Eric Yaverbaum, Robert Bly, Ilise Benun. Public Relations for Dummies, 2nd Edition

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Management Demands Tangible Results

from Marketing Expenditures

Twenty years ago, if managers liked the way your ads looked, or if they got

compliments on the advertising from their friends and neighbors, they were

happy.

But for the past couple of decades, pretty pictures haven’t been enough.

“What results are we getting from our marketing dollars?” management

demands. “Show me the numbers.”

In Chapter 22, I discuss the pros and cons of different systems used to mea-

sure PR effectiveness. If your management is numbers oriented, use these

systems freely. Also do more direct-response PR designed to generate

inquiries. Submit reports showing how many leads PR generated and the low

cost per lead.

Traditional Marketing Isn’t Working

as Well as It Used To

Many marketers find that current tactics decline in effectiveness over time.

Sometimes the specific promotion isn’t working: Response to an ad drops off

after several insertions. Other times, the nature of the media itself may be the

problem: Direct-mail response rates have declined in recent years, while

postage and printing costs have been rising, making it more difficult for

direct mail to generate a profit.

When current tactics are underperforming, try new promotions. And make PR

one of them. PR can generate significant return on your marketing dollars

alone or in tandem with other marketing communications.

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Desperately seeking synergy

Make sure that the objectives and messages for

all your marketing communications — PR, print

advertising, direct mail, trade shows, the

Internet — are in synch. You don’t want to

negate the impact of a successful PR campaign

by promoting a completely different message in

your print advertising. Very few do this well but

if you do, this is the Holy Grail. When PR is work-

ing with advertising, at the same time and with

the same message, it is the most valuable

investment of your dollar. But you must be part

of the initial conversations to discuss strategy

in order for this to work.

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Your Competitors Get All the Good Press

One of the most dreaded phone calls for any PR professional to receive from

a client or boss is, “Big Magazine just did an industry roundup, and we

weren’t listed. Why not?” The boss, understandably, is upset that journalists

are so unaware of his company or product that they didn’t even mention it in

an industry overview.

The way to minimize such an unpleasant incident is through diligent, vigilant

PR. Motivational speaker Rob Gilbert says, “The way to be there when people

are looking for you is to be there all the time.” You can’t afford to be there

with a paid ad all the time. But by conducting an ongoing PR program, you

dramatically increase the likelihood that editors will think of you — and not

just your competitors — when they’re writing about your industry or product

category.

I often hear people say, “We got lucky today,” when a big story about them is

published in the newspaper or the TV crews cover their event. But if they’ve

been doing PR, it’s really not luck — it’s effort meeting with opportunity. Or

as Pasteur observed, chance favors the prepared mind.

You Need Venture Capital

Public relations can go a long way toward helping you raise money. A few

pages of press clippings in prominent publications, appended to your busi-

ness plan, make an impression on venture capitalists that your carefully con-

ceived projections do not: If you’re already in a high-profile magazine, you

must be a serious player.

You Are Media-Genic

Almost any product or service can be promoted via PR, but some are natu-

rally more promotable than others. If you have a product or service with an

inherent element of fun in it, for example — such as a trend like the Wacky

Wall Walker of the 1980s — you’re well positioned to gain tons of media expo-

sure. You may as well take advantage of it.

Similarly, some people are just more “media-genic” than others. Colorful and

eccentric characters have the edge, so if you’re colorful or flamboyant, don’t

be shy. Use your natural charisma to your advantage in charming the public

and the press.

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You Really Enjoy Working

with the Media

I never engage in PR for PR’s sake: getting my name in the paper just to see

my name in the paper. I value my time too much. When I contact the media to

place a story, it’s because the story will help me achieve a specific business

goal.

That said, if you enjoy media attention, put your natural enthusiasm to

work — in a PR campaign that generates results for your company and your

product. After all, we tend to do more of the things we enjoy most, and better.

So if being in the spotlight is your thing, go for it. Just don’t lose sight of your

business objectives — the end result of all this PR should be more money in

your pocket. Getting your picture in the paper is only a side benefit, not the

main event.

