Some people think that public relations consultants are only for damage control. But if it comes time to recover from something, perhaps it is too late. Instead, employing a public relations consultancy right from the start of a company or career could be the wisest decision you could make for yourself or your business.

Frankly, if some of the recent politicians who have been in the news as of late had just asked a public relations consultancy before doing some of the things that they had done, they would not be in the situation that they are now. No, Mr. Weiner, you should not text that.

Public relations is all about making sure that the general public sees you precisely how you want them to see you. For examples, you can find some public relations websites to see who their clients are. When you see the list of clients, think of the image that comes to mind when you think of that person or company. Now remember that it is all a specific and calculated image.

While the person or organization may be doing other things in their private lives or their business once the lights are off, we only know about their one image that they have worked so hard to show us. That is why it comes as quite a shock to the public when some things get exposed. Like Apple working its Chinese workers to death. Who would have thought to expect that from Apple?

A public relations consultancy can be as much about a bad image as a good image. Think of people like Colin Farrell in the early 2000s. He had the bad boy image, and people loved him for it. He was famous and got plenty of movies. I am not saying that it was all for PR, but it is highly possible.

While the bad boy image is difficult to portray without getting a negative light cast on you, it is possible. But the pseudo negative image requires the utmost care and expert assistance. After all, you do not want to end up like Miley Cyrus. Let Ms. Cyrus be the most important lesson that you learn about PR.