There is NO “free publicity”

This notion of free publicity is giving me heartache. There are so many snake oil salesmen touting FREE PUBLICITY. I just saw another one in The Learning Annex catalogue. When you say “free” it devalues the tremendous amount of hard work it takes to get to the free part. “Free” is just spin to engage you. Trust me, it aint free.

For successful programs there is always a strategy, a sound scientific market driven approach to what the market will embrace and believe. There is strategy; from determining the messaging the target audience will buy, then how the editorial community will trust it in a form they can then translate into the right message for readers. Then there is the editorial research, the event research, making sure the publicity program/stunt/pitch is in alignment and will enhance the brand. That the programs will speak to the persona of the company and/or product.

THEN there is the programs and tactics themselves each with their own form of strategy in timing, messaging and positioning.

Sure there are times when out of the blue a product catches the eye of an editor or reporter and then there is a domino effect of coverage. But even that is not free… the product had the right benefits at the right time presented through packaging and copywriting in a unique way that caught the imagination. This is not a coincidence; it is part of this process. A product that delivers on its promise is half the battle to generating marketing success.

None of that work is free. IF the work of marketing and PR is done with integrity and intelligence then, JUST MAYBE the “free” publicity will manifest in the form of articles and broadcast interviews, product placements, resulting in critical mass notice and buzz.

Many that are selling “how to get it free” are living in tactical land. Those that are buying what they are selling get a pile of tactics that just don’t work as well without a well thought out strategy, plan and credibility branding platform backing it. Bedsides, saying it is free is disrespectful to the professionals out there doing this for a living and the journalists out there being paid to be “spun? I think not. Let’s lose the FREE and start associating VALUE with the principles of marketing publicity.

Comments

[Walter Burek]

Jennifer,

It's not only "disrespectful," as you say, but it makes pricing difficult for us. I get dozens of calls and emails from people who expect me to work for them for $10 or $15 an hour.

wgb

[James Klobasa]

I like the green much better!