What Is Wrong with PR?

'What I have finally come to understand is that P.R. people are paid to twist reality into pretzels and convince you that they are fine croissants. At some point, they actually believe their own concoctions.'

Sadly, that's what most people believe. I myself was under that impression until lately when my cousin got into PR and showed me how PR can actually benefit the society and work for a good cause.

Gini, I feel your pain. It's almost uncanny how you can tell from the get go which client relationships will work and which that won't. It was a red flag when the client said, "Don't screw this up." He had a fatalistic mentality going into the relationship. You had to crawl out of a hole before you even got started. What's key is working with companies that fully appreciate what you're bringing to the table. If they don't respect or take your recommendations, well there's lots of other fish in the sea as they say! As for the rep for the PR industry as a whole I say this: there are some bloggers and outlets that have it out for us, for their own personal reasons. My advice is be very careful about what you put in an email. If you're miffed count to 10 and rethink what you wrote before you hit send.

Gini, this is a great discussion. Your post and the comments are very thought provoking. I've been wrestling these alligators for nearly 25 years, and most of that time in the hard scrabble start-up world where no one gets giant wads of cash to throw at thorny problems to make them go away. Here's what I think.

First, my hats off to 3HatsComms for her point #5. Prospects need to understand there's a difference between their needs and wants. It's our job to discover during the courting process if they get that. The second part of that is, do they get that the only way it makes sense to hire us is if they trust us enough to ask for and seriously consider our opinion of what they need. If there's any doubt, walk away. You might as well be in some commodity supply business. My second point is simply that when it comes to understanding clients' goals and challenges and especially perspectives, we have to ask a lot of probing, socratic type questions and dig deep. This "chemistry just clicked" stuff that is sometimes tempting is not enough. It can go haywire. Third, we work in a field where everyone thinks that because they are consumers of PR (or in the case of media and influencers, its targets), that they are experts. Never, ever forget that that is total bullshit, and act accordingly. Sometimes in a pitch you have to get enough of an ego to tell someone, as politely and rationally as possible, why they're very wrong about something. Which feeds into my last point, which is, the only way to add real value in a client relationship is to give strong counsel, tell them exactly what you think--whether they like it or not, and absolutely be willing to walk away from the relationship at any time, for any reason, on your terms.

Then and only then do you have the integrity required to do your best profesional work and gain the respect you need from them to deliver the value they seek.

In my experience, having spent a year and a half at a PR firm and a decade before that doing marketing on the client side in the entertainment biz, it boils down to a combination of two things:

1) PR are on the frontlines of what people think about their clients, but they are rarely if ever empowered to give suggestion or feedback about the client that WOULD ACTUALLY RESULT IN A SUBSTANTIVE ADJUSTMENT TO CLIENT PRODUCTS, TONE, OR BUSINESS PRACTICES.

2) PR people think that because they're the ones on the front lines, they have some sort of magical insight into what could be 'fixed' about a company, and if the client would ONLY LISTEN TO THEM, everything would be EVEN BETTER, as if the people within the company are unaware of the stuff about it that isn't good.

3) It's a relationship thats very superficial, almost by definition. A lot of PR folks (especially now) say they want to be a part of the process as early as possible, but you know... Edelman isn't McKinsey. Theres an overinflated sense of entitlement there. Maybe the whole dynamic is broken.

Fantastic discussion here Gini. I've made this mistake as well Gini, mismanaging expectations and not trusting my gut. Some thoughts from reading all the smart comments:

1) There will be those who don't see their PR firm as a true BUSINESS advisor. There will be clients who don't get PR and/or social media, think it all nothing but publicity and/or likes on FB, RTs. Either they'll be willing to learn (and pay for said teaching, thank you @BethHarte ) about what PR really is, or they won't.

2) Beware on both sides of the table. "Don't screw up" is as red a flag as a client believing the preopening blitzkrieg hype.

3) Some clients want it all now, skipping - and not paying for - the steps it takes to get there. They want to win the race without training or running the mararthon, as @MimiMeredith mentioned, "delayed gratification" is a foreign concept.

4) Some people hear what they want to hear and will ignore what they don't want to hear. I am not certain that this restaurant's 2nd PR experience was ALL bad. Looks like this firm reviewed the business, the model, the market and made suggestions based upon thinking there was room for improvement: tweak the menu, adjust prices to reflect market trends and so on. Is it possible that the business owner was so biased of the perfection of their product that he refused to listen, consider any options? Maybe the PR firm was crappy or maybe they had ideas they thought would actually make this business better? IDK.

