Beware the mixed message in PR...

It's almost the turn of the year and with a new year will come new beginnings - new decisions, new directions, new products, new services and it will also mean breaking away from some services, products and people...

However in making these changes, be really aware of what you are saying about yourself and your brand. When we mix PR messages, or any message about ourselves we risk that our audiences get confused. Are we offering this or this? Are we selling this or that? Are we an expert in this or in that? The more we mix our messages, the more confused our audience will be and the less likely to buy. Our audience will lose confidence, will change their view and, being in the UK, our audience tends not to speak that out loud, they just quietly disappear because it's rather embarrassing. They don't want to ask too many questions, give voice to the confusion - they will simply step back.

If you've watched the Netflix blockbuster The Crown, you will have seen the mantra of 'doing nothing is often the best policy' played out in that dramatisation around the Royal Family. In business we do tend in the UK to adopt this mantra when we don't quite 'get' something. It's easier to ignore, and often safer to just be silent.

Why am I flagging this up now? During 2020, I've noticed there is a trend for business owners who have found themselves adversely affected by the pandemic to leap for the next thing which comes along because often it 'seems' to offer an answer to prayer, or unpaid bills. I totally get that. Some have gone down the MLM route and, for me, it always makes my heart sink, particularly when it comes to the impact of their sometimes poor marketing tactics.

I should immediately say, I've run an MLM business in the past when I was starting out. I invested a small amount of money in greetings cards, under a well-known MLM type brand and I did that for five years. I never made a penny in profit, though the experience taught me many things. The reason I didn't make a penny in profit was that I didn't enjoy it enough to put in the effort required to make any money. Retail is not my thing, I love stationery but not enough to sell, sell, sell that stuff. I realised within the year that this was the case but I kept on quietly selling for myself and a small tight circle who loved the products. I enjoyed as a bit of fun and it taught me many business skills and mistakes which I then applied to that which I was building quietly and seriously enjoying in the background.

The one thing about the MLM company I worked with was this - there was no pressure at all. None. Nada. There were no 'inspirational' events to attend to keep me going, there was no pressure from the lady who brought me in and that suited me. As an entrepreneur, albeit of a micro business, I'm not into being 'inspired' and 'driven' in that way. I dance to a different tune. I know people who have run very successful MLM businesses but there is one thing which I universally detest about some of these brands - vague marketing messages.

How many people are taught by various companies that putting out social media posts, or sending direct messages, asking you to take advantage of, or share with your audience, a message about a BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. Nowhere in these posts does anyone clearly state what the opportunity is. This is so widespread it can only come from a brand 'policy' of some kind not to mention the BUSINESS NAME or BRAND. It's truly appalling PR and harks back to the days of pyramid selling when it was all about recruiting a downline of people and not about the products which were being sold. You were selling the pyramid, not the product and, based on mathematics, it was never going to work. A maze of smoke and mirrors which generally traps those who are the most susceptible and vulnerable for a number of reasons such as financial hardship, redundancy, retirement, boredom etc.

Years ago I remember writing a story about a range of businesses offering 'working from home' options where you would invest a small amount to 'make' or 'craft' something from home and you earned per unit completed. However when you created a final product and sent it back to the creator of the business, your products were almost always rejected as being 'faulty' or of 'poor quality' or 'broken in transit'. Therefore your payment never matched the investment of your time. It was a lost cause and mostly you got paid nothing at all because your products were frankly rubbish. The whole thing was rubbish, the real money was in that initial investment. These home-working scams were all the rage at one time.

This week a business owner I know who has been impacted by the pandemic, sent me some messages about her new 'venture' asking me to share with my contacts or audience. I responded asking a direct question about MLM and said not being clear, honest and transparent was really bad PR. I stand by this comment though it was not well received. What possible justification can there be for not being upfront?

Is it because that person is fed 'a line' about the stereotypes of MLMs and the mud left by the pyramid selling of yesterday so be vague to not put people off at the first step? I instinctively feel this is poor advice, if it is the advice. I feel this because there's a whole group of people who will be put off by the vagueness of that messaging. Also the premise of many MLM businesses is to rope in family and friends (mostly family) who will feel emotionally obliged yet that only takes you so far. What then?

I had a message back confirming it was an MLM business, one which I actually know quite well and which I'm okay with as a brand but I've also seen several representatives of this particular brand posting similar vague messages. I'm always astounded if anyone even responds to this.

Also if you are running another business which you hope will recover later in 2021 and you are aligning yourself to vague messaging around another business - what impact will that have on the original business? It's worth thinking about. I have clients who have more than one business and we're really careful about our messaging around those different 'strands' of their income or interest.

There is nothing wrong with cultivating other income streams, particularly now with the pandemic still raging, however if you are considering the MLM game can I please urge you to just be clear from the outset. Say that's what you are doing, don't hide behind vagueness, don't send messages to your contacts asking them to share something when they don't know what they are sharing. Their audiences are precious too and they want to offer value. Value their audiences as well as your own.

And if they refuse because they don't want to, or don't feel it aligns with what they do - don't take it personally, don't guilt trip them. Place your energy in the business which drives you, even if you have to do something else for a while to make ends meet, keep your passion for your original business alive and relevant. Be upfront about your current Plan B. I personally find in business that honesty is the best policy, even if it's not always the easiest path.