Boomerang

Reading Simona Covel’s article “Is This Article Worth $6,000?” in The Wall Street Journal on the ethical and monetary value of pay-for play PR placement is, for me, a fascinating test of patience and diplomacy. It is a follow-up to a previous piece Ms. Covel wrote called “Paying for PR – But Only When it Works” and wonders if by pointing out the public relations cost of writing about a product or company, a journalist has done her readers a proper service. The article has created an active dialog among entrepreneurs, communications professionals and obdurate neophytes, all of whom have opinions about the efficacy of PR.

By paying only for placement of an article, a small (or large) business misses out on one of the key learnings that PR provides: finding out that your product or service is not newsworthy. You see, part of what a good PR person does is to craft a story that has relevance to the current market, is targeted to its audience, and will benefit the client. What some may call “busy work” could be, in part, a PR person pitching a story to a reporter, receiving feedback on why the pitch doesn’t resonate, adjusting it to make it even better, and pitching it again. That busy work could also include analyzing competitive positioning in order to best it, or perhaps even brainstorming new ideas.

Also, while I admire Guy Kawasaki, and agree with his notion that entrepreneurial spirit can provide valuable momentum to a marketing campaign, I disagree with point number 4 in the comment written by reader Raza Imam: “Publicists are afraid of controversy and drama; it’s too risky to your image. But that’s what readers are really interested in.” To the contrary – I would say that, after 15 years in journalism and PR, the fear is with the clients. While many imagine themselves as willing to take a risk, it is the rare bold CEO who can follow through with a PR campaign that may raise some eyebrows or even hackles.

There are many, many more points to be made, but I will choose just one final one. Securing coverage in The Wall Street Journal is, for most PR people, a significant accomplishment because the reporters are smart, savvy and not easily wooed by anything other than a highly intelligent story. That said, just getting the hit isn’t enough; it’s about the length, the tone, the tenor, the location within the paragraphs, the inclusion (or lack thereof) of competitors, how lovingly the reporter crafted the article… Okay, you get it.

Any PR person – pay for play or not – who thinks just getting the coverage is enough is in the wrong business.