PR fails?

We don't need to get started on the perceptions of public relations. Everyone has their own opinion on the business. Despite what you may think of it, public relations can be very successful in achieving a company's goals, which is why I was intrigued by a recent post of reasons PR doesn't work.

Huh? Why wouldn't it work?

The list is basic but helpful and it seems that everyone can relate to at least one reason (take a look at plethora of comments! Like I said, everyone has an opinion).

Reason number 1 struck a chord with me: the client doesn't understand the publicity process.
Although I'm weary of narrowing public relations down to just "publicity," I agree that this is a common concern when a relationship between a client and an agency goes sour.

My first client account developed this way. The client hired my team to produce a specific material, my team produced it and then to our surprise, the client was disappointed with the final product. We were left aghast, shocked at how quickly our services had gone from praised to pulled. Not because the final product wasn't well done; it was. The reason for the fissure was that the client didn't understand the purpose of the material and how it would be used to attract media coverage. Frankly, it was also lazy of us to assume that the client understood the purpose of the product without discussion.

One problem I have with this list is that it only concerns "media relations," yet the term is never mentioned. Media relations does not equal public relations (if you don't believe me, read this post!)

It also only addresses ten problems from the agency's point of view. Most of these reasons put blame on the client for being too ambitious or ignorant. Only one of the ten makes a public relations firm fully responsible for the less-than-perfect client relationship.

I imagine a top ten list on why PR fails from a client's perspective would yield different results.