There have been a series of interesting posts, comments, and opinions regarding why PR doesn't work and why so many CEOs have a bad taste in their mouth at the mere mention of public relations.
Industry veteran, financier, and marketing evangelist Guy Kawasaki sparked the latest thread with his post, guide to "do it yourself" PR penned by , CEO of
With titles like that, you better believe it's going to ruffle some feathers and bruise egos with every new comment, link and blog post.
Truthfully, there are 1,000 reasons why PR doesn't work and there are also countless reasons why it does. There are also times where DIY works, to an extent, which eventually evolves to require an internal team or an agency - depending on the goals and reach of the campaign.
According to Guy's first post, who in turn is sourcing Zable Fisher of ThePRSource5 - The client and the PR person or firm are not a good match.
6 - The client has not gotten results quickly enough and ends the relationship too soon.
7- PR people don’t explain the kind of publicity placements a client will most likely receive.
8 - Clients don’t realize that what happens after you get the publicity coverage is sometimes more important than the actual placement.
9 - Clients refuse to be flexible on their story angles.
Clients get upset when the media coverage is not 100% accurate or not the kind of coverage that they wanted.
10 - Clients won’t change their schedules for the media.
Well then, let's just hang up our hat trying to refine our client services or management brown-nosing, as we've finally figured out how to strip PR down to such a basic sense of parity, that if we could get these top 10 questions answered or figured out, that we could solve the industry-wide plague of bad PR.
This really seems to make sense to those that subscribe to the belief that there's no such thing as bad PR. Nevertheless, PR is not a commodity - but bad PR is available anytime, anywhere.
Good friend, Dave McClure, seemed to capture
6 - Most PR folks have no clue what the hell TechMeme techPR for PR People
1- Realize this as your number one priority...just because you show up to work and do your thing doesn't mean you kick ass in anything other than maybe, just maybe, deserving to keep your job.
2 - If you expect to represent anything, whether in an agency or in a company, spend a significant portion of your time figuring out why it matters to people - on your own time. This is the difference between PR and good PR.
3 - Figure out who your customers are and where they go for their information. This forces PR to mirror sales strategies in order to reach the people that could benefit from said product/service. Different people go to different places for information. First determine where you want to be and then work backwards from there.
4- Read the blogs, magazines, newspapers, forums, newsletters, etc., that reach them and understand how to translate what you do in a way that matters to them. This is the only way to be successful in running PR in the long tail. People within your target markets share experiences, pains, and wants that are unique to each group. By reading, you're participating. And by participating, you're better staged to engage more effectively than the rest of the flacks.
5 - Read # 4 again.
6 - Don't speak in messages, spark conversationsembracesocialmedia
9 - When working with reporters, bloggers, analysts, and other influencers, spend a significant amount of time understanding what they write about, to whom, and why. Then take your story and align it accordingly. One story no longer applies to the masses.
10 - Once you understand what it takes to make the story more compelling to the varying markets and the influencers that reach them, then and only then, think about press releases. One press release doesn't carry across the entire spectrum of customers any longer. Figure out the core value proposition and then write several different flavors based on the needs and pains of your target customers and how you help them do something better, easier, more cost effectively, that they couldn't do today.
11 - Set goals with the executive team of the company you represent. Based on the previous points, you have to ensure that your activities align with their business strategy. Ask them to define success month-to-month, so that you can all agree, in advance, what it takes to move forward. Create the PR program that will help you acheive those goals. If there is anything outside of your control that stands in your way of success, then do what it takes to fix it. If your spokesperson is horrible, then either train them or tell them that you need someone else. If the product/service isn't wowing people, find out why and what it takes to compell people to use it.
12 - Communicate progress regularly, document milestones, and showcase successes. PR often suffers from a lack of "PR for the PR." If you don't demonstrate success, who will. By communicating progress, status, and feedback, then you can consistently prove your value to those that underwrite the PR program.
Company Executives
1 - Understand first, what PR is and isn't. All too often, businesses expect PR to perform miracles simply because they confuse it with advertising, online marketing, media buying, search marketing, etc. PR can't guarantee legitimate coverage in industry publications - no matter how tight the relationship. If PR promises it, then they're lying. I leverage relationships daily to consider stories that I package in a way that's most relevant to them. Most of the time it works because I take the time to make it valuable to respective markets. If I took advantage of my contacts to force coverage whenever I needed to deliver on a promise, then it would mark the beginning of the end of my relationships.
