Sometimes I read posts on PR blogs that probably should be renamed, “Melanie, you NEED to read this now!” Case in point, the post “Global…in a most American way” on The World’s Leading…, a UK PR gossip blog and a match made in heaven of relevant topics for me.
As an American who is moving to London to further a career in tech PR and possibly working with UK bloggers, it reinforced for me how different our worlds really are and how careful Americans have to be while working the UK PR industry.
PR is such a dirty word here. It’s a profession where the bad overshadows the good 9 times out of 10. (I’ve found that the general public doesn’t pay attention to the “good” PR; it’s my belief that they don’t even recognize it when they see it.) There will always be a skepticism associated with the profession. This is especially true on the Internet, where everything is documented, there’s no such thing as anonymity and people are even more skeptical of ulterior motives. My question is, is it even worse in the UK?
A big part of what I do is blogger outreach, something that’s been going on in the States for about three years, but has not really hit the UK (yet). It’s a tactic that I think is in the mail, but needs to be approached with extreme caution and careful observation. There are plenty of Americans who “get it,” but not that many who “get it” according to UK standards. That’s something that has to be worked on.
I realise this post is a bit rambly, but right now a lot of what I’m thinking is based on speculation. There’s really no way for an American to understand UK PR until they get over there and experience it for him or herself. In the beginning, the most important part of my experience will be to do just that: to experience, but also to observe. There is no way anyone can hop right into a different culture and expect things to work the same way. It’s a naiveté that most cultures are guilty of.
