What Good Public Relations Cannot Do

Often I've heard about some one's bad experience with a PR firm that has spiraled into a strong dislike for PR people. It's painful to hear criticisms and generalizations about my business, but I can't resist jumping in to diagnose the problem myself. My feeling is that 95% of client-agency problems comes down to one thing: expectations. On both sides. Expectations for publicity outcomes, service levels and overall return-on-investment are not always articulated during the courtship, or even the negotiation phase of the relationship. However, many times clients have circled back later usually causing misunderstanding and disappointment. This has caused me to think about a few things that event the best PR programs cannot accomplish:

Replace a sales and marketing campaign. PR is actually a very unreliable tool when it comes to driving sales of a product or service. Yes, a strong publicity placement can make the phone ring, but a PR campaign more typically works to drive brand visibility and favorability over time. It's just not a demand generation tool.

Serve as as cheap or "free" advertising. A good way to look at the difference is like this, use advertising for frequency, but PR for depth. Altogether a good, social PR campaign usually has increased visibility as a long-term goal, it's very difficult to achieve an ad-like level of control and frequency with earned coverage.

Overcome a bad product or customer service. PR can help repair customer relations after a service interruption or problem, but unhappy consumers will always share their feelings, and social media is a powerful megaphone. What's more typical PR tactics like implied endorsement from third-party expert or celebrity can actually make matters worse if there's too great a contrast between the PR and the reality.

Make you famous. PR can help you build a brand or personal reputation, and raise your profile in professional circles, but it won't make you an overnight celebrity.

Cure a crisis. Most situations we term "PR crises" result from poor business practices, not faulty communications. Yes, a good crisis program will help you prepare for a problem or issue, and sound communications handling can mitigate its effects, but PR can do little in the face of unethical or shortsighted actions.

Pink Booze Marketing is Hard to Swallow

You've likely noticed a lot of pink popping up this month. Consumers who want to support breast cancer research through shopping can choose pink T-shirts, lip gloss, bags of potato chips, bagels in ribbon shapes, even certain airplanes are painted pink this month! These marketing campaigns help promote breast cancer research and awareness and promote the brands of companies who do the promotion. However, some people, including cancer survivors and physicians in women's health, say alcohol beverage companies have taken this too far. They say the it's hypocritical to raise money for research while selling a product that contributes to the disease.

Both the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute say even moderate drinking increases breast cancer risk.

Mike's Hard Lemonade now comes in a pink variety. Pink wines sport pink ribbons, and Chambord, which markets pink vodka and liqueurs urges people to "pink their drink," saying that "by adding a splash of Chambord to any cocktail, "you're supporting breast cancer awareness year-round."

Mike's Hard Lemonade donated half a million dollars over the past two years to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Chambord's website states that the Pink Your Drink campaign has raised more than $50,000 in donations for the Breast Cancer Network of Strength and other patient groups.

In many cases cause-related marketing is not for the charity. Even if there is passion and good intentions involved while carrying out the tactic, remember all marketing is done to sell product in some way. At least breast cancer charities are benefiting in a big way from alcohol-related gifts. I think unless cancer foundations are going to do something about it, like implement donation applications, complaints should remain silent.