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In a small farming village nestled between two mountains, a person claimed to be a rainmaker. This man would stroll across the village, splashing folks within the face with water, declaring, “Look! It is raining! My powers have introduced rain!”
At first, the villagers, determined for the rain to nourish their fields, celebrated the rainmaker. However because the weeks went on, the reservoirs remained empty and crops continued to wither. A clever girl noticed this and challenged the person’s rainmaker talents by telling him to supply a rainstorm that saved the crops.
The person ran by way of the village in response, splashing folks within the face with much more water. However the villagers now noticed what was occurring, and so they turned to the clever girl to talk to the rainmaker on their behalf. The girl stood within the heart of city, difficult the rainmaker’s superficial claims and mentioned, “Do not splash water on my face and inform me it is raining.”
The villagers have been disillusioned and felt silly for trusting the rainmaker. However the clever girl confirmed them the right way to seize water and discover drought-resilient crops. The villagers labored very laborious, and so they realized to belief the clever girl as a result of despite the fact that her options have been tougher, their crops thrived yearly due to her strategies.
This story is a related parable for public relations as a result of it illustrates the variations between fast solutions and superficial outcomes to long-term options, together with authenticity. I share it as a result of there are various misconceptions about PR. Some misconceptions must do with the media’s portrayal of PR professionals, and a few of it’s a misunderstanding about what PR is — and is not.
Earlier than you rent a PR agency, whether or not you’ve got large ambitions or there’s a disaster, it is higher to grasp the place PR can and might’t allow you to.
Associated: 5 Widespread Misconceptions About Public Relations
Fable #1: Public relations is a protect for dangerous habits
Harmful habits differs from an unanticipated disaster.
We will predict dangerous habits outcomes; most PR folks can see them coming nicely upfront. Whether or not it is unethical enterprise decisions, inauthentic promoting claims or gaslighting your clients like “the rainmaker” did, there is not any escaping duty. That is very true for those who’re making an attempt to gaslight a journalist. The web holds a protracted grudge, and journalists, just like the clever girl above, will ultimately catch on.
Public relations is not about “spin” or deceptive journalists or the general public. PR is about transparency and authenticity. It is freedom of the press — the First Modification of the U.S. Structure — that provides PR its energy. PR professionals cannot simply storm a newsroom or repay an editor to take down adverse information. If journalists eliminated each adverse (however correct) information article from their newspaper or web site as a result of readers bombarded the PR agent of the particular person or firm concerned, there could be no free press — and media protection would maintain no worth.
Public relations might help you navigate by way of the revelation of inappropriate habits, however it could possibly’t repair the alternatives you have made. Usually, inappropriate habits requires an apology. However consider it or not, the apology is barely step one on a protracted highway. And that highway could or could not embody press protection within the aftermath. It is these subsequent steps which might be extraordinarily situational.
Associated: The best way to Construct Your Private Model and Improve Your Google Presence By way of the Energy of Public Relations
Fable #2: PR and promoting are the identical factor
Digital PR is related in immediately’s fast-paced media world. The variety of content material alternatives for thought leaders particularly has undoubtedly elevated. However that does not imply public relations is a gross sales channel.
The most important and most essential distinction is that in each owned and paid media, you management the content material. You do not personal the content material or the story’s course in PR. Public relations professionals use their information and connections to information the protection, however the editor chooses the end result. Once more, the facility of PR is independence — that is why it is beneficial. It brings a third-party trusted perspective; public relations is on the high of the attention funnel.
For those who’re seeking to PR to drive gross sales and monitor them, it is a setup for failure. There are a couple of causes for this. In earned protection, there is no such thing as a assure {that a} hyperlink will seem within the article. Typically, a hyperlink is included and generally it is not, however that is an editorial determination that is out of the palms of your PR crew.
I discover a substantial uptick in direct visitors with earned media. It is laborious to pinpoint the place direct visitors comes from, however we sometimes discover the same correlation. Does that visitors convert? It will depend on many components — the web site, the conversion, the cohort and the customer’s familiarity with the web site. That is to not say there is not worth to monitoring this, however there are too many components at play to attribute all of this web site visitors and conversions to PR.
There are alternatives the place PR and gross sales could cross over, like affiliate packages for client merchandise, however moral PR professionals will articulate the variations. Does PR assist gross sales and enterprise growth? You guess. Showcasing your media protection provides what you are promoting growth and gross sales channels extra credibility. It isn’t unusual to see clips of media protection utilized in promoting.
Associated: Publicity Is Not Free Promoting. Do not Destroy Your Efforts to Get Press By Slipping Into Gross sales Mode.
Fable #3: PR is barely about media protection
You would be forgiven for those who solely take into consideration PR if you see media protection. It is actually essentially the most seen and requested consequence for PR. The fact is that PR encompasses a variety of actions and techniques geared toward constructing and sustaining a optimistic status.
PR may contact each single a part of your organization, from product growth to human relations to, after all, advertising and marketing. Involving PR from the beginning of any stakeholder-affected initiative provides you an edge. Not solely will optimistic status constructing be authentically accounted for in this system from the beginning, PR professionals typically have deep insights into client perceptions and media alternatives, which may have an effect on virtually each program.
One other use of ongoing PR is having a PR disaster plan. Most firms have publicity they do not even take into account. In case your crew is onsite, what occurs if somebody is severely injured, or worse, whereas there? What in case your product hurts somebody due to high quality or manufacturing error? As soon as an identifiable disaster occurs, the primary three hours afterward will set the tone for a way your organization comes out of the disaster. Having a PR crew that is aware of your model, understands your crew and has the entry and plan to behave rapidly is a crucial asset.
Whereas these myths could have modified your perceptions of PR, it’s a highly effective asset for any firm, particularly bold ones. When planning to interact PR, keep in mind these myths. Not solely will they allow you to determine a PR plan that works for you, however they may also allow you to decide the most effective PR companies which might be candid with you about PR alternatives and variations.