While I won't compare PR to each branch of marketing, I will say that PR IS NOT ADVERTISING. Reporters and bloggers don't stop what they're doing to write about your company, just because we send them a press release. They're bombarded by PR people all over the world. Stories are cultivated. If we respect them, do our homework, and help highlight the value of a story, coverage is imminent. If you want guaranteed exposure, buy an ad.
2 - Don't under value PR. PR, when done right, is extremely valuable to company branding, which has immeasurable benefits in the long haul. Customers have choices and if you're not consistently vying for their attention, it's pretty easy to fall off their radar screen when they evaluate options. Too many companies nickle and dime PR to the point of absurdity. Don't get me wrong. Expensive PR doesn't equal success. But short changing PR is usually a first step in the wrong direction.
3 - PR is not a switch. It doesn't go off and on whenever you have the time or budget to throw at it. The market moves too quickly, and if you're not actively participating in it, you'll quickly find that company sales and site traffic will begin a downward spiral that may or may not recover.
4 - In most cases, coverage doesn't just happen. PR is like farming. The more seeds you plant, along with the time you spend watering, caring for, and feeding them, your crops will grow in the form of coverage over time. While some things such as news, etc., force information out quickly, other stories take time. And when they appear, they help raise brand visibility, drive some people to buy, and they also spark others to consider writing about it - which in turn also influences the cycle to replicate. Don't assume all of this coverage happens simply because you are a popular company.
5 - Just because you created the product doesn't mean you're the best person to sell it. I've worked with some of the most passionate executives that just don't click with the people they're trying to engage - no matter how hard they try. Suck it up and get a spokesperson who can help tell the story to the people that will help grow your business.
6 - Understand that PR is only an umbrella for the specific communications initiatives that will help you reach complementary, simultaneous goals. For example, corporate branding and product marketing require different campaigns.
7 - No matter what industry you're in, realize that the most popular blogs, newspapers, or magazines are only one part of the process. Your market is divided by adoption and buying behavior and documented through a bell curve rich with chasms that represent the technology that people can use to reach customers in different ways, a cluetrain, and hopefully reflected by a hockey stick that forces you to evaluate what to do from Inside the Tornado. Yes, of course this was meant to be funny...but it does show that one program no longer serves the masses when you deconstruct it by the markets and the people that comprise it.
This means that you have to embrace both new media and traditional media in PR. For example, in the tech space, TechCrunch, Mashable, Venture Beat, Read/Write Web, et al, will yield measurable traffic so great that most of the time it will knock out company servers. Every executive wants them. CEOs cry8 - Engage in social media. We live in a "social" economy and the only way to succeed in it, is to participate. BlogEmbrace online videoPodcast new updates, customer successes, ideas for new product uses, etc. Cultivate user generated content. If relevant, build transparent profiles in the social networks where your customers can find and support you. Hire a community manager. In the new world of social media, new PR can be complemented through the efforts of someone who can actively represent the company in all things social so that they can provide proactive information and support to people looking for guidance in the communities they frequent. Don't market to them, have conversations. 9 - Support your PR program and feed it as you do any other branch of the company. Respect it when it works and let your team share in the success. Don't focus on the shortcomings. Extend congratulations as goals are acheived. 11 - Meet with your PR team regularly to communicate realistic goals and measure progress. Paint a real world picture of what success looks like each month and listen to the reports to see if they are indeed attainable. You get out of PR what you put into it.
12 - Agree upon metrics in advance. All too often executives lose sight of what PR is designed to do. The right coverage is invaluable, even when it doesn't translate into visible hits, traffic spikes, or sales. Super Bowl ads, for example, rarely pay for themselves in the short run.
Realize that a proactive, intelligent and consistent PR program will contribute to the bottomline. It shouldn't be solely responsible for company success or failure.
Metrics can be in the form of specific targets every month, registrations, lead generation, links, and now, conversations. Matthew Gary Publicity for small business Mike Global Jeremiah Dave Gino
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