Most reputational problems don’t come from one big mistake. They build up in small, ordinary moments - things that seem minor at the time.
Someone says something quickly without thinking it through. An email goes out and half the people reading it don’t really understand what it means for them. A leader stays quiet, assuming everyone already knows what’s going on, when they don’t.
When PR isn’t thought about deliberately, things can get messy, and that’s often where the problems start.
Just because you’re not calling it PR, doesn’t mean it’s not happening
Most businesses don’t think of themselves as “doing PR”. They’re not sending media releases or chasing headlines, so it feels irrelevant. But in reality, PR is already playing out every day, in how people communicate, how leaders show up, and how decisions are explained (or not explained) when things change. In other words, you can be doing ‘good’ PR or ‘bad’ PR.
There are a lot of misconceptions about what PR is and what it isn’t.
For some people, the term still brings to mind ideas like spin, fluff, or stepping in after something’s gone wrong to make it look better. That perception hasn’t come from nowhere, but it doesn’t reflect what effective, ethical PR actually is.
Short-term spin might grab attention or temporarily pull the wool over some people’s eyes, but it doesn’t build trust. And it certainly doesn’t sustain relationships over time.
Good PR is honest. It’s consistent. And it’s grounded in reality. It’s about helping organisations communicate clearly and act in ways that match what they say they stand for.
In practice, PR is simply how your organisation shows up.
It’s how you communicate.
And it’s how people experience you, day in and day out.
That experience is shaped just as much by behaviour as it is by words. Whether you use the term “PR” or not, all of this adds up to a reputation, one that exists regardless of whether you’re actively managing it.
Where PR is already happening in your business
Once you start looking for it, PR shows up everywhere.
How leaders show up (or don’t)
Whether it’s LinkedIn, industry events, or internal channels, people notice leadership behaviour. Visibility builds confidence. Consistency builds trust. Silence or mixed messages can create uncertainty very quickly. This isn’t about turning leaders into content creators and building a personal brand. It’s about whether people trust what they’re seeing.
How complaints and feedback are handled
Every complaint is a reputational moment. How quickly you respond, the tone you use, and whether people feel heard often matter more than the issue itself. A defensive or delayed response can undo goodwill far faster than most organisations expect.
How change is communicated internally
Change is where communication gaps really show. When staff hear things externally before they hear them internally, trust takes a hit. And internal trust issues rarely stay internal for long.
What happens to your values under pressure
Values are easy to talk about when things are going well. They’re tested when decisions are hard, timelines are tight, or scrutiny increases. People notice when actions don’t line up with words, and they notice when nothing is said at all.
All of this is just PR happening in real time.
However, when no one is being deliberate about PR, it doesn’t usually fail in obvious ways. It just becomes fragmented. Communication decisions get made in isolation. Teams do what feels right in the moment. Over time, the picture people see from the outside starts to blur.
PR is about strategic thinking
At its core, PR strategy is about making deliberate choices about how your organisation shows up, communicates, and protects its reputation for the long run.
It answers some very basic, but often unspoken, questions, like:
What do we want to be known for?
Who actually matters to our business?
What do we say yes to - and what do we stay quiet on?
Who speaks for the organisation, and when?
What happens when something goes wrong, or changes quickly?
Most organisations don’t struggle with doing communication. They struggle with deciding.
PR strategy gives you a shared reference point, so communication decisions aren’t made on instinct, urgency, or whoever happens to be closest to the issue at the time.
Without a strategy, PR tends to be reactive by default. At HMC Communications, this is what we see time and time again. PR works best when it’s treated as part of how a business operates, not something you scramble to think about when something goes wrong.
Most organisations are already shaping their reputation every day. The question is whether that’s intentional, or accidental.
