BlinnPR Lists the Top Ten Lies PR Agencies Tell Their Clients and Prospects

NEW YORK, Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- When a bestselling book about your profession is entitled "Toxic Sludge is Good for You!: Lies, Damn Lies, and The Public Relations Industry" it's obvious that your business has a rather dodgy reputation.

But most of the suspicion that's directed at us concerns the way we shape the truth to serve our clients.

According to Steven Blinn, president and CEO of BlinnPR, "What's not talked about as much are the lies that PR agencies tell clients and/or prospects." Yes, doing any sort of business requires the spewing of some polite fallacies to lubricate the wheels of justice, no wait I mean commerce. But there are fabrications that are particular to the PR business. You see them lurking, again and again, in the latest cut and paste press release announcing a new client win. You read them on agency blogs or hear about them from disillusioned clients.

And now here they are, neatly organized into a list courtesy of BlinnPR that will help clients and prospects spot the most common PR ploys.

    1: "This is such a terrific product/service!" Part of public relations is
       managing clients' expectations. Not all products and services are
       newsworthy; some appeal only to a niche market. Others are entering a
       market that's already oversaturated. But many agencies are scared of
       telling their clients the truth fearing they'll lose the business.
       Instead of functioning as a strategic advisor, they act like an over
       eager suitor on a first date.

    2: "Your account is in the best possible hands..." PR firms often bring
       their best, brightest and most articulate stars (the Biz Dev team) to
       the pitch and infer that this is the talent working on an account that
       bills 3-5K per month at most. How many times have you heard that senior
       staff will be pitching the media on your behalf? Meanwhile, back in the
       real world, a junior AE or AE with limited experience is handling your
       account and has no idea what she/he is doing or why.

    3: "Our agency has deep experience with technology companies like yours."
       Never mind the fact that likely 90%+ of that collective experience no
       longer works at the agency, having long ago moved on to competing
       agencies or retired/passed away.

    4: "We're doing all that we are supposed to do." Often an agency will tell
       a client, well after the agreement is signed and months into the
       assignment, that something can't be done because a) it's beyond the
       scope of work, b) the budget is too small or c) we need clients to
       speak with reporters. Nonsense - getting media attention for a client
       through any possible, valuable venue is the job, period.

    5: "We know Web 2.0" More and more PR firms are offering clients help with
       podcasts, promoting and writing blogs and writing social media releases
       carefully optimized to ride high in search engine results. That's
       great, assuming the agency has real expertise and isn't just along for
       the ride on the Web 2.0 bandwagon. There are plenty of blogs that were
       guaranteed to "ramp up your SEO" languishing unread in the backwaters
       of the Internet, and you can podcast until you're blue in the face
       without seeing any improvement in your site's page rank. Run away fast
       from any agency that suggests Twitter or Facebook can magically solve
       all of your PR problems.

    6: We have great relationships with (insert high profile reporters' names
       here)" "I'm dumbfounded when prospects want me to drop names of
       reporters I know -- as my list of business connections really means
       nothing for the client," says Blinn. Reporters know a lot of PR people,
       and vice-versa. But whether a reporter likes a PR rep or not, they
       aren't going to write a story that isn't interesting to their readers.
       In any case, it's far better to find the right reporters to tell an
       interesting story to the right readers than to keep pitching a small
       group of elite reporters.

    7: "We have affiliate offices all over the world." Not a lie, exactly,
       (assuming they aren't counting their freelancers' apartments as
       satellite offices) -- the falsehood is in the implication that this
       matters to the prospect. In reality, lots of dots on the map that's
       proudly displayed on an "About Us" page doesn't mean squat unless there
       is a need or purpose. How will a branch office in Barcelona or Budapest
       serve your business?

    8: "We offer highly-targeted strategic public relations." When in fact
       they just routinely blast out press releases via e-mail with the hope
       that something will stick, and reporters know to automatically delete
       the latest gibberish from ABC agency because they never send anything
       useful or interesting. Here's a tip. Ask exactly whom the agency is
       pitching, a small well-selected list of reporters is far better than
       sending a release or pitch to a huge mailing list comprised of every
       reporter that anyone in the agency knows, has heard of, or thinks may
       probably exist.

    9: "We do a great job taking advantage of the news cycle." Certainly
       getting your clients comments out on the topic du jour is a good thing,
       but it's far more important to think outside the box and make the news.
       Coming up with creative pitches is more difficult than riding the news
       wave so many agencies convince clients that a quote embedded in a few
       stories about the crisis of the moment is great PR. In reality, it's a
       small part of what an agency should be doing.

    10: "It's not our fault, your product/service just isn't all that
        compelling." The biggest falsehood agencies foist upon clients is that
        poor PR performance is largely the client's fault. The truth is that
        there are many minimally talented people in the PR business who send
        poorly written press releases via unsolicited email blasts and annoy
        journalists with a steady stream of boring, predictable crap. If the
        agency didn't tell you your product was a tough sell at the beginning
        of your relationship, they shouldn't tell you that after their
        campaign fails.

ABOUT BLINNPR

BlinnPR effectively combines the focus of a boutique public relations agency -- working smarter, faster and more efficiently -- with the senior- level staff experience of a large agency.

Our people have counseled clients through financial and product communications crises; developed public relations campaigns that cut through marketplace clutter helping clients increase sales and position corporations and government agencies to be innovative leaders in their space. In short, our public relations practitioners have a single-minded focus on ensuring the long-term success for our clients.

Our services span many dimensions, from developing local, national and overseas public relations campaigns to audience-specific outreach efforts. The creation of the full range of marketing materials and broadcast public relations services are all part of the BlinnPR public relations repertoire.