An EOP Parable: When you have to choose one child over another

A potential new client was referred to us recently, and after an initial phone call, we agreed to a meeting.  He was a thoughtful guy with terrific credentials – an MBA, some Wall Street experience and a track record of success in following his dream: creating new manufacturing opportunities in communities where plants had been shuttered and ghosts of bygone days lingered.  He was likeable and inquisitive, curious to learn as much about public relations as he could, measuring against what he thought he needed to generate additional exposure.

We settled on two areas where we both thought he could benefit.  First, media relations. Securing articles that told the story of how his company had turned around long-neglected factories could very well propel readers to self-identify and reach out to him with more opportunities along those lines.  Yes, media relations is great that way, especially in communicating stories with so many layers. While we were eager to help, it was plain to see his hopes were high, perhaps unrealistically high.  In order to get the kind of attention he thought he needed, he was thinking a Wall Street Journal or Forbes or Fortune piece would do the trick.  Perhaps even a hit in Fast Company.  In other words, he wanted the placements that just about every company in America wants.

We weren’t dismayed by his high expectations, and, as we typically do, we were sure to convey just how challenging those kinds of placements can be. We wanted him to appreciate the competitive nature of those kinds of pitches, but we were game to try.  After all, we have a pretty good track record of placing our clients’ stories in those publications, and sometimes you can just make your own luck.  At the same time, we wanted to adjust his horizons somewhat by suggesting that we also focus on trade media placements, publications that served some of the manufacturing industries that he was targeting.  Securing stories in these smaller, more niche publications would be more realistic, and we had a much higher level of confidence we could get traction in this space.

Meanwhile, he also was interested in a content management strategy, and of course we were all ears.  Given the nature of his needs and the space of his industry, we agreed that creating original content and pushing it out via LinkedIn would begin to help him start to tell his story in his own way.  We would help him create blogs and curate additional content that he could comment on, and we’d begin building an online presence that broadened his visibility, especially with key targets.  And by spending some additional resources on LinkedIn advertising, he could really focus on reaching exactly the kind of audience he was looking for.  And if we were successful on the media relations front, he could share those articles on his company’s LinkedIn page as well.

This dual strategy is actually one strategy – the Earned/Owned/Paid paradigm – i.e. earned media (media relations), owned content (blogs, etc.) and paid (the ad boosts on LinkedIn).  We know that it’s a strategy that works, and in context of this particular client, we thought it was an approach where we could begin getting his story out there.

When he called a week later, he had not decided how best to move forward, but he wanted us to know that he had just enough budget to go ahead with one tactical campaign, and if we couldn’t do both, which one would we recommend – media relations or LinkedIn?

It was a legitimate question, and as we discussed it with him, we found ourselves coming at the answer from different sides.  One the one hand, in order to really give him the kind of exposure that he was looking for, we thought that rolling the dice with a media relations campaign would give him the best chance of generating the level of awareness he was seeking.  On the other hand, we could very well find ourselves at the end of three months with nothing to show for our work – at least nothing tangible in the form of an article.  And so, given the possibility of coming up dry, perhaps it would be better to undertake the content campaign on LinkedIn.  We could show guaranteed results and begin incrementally building brand awareness.

As we debated the merits of both sides, he posed a question that put us four-square in the media relations camp.  He asked how much time the LinkedIn campaign would take, noting that he really didn’t have time for blogging or even spending time with us to give us the information we’d need to write the blog, nor was there really anyone else at the company that could fill that role.  That sealed the deal.  A content management campaign really requires an internal commitment.  Your online persona is really an extension of who you are, and that’s not something that a PR firm can do on its own.  Your expertise is on display, and you need to spend time developing the stories that showcase it.

Earned media and paid media work autonomously from one another.  After all, they have for eons.  But put them together, and that’s a story that even The Wall Street Journal  might be interested in.