how to catch pr wave and not to go down e book

HOW TO CATCH PR WAVE AND NOT

TO GO DOWN

By Anton Davidenko

Creator of PRFrame

Co-founder of BeFrame company

www.prframe.com

www.beframe.org

http://www.prframe.com/

www.beframe.org

Anton Davidenko - How to catch PR wave and not to go down

2

Public Relations is a very attractive area for any business and

you can hardly imagine a company that achieved success in modern

times without these magical two words. It’s like an ocean of

different opportunities that helps to bring attention of the audience

to the brand or product. But when this ocean is full of billions of

data and information as well as rival-sharks which are hunting for

the same treasure as you –

customer’s attention, what should

you do? Of course, catch the wave

and become higher and unreachable

for competitors. But it’s not so

simple. It can be easier if you are

Apple, Google, GM or BMW and

have an army of journalists

desperately trying to make an exclusive shot of your new gadget or

newly announced model of the car and post it in advance of the

colleagues from different media. But if you are not… it’s also

possible to catch PR wave.


3

On the other hand, ask anybody what does successful PR

campaign mean and the answer will be like: to appear at the front

pages of famous newspapers and magazines, to be interviewed by

Larry King or invited to the Oprah’s studio and nowadays almost

guaranteed you’ll hear about social networks and being a king of

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The question is if this is always

true or maybe being in a shadow of the wave sometimes also can

be useful. Ask Toyota and BP, I think from their experience the

answer would be the most valuable. The problem is that within the

open and calm water any wave is seen from far far away. That’s

why it’s very important to remember that surfing the PR wave is

always better than climbing on the very top of it. PR waves can be

very contradictious with its pros and cons and therefore let’s talk

about how to gain the most positive features of it and try to avoid

PR tsunami.


4

Learn

Learning is the first and the most important part of any issue.

The good thing is that it is also the calmest period of the whole PR

process and that is why usage of its comfort conditions to build the

most solid basis for future activities has crucial significance. As you

know even the most experienced

surfers started their successful career

on the ground learning the moves

from the scratch and balancing the

board on the sand. The same in PR –

never dive into the PR ocean without

preparation and fully understanding of

what you want to achieve and how.


5

So if you decided to go into DIY PR then you should

understand, from this moment you need to master one more

profession – PR manager as the results of the whole campaign will

be depended on how good you’ll cope with the different PR moves

and balance on the edge editors’ signature. PR ocean has its own

rules and laws and following them is a key for survival in its waters.

But there is good news – you’ve got an option to hire PR

professional or agency which will help you with all this stuff and

you’ll be free from doing some extra studies.


6

From the agency’s point of view learning is also very important.

PR agency needs to grasp a lot about client, market insights and

media trends, practices, rivals activities, and everything that can

allow becoming a part of this ocean. Agency while working with the

particular client should learn which journalists to contact exactly for

pitching the stories and how to make the news valuable for them in

the proper period of time. Agency must understand which PR tools

are the most efficient for particular clients and which should be

avoided. Learning will continue trough the other stages of

catching the PR wave. Only hard learning catchers

will be rewarded and underestimation of this

stage can be very harmful for the results of all

activities. So learn and never stop learning and

it will help you to make first step from the

dangerous ocean in the direction of PR wave.


7

Try

First steps into the water, we do not know exactly how deep,

warm or cold it is. The only way to find out is to try. The best

method of PR mistakes avoiding is do nothing. But the best way to

make fewer mistakes is the usage of the reliable and proven

approaches and practices. Do not disdain to

create informational ideas, develop press-

releases, contact journalists, organise press-

conferences and different business as well

as entertaining events, establish news and

press rooms, enter Social Media

environment - everything you’ve learned

before. Do not try to invent a bicycle, at least not at this stage.


8

There are going to be errors and some waste attempts but you

need to use it rather than ignore or try to forget it as a nightmare.

The best suit that company may try on at this stage is flexibility and

open mind. Do not pretend that you are in demand of media like

Google if you are not. And do not expect that after your first press

release all the world will turn attention on your company and start

discussions on every corner if it is not an iPad.


9

Even the best PR agency in the world will never guaranty you

the fame within the short period if you do not have any

breakthrough technology or invention. In most cases PR

professional have to deal with highly competitive environment with

similar products. That’s why Public Relations is a long road that

demands patience and hard work. The trying will bring the

experience that is so needed for the company to take its place in PR

ocean and it will open new and more exciting opportunities for

innovation and catching PR wave. So just catch your breath for now

and keep trying.


10

Control

How to control uncontrollable? How to keep balance when there

is no foothold? PR environment is very unpredictable and one wrong

move can cause devastating tsunami. In comparison with

Advertising where you know exactly the time and

length of your advert that appears on TV or magazine,

Public Relation will never provide you the same.

There are so many factors that can influence the

results of all your efforts and cancel out expectations.

The road to a plain surfing the PR wave is full of

obstacles and difficulties. But there are some options

that may help at least to find the balance and not to go

down.


