Greetings, I’d like to welcome you to AWESOMEPR.com . I’m Joe Public-Relations. If you need to get people’s attention, and need to get it fast, you have to listen to AWESOMEPR.com’s advice. It’s AWESOME. In this wide 21st century world, things move fast and attention spans are short, so you have two choices: get them with an initial AWESOME public relations pitch, or bombard your target group with as many messages as possible. Here are five tips as we enter 2010:
- The Truth Will Be Learned. For years, it was possible that your client, whether it be single individual or an entire company, would likely have been able to hide in the shadows if something bad happened or shady activities occurred. Not anymore, as Tiger Woods has found out with every passing day and new mistress appearance. You can (if you want to) try as hard as you can to keep the lid on anything bad for you or your client, but don’t ignore the elephant in the room, make sure you have contingency plans. I’m sure that Tiger Woods’ Advertisers did. Expect damage control tactics to become a big theme in 2010. Paul Williams makes a good point when he refers in his paper to being transparent, which is a far more precise term for this tactic/trend.
- Advertising and Public Relations are increasingly indistinguishable. To counteract criticism, politicians don’t release press releases, they either make ads or hold news conferences. Any good Public Relations push towards the public will have to include advertising, and vice-versa. Make sure that the two are on the same page. If you are using Social Media (a good tactic in itself) such as Facebook or Twitter, they can be used for both advertising and public relations. A good Tactic to use here:
- Research and Learn. Knowing your audience is becoming increasingly important. You only have so many resources, do not waste them, especially in this economy. Make sure you take plenty of polls. Like this one: Of course, your polling and focus groups better be more scientific and focused than this irreverent example I used above.
- Don’t blow it. Look at the PR Disasters of 2009. Much like our opener about how the truth will get out, in this day and age a mistake will also always get out. Quite quickly, actually. One of my favorites is the one about how United gave a guitarist a hard time after their baggage handler mishandled and broke his guitars. To get revenge, Mr. Dave Carroll and his band, the Sons of Maxwell, made a little video: Maybe had United dealt with the fact they broke his guitar in a quick and efficent manner, such a video would never have been created. They didn’t. And as a result, a PR nightmare ensued. And, as pointed out here, there are many things that can be learned from it. My esteemed fellow blogger at this location notes that Reputation Monitoring is a “newborn tactic”, monitoring that reputation should do you wonders.
- Don’t be Evil. Adopting the infamous catchphrase of Google, perhaps the best advice, the best tactic, is to not do anything bad. Don’t spy on your customers, don’t cheat on your wife, just don’t do it. Instead, be friendly. Reach out to Bloggers! Use fun guerilla marketing to draw in and entertain folks, such as the viral marketing that Warner Brothers used for the last Batman film. Getting the public on your good side is always a good idea.
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