I was at a party the other day and chatted to a man who wasn’t convinced of the value of PR. He said he could see how it might influence other people, but that when it comes to his decision making process he couldn’t see that he would ever be influenced by something so artificial. Consumers might be easily swayed but he wasn’t so gullible. I am paraphrasing, of course, in fact he was very positive about my profession and keen to hear why I believed otherwise.

A few days later I was out with one of my best friends. She knows me better than almost anyone, but we seldom talk about work. I was telling her about a project I have been working on and she was surprised how in depth and specific our involvement is with our clients’ businesses.

Two unconnected people, both of whom work in specialised fields where technical knowledge, new research and best practice are crucial: so where do they get their information? Seminars, trade journals, internal communications, national newspapers, television, radio, peer review – I don’t know, perhaps even round the water cooler – one thing is for sure, a good proportion of what they glean from the outside the world has passed across the keyboard of someone like me.

I am not suggesting that PR practitioners can or should control what information is in the public domain. Simply that when we do it right, we can help to get information out there so that professionals like my friend can form their own opinions. I acknowledge that there will always be some stories that are overlooked and that some businesses cannot invest in the services of a PR company or a press officer, but for those who can it can really help them to reach the attention of their industry.

Ours is not a dark art. Even when we are managing a crisis and helping a client to limit the damage to their business, we are still in the business of providing facts and answering questions. Most of the time we work closely with journalists to provide information so that they can represent as broad a spectrum as possible in their publications.

I’m not sure that I managed to convince the man at the party that he has been influenced by PR, in particular media relations. Maybe I should have tried to convince him instead that he hasn’t. After all, he brings his own experience and knowledge to everything he absorbs – all we do is make sure our client gets to put their point across.