This title seems like an oxymoron, right? I'm sure to most it absolutely does. But what if it is the case? Getting coverage in tons of blogs, publications and media is great. But what if you are everywhere? Inevitably a backlash will begin. You can already see this with Twitter, as more and more mainstream news organizations pick up the story. However, Twitter will likely weather this storm due to its usefulness and contingent of evangelized spokespeople.
What if you aren't Twitter? What if you are an up-and-coming brand that relies on being edgy? What if you buy media and end up in some ridiculously irrelevant blogs? Or more importantly, what if your product flat out sucks? The answer: Dilution of your brand and a backlash against you.
This is primarily an issue for new or relatively unheard of companies that rocket to the top via PR, marketing and a healthy dose of buzz. This is a delicate time for those companies, and they have to walk a fine line to avoid market saturation. In this post, I'll use Cuil as an example.
This summer, Cuil launched to massive fanfare, publicity and a dynamite story to feature in articles (It was made by the engineers who designed Google and has a bigger index then Google). Sounds awesome, right? Well, that's what everyone thought when we read the articles, blogs and tweets leading up to Cuil's launch.
The sad reality? Cuil did not meet all the expectations that the buzz had lead us to expect. It basically didn't work. I don't know of many people who revisited the site post-launch. Lesson? Don't launch a product until it is actually ready. Overexposure on a launch can cripple a brand irrevocably.
Public Relation campaigns should be part of a multi-tiered strategy of marketing/promotion. The campaigns for PR are a double edged sword. If your product works and is great and creative? You are fine. If your product sucks? Well, PR is just going to shine a magnifying glass over your entire company, so be prepared for backlash.
The lesson to learn here: PR is just a part of the larger puzzle. You need to strategize and utilize every weapon/edge that you have at your disposal. If one area is weak, the company will likely suffer for it and sales will dip. That's just a fact. Still, it boggles my mind to see people put a PR band-aid on a gaping wound and then blame those guys when it goes wrong.
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tagged as bad product, overexposure, overexposure in pr, product fail, public relations fail, public relations saturation
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This is the hardest thing I have to explain to clients and get them to grasp… that is they want stellar results, serious change will have to be made in order to garner the attention and admiration they are seeking.
This is the hardest thing I have to explain to clients and get them to grasp… that is they want stellar results, serious change will have to be made in order to garner the attention and admiration they are seeking.
This is the hardest thing I have to explain to clients and get them to grasp… that is they want stellar results, serious change will have to be made in order to garner the attention and admiration they are seeking.
This is the hardest thing I have to explain to clients and get them to grasp… that is they want stellar results, serious change will have to be made in order to garner the attention and admiration they are seeking.
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