Public Relations is one of the best steps a company can take when sharing its brand and vision with the world. An effective PR campaign yields that all-important 3rd party endorsement, and can help a company tighten its message, strengthen its reputation, and ultimately build its bottom line.
Too often companies that could be successful with the right PR fail. Why? While there are many potential reasons, as a veteran with over 16 years in the industry, I thought I’d share the three most common.
Starting too late.
More often than not, a company comes to the PR game much later than they should. Often times an organization will think about the value of PR only after they’ve missed an opportunity or they see their competition dominating in the press.
In the build up of a big company launch or an important product announcement, PR should be one of the first tools in your tool belt. PR is a patient man’s game, and great PR is built on a solid foundation of messaging, strategy and execution, all of which take time.
Sometimes there are extraneous circumstances outside of your control such as budget, executive buy-in, or product development delays. But those things aside, you should ideally look to begin PR activities and/or engage the right PR firm at least one month prior to a big news announcement.
Planning for a project, not a strategy.
One of the worst mistakes a company can make is to consider public relations as project work. The right PR is a well-calculated strategy that maps back to overall business goals. It is a force multiplier that builds upon itself, and much like a barge in the water it takes a while to gain momentum but once it does it is hard to stop or change direction.
Putting out a message, such as announcing a launch, funding, a customer win, or new product and then going silent for long periods of time is worse than never having made an announcement at all. In a post dot-com world, the press is hesitant to pay attention to companies until they have demonstrated some long term traction. Journalists have reputations to protect as well, and too many have been burned buying into the latest craze only to see the company they hyped yesterday fizzle and die tomorrow.
For these reasons, PR should be considered a long-term relationship. By all means, regularly evaluate your PR efforts and representation to determine if they are working for you. If not, work to find a solution rather than choosing to stop completely. Often a simple tweak or redirection can work wonders for a stalled PR campaign.
Setting unrealistic expectations.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret that most PR professionals won’t tell you, at least not when they’re trying to win your business: you’re not as great as you think you are. Some of the most skeptical people you’ll ever meet in the world are journalists. They’ve seen it all, they’ve heard it all, and they won’t believe your claims unless you have actual facts to back them up. This makes the job of a PR professional a hard one—particularly with small start-ups who have yet to build any real traction in the market.
PR is not sales, and journalists do not respond to marketing speak. If you are a brand new company with only average funding numbers and few customers to speak of, it is a rare thing that you will capture the attention of a Wall Street Journal or a New York Times. Those kinds of stories take time to build, starting with creative pitching, relationship building, and a slow drip of information and milestones shared with the right reporter.
Too often companies discount the value of the trade press that cover their market, or look only to large broadsheets or syndicated broadcast to tell their stories. In today’s media-saturated environment, you may find that a targeted blog or small trade journal will reach your core customer far better than a large national publication.
When companies have unrealistic expectations, they often wind up disappointed and stop before their PR campaign has had the time to truly grow roots.
Setting up for success.
Building a great relationship with your PR agency will help you avoid the pitfalls mentioned above. The right PR partnership will help set realistic expectations while also delivering creative and out-of-the-box approaches to sharing your message. When done right and given the time to flourish, PR is an effective tool that can successfully define your brand and create momentum that builds upon itself.
