After a month of exercising, for example, you don’t suddenly look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Your appearance stays much the same for several months, even if you work out daily. You’ll see minor physical improvements before achieving a noticeable change, and it takes even longer for other people to notice a difference. The same principle applies to PR. You don’t engage a PR firm and immediately land a series of national media placements that improve your appearance overnight. Both require consistent effort and a long-term investment before you achieve your desired results.
I explain this to prospective clients almost daily, as there’s a widespread illusion among entrepreneurs that PR can make them into an overnight success — overnight. Although PR can create overnight successes, for sure, those overnight successes aren’t actually achieved in one night any more than Simon and Garfunkel met one day, played one show and became legends.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, for anyone not into music history, met in elementary school in 1953, where they began harmonizing and writing songs together. They had minor success as teenagers with “Hey Schoolgirl” in 1957 but weren’t signed to Columbia Records until 1963. Even then, their debut sold poorly and they split up temporarily. Two years later, a new version of “The Sound of Silence” — overdubbed with new instrumentation — finally became a U.S. radio hit and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The rest is, as they say, history — including seven Grammy Awards and an induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
Why is this relevant? Because it takes time and a tireless commitment to doing something great before it’s recognized by the world and then praised by the press. It also takes time — even after a company accomplishes something truly unique and newsworthy — before the press takes note.
Be Consistent in the Long-Term Rather Than Aggressive in the Short-Term
I like to tell clients that it’s better to commit to a long-term PR campaign at a lower monthly retainer than spend their entire annual PR budget in a few months. It’s the same as going to the gym: It’s better to go twice a week consistently for a year rather than five days a week for three months. This way, you’ll achieve better results and the brand strength will gain momentum over time.
Sure, we can do a short-term PR campaign, but the results may not be as strong — and all of the momentum gained during that time will be lost. Then, if you get back into doing PR, you’ll have to start all over with warming up those media relationships and dialogues the same way you’d have to start back at 10 pushups, 30 situps and one two-minute plank (depending on your previous strength and how long you let it go in between).
I always advise prospects to work with us for a minimum of six months, which gives my team enough time to cultivate media relationships on their behalf, build media momentum and secure their desired media coverage. Sometimes, PR can take up to 12 months to truly affect a brand’s “appearance.”
Like Getting in Shape, Measuring PR Results Is Highly Subjective
Another parallel to draw here is in measuring the results. When does your brand (or body) look like you want? Sometimes, when we start to get in shape, we begin to see all of the bits that need more attention than we realized before we saw the contrast. The same can happen with PR. You might not see how much “zhuzhing” the brand actually needs until you start to get some press.
Also, like working out, there isn’t just one way to measure the results. Sure, you can measure body fat, whether those old jeans fit again, or weight loss. But what you can’t do is say, “I did three two-minute planks five times per week for four months and that got me eight dates with romantic partners who were at least a seven out of 10.” Did doing that help land the dates? Almost certainly. But can you know for sure? No.
Similarly, there’s no single way to measure brand appearance. Yes, you can measure the share of voice against competitors, key message pull-through, the number of placements, or the total number of “hits” in desired media outlets. But can you say for sure whether that investor moved forward because of that story in TechCrunch, whether your new employees took the job because of the company’s great reputation, or whether PR was one of the eight touchpoints that closed those last five sales? Probably not.
PR is all about reputation- and credibility-building. So, if people are looking at PR as a direct sales-driving tactic, they’ll likely be disappointed. Although I’ve had clients who got on the Today show and saw $30,000 in sales that same morning, that’s the exception — not the rule. Yes, PR does drive sales, but it does so through building trust in a brand that then inspires people to want to work with the company and buy its products or solutions.
Consistency Is Key
Although PR isn’t a quick process or one that has the most objective metrics within the marketing mix, it’s the only marketing tactic that has the effect of building your brand credibility, reputation and trust. For this reason, PR can reward brands handsomely when they invest the time and money necessary to “look the part” in the long run. After all, brands — like employees — always need to “dress for the job they want, not the job they have.”
