Unlike many industries, the marketing communications industry — specifically, those relating to PR — is very big, very fragmented. You range from the multi-nationals and behemoths to the solo practitioners.
The size of our industry and the opportunity for new companies to spring up quickly (relatively little cost to entry) means that there is competition to (hopefully) keep us on our toes. It also means there are enough poor quality practitioners to give the rest of us a bad name.
In that whole bunch, you get the good, the bad and the ugly.
I firmly believe that most companies operating in PR — whether off line or online or a combination — are good. Honest. Ethical. And, that gives companies a lot of good choices — whether they want an “integrated” firm or one specialized in some way.
But, there’s enough of the bad. Some unintentional and just poor, but honest judgment. But, in the end, they give the majority of the good firms a bad name. Clients feel ripped.
And, then there’s the ugly. Not only poor judgment but seemingly intentional poor work. And work that is readily exposed by the BadPitchBlog and others (granted, mostly in the blogosphere). There’s also the ugly when those in PR bad mouth its own industry or seek to cannibalize it. Fine to be critical, but don’t set out to eat your own kind. There are ethical and unethical ways to gain new business.
Okay, my rant is over.
Mike
