The PR Industry is Full of Spin Doctors and?Liars
Gini Dietrich
CEO at Arment Dietrich | Founder of Spin Sucks | Creator of the PESO Model?
On the second day of Christmas, Spin Sucks gave to you two lies told about the PR industry and a phrase to banish forever.
People ask me all the time where the name “Spin Sucks” comes from.
I always laugh and say, “When someone tells you they are in PR, what do you assume?”
And it’s always one of two things: They are a spin doctor or they lie for a living.
When, in fact?—?as you well know?—?it is neither of those things.
I won’t pretend there aren’t professionals or industries within the PR industry who do this.
It’s clear some do. And movies certainly give us a bad rap.
But most of us are doing very good, ethical work.
Hence, Spin Sucks.
And yet…those two lies are told about our industry every day and we don’t do anything to combat them.
Spin Doctors, Liars, and Blood-thirsty Sharks
In a recent TechCrunch article called, “Bad PR agencies can kill a startup before it has a chance to succeed,” the opening paragraph is:
Right now there’s a multi-million-dollar con being played on employees, investors, and founders of startup companies. A PR firm’s “services” involve a lot of smoke and mirrors that are designed to bilk startups.
Yes, that’s right.
The work you do is designed to bilk organizations. It’s all smoke and mirrors?—?a big con!
Give me a break.
The article goes on to describe how an agency works and makes it sound like we are ambulance chasers.
The minute a startup receives a new round of funding, it’s like blood in the water?—?PR agencies start circling the water to get the opportunity to take a chunk of flesh right out of them.
So now the PR industry is full of spin doctors, liars, and blood-thirsty sharks.
Media Relations is Not a Strategy
The problem, of course, is there are PR agencies that behave this way.
The author of the article describes his experience of working with a PR agency?—?and it doesn’t sound all that untruthful.
- An agency does need ramp-up time when they begin working with a new client.
- They do need time to figure out what the story is.
- It does take time to make phone calls, send tweets, deliver emails, and get stories placed.
- Many agencies are staffed with junior employees who do this work.
- Unfortunately, some agencies will do pay-for-play just to get stories placed.
And guess what? That all costs money. Because we sell our brains for a living.
So yes, if you look at the overall picture of the article, to get media relations started and begin to see results, it could cost $40,000 or more.
But this is why I hate media relations-only programs.
Media relations is not a strategy; it’s a tactic.
Yet, many organizational leaders hire PR agencies just to place stories.
It’s wrong for leaders to hire that way and it’s wrong for the PR agencies to accept that work.
Instead, we should be selling a fully integrated PESO model approach.
And, if a prospect only wants the E of your approach (earned media), you have to be able to walk away.
Let’s Change the Perception People Have of the PR Industry
The vision of Spin Sucks is to change the perception people have of the PR industry.
I know that’s a big one?—?and it may never happen in my lifetime?—?but that’s why it’s a vision.
The best way we can change our reputation and change that perception, is to measure the work we do.
I know, I know. I sound like a broken record.
But, it’s true.
Sell only a fully integrated PESO model approach.
Figure out how to set your goals so your PR metrics mean something.
We will do great work, we will measure our efforts?—?which will prove we can drive sales?—?and we will do PR for the entire PR industry.
That is how we will change the perception people have of the PR industry.
And, if you need help, want to brainstorm, need to kick a few tires before presenting to your executive team or board, or just want to hang out with like-minded colleagues, you can do that in our newly-created Slack community.
Originally published on Spin Sucks.
Stay in Touch
If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to check out our blog Spin Sucks! You will find endless articles on professional development for PR and marketing pros. You’ll also find Spin Sucks?—?the book?—?which explains how to communicate honestly, responsibly, openly, and authentically…and truly earn the trust of your customers, stakeholders, investors, and communities.
Associate Teaching Professor & Coordinator, online Master's in Strategic Communication at BGSU | Teaching Media/Comm | CEO/ExecDirector IPRRC.org | ACUE Effective College Instructor | Past President, PRSA NW Ohio Chapter
7 年Hi Gini - good on ya, but I'd take it a step further. The purpose of "Public Relations" is ... wait for it... Relationships. All marketing is communication, but not all communication is marketing. Indeed, what we do facilitates doing business and attaining objectives, some of which will be related to external comms and the PESO model. Other things, other tools in our kit are for antecedents to our marketing efforts and objectives. Employee communications, community relations, issues management, influencer relations -- all of these things are important and worthy of budget and attention. In enlightened organizations, this is crucial. If we reduce all we do to marketing (and it's sibling, sales) we run the risk of alienating our stakeholders. No one wants to be sold 24/7. PR builds relationships that enable organizational success. That's why Spin Sucks - it gets in the way of that singular purpose. ;-)
VP of Marketing & Business Development at Water Street Associates
7 年Spot on Gini Dietrich. Few seem to understand that MR is a tactic that falls under IMC. Thanks for posting
Strother Communications Group. B2B Marketing
7 年Great article Gini. I've been waiting patiently for two decades for people to understand that public relations is not a synonym for the tactic of media relations. It has become a smaller and smaller piece of the PESO pie as owned media becomes an especially attractive communication investment.