5) There is a difference between what a company or brand WANTS and what they NEED. They may think they want/need something, not always the case. Which will alway muddy the waters as the many hat wearing PR advisor tries to get on the same page with the client regarding expectations.

6) Expectations need to be carved in stone, then burned, reset, cast in bronze and maybe tattooed on someone's head. And you can't start or stop with "what do you want, expect?" but you also have to cover what you don't want, what "success" looks like and doesn't, what the "deliverables" will be, etc.

6B) From the PR Firm side, expecations and commitments need to be clear as to what PR can and CAN'T do. The biggest stumbling block here for me, PR and especially social media, is the part where I spell out all I do, then detail the WORK that's the client's responsibility. Then I get blinks and Huh?s and they're shocked that they actually have to put some time, effort and WORK into these promotional efforts be it answering blog comments or giving decent quotes to the media.

And I've ranted enough. FWIW.

Excellent stuff. What I've found out since starting my own agency is that I'm regarded in many cases as a business advisor, passing on my knowledge to companies that should know what I regard as basics.

It's also frustrating when a new business comes along and then you realise that they never bothered to factor marketing etc into their business plan despite having managed to get external funding for their venture. What are the financiers up to?

Business would be so easy... if it weren't for the people! The comments here are fantastic and tell such a common story: we all want to believe what we want to believe and unfortunately, that means ignoring red flags. I admire you for taking ownership (much like @NancyMyrland said) and I totally agree with @tomgable - trust your gut!

I have a client now that's giving me all kinds of mixed signals, red flags and "I'm not so sure this is gonna go well" kind of feelings. Am I facing those head on? Not yet. I'm trying desperately to salvage and make the relationship work, but at some point I'm going to have to face the music and realize we're not on the same page and no amount of media placements, promotional events, product placements or positive reviews will change that. The really sad thing? I'm working my proverbial arse off to prove that I can do it and meet the unrealistic expectations of this client. Wonder what other really great client I might be missing while toiling away on this one that may not be a match?

PR IS an investment (I have another client on the opposite end of the spectrum that said that just the other day) and one that may not be for everyone...at least not in the regard with which folks like the NYT blogger (restaurateur) hold it. Thanks as always for fighting the good fight and for engaging so many of us along the way. xoxo!

Gini, don't necessarily blame this on yourself. There are people who also blame their PR counsel, or Marketing advisors, or whatever their service provider might be because they fail too. It is sometimes easier to blame someone else than it is to take the blame for having unrealistic expectations, or not being able to handle disappointment, or ever holes in their own organizations. I admire you for owning up to that part of it which you now know is yours, but don't carry the entire burden on your shoulders. If there's one thing I can tell about you, and there are many, it is that you are thorough, and you know what you're talking about. If you spent 4 months with this (then) potential client, then you educated them far more than most of us would. I'm proud of you.

It all sounds good and well: PR firms need to work harder to set clearer expectations up front but in my expereince it isn't that the expectations or even deliverables are not set; its that the conversations that are really driving business are misunderstood all around.
One of the best things about working in the franchise industry is that it is full of some really professional people who 'get' sales on a very high level. I learned from Joe Mathews, author of Street Smart Franchising, that what usually happens in a sale is that the seller (the PR company in this case) is having one conversation about what they want to do for a client. The Client is having a 2nd conversation about what they think they need (which is almost never right) and somewhere in the background is a more important conversation taking place almost entirely in the client's head: the conversation about what they are trying to achieve which almost always has nothing to do with what they are talking to you about. This is the conversation about what motivates them to be in this business and what they really want to accomplish with it. This is an emotionally driven conversation and its tough to access.
When I've been really successful and have managed to build longer term relationships that grow into being a real team element for a company (and I've lost my share of business) its been when I could get the client through careful questioning to start talking about why they are in business and what they really want to see happen. I don't mean what they are trying to accomplish as an immediate goal; I mean what motivates them to be in this business in the first place. They invite you into the really important conversation and when that happens, they begin to sell themselves on using us as part of the solution.
When you get to this level - where the client is expressing what they really want to see happen - the what they are hiring you for and what you have to propose often changes. The client sells him or herself on what they really need and better understand what it takes to get there.
One lesson that carries over from the franchsie industry to the PR industry: we are all salespeople and the salespeople with the best listening skills usually win the race.
Great post - things always happen for a reason.

Good work covering a situation that all PR firms have faced or will face if they are in business longer than six months and on the hunt for new business. Your piece and the comments nailed a couple of essential truths: set realistic expectations up front; think long-term strategy to the benefit of the client's business (versus short-term pyrotechnics in the Twittersphere); weigh the ego of the CEO or client contact against all others you've dealt with; don't work for free, any time; and trust your gut. I have several horror stories related to not paying enough attention to each of these key points, most notably the latter. Thanks again for posting a great lesson for all PR professionals.

