Waiting for Results

In my business we sell creative services and our time focused on media relations. We do a good job with these things, but I've decided there is a definite problem with what I'm doing on a daily basis.

When someone hires me they are hiring me to do something that they can't do themselves. They are buying copywriting or media relations services, but what they really want to be buying is new business. They are investing (we tell them) in results.

Unfortunately, it is often the case that by the time someone comes to me, they have done so only after having tried everything themselves. They've read books they bought off of Amazon. They have listened in at lunch meetings to colleagues talk about branding or sales processes. They have attended the meetings their professional societies host on the topic of marketing or public relations. Sometimes they've even heard me speak at such a gathering.

So by the time they get to me, and to my colleagues who do what we do, they do have a basic understanding of what they want to do, as well as a clear understanding of why they need it. They are focused on that end result: the new business, the phone calls, the web hits, the money. And because we're such a society of immediacy, they want it now.

Getting into the public consciousness within your target market does not happen overnight. Unless you have a scandal or you develop a cure for cancer, you're not going to make the nightly news overnight. Even if you do get a front page business story or a business journal piece about your business, you may not see success as in new business or sales overnight.

I tell potential clients, "This stuff takes time." That's not a marketing ploy or a way to stretch out your payments to me or a sales tactic, that's the truth. It's a process and it takes time. If no one has heard of you in ten or twenty years, what makes you think you're front page news in three months? If you've never used a professional marketing person in your 15 year business history, why do you expect one campaign to make a huge difference in your business development and growth? Can it? Sure. Does it? Every day. Can you guarantee it? No.

Therein lies another obstacle to success doing what I do. Not only do people think they can have results in days, they want a guarantee. "If you want to make sure you're in the paper, buy an ad," I often tell them. And I do recommend advertising. There is a minimum amount of it you have to do as a business for so many reasons. Once you're doing that, and once you're supporting your own industry and promoting your own business, you have enough business to make the claims you want to make with PR. So many people have read a book telling them that PR is the answer. They don't have budgets for ads or design or printing. They want PR. PR takes time.

As much as I'd like to think otherwise, media people are not sitting around waiting to hear from me or you. I have connections in certain industries and I know a lot of people who will read my e-mails or take my calls, but most of these people are successful because they have their own minds and a strong work ethic, and they are working on a lot of different projects and following a number of different leads (and directives). I know there are not journalists left in American jobs just sitting there staring at their computer waiting for a story idea from me.

That's where the challenge and the fun comes in. I approach media relations like any marketing campaign. To start with I need a good product. I handpick my clients and usually know what I'm getting into before I get into it. Even with the troublemakers: I know up front. Then we work on the "marketing materials" -- the story angles, the key messages, the client education and media training, the "personality adjustments," -- helping them to understand how the media works, what they want, and how to give it to them if given the chance.

When I contact media professionals and when I write a press release for distribution or a wire service, I make it interesting, my pitches are well thought out, my stories are tied to key events, I look for news to use. I write it like they'd write it. I work with clients who really have something cool to "sell." I believe in their product or service and am not reading a script when I make a call. I'm speaking from the heart.

My clients want "results," and I head into every assignment hell bent on giving them to them. I am always confident I can do what I say I will do. And with most of my client relationships, we will get the results they want -- with time.

But because a lot of clients chewed up their time before they got to me by NOT doing the right sorts of good work, or advertising, or marketing, the one thing they feel a little tight on when they get to me is time. They need results now. I'm sometimes their last resort. No one ever tells me that until we're three months into it and they start screaming about the money spent and their concern over return on investment, i.e. results achieved.

Sometimes there is a mismatch at an early date. Lots of WORK has been done: press releases written and sent, media calls made, research done, opportunities found, pitches made, marketing materials created, web sites updated, a significant amount of money spent, but nothing perceived as "results" have been achieved.

Since what I'm selling are my time and my team's time for creative services and media relations assistance, why do clients take it out on me when they have no results right away? Because early on we mistakenly tied our services to results. This works in certain industries, but it usually does not work in PR. Marketing can be tied to results, and sales efforts can be tied to results, but PR not so much.

I can get you an interview with the New York Times, yet there's no guarantee that what the guy writes is going to benefit you from a "sales" perspective.

Using the mass media to benefit your business is a high level strategy. Every business thinks they want it. Not every business is ready for it or truly deserves it. It is true that any business can have it if they are willing to put in the time, spend the money, invest in the integrated aspects of marketing and business development, and actively participate as we "wait" for the results.

All I know is that it became clear to me today while working through a few new proposals that I need to do a better job up front really explaining to my clients what they are paying for when they decide to work with OutreachPR. I want them to really want the service they are buying. I want them to know I'm going to be in it for the long haul and I'm going to deliver what I say to them, and they are going to appreciate it, maybe not every day as we move along through the process, and maybe not early on, but absolutely, positively, in the future, if they just give it enough time, they'll see the results.