Conversely, if being in the spotlight makes you sweat, cringe, and blink, let it

shine on your company or product, but not you personally. Or hire a

spokesperson to stand under the spotlight for you.

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Chapter 26

Ten Things You Should Never Do

in the Name of PR

In This Chapter

! Being dishonest and inaccessible

! Mishandling media contacts

! Criticizing unfairly

! Sacrificing your ethics

hroughout this book, I give you a lot of the do’s of public relations. In this

chapter, you get the don’ts — ten things you should never do as you

pursue PR for yourself, your business, or your clients.

Lie or Mislead

Rule number one: Never lie to or mislead a reporter. If a reporter catches you

in a lie, she will never trust you again. The reporter will also tell colleagues,

and your reputation as an untrustworthy source will spread. This will

severely compromise your ongoing ability to work with the media, even when

you’re telling the truth.

Stonewall

Rule number two: Never say “No comment” to a reporter. “No comment” is

very similar to “I plead the Fifth Amendment.” In both cases, the other party

automatically assumes that you’re guilty.

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When a reporter asks you a question to which you don’t know the answer or

don’t want to respond to on the spot, the correct answer goes something like

this: “Joan, you know we are always responsive to the media, but I’m not the

right person to give you that information. I’ll contact the right person and get

back to you before your deadline today.”

Procrastinate

As far as deadlines and commitments go, treat journalists as you treat cus-

tomers. Always do what you say you’re going to do, when you say you’re

going to do it. Journalists have deadlines that are not flexible. If you promise

information and fail to deliver it on time, you’ll tick them off considerably at

best. At worst, the story will run without your having a chance to defend

yourself, possibly resulting in a negative portrayal of you in tomorrow’s

paper.

Be Inaccessible

I advise executives at my clients’ companies, including the CEOs, to treat any

call from a journalist as the most important thing they have to do that

moment. Once, I was at a press conference where NBA rookie of the year

Derek Coleman was supposed to appear. Top sportswriters eagerly awaited

the young superstar’s arrival. When he didn’t show, they waited about 40

minutes and then left.

If sportswriters give the NBA rookie of the year only 40 minutes, you’ll be

lucky if the media gives you 10 minutes. When the press calls, you’re of inter-

est to them only at the moment. Tomorrow, the story will have already been

filed, and they won’t even take your return call.

Striking while the iron is hot is the only way to get a steady stream of regular

media exposure. I make it a point to be available to the media 24 hours a day,

7 days a week — whether it’s on Thanksgiving Day during turkey or in the

middle of the night. Most successful PR professionals I know have a similar

policy of being totally accessible to the media.

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Offer a Bribe

Never tell an editor or reporter, “Run my press release, and I’ll advertise in

your publication.” Conversely, don’t call an editor at a publication in which

you already advertise and attempt to bully him with, “Run my press release,

or I’ll pull my advertising.” Most print publications have three departments:

editorial, advertising, and circulation. These are separate departments, and

the PR professional who pits one against the other is making an error.

As a general rule, the top media outlets never let advertising influence editor-

ial situations. As I’m fond of telling my PR clients, no one gets favors from the

New York Times.

At trade journals covering specialized industries or smaller regional or local

publications, publishers sometimes do favor advertisers with editorial cover-

age. But you should never be the one to bring up this idea with the editor.

If a space rep (a person selling ad space in the publication) approaches you

with an offer of special editorial treatment in exchange for placing an ad,

that’s perfectly acceptable. But leave that between the space rep, the pub-

lisher, and the editor. Don’t approach an editor about such a favor directly on

your own.

Turn Up Your Nose

Advertising, PR, and promotion are increasingly becoming acceptable and

even desirable in many industries that, a decade or so ago, thumbed their

noses at it. The obvious example is the increase in advertising by profession-

als such as lawyers and doctors.

