PR and your expectations

At Tarte Advertising, we feel that Public Relations is one of the services, that when executed properly, can make great differences to a business's bottom line. However, if expectations are out of line, then the positive can be masked with negativity.

I read a great article not too long ago from Mike Schutlz. I found it to be extremely informative for our business and thought that it had some great points to share on PR and the expectations that you should have. Below is a bit of recap of what Schultz talked about along with my own thoughts/ideas that we have gained over the past few years.

Truly, you can't know what to expect in advance with PR. Sometimes a PR campaign can take off immediately with one release or pitch, and other times it can take upwards of 6 months. You can land a story in the Wall Street Journal or on CNN.com, and not have any leads from it. You can land a small blip in your local paper and generate several sales from it.

However, there are a few things that can help to determine the success, or failure, of a PR campaign.

1. How interesting is your story? This will make a big difference to the media, prospects and buyers. Take a step back and asses how interesting your content really is to people other than you.

2. Are you (or your agency) implementing your PR tactics properly? Are you talking to the right people, sending releases and by-lines to the proper journalists at the right time? Avoiding mistakes is crucial in determining success in your campaign.

3. Are you being realistic with the financial investment of your plan? Many people think that PR is free, but that is not exactly true. It is true that you don't pay for a story in the paper the way you pay for an ad in the paper. However, if you have only given your agency enough to write and distribute one local release, then your chances of gaining something, such as a lead or a sale, are minimal. If you budget enough to put together a strategic plan that will last over a period of time, then success is much greater possibility. Work with your agency to figure out how much is realistic to be investing. If you are doing it yourself, be realistic about the time you need to invest. Your time is money.

4. Have you been working at your campaign for long enough? Stay at it - sometimes it can take a while. Keep in mind that even though you land one or two stories, it doesn't mean you are going to get your next two immediately. Be patient and stick with it.

5. What kind of relationship do you or your agency have with the media? In the PR world, relationships are everything! Realize that journalists at most media outlets are receiving many releases and pitches every day. A good agency or PR pro will know who to contact and how to contact them. How will they know this? Because they have built a relationship with the media and know what they are looking for.

6. When you look at the rest of your marketing efforts, how strong are they? How often are you blogging? Are you sending out regular email newsletters? Is your sales collateral and website up to date? PR typically can't stand alone without other marketing efforts (we believe it goes the other way too - marketing can't work without some PR). Why spend time and money driving traffic to your website when the content is dated and no longer pertains?

7. How strong is your brand? A publication is much more likely to publish a study from Harvard Business School than from Jimbob's Community College. This is something that can take time, especially if you are a small business, but the more you work at it and the more you keep the media informed on what you are doing, the easier this will get.

8. Consider what else is going on in the media at the time of distribution or the event you are promoting. Is there an Election taking place that is filling most pages of the paper? Is someone important coming to town that the media will need to interview? Is the economy in a slump (this is important for right now)? Has the media published a similar story recently? All of these things should be taken in to consideration.

Above all, do not expect to know what is going to happen or how it will all pan out. You have to just jump in with two feet and go for it. PR can, and will, work and knowing what to expect will help you not become frustrated when things don't go the way you thought they would.

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