In PR, You Get What You Pay For
By Brian  Solis

In the new economy, mind share is  all-important, and no tool creates share-of-mind more effectively than PR. With your company's success or failure in the balance, does it make sense to entrust  such a crucial function to small, tactical agencies with limited resources, or  worse, to a recently graduated English major who took a few English courses and knows how to use Microsoft Word?

I don't think so. Yet it happens every day.

It happens because PR is one of the most misunderstood and undervalued components of any marketing initiative. The first big misconception about PR is  that it basically involves writing press releases and then faxing, e-mailing or overnighting them to editors and analysts. The second misconception, which is  even bigger, is that editors and reporters actually write stories based on all  these faxes, e-mails and "extremely urgent" packages that pour into their  offices everyday. The third misconception is that, compared to engineering and funding, all these words don't count for much.

Public relations has long been considered a "necessary evil," that no one was  quite sure how to manage or measure. More often than not, start-ups (as well as  established businesses launching a new product) allocate only a small percentage  of their overall marketing budget to PR.

After all, the thinking goes, how difficult can it be to write a press release? How long does it take to learn how to use the fax machine and the e-mail program? And who could know your target market better than your own internal product marketing team? Anyone can do that, right?

Wrong. Why? Because in the new economy, products are based on information. The more widely distributed that information is, the more valuable it becomes. In academic circles, this is known as Metcalfe's Law, but on the street it's known as the reason why Microsoft, IBM and Intel clobbered Apple.

So let's get down to the street-level reality of a typical editor. Put yourself in this position: As you walk into the office, your voice mail light alerts you to retrieve 20 voice mails. Your computer is acting sluggish as it attempts to download 75 e-mails. A stack of faxed releases has filled the tray to overflowing. Twelve boxes from UPS are teetering on the edge of your desk. And that's just for breakfast. Imagine yourself trying to meet unmovable and looming deadlines while your phone rings until you feel forced to answer each call. More e-mails, more faxes, more calls pour in. "Did you see the release I  sent to you?" "I'm calling about a new cutting-edge company that will change the  world, can I set up an appointment for you to see it?" "My client has developed a new business strategy that will lead the market into a paradigm shift."

It doesn't make sense to send an inexperienced person or underresourced  agency into this war zone if you really want to win the war. All you'll do is set yourself up for immediate failure. So, how can a top-tier PR agency really help? Here are some ways:

• Credibility
  Experienced, sophisticated practitioners (and their  agencies) have a reputation for credibility that individual companies can't match. Editors know that a press release from a long-established agency is worth  reading. Otherwise, it wouldn't get out the door. (One of the greatest values PR  professionals provide is talking their clients out of ill-advised stories that will only hurt their cause in the long run.)
• Objective Counsel
  Experienced product managers may have gone through a dozen or more launches. Their peers in PR have gone through hundreds. They can give honest, unbiased feedback as to the freshness, relevance and  clarity of the key messages as they relate to current and projected market  conditions.
• Experience
  Every trade has its tricks. It takes someone who knows the ropes to thoroughly explore every option, and to focus on the opportunities  that will pay off without wasting time on those that won't.
• Creative Thinking
  Should you convince your chief technology  officer (with the agency's help) to write a book? Are you in the right market  segment or should you create a new platform? Should you reposition your product? Should we rename the entire company, kill 2/3 of the product line and focus on your core competencies? Should you give it away? These are just a few of the many unconventional options that should be explored.

In the current competitive environment, public relations is the most integral and crucial part  of an overall marketing strategy. It can take companies and intellectual property to unforeseen heights, creating trends and building markets.

Each day, Silicon Valley and its look-alikes produce new technologies, exciting applications and innovative solutions that directly affect the way the  world operates. In the early days of clearly differentiated technologies, products were successful because of the various capabilities they delivered. Now, dozens of companies compete for the same audience with very similar technologies. Products are crammed into overcrowded channels with little or no definition of ideal usage scenarios, inevitably causing confusion in the  marketplace.

Public relations has grown to meet this challenge with more than media relations, press releases, media alerts and tradeshows. PR has assumed an overarching marketing role that encompasses brand creation, channel marketing, marketing communications, direct marketing and product marketing. An innovative public relations agency will create the complete messaging platform and  compelling, pinpoint execution tactics for all facets of marketing, including  print, broadcast, advertising, channel and direct marketing.

In the realm of high tech, effective PR professionals must live and breathe  technology so they can engage the experts in detailed conversations regarding the appropriate marketplaces without flinching. This is a far cry from, "Uh, I don't know, what SCSI is... Can I put you in touch with a product manager?"  Given the information overload suffered by editors and analysts, PR  practitioners must be able to get the deal, and close the deal in one  conversation.

Hiring PR firms that can accomplish all these goals may cost a slight  premium. But the old adage that you get what you pay for holds true. For starters, spending more on the front end can yield higher returns in the both  near and long term. In fact, venture capitalists require that a significant percentage of financing be allocated to implementing a strategic public  relations campaign. Why? To protect their investment.

High-tech marketing has enough risks as it is. Don't increase your risk by short-changing your PR effort.

June 8 , 2001