If you think advertising is beneath you and unprofessional, PR offers a mar-

keting alternative that enables you to promote yourself, your practice, or

your business in a more dignified and professional manner. Maybe you don’t

want to run commercials on late-night television or have full-page ads in the

Sunday paper.

But how about a weekly column by you on your specialty in the local paper?

Or a speech by you on that same topic at the library, YMCA, or Rotary club?

Even for people who don’t like marketing, PR offers plenty of low-key, soft-sell

marketing opportunities you can like and feel comfortable with.

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Bore People

David Ogilvy said, “You cannot bore someone into buying your product.”

Around our agency, the greatest sin is to be boring. Not because we love cre-

ativity for creativity’s sake. But because in PR, boring simply doesn’t work.

The most boring thing is to do the same PR, the same marketing, that every-

body else does. If everyone’s press releases and brochures look and read the

same, how will one stand out from the other and get noticed? In PR, “same

old same old” is the kiss of death.

People are bombarded by information and media messages today, and most

of it, frankly, is incredibly dull. Successful PR finds or creates an element of

fun in a product, service, organization, or event — one that can gain media

attention while communicating a key message in an interesting, memorable

fashion.

Joseph Kelley, speechwriter for President Dwight Eisenhower, once said,

“Everything God created has a kernel of excitement in it, as has everything

civilization invented or discovered.” Saying that your product is boring

because it is technical or a commodity is no excuse. What makes it exciting

to the potential customer? Something, obviously, or people wouldn’t buy.

Your job is to find that excitement and build a PR campaign around it. There’s

no excuse for being a bore — at least not in PR.

Be a “No Man”

People love to kill ideas. They seem oddly eager to say no or explain why

something won’t work or can’t be done. Saying no whenever someone pro-

poses an idea is a copout. Such a response is too easy. Critics are a dime a

dozen. But in PR, creators and doers earn annual salaries of $100,000 or

more.

A lot of great PR campaigns are killed out of fear. Someone suggests a break-

through idea that’s different — not the same old same old — and top manage-

ment says, “Why take the risk?” Because the greater the risk, the greater the

potential payoff. That’s true in many fields, whether it’s business, PR, or

investing.

I have no patience for critics. At our PR firm, I tell my employees that it’s

okay to have a brilliant idea or opinion I disagree with; what’s not okay is not

to have an idea or opinion. Don’t just say, “I don’t like it.” Say what you would

do instead.

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In her book The 7th Sense, Doris Wild Helmering presents criteria to distin-

guish constructive (that is, helpful and useful) criticism from nonconstructive

(that is, petty, denigrating, and useless) criticism. Her criteria are meant for

general criticism of creative work, but they certainly apply to creation and

evaluation of PR campaigns.

According to Helmering, constructive criticism has three components. To be

constructive, your criticism must have all three components present:

! There is a contract between the people involved. The person who is

making the critical comment is involved with the project, has some

authority, and has been invited to do so.

! The negative feedback addresses a specific issue (for example, “This

article ignores the current slump in tech stocks” versus “This stinks”).

! There is direction for change (for example, “Why not talk about why now

is a time to pick up good stocks at bargain prices before the market

picks up again?”).

Inappropriate criticism, on the other hand, has one or more of the following

characteristics:

! It is uninvited. There is no contract. It is unsolicited.

! The feedback is nonspecific or broad based.

! The commentary is without direction for change.

When giving negative criticism, say what you like about the work before you

say what you don’t like. This approach preserves the recipient’s ego, softens

the blow, and ensures a positive working environment.

In a presentation skills course at Westinghouse, the instructor taught the fol-

lowing method for criticizing creative work. First say, “Here’s what I liked,”

and recap at least three positive points. (If you look hard enough, it’s impos-

sible not to find at least three good things to say about almost anything.)

Then say, “Now, if it were mine to do . . .” and proceed with your list of spe-

cific criticisms. This phrase implies that what you’re telling the recipient is

your opinion, and not an accusation of incompetence or shoddy work on his

part.

If someone gives you inappropriate criticism, especially comments that

attack you as a person or demean you as a professional, say to that person,

“Is there a purpose for your saying this to me?” This response alerts the

person that you’re aware of the demeaning tone and you want it to cease.

