15 Minutes Of Fame
November 20th, 2006
Why does most PR start with a rush of anticipation that leads to a crushing disappointment? Because it is a charade. Client sees name in print, client is elated, client gets no business, client realizes: All I gained was 15 minutes of fame.
What passes as a component of marketing is really just an exercise in egoism. The dirty little secret of the classic PR process is that it’s all about making the client feel like a star: “Look Mom, I’m on TV.”
To be effective, PR must be rethought. No binders of clips. No talk of “getting ink.” Only a singular focus on how to drive media coverage to Google searches and websites and quickly into qualified leads. Everything from the brand to the message to the website to the sales team must be tightly orchestrated and connected to make PR more than a gimmick. The problem is, this is almost unheard of. Does the PR firm know the sales organization? Have they ever even met a living, breathing salesman? Do they know what salespeople do? Do they care? No. No. No. No.
The very idea of a PR firm is preposterous. Unless PR is built into the fabric of the marketing process, it is relegated to the glamorous shell game of generating those very expensive and highly ineffective 15 minutes!
Mark Stevens,
CEO
November 21st, 2006 at 1:31 pm
I agree with your post - too often the results of PR are fleeting due to the approach taken by PR firms who get focused more on the “sexiness” of having your name in lights, rather than aligning the strategy with sales goals. If done effectively with the goal of driving traffic to points of contact and generating sales, it can be highly effective. The other WOM, word-of-media can be just as strong as word-of-mouth due to it being be perceived by the reader as third-party endorsement and/or coverage.
November 22nd, 2006 at 11:49 am
[…] Mark Stevens, best-selling author of “Your Marketing Sucks” (one of my favorite books) wrote a post on his blog about how your public relations efforts can turn out to be a huge disappointment when not aligned with your sales goals. After all the anticipation, all you get is 15 minutes of fame and nothing to show for it. Your photo showing up in the paper may seem great at first, but if the coverage doesn’t drive action, it’s nothing more than just your photo showing up in the paper. Today, businesses and PR firms staying on top of today’s technology (and in-tune with today’s reading habits) are leveraging news SEO, channel sites, and bloggers to push out their message to intended viewers. According to Pew Research Center, the audience for online news has jumped from 2% to 31% of Americans and the audience for nightly network news slipped from 42% to 28%. 75% of journalists search the internet for previous stories on their subject. […]
November 24th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Rajan,
Thanks for your comments and the write up in your blog. You got it!
Mark Stevens
CEO
November 28th, 2006 at 11:42 am
You’re right on the money Mark! Too many PR initiatives are about corporate egos and not about the accountability of the bottom line. The beauty of incorporating SEO with “Push and Pull PR” is that you get the brand value as well as lead generation.
November 29th, 2006 at 8:43 am
Exactly Lee. Traditional PR people don’t even know what “lead generation” means. They think It has something to do with string theory. But of course, they have no idea what string theory is either.
Mark Stevens
CEO