When its comes to public relations the myths abound. We could blame this on the fact that the public relations profession is unregulated and unlicensed. While you will often find public relations professionals chuckling over these myths, these misconceptions often cause business owners to make costly mistakes.
It's time to dispel some of these myths in hopes of helping business owners to avoid serious problems that may take them at face value and build their public relations efforts around them.
- Myth 1: Any Press is Good Press
- Myth 2: PR is All about Press Releases and Press Conferences
- Myth 3: Once You Break Through with Publicity, You're Golden
- Myth 4: Myth: Publicity is Free and Easy
- Myth 5: You Need to Hire an Expensive PR Firm
- Myth 6: Good Products Don't Need Publicity - - Only Bad Products Do
- Myth 7: Public Relations Can't be Measured and is Therefore Worthless
- Myth 8: PR Means Schmoozing and Controlling the Press
- Myth 9: Only Ex-Reporters Can Do It
- Myth 10: Public Relations is Spin, Slogans and Propaganda
There are many myths and misconceptions about PR that are not only wrong, but it many cases dangerously wrong. Read more about this list of the Top 10 most common myths about public relations.
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Your turn: What public relations myths would you like to dispel?
Here’s another, Laura: You need to take reporters to lunch/breakfast/out for drinks. That may have been “the way” to a reporter’s heart (stomach) years ago during the days of the Mad Men, but most reporters don’t have the time for it now. Plus, thankfully, the world of reporting has moved (one hopes) to more genuine forms of coverage. A way to a reporter’s heart is through relevant, interesting “pitches,” being available at all hours of the day, being responsive with knowledgeable, truthful experts with little-to-no agendas, and being respectful of their issues and the environments in which they work.
ON ANOTHER NOTE…Some years ago I read about a “study” conducted in which a product was launched in four similar markets. Those behind the study allocated the same promotional budget to three of the markets. In one, only media/public affairs was used to promote the product. In the second, only traditional advertising was used. In the third, a 50/50 mix of PR/advertising was employed. The fourth market, the “control,” used neither PR nor advertising–to see whether product sales were affected/effected by promotions.
Fortunately for us in the field, the fourth market (the control) did the worst in terms of sales. The PR-only market fared the best, followed by the 50/50 mix of advertising and PR. The advertising, only, market did the second-worst.
I believe the story was presented in the American Marketing Association literature–but I can no longer put my hands on it. If you know of it, I’d love to secure the information.
Public relations is the “stepchild” of the marketing mix and is not as valuable. Not true. Public relations should be an integral and valuable part of any organization’s marketing and communications function. A cohesive marketing, public relations and internal communications campaign can create the right buzz and disseminate key strategic messaging to internal and external customers.