Seven Common PR Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Here are seven common errors, with advice on how to avoid them.

Unfortunately, it usually doesn’t work that way.

Marketers tell us that people go through at least four predictable stages in deciding to buy a product or support a cause. The stages are awareness, interest, desire and action.

PR is most important in the first two stages, helping generate the awareness and interest that is essential for any action. However, PR becomes less influential the closer people get to taking action.

Understanding this basic concept is essential. PR is important, but it will not change things overnight, make up for a poor product or service, or sell your product or service by itself.

What did Bartlet do? He totally ignored Cregg’s sage advice and called on the “forbidden” reporter immediately.

Since it was a TV show, everything worked out fine, but this is not always the case.

Unfortunately, too many companies are like Bartlet and ignore the advice of their PR consultants. Like other professionals, good PR people have a particular way of looking at the world. They have developed skills and talents, have a radar for good stories and potential landmines, and can bring a great deal to the table.

Ask for, and respect, their opinions. You’ll be better off for it.

This syndrome manifests itself in assuming that everyone will be interested in your news, no matter how mundane. This fixation also shows up when you treat reporters as if their sole purpose is to tell your story.

In reality, most of the time the media will be only slightly (if at all) interested in your news.

However, reporters are often working on overview and trends articles, or are looking for an unusual twist, a human-interest angle or the “next big thing.” These reporters need people to give them ideas, provide information and explain the big picture.

Be that person, that resource, and you will reap the reward of ongoing coverage.

Oh, and kill that news release about version 3.003 of your product.

Studies increasingly show that companies with a larger “share of discussion” than their competition become more successful. The discussion, the publicity often comes first; the success follows.

So most companies really can’t afford to ignore PR or to relegate it to an untrained person.

The success of your company may require that PR be on the front burner. If it is not there now, move it there today.

Practicing some basic techniques and doing some mock interviews can make a world of difference. Often an outsider can help this process.

Even veteran spokespeople sometimes have problems. President George W. Bush was recently asked what his greatest mistake was. He said he couldn’t think of anything, a response that struck many people as arrogant.

Soon afterwards he was asked the same question again and had a response. The second time was a charm, but many people only remember that first “non-response.”

The result? A few months later, the company had to “re-introduce“ itself when it had another product to announce. The company was repeatedly in start-up mode and remained in second place in its marketplace.

The moral of the story: avoid “stop-and-go” PR.

That generally is not enough.

It’s true that PR people write news releases, but they do much more to generate publicity – everything from bylined articles and product reviews to podcasts and presentations.

I have formally analyzed the publicity for companies and their competitors. In every case, the companies that consistently utilized a wide variety of PR tools got the best media coverage.

One comparison was particularly dramatic. The first company did a good job with its announcements. The second company got less coverage for its news releases, but maintained its visibility through contributed articles, reviews, speaking engagements and other means.

The result: the second company was perceived as the industry leader; the first an “also-ran.”

Don’t limit yourself to barebones PR. Expand the scope of your program.

For a free consultation on how you can avoid these and other PR mistakes, contact me. 510-656-8512, kay@communicationsplus.net

©2006, Communications Plus

I grant you permission to reprint this article in whole or in part, as long as the following credit appears with live links to my Web site and email address: “Reprinted with permission from Kay Paumier of Communications Plus, www.communicationsplus.net, info@communicationsplus.net.” Please let me know where the material will appear.

—Kay Paumier, Communications Plus