘persona’. Shielding it from external harm.

All of this is tied up in PR and it’s why people or businesses, who want to be seen and seen in a positive light, need PR - and people who know how to do it.

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