I have clients I've worked with four, six, ten years. It's not because I'm "still working on results." We have proven results. They get the process. It is all about effort, persistence, frequency, and time. Without exception, these clients fidgeted early on, and worried about expenditures versus results. But they learned to actively participate in the process, trust in the effort, and wait for the results. Like everything in life, the things worth having are worth the wait.

A Red Letter Day

Yesterday was a red letter day for me. It was the first day of my life that one of my children spoke these words: "Mom, I'm going to work."

After I heard those words I could not quit smiling. I called my husband and told him, "Your son just went to work." "What?!" he exclaimed. "Where?" "Up at the club. He went up to clean the pool. He's starting as a Pool Club Assistant." "Wow. Great!" I think Mark was in as much disbelief as I was myself. After all, this is a kid who has never made his bed without prompting, does not yet know how to do his own laundry, and still asks me to make him a sandwich. But he hopped in the car and drove himself to work. Turning 16 has brought him many opportunities for freedom, including the opportunity to make his own money. I'm pretty excited about this leap in maturity.

I will admit, I pretty much expected Tanner to come back within an hour and say, "No, that wasn't for me," but he stayed up at the club for more than three hours, apparently scrubbing the sides of the pool with a long handled brush. It was a little boring, he said, but it was easy. I guess he did a good job, because he came back last evening with the paperwork he needs to fill out in order to receive paychecks -- twice a month. He's pretty psyched. Although I notice by the clock on the wall that his mommy may have to wake him up soon to get him to work on time today, at least last night he was excited to go back.

It probably helps that the lifeguards at the pool are girls. Older girls, in fact. College girls home for the summer. I'm sure they probably think Tanner is pretty cute. He is. And at 6 feet, 200 pounds he's a big boy. He looks a little older than he is, but it's an illusion that will quickly be shattered when those girls try to talk to him. He's very shy, especially with girls. This will be good for him in that regard. I know he'll be getting a few looks. He's in shape. Hockey has made his legs strong. Weight lifting has given his upper body definition. Yes, I'm sure the girls at the club are going to be happy he's joined the staff. Of course that gives me cause for pause.

Since I'm scheduled for a pool-side pedicure this afternoon, and little brother plans to spend his afternoon up at the club, I guess we'll both get to witness him on the job in person later today. That will probably embarass him that I'm there, but as long as I don't talk to him, it will be okay. Little brother will think it's pretty cool that Tanner is getting paid. I'm sure that in between dunking pre-teen girls and playing keep away with an errant tennis ball, Dylan will be watching his brother, hopefully a little envious, dreaming of the day when he too can be a Pool Club Assistant.

I'm one proud momma today. My baby has a job.

Insanity in Numbers

I heard on the news this morning that between Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton they've spent more on television ads than in any campaign in history. The number was staggering -- in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Since most Americans tuned out of this election months ago, I'm sitting here wondering why this makes sense and how insane it is that the candidates themselves would allow this sort of ridiculous spending to take place.

Do these candidates know that people are running out of gas on the roadways as they try to stretch their last third of a gallon to the next station? TV executives are fat and happy, but has the spending by the candidates really benefitted anyone? With the whole super delegate and electoral college thing, does it really matter what we think anyway? Who does this benefit?

John McCain, on the other hand, has spent about $11 million on televison advertising. That doesn't sound insane. I'm sure his ad agency has instead spent its money on some really "Wow" creative that we'll see after the conventions. That, after all, is when the real spending begins.

I've just been hearing some crazy numbers lately. It happens when I watch the news, which by and large I don't. But when I do, I hear things like this advertising thing, and also, "It's going to cost the State of Texas $21 million to take care of these 400 children from the compound in Eldorado this year." This year? What are we doing for these kids? Building them homes?Funding their college accounts? Feeding them fresh seafood flown in daily? I'm blown away. Not to mention why the heck does the state have these kids anyway? We can't take care of the ones that really need state intervention. It's insanity.

So I'm trying to not become insensed by these numbers and by the news you hear on TV in general. I really don't pay attention, and it's for good reason. I tend to get emotional about this stuff. And when I get emotional I don't focus on my work. And to pay for things these days I have to work. So I'm going back to my billing and will forget that Hillary and Barrack are spending more on some stupid ad to reach one super delegate than I will make in the next five years, and I'm paying $5 for a gallon of milk, $4 for a gallon of gas, my clients are doing the same, no one is too happy about it, spending is slowing...and yet I'm in the midst of these Texas oil people (who are everywhere here, God Love 'Em), and they can't stop smiling.

I just need to get back to work because, by the way Hillary, by the way Barrack, and you too Mr. McCain, I have to work more every month just to stay even. I'm lucky I have that option. Most Americans do not.