Are You Really Ready to Succeed?

I recently finished a PR job for a small client. They wanted to get the word out about a new product and hired me as the external PR person on a very limited budget. In addition to me, they used internal staff as well as a freelancer. We are all smart, I have an incredible resource of contacts, and we reached all the movers and shakers in this client’s sector. But sales and response was still low. Here’s why and what you can do before embarking on a PR, marketing or a sales push.

MAKE SURE:
You have a brand and communications platform BEFORE you do the marketing and PR on a specific project.If you don’t, then your audience is doubly confused. First, they don’t know that much, if anything at all, about who is sending the message. Not good. Second, because of the first point, the message holds less weight and is more likely to be ignored.

There’s enough budget to get the job done. This client didn’t have it. If you don’t, then no matter how smart your resources are, they can only take you part of the way.
There’s infrastructure in your company so that everyone knows where they belong and who they report to. This could change on a job by job basis. That’s ok. What’s important is that everyone knows where they fit in on any given project.
Give someone, preferably internal, responsibility for the project. If no one person is a project manager, then the separate elements will go their own ways, miss deadlines, forget to do the job and basically not understand the importance of the job. This applies to companies of all sizes. I have three or four-men jobs and there’s always a project manager assigned.

DEBRIEF AFTER EVERY JOB! Get feedback from your team. What went well? What can be improved? Surprises along the way. Give everyone a chance to speak freely.

It’s better to save your money and do the job right than waste it doing only part of the job.

 

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.
She is the author of Lies Startups Tell Themselves to Avoid Marketing.