Council Post: The Most Common Mistakes In The PR World

CEO/Founder of HeraldPR, a NY-based PR firm, and CEO/Co-Founder of Emerald Digital, a digital marketing agency based in NY and New Orleans.

Inspiring the world to look favorably upon you is no easy task. The path to positive public perception is a long one — with brick walls before every turn. To break through the countless roadblocks that arise along your journey, you must make what might feel like counterintuitive decisions and prioritize your reputation.

Throughout my years of experience leading a public relations agency, I’ve found that many people struggle to invest the necessary resources into their PR (in more ways than one). Here are six of the most common mistakes that you should do your best to avoid:

1. Misinformed Spending

Know your paid media and earned media needs. As a leader, you must do more than examine which area of marketing best benefits your business. You must also explore how much you need to spend on your marketing.

Don’t spend where you don’t need to, but if you require PR, allocate a percent-relative budget. While earned media is known not to be as costly as paid media, it is not without expense. If you plan to execute an effective PR strategy, funds are required to create the new product lines, initiatives, cross-brand promotions or corporate responsibility work that lead to good PR opportunities.

2. Misguided Intuition

Intuition is valuable, but expertise is vital. Your knowledge of your business and market might outweigh that of any other. However, if you have chosen to work with a PR firm, it is in your best interest to trust their expertise. Not every PR decision is intuitive, so when leaders make PR decisions without the necessary experience or they decide against the advice of experts, their businesses might suffer consequences. Trust the agents you hire.

3. Publicity Overload

While success is often equated with a publication, journalists and audiences alike will not connect with stories that lack substance. Without justification, frequent features in media might actually reflect poorly on organizations.

The path to the hearts of the public is to use creativity to uncover new stories that are worthy of publication. Consistent media comes with consistent stories. If you don’t have stories to offer, don’t push for too much publicity too often.

4. Unrealistic Expectations

Unrealistically high expectations can jeopardize PR strategies and decisions. PR won’t make your company famous overnight, but after a few months, you will slowly but surely see results. It takes time to build stories, establish credibility and emotionally connect with audiences.

Patience and understanding are required to successfully enhance a public image. Do not give up on your PR strategy early on. Be persistent, develop new stories to share, and over time, you will form trusting new relationships.

5. Priority Misalignment

PR professionals and clients alike should always have a clear understanding of the goals and priorities at hand. However, the purpose behind PR campaigns can be confused when promoting multiple products, individuals or aspects of an organization. For example, leaders must decide whether it is their business or themselves they wish to publicize and accurately answer the question of where the story lies. When not properly resolved, such conflicts contribute to failed PR campaigns. 

6. Non-News Stories

Non-news stories tie directly to publicity overload. Frequency aside, to enhance any public image, one must share newsworthy stories and remember that not everything is newsworthy. Tell stories worth telling to get the best results.

One mistake that many make is they misunderstand what journalists and audiences consider to be a story. People attempt to publish, and are sometimes successful in publishing, purely promotional pieces that contain no new or interesting information. Skeptical target audiences are less likely to resonate with pieces like this and are more likely to respond with contempt.

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