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Sacrifice Long-Term Relationships

for Short-Term Results

Many times clients have pressured me, “You’ve got to get this press release

on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Call your contacts there and put

on the pressure.”

I advise against strong-arm tactics in dealing with the press. The idea that

any one story is important enough to jeopardize your relationship with an

editor or producer is a mistake. You plan on being in business for many

years. Well, guess what? That editor or producer plans on being in the indus-

try for just as many years, too. And so will the Wall Street Journal and CNBC

and your local TV news.

In the last several decades, businesses have discovered the concept of life-

time customer value and customer relationship management — that keeping

a customer satisfied for the long term is more important than the immediate

sale or the profits from it.

Treat the press as you would a customer. Don’t place today’s story above the

long-term relationship. If the editor or producer says no and you’ve tried

every conceivable angle to convince them otherwise, let it go. You’ll want to

place other stories tomorrow. Preserve the relationship so that the editor or

producer will continue to be friendly and receptive when you call with your

next idea.

Behave Unethically

You’ll live a happier and better life when you don’t violate your personal

code of ethics for PR or any other business pursuit. In PR, you’ll also be more

successful, because editors and reporters seem to be better able than other

people to spot unethical behavior. If you try to pull a fast one on the media

and they spot it, it’ll backfire terribly.

Other than media sensitivity, why behave ethically in business overall? For

several reasons:

! You get what you give. If you’ve ever been treated unethically, you know

it was an unpleasant experience. People give as good as they get.

Therefore, if you want people to behave ethically when dealing with you,

you should behave ethically when dealing with them.

! Your organization’s reputation is one of its most important assets.

Good business ethics maintain your reputation and enhance this asset.

People who trust you are more likely to do business with you.

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Consultant Paul C. Ritchie notes that, according to a survey by the

Walker Group, when quality, service, and price were equal among com-

petitors, 90 percent of consumers were more likely to buy from the com-

pany with the best reputation for social responsibility.

Unethical behavior, on the other hand, can result in ill will and negative

publicity that mar your organization’s reputation. This behavior can cost

you customers, sales, and revenues and make acquiring the products

and services you need from good vendors at favorable prices and terms

more difficult. Ritchie cites a Business Week/Harris poll in which 71 per-

cent of those surveyed said business has too much power and is morally

responsible for the country’s woes.

“One transgression by one employee can have an enormous impact —

whether it is the liability incurred by not coping properly with an envi-

ronmental problem or the financial penalty resulting from an engineering

failure,” writes Norm Augustine, chairman, Lockheed Martin

Corporation. “Even more daunting is trying to restore one’s collective

reputation once it is tarnished.”

! Adhering to ethical business practices is simply the right thing to do.

For many of us, doing the right thing is important to our fundamental

makeup as human beings, and so we strive to do right — although on

many occasions we may be tempted to stray. Scientist Charles Darwin

said, “The moral sense of conscience is the most noble of all the attrib-

utes of man.”

If you don’t feel a compulsion or obligation to do right, the other two

factors — encouraging decent treatment from others and protecting your

organization’s reputation and good name — will have to provide sufficient

motivation for you to adhere to ethical business practices.

And often, it isn’t. Research shows that many workers these days feel

tempted to do things that border on the illegal or the unethical:

! In one poll, 57 percent of workers surveyed felt more pressured now

than five years ago to consider acting unethically or illegally on the job,

and 40 percent said that pressure has increased over the last 12 months.

! According to a study sponsored by the Ethics Officer Association, 48

percent of employees admitted to illegal or unethical actions. Half of U.S.

workers surveyed by the Ethics Officer Association said they used tech-

nology unethically on the job during the year, including copying com-

pany software for home use and wrongly blaming a personal error on a

technology glitch.

! In a Gallup poll, half of those interviewed said business values were

declining.

! In a survey of top executives, honesty and integrity were found to be the

most important qualities interviewers look for in prospective employees.

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