Hi James, Thank you. O’Dwyer could run it if they like…if you know someone, let me know.

@Andrew, much appreciated. Managing expectations is different today as the game has expanded, and with it, expectations.

@Daniel, well said…

@Michael. Good to hear from you! Thanks for sharing it. They do ring true still…in fact…maybe louder than ever before.

@Fernanda, Thank you!

@photrade, I’m seeing a change now where agencies and consultants, good ones anyway, are willing to be held to metrics. X amount of contacts, x conversions, x visits per month to a specific URL, etc.
Many of the companies I work with aren’t afraid to ask and based on experience, we can set their expectations and align it with what we know we can deliver – that way it keeps us on our toes and also keeps them happy!

Great post! As a Marketing VP for a start-up my experience to date has been 1) Building relationships is extremely important and 2) The lack of quantification of PR results can be frustrating/difficult, especially for considering the cost of most good PR firms. Here is a question for you – How would you recommend assessing the cost of a PR firm when they typically can’t commit to any specific results?

Thanks again for the post. Like many of your other articles – thought provoking with helpful tips.

Fernanda Grimaldi

Great post. I’m definitely going to be recommending this post to a number of people.

PR is an evolving industry and there are more tools than ever to utilize.

You’re right in your responses that common sense is not all that common. While some of the themes you hit upon are really just updated for the Social Media / 2.0/ etc….era, they are things that still ring very true.

- Michael Pranikoff
Director, Emerging Media
PR Newswire

1. Cut the B.S.
2. Be professional. (Part of #1)
3. Be transparent. (Also part of #1)

My response is based on experience right up to the present day including some of the best known names in the game. I can give you a (long) list if you want.

The best and most recent was from a person who sent me a ‘social media’ release that was 95% content free. The company is a genuine world leader. I was told the initiative is one of their most important yet there was no story because what they were showing me was content free.

The last 3 approaches I’ve had from a firm you will know by name and which spouts social media a,b,c…x,y,z have been utterly clueless. I know the AD very well and have said: “Who’s going to take them outside and give them a slap – you or me?”

Yesterday I was asked to write up a book review based on other people’s quotes on a book I’ve never seen.

This kind of thing happens all the time.

I’m sure you saw what Chris Anderson had to say a while back. He absolutely nails it. It’s not as though this is something new. A colleague wrote about this in 1996 and drew an indignant response from PR.

While in Paris I met with a bunch of startups who could not find decent PR, ie people prepared to understand what they’re about and pitch accordingly. Instead it’s the same name dropping crap that you and I know is utter BS.

Sorry Brian but it’s same old, same old from this hack’s desk.

You may be different but I can tell you that 95%+ of your profession is nigh on useless and unaccountable.

As usual, a well thought out post that serves to educate people on how PR is changing and what they should expect from it. Every startup that hasn’t hired you (or us : ) to represent them should be following PR 2.0.

@jeff davis – managing expectations is a key component with clients, peers, and journalists. It’s something we stress over and over again internally as we grow our business.

And while it has been a long time since then (and there are many new tools available today) I fundamentally agree with your assessment.

My Job 1 with clients was managing expectations. Dot-com entrepreneurs often had larger-than-life ideas of how the world will respond to their widget, so we often found ourselves needing to reign things in a bit with our CEOs. While we certainly had our share of media surges at launch, patience and consistency proved more effective.

I shifted focus a few years ago to the events side of things for consumer products, but still encounter small companies. The difference today is that I’m hearing more about their struggles to navigate the Google machine than getting media exposure — which now go hand-in-hand.

Remember, common sense, isn’t terribly common regardless of whether or not you’ve heard it for 20 years or if it has a new “social” gloss.

PR has changed a lot, especially over the last 10, and continues to do so.

Today’s startups are a little bit more sophisticated than their predecessors and therefore will read this article differently.

The central message is best summized this way:

- Drop the bull shit

- Know who you’re talking to and why your story matters to them

- Figure out where they go for information and engage them directly and indirectly

- PR is no longer a blast mechanism, it’s about people

- Customer service is no longer an inbound cost center, communities require participation

- Understand the process of creating and telling stories

- Measure PR in a way that is realistic, but make sure, you measure it

- Don’t undercut your PR efforts

- Remember that bloggers and reporters are busier than you

But at the end of the day, you get out of PR what you put into it.

The central message to me is: “We don’t perform miracles aka expect nothing and by the way we’re not going to be measured or rewarded on performance.”

Sorry Brian – but not in any company I run.