Debunking PR Myths

Big kudos to friend and colleague Doug Dull for finding this article from the Creating Results newsletter. The focus of this website is "mature" segment marketing and east-coast based; however, do not let any of that dissuade you.

The two serious winners in the four relate back to our convention presentation. I am especially fond of No. 1 "Nobody Reads the Newspaper Anymore" and No. 4 "Public Relations Won't Generate Sales." The common thread -- content.

What? Didn't you and your panelists say for many colleges and for whole niche sport segments of college athletics that the traditional media were dead? Not exactly, the brick-and-mortar media have abandoned segments they don't see as profitable, and that's where the media relations office steps into the vacuum. Please don't translate that into newspapers aren't relevant or you can replace newspapers.

What newspapers are not are the center of the influencing opinion universe, and this newsletter makes a great argument for how you need to maintain that media connection. I simply do not think it is mutually exclusive to not bring your own P.O.V. to the room where legacy and new born digital media wish to also cover teams.

The long-term winner is four. The nut graph:

PR was the most efficient marketing channel with a cost per acquisition of $15 (vs. $95 for advertising). And positive media coverage increased the success of other marketing. A relatively low amount spent on PR can not only deliver high ROI, it can lift the impact of all other marketing.

It has always been, and will remain, hard for administrators to put the content and PR ahead of the marketing.