Public relations has a reputation problem.
When most people think of PR, they picture crisis management, damage control, and spin — a team of consultants hired to make something bad look good, at enormous expense and with questionable honesty. It’s a perception that dogs the entire industry, and frankly, it’s not entirely undeserved. High-profile cases like the Bell Pottinger scandal — where a firm was found to have created racially divisive propaganda campaigns on behalf of a client — reinforce exactly the kind of distrust that makes business owners hesitant to invest in communications support at all.
It’s enough to make you think PR needs its own PR firm.
But that version of public relations is not the only version. And it’s not ours.
What Most People Get Wrong About Public Relations
The crisis-and-spin model of PR gets the most attention because it makes the best headlines. A celebrity needs a statement. A corporation needs a narrative. A politician needs a news cycle managed. These are real services that exist, and some firms specialize in exactly that kind of work.
But the vast majority of organizations — small and mid-sized businesses, nonprofits, professional services firms, community institutions — don’t need crisis management. They need something far more useful: a clear, consistent, credible public presence that builds trust with their customers, donors, partners, and community over time.
That’s the work we do every day. And it looks nothing like spin.
What Ethical PR Actually Looks Like
At Jaggers Communications, public relations means helping good organizations tell their story clearly, consistently, and honestly — to the audiences that matter most to them.
In practice, that work begins before a single press release is written. We start by helping clients clarify their own business goals. What does growth look like for your organization this year? Who are your best customers or constituents, and how do they make decisions? What does your organization genuinely stand for, and is that coming through in how you communicate?
Those conversations shape everything that follows. A media strategy built on a clear understanding of your goals will always outperform one built on guesswork or generic best practices.
From there, we build integrated strategies that connect public relations with marketing, social media, and content. Earned media doesn’t live in a silo, and neither does your audience. Your customers are reading your newsletter, following you on LinkedIn, and occasionally catching a mention of your work in a local publication — and all of those touchpoints should tell the same story.
Why Honest Communications Is Also Good Business
We feel strongly about truthful practices, but the argument for ethical PR isn’t only about values — it’s about results.
Trust is the foundation of every lasting client relationship, every loyal customer, and every media relationship that produces ongoing coverage rather than a single transactional mention. When a journalist knows that your organization delivers accurate information and keeps its word, your calls get returned. When your customers know you communicate with them honestly, they become advocates. When your partners see that your public presence matches your private reality, they refer business to you.
Firms that traffic in spin may win a news cycle. Firms that build genuine credibility win over time.
There’s also the practical matter of what happens when dishonest PR strategies unravel — and they do unravel. Bell Pottinger, once one of the most prominent PR firms in the world, collapsed entirely after its racially divisive campaign in South Africa came to light. The firm did not rebrand. It ceased to exist. The reputational damage to its clients was severe and lasting.
Integrity in communications isn’t just the right approach. It’s the durable one.
What Working With an Ethical PR Firm Looks Like
If you’ve been hesitant to invest in public relations because of what you’ve seen or heard about how it works, here’s what partnering with Jaggers Communications actually involves:
- We listen first. Before we recommend anything, we want to understand your organization, your goals, and your audience.
- We set realistic expectations. PR is a long game. We’ll tell you what’s achievable in 90 days, what takes six months, and what takes a year — and we won’t promise coverage we can’t deliver.
- We measure what matters. Impressions and placements are useful data points, but we care more about whether communications activity is actually moving the needle on your business goals.
- We tell you the truth. If a strategy isn’t working, we’ll say so. If there’s a better approach, we’ll recommend it even if it’s a harder conversation.
Ready to Work With a PR Firm That Works Differently?
If your organization is looking for a communications partner that will help you grow — ethically, strategically, and sustainably — we’d love to start a conversation. Jaggers Communications has spent more than a decade helping Charlottesville-area businesses and organizations build the kind of public presence that earns trust and drives real results.
interesting for me to consider the challenges of attracting specific and different audiences and building communities of and for different kinds of people.