The 5 stupidest PR tactics

Author: Don Crowther

The 5 Stupidest PR Tactics That Almost Every Company Tries
Want to make sure that the resources you spend on public relations (both time and money) are spent effectively?
Then avoid, or at least very carefully weigh the downsides, as you consider the following commonly-used PR tactics.
(Note: some of these are going to strike a nerve. There are many publicists and PR professionals who have created job security for themselves by constantly executing these very tactics. And there will be many who will point to one specific time that they've used this tactic with unquestionable success. But this raises the question - what about all of the other times?)
I invite us all to consider the ultimate aim of any marketing-related resource expenditure. Isn't it to increase sales? Therefore, I believe the true measure of any resource expenditure, including PR, is whether or not it increased sales, and more importantly, whether that same amount of resources, if spent on some other tactic, (perhaps even outside of the PR arena) would have increased sales to an even higher level, both short and long term.
Based on this, I present my list of
The Five Stupidest PR Tactics:
1. Big Events
Publicists love big events. Events are a great way for them to charge off a ton of hours coordinating, arranging and staffing an event. And, unlike other PR activities, events have a clear feeling of success - the CEO can walk around, see the milling crowds all happily nibbling on $10 per serving jumbo shrimp, get slapped on the back by all of the other corporate execs as they congratulate themselves on a successful turnout, and feel "now here's a PR expenditure that finally delivered."
But did it?
The key isn't in the attendance, it's in the press coverage afterwards, and more importantly, in the sales that did or didn't result from the activity.
Frankly, it's very rare to see increased sales from a big event.
For example, the Six Flags theme parks, are running a commercial where an old guy does some amazing dancing to upbeat music. It's a pretty good ad that's probably creating increased park attendance. But in Chicago they recently held an event where they did an old guy look / dance-alike contest.
And they actually got picked up on at least one Chicago station's 10:00 news.
But here's the key question, will they get additional park traffic because of the event? (And be sure to separate the event effects from the advertising effects.) I believe the answer will be no, or at least not enough to pay for the several tens of thousands of dollars in resources that went into that event.
The one possible exception to this argument is events surrounding new product launches. But this raises the question - if the product was really that good, wouldn't it have gotten close to the same level of press without the event?
2. Sponsorships
Sponsorships strike to the heart of many managers - it's a great way to give back to the community, to get your name out there, and to (sometimes) get a tax write off for the company.
But again, does it result in increased sales?
Remember, simple exposure of your brand name does nothing unless it's connected with powerful positioning that sets you apart from your competition.
Your name alone, plastered among 42 others on the sign nobody looks at as they walk into an event does nothing to tell people why your widget is better than the other guys.
If you want to sponsor local events because they're a way to build support for your company in your community, go ahead and do so.
But call it a charitable activity and charge it to that budget. Don't kid yourself that any increased sales are going to result.
3. Sending out undifferentiated media releases
In watching the press release wires, I am constantly amazed at the drivel that most companies send out disguised as media releases.
The media wants news. Who cares that so and so just got promoted, that you have new graphics on your website, or that your widget that's been out there for 12 years is now available in shocking pink.
Give them news!
Then your releases will get printed!
Don't waste your time or money with the other stuff.
4. Sending media releases to the world
For some reason there's an attitude out there that if you can send a media release to 30 outlets, that sending it to 3,000 is a better idea.
It might be
If - it's really truly news
If - it's news on a national / international level
If - it adds value to the world rather than just struts your stuff.
If not, save your money, send it out to your pre-qualified, highly-targeted list, and use that money for something that will actually sell product!
5. Creating expensive media kits then distributing them to the world
Here's the way mail is read in the newsroom - open, glance, dump in trash.
So why send a $40 media kit? And why send it to anyone that isn't looking for news on your story right now?
Give them what they need, which can usually be done for maybe a dollar or two, and you'll get the same impact as with the big, fancy media kit that's going right into the trash.
So that it - the five stupidest things most companies do to waste their PR budget.
How many have you done?How many will you do in the future?