11

Monitoring and Response – two things that will become your life

buoy in the PR ocean and keep the wave under your control. The

famous phrase: “Who owns the information he owns the world” we

could paraphrase: The one owns the world who owns information

and can use it in time. Monitoring serves the company to learn up-

to-date informational environment around the brand or products but

response influences this environment and helps to gain benefits

even in the most unpleasant situation.


12

Let’s take couple examples. In the beginning of this year

Toyota company faced with the PR nightmare connected with

multiple recalls of their cars. At that period only the lazy one didn’t

criticize the automakers for slow response and incapability to react

properly. But what is good about the Japanese they like and can

learn on their own mistakes. On April 13, 2010

on blog of Consumer Reports magazine was

published an article “Don't Buy: Safety Risk--

2010 Lexus GX 460” criticizing Toyota’s

luxury brand Lexus car and rising concern over

Vehicle Stability Control. It was just one article

on one blog and that’s it but…

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2010/04/consumer-reports-2010-lexus-gx-dont-buy-safety-risk.html

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2010/04/consumer-reports-2010-lexus-gx-dont-buy-safety-risk.html


13

On April 19, 2010 as response on this article “Lexus announced

a voluntary safety recall on approximately 9,400 2010 Model Year

Lexus GX 460 sport utility vehicles to update software in the

vehicle's Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) system” adding in their

official press release: “When Consumer Reports announced on April

13 that the 2010 GX 460 did not pass their 'Throttle Lift-Off' test,

we immediately stopped selling the vehicle and commenced a

vigorous investigation”. Nobody expected such

kind of solution from slow reacted company and

afterwards they receive a lot of positive media

publications on this move. Good monitoring,

excellent response. We can’t say that everything

is perfect with Toyota’s PR but at least we see

their efforts to catch and surf PR wave.

http://www.lexus.com/recall/


14

Another example is Apple with their new iPhone

4’ reception problems. On Jun 25, 2010 just couple

days after official launch of the product some

complaints appeared in Internet about signal loss.

These several complaints led to a huge media

discussion that forced Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs to

announce official press-conference on this issue.

Everybody was guessing on what his was going to tell but the

majority agreed that it’s going to be a massive recall – painful but

at the same time move that only great brand and company can

allow itself.


15

On July 16, 2010 Steve Jobs said on press conference that they

offer free bumper case to fix antenna reception and update of OS

for iPhone that had to solve this problem. He said: "We're not

perfect, phones aren't perfect. But we want to make all our users

happy". I do not know about users but journalists and bloggers

weren’t happy at all. Till the moment of the event there were a lot

of critical publications and not only about antenna signal (read

article “Presenting 8 Problems with iPhone 4” ). Everybody waited

for a quick and unordinary reaction from the company but not this

time.

http://www.ithinkdiff.com/iphone-4-problems_9812/


16

As a result, that weakness was widely used by Apple rivals

including Nokia, Samsung and even dying away Motorola during the

launch of Droid X placed its advert in New York Times with slogan

“No Jacket Required” and led to a number of publications on this

issue. We also can’t say that everything is bad with Apple PR but

not quick enough reaction that took almost a month from the first

signs and not relevant response made its work and add a blot on

the landscape. Of course mistakes like that would not cause such

media reaction in case of much smaller and popular company but

still it demonstrates the importance of keeping the balance and not

to go down from the PR wave which can lead to PR tsunami.


17

Innovate

The best way to be higher from others and control everything is

to be the first in something and create your own moves and

elements that help you to get there. It’s not enough just to catch

the wave for surfing, you need to keep on it and try impressing

everybody else by something new and never done before.

The same in PR when you have sustainable media

coverage, pool of loyal journalists and even number of

your followers and fans on Twitter and Facebook it is not

enough to be different and not enough to be mentioned

from the crowd.


18

We never know what is going to happen in future and the best

way to avoid PR problems in it is to create future by our hands. The

very best thing about PR is the place where its border with

Advertising disappears – creativity, the place where we create new

approaches of building relations with public and raise it on the next

level. Instead of somebody will find our weaknesses lets innovate to

create advantages. Do not wait, it’s time to act. The great examples

of such innovation are “The Best Job in The World” which

completely shook the world in 2009 and “The Old Spice Man” in

2010 (you can read more in the article “5 PR lessons from Old Spice

Man”).

So let’s innovate, let’s create unpredictable and exciting PR

future and let’s ride our PR waves!

http://beframe.org/blog/?p=50

http://beframe.org/blog/?p=50


19

About the Author

Anton Davidenko is a creator of free

toolbar for PR professionals PRFrame and co-

founder of the venture company BeFrame.

For Over 7 years' marketing and PR

experience in a range of sectors including IT,

Telecom, Finance, FMCG, Auto, non for

profit, Anton created and executed complex

communication strategies and projects for

Panasonic, BMW, VMware, Budweiser

Budvar, MTT. From 2005 to 2008 he headed the leading

professional organization in the area of Marketing Communications

in Russia – Russian Association of Communication Agencies.

To contact the author you can write to: [email protected]

http://www.prframe.com/

http://www.beframe.org/

how to catch pr wave and not to go down e book

Self Improvement