Comments on: 10 Things Clients Say that Scare PR Professionals

By: wholesale sunglasses

wholesale sunglasses — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 20:20:46 +0000

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By: Melanie Halvorson

Melanie Halvorson — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:11:57 +0000

This post is great! We, on the client side, often don’t realize how ridiculous we sound. I am writing a post on my blog about what PR pros wish MBAs were taught about PR and working with PR firms.

I’d love any of your input!

Melanie from http://www.InSearchOfGoodProfits.com

By: Abercrombie and Fitch

Abercrombie and Fitch — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 03:02:14 +0000

Good!

By: susanryoung

susanryoung — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:11:15 +0000

Greg-

You are right about the “oil snake”…people want to feel safe when they hand you money. Years ago I started putting a “Guarantee” line in my PR contracts that addresses your point. Thank you for chiming in :)

Susan

By: susanryoung

susanryoung — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:09:19 +0000

Hi Rosanne,

You have great points for PR folks—echoing my mantra of “living and breathing does not constitute a press release.” Thank you!

Susan

By: Rosanne Gain, Gain-Stovall, Inc.

Rosanne Gain, Gain-Stovall, Inc. — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:44:29 +0000

Educating the client and managing expectations are two of the most important things in working with a PR client. The most important question we must ask? “Is it newsworthy?” Will it accomplish at least one of the following points in a way that affects enough people: 1) Solve a problem or create an opportunity.
2) Provide useful information or tips.
3) Identify a trend.
4) Help the community.
Thanks for your blog and the light-hearted way in which you presented it. It reminds us that we are not alone in facing what the client believes to be legitimate questions.

By: Greg Brooks

Greg Brooks — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:32:06 +0000

Chiming in late because I just found the article via LinkedIn. Funny stuff all around!

However, No. 3 is a perfectly legitimate client issue — they’re paying because they want results.

PR practitioners need a better answer than, “You’re paying for effort and expertise, not results,” because we fall back on that too often, and it reeks of snake oil.

By: Davina K. Brewer

Davina K. Brewer — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:31:41 +0000

The WSJ one is the best, and Bill B. already made the “commit a felony” joke. And of course they all want Oprah or the Today Show, and they are a small B2B vendor selling some obscure widget that only a handful of people need.

Other things I don’t like to hear are: “They won’t change the release, will they?” or “why did they change the release, why did they include comments from others like—eek, competitors?”

Good list, thanks.

By: susanryoung

susanryoung — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:00:10 +0000

#11 is duly noted! Sounds familiar…:) Thanks for reading and commenting.
Susan

By: Gee Ranasinha

Gee Ranasinha — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:41:34 +0000

#11: “We want a new PR firm because the things we told you to do didn’t work the way we expected.” ;-)