Yes, I said it. Public relations is for suckers. Yet, far be it from this marketing pro to make a statement and not be able to back it up. If you want to know why your PR business is failing, read on. I have some news for you.
I hate public relations.
And I’m not alone. The public relations industry is steadily declining, and has been for several years now.
One primary reason for this catastrophic failure is that when it comes to an industry that is supposed to be “all about” relationship building, communication and image crafting…public relations is sinking into the abyss of dinosaurs who still believe in cold calling and door knocking as a viable marketing tool.
What was the proverbial meteorite that took out the PR dinos, you ask?
The information age, social media and public relations platforms and tactics.
Part of the steady decline in the PR industry has to do with a perceived lack of value. Excessive retainer fees, murky promises that fade in to lack of transparency and questionable business ethics are leading to the headstone on the gravesite of public relations.
For instance, asking about a client’s budget before asking them about their needs. (Steady tsk tsk to the pros who do this).
Fact: The PR Industry Is Broken
The industry is broken. The model is broken. The bottom line is that cookie-cutter PR processes and schemes do not help the majority of customers. Indeed, the industry itself has been bastardized to the brink of a deadly abyss. In the age of viral video and content marketing reigning supreme, the fact is that there is little need for anyone other than A-list celebrities to use the services of a public relations professional. And people know it.
Why pay for what you can get for free?
Publicity isn’t something you should have to pay for. If you do, the reality is that you probably aren’t very good at what you do, or you are looking for a shortcut to fame. Both way, public relations, interviews and (dare I say shameless) self-promotion are all things you should be able to get for free. Look at it this way, is it more beneficial to pay for a promotional puff piece in a rag that no one reads or has heard about, or pitch a story to a writer for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or even a local paper? Is it better to pay for a radio or TV spot or land an interview on the local news or (better yet) get invited to appear on national radio shows and talk shows who want to know more about your product or service, because of something remarkable you have done?
Hint: The latter is the correct answer. These free methods not only provide you with more exposure, but also lend you far more credibility. The trick is, you have to earn these. And in order to earn these, you have to be the best of the best. That means the best marketing, and the best “publicity”….the sort of publicity you won’t get from a PR firm. Buzz that you (and maybe a team of people like you) can create without ever letting a single dime exit your pocket.
Marketing v. Publicity
Let’s take a brief time out to clearly define the difference – as the difference over the years has become more of a fine line than an absolute.
Marketing: whatever an organization does to already established relationships to take action on its behalf, or to attract a new audience and begin building said relationships…either one resulting in sales.
Publicity: communicating information to an audience, to help them get to know the professionals behind the curtain in the mysterious Land of Oz – in the hopes that relationships can be subsequently built and established.
Yet, once again, the reality of the situation is that today’s audience is getting all of that already from blogs, from content, from infographic and tireless hours spent on Pinterest. So why are people wasting their PR budgets on old, tired PR pros? Stop going to people who want to do puff pieces and go where your audience is. And your audience is on social media, blogs and YouTube….everywhere that PR pros aren’t.
May the world of Public Relations continue to rest in peace.
Originally published on Linked In Pulse
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