Seth Godin is offering a great description of public relations.
Most PR firms do publicity, not PR.
Publicity is the act of getting ink. Publicity is getting unpaid media to pay attention, write you up, point to you, run a picture, make a commotion. Sometimes publicity is helpful, and good publicity is always good for your ego.
But it’s not PR.
PR is the strategic crafting of your story. It’s the focused examination of your interactions and tactics and products and pricing that, when combined, determine what and how people talk about you.
“The strategic crafting of your story” sure sounds a lot like what we do advertising. I wonder what Godin’s definition of advertising is.