As a follow-on to our recent discussion during the #SoloPR Twitter chat, this  guest post is from Atlanta-based #SoloPR community member Tiffany Rogers.

As a solo public relations professional, people always ask me, “What is PR, and what exactly do you do?” Depending on the person I am talking to I give them one of many answers, in a way that they can understand.  It is amazing that I do not already have one generic answer on reserve.

One evening as I watched the movie “Hancock,” Jason Bateman’s character described publicists as “Image consultants who change the way people see products, companies and people.”

That got me thinking. While I wouldn’t agree that “publicist” and “image consultant” are necessarily interchangeable titles for the same job, I would agree that the two rub shoulders.

After a little research, I created this infographic to show how PR pros who are publicists and image consultants compare to each other:

So while image consulting is not exactly the same job as public relations, PR professionals can use image consulting practices to do their own job better.

As a solo PR pro do you see yourself as an image consultant? Do some of your daily duties mirror those of an image consultant? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

This post was contributed by Tiffany Rogers. Tiffany is CEO and senior publicist at the Ephelis Agency. She assists business owners and entertainers in creating meaningful client and community relationships to spread their message and brand their image. You can connect with her online or by following her on Twitter @TRBizLady.