PR: A Game You Can't Win Playing By the Rules
Being nice doesn't work. Being honest is only rewarded, if you say something that is honestly shocking. Asking for fairness is silly. Behaving the way you'd like your competition to behave may get you into heaven, but it won't get you on television.
These are just a few of the many public relations insights I've garnered by observing the profession for more than 20 years. Here are some more that have been in my view of late....
On a scale of 1-10, with five being the truth as you see it and each integer up being the truth "magnified" exponentially, then those who get the most media coverage pitch journalists stories that are 9s and 10s. They don't lie. They just lead with their strongest argument and then magnify it until the media can't ignore it.
When CEOs and PR people tell me "the story" they wish to get press coverage for, I can pretty quickly map for them where the 9s and 10s of their particular tale lie. The visceral reaction I usually get is, "but that is such a simplification" or "that's a gross exaggeration." Exactly. Fives don't get noticed. Tens do.
Here is the formula: Find a message. Your message. Trim it to its core. Your core. Then re-inflate it until it moves from a 5 to a 10. That is, if you want publicity.
Lots of CEOS and PR people think they want publicity, but they want it on their terms. Won't happen. The media have too much to do to bother with stories that can't rise to the top of newsworthy scale. If you won't make your story exciting, reporters and editors certainly won't do it for you.
I really don't know if there is such a thing as 'absolute truth.' But I can tell you this: Those individuals who play by the rules of media relations lose or lose almost always. To win, you have to be willing to play the media relations game the way it really works. Not how you wish it worked.
These are just a few of the many public relations insights I've garnered by observing the profession for more than 20 years. Here are some more that have been in my view of late....
On a scale of 1-10, with five being the truth as you see it and each integer up being the truth "magnified" exponentially, then those who get the most media coverage pitch journalists stories that are 9s and 10s. They don't lie. They just lead with their strongest argument and then magnify it until the media can't ignore it.
When CEOs and PR people tell me "the story" they wish to get press coverage for, I can pretty quickly map for them where the 9s and 10s of their particular tale lie. The visceral reaction I usually get is, "but that is such a simplification" or "that's a gross exaggeration." Exactly. Fives don't get noticed. Tens do.
Here is the formula: Find a message. Your message. Trim it to its core. Your core. Then re-inflate it until it moves from a 5 to a 10. That is, if you want publicity.
Lots of CEOS and PR people think they want publicity, but they want it on their terms. Won't happen. The media have too much to do to bother with stories that can't rise to the top of newsworthy scale. If you won't make your story exciting, reporters and editors certainly won't do it for you.
I really don't know if there is such a thing as 'absolute truth.' But I can tell you this: Those individuals who play by the rules of media relations lose or lose almost always. To win, you have to be willing to play the media relations game the way it really works. Not how you wish it worked.
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