So you delivered the sun and the moon, but not the stars. What did Meatloaf say? Two out of three ain't bad? :)

We had a client in the past year who had unreasonable expectations that went beyond the plan. But it was also that client's first time working an intergrated marketing strategy that included social media comnponents as opposed to a plan based on one or two simple offline promotional tactics they'd been doing for years. We were worried about the possibilities, but also felt it worth taking the risk that we could show the value of a different approach. Didn't exactly work out the way I hoped...our client contact loved the results, but the boss did not.

We don't work with said organization anymore, but we took a shot, gave it a try and earned a solid case study from the campaign we did execute. And the public perception of the organization we worked for and work we did was positive. Call me overly optimistic, but I think sometimes you stand behind what is right and hope you can show that POV through to your clients. That said, it's impossible to please everyone, hindsight is 20/20, WTF does Meatloaf know, and on and on.

Wow Gini... just getting to read this post and it's very heartfelt. I've had some struggles with a client recently along similar lines, so this all rings very true.

Good job keeping things in perspective.

--Tony Gnau

via @BethHarte: A must-read piece--what's wrong with PR? http://tinyurl.com/4swr2rs

Gini,

PR is a confounding industry. I feel like PR is what I do for a living, but the actual workflow looks a lot different from the people who do PR in an official capacity. I think that's the crazy thing -- to me it doesn't make a lot of sense to define a profession by what you do on a daily basis, but rather what you produce on a daily basis. The 20th century made businesses focus on output, the 21st century models could care less -- for better or worse it's all about outcomes these days.

But, to be fair, the outcomes can be a little difficult to predict (I would never want a PR agency to tell me they didn't take advantage of an opportunity because it wasn't in the plan if it was clearly aligned with strategy). This whole thing isn't for weak stomachs and those who might be a little too uncomfortable with ambiguity. Definitions of what it means to "screw this up" vary and so does mileage.

I'm so glad I got all nosey on Facebook this weekend -- I enjoy where this conversation is going :)

Great to hear your thoughts on this Gini. I'm finding that in the Social Media field I'm beginning to get a better read on clients up front, but it's certainly not an exact science. I had two particular businesses that turned down my proposals, and I'm glad. I knew from what they wanted that they would've been a nightmare to deal with.

I think we owe it to ourselves to ask them up front, "What are your expectations?", and then at the very end of the very first meeting, ask them "No, really....WHAT are your expectations??". I think, like the guy who wrote the post for the NYTimes, people come to us, whether it be PR or Social Media, with preconceived notions about what it is that we actually do, and they try to create us in their own image. When we fail to meet their expectations and perceptions, well, then they look at us as if we're to blame.

I'm dealing with a particular client right now where they aren't living up to their end of the bargain. And I told them up front, and have re-told them repeatedly, what their involvement would need to be. And I just know that when our agreement runs out, they'll look at us and say "You didn't deliver."

Being honest doesn't seem to pay. Maybe we should try that snake oil thing...

Hi Gini,
This article broke my heart...I have followed you and your excellent blog for almost a year now and I can't imagine a more credible, sincere and authentic person than you. My feeling is that much of this discord is about language. I've been in the people business for a very long time and one of the lessons that I have learned is that each of our industries has its own very specialized language. Some industries even have actual words that describe techniques, events, diseases, etc. We are so enmeshed in the passion that we have for our business/industry that we don't even realize that we are speaking "dental speak" in my case...."PR speak" in your case etc etc. I can't tell you how many hundreds of times I hear a dental student tell a patient that they are going to remove the old amalgam and replace it with a resin. They might as well have said it in Russian because, so often, that is what the patient has heard....a bunch of jibberish. And invariably, the patient or client or customer, will want to either not look stupid or take the time to ask questions so they will nod their head in collective agreement leaving a HUGE possibility for upset and bad feelings later when they finally figured out what they had done. The languaging we each have learned in our respective businesses intentionally sets us apart from others and I think that is a potential mistake. So, what I encourage my students to do is to talk to their patient in their own language. Be an astute observer of the patient's body language and frequently ask if they understand. Cover all possible outcomes of whatever it is that they are doing....good and bad so that if the bad thing happens, they aren't surprised or upset....only prepared. It changed my business life when I changed my language. Sometimes it means spending longer with a client/patient to cover all possible outcomes and to have them iterate what has just been said but to me...it has been so worth that time expenditure.