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Straight Talk About PR
Anybody who's seriously interested in building their brand has to master public relations. Unless you're a mega-entity in your category with more money than you know what to do with, you're not going to get much traction just advertising. Don't get me wrong. Advertising can be a powerful tool in maintaining, refreshing, and defending a brand, but as they say at the War College, "It ain't the infantry."
Public relations professionals are the "grunts" who take hills in the brand-building wars. (Apologies to those readers who get queazy with these military metaphors.)
Brand is a lot of things. A promise. An identity. A history. But mostly it's a story. A long story that has attracted more than a few listeners. Any good story must be crafted. And your story has to have a point. It has to be memorable, credible, and durable. If you do your job well, that story is going to stick around for awhile.
Make sure it's the truth. But don't be afraid to make the truth interesting. One of the things I learned while reading Mark Twain is that the truth tends to be a bit boring. It's mighty tempting to gussy up the truth a bit to enhance its "interesting" factor. Obviously, this can come back to bite you and it takes a very long time for a bite like this to heal.
Writer Matthew Stibbe offers great advice on developing effective Press Releases on his blog site. I'd urge you to read the comments, too. One young PR writer was forthright enough to express depression in response to Stibbe's admonitions. This person is probably going to go far.
She or he has figured out that doing PR effectively is tough. Like most things that are difficult, the effort is worth it.
Journalists and their editors need good story ideas. Like most people, they appreciate someone who approaches them with some understanding of their needs.
Stibbe's blog is a good read. I've been following it for awhile. Unlike many blogs out there, what he's got to say isn't just interesting, it's also useful. He practices what he preaches.
Posted on July 13, 2006 08:03 AM | Permalink
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