It’s a very funny world out there in PR. There’s much talk about the industry changing and adapting, but a quick look at two different links from Valley reporters in the last month shows it might not be changing as much as we hope.

• Here’s the venerable Tom Foremski asking the seemingly age old question, why do PR people still send press releases and pitches with no linked content? (The practice is particularly odd, and persistent in the tech industry of all places). His frustration is understandable, and his work to try to change the industry appears not to have resulted in the sea change many have predicted. (Appearances, in this case, are not deceiving.)
• Then there’s Rafe, the ever patient PR Pro Tips giver, posting  just today a tip that shouldn’t have to be explained to a “PR Pro.” Shave your lists he advises, because a tech reporter doesn’t care that Carmen Electra, no matter how interesting she may be, is going to be IN PERSON at a Gillette event. Really? Really.

So where’s the divide between PR people saying there is change in the industry and reporters *showing* us examples where it’s just as bad as ever? Chalk it up to PR people being good at hype? Wrong. The two examples above showcase the lowest form of value of a PR person or firm – yet often get the most time, energy and focus. And, there’s the problem: when you keep pointing to the lowest common denominator and calling it “change,” you don’t get much respect. Kind of like the bank robber saying he’s rehabilitated because he only robs banks in the late afternoon.

In a fairly tragic self-fulfilling prophecy, PR people have written themselves into a low-value play by hyping their ability to be fluent in social media, target the right reporters, and hit exceedingly high target numbers of stories on behalf of clients. With the bullhorn poised on these topics, the industry has lost its credibility as high value among certain audiences. The reason is simple: with all due respect, these efforts are tactics – not strategies that push businesses forward. Useful yes. Integral to a business’ future? Not by themselves. By themselves, they become commodities.

Now, when you focus on the true art & science of PR, you’ll find real value. The two words that make up our tidy acronym say it all – Public Relations. To me, this entails helping my clients better understand, communicate with, and create valuable relationships with their audiences. The longer I practice my craft, if you will allow me to call it that, the more value I see myself contributing. Today, my PR insights helped a client reposition their business’ core target audience through intelligent data mining and audience-positioning. Yesterday, I was discussing funding sources with another client and pointing them in a new direction.

You may ask, what does this have to do with PR? Everything. Before I take the action of creating a media strategy or a social media campaign – or even writing a press release, I better have not only an understanding of my client’s business, but a buy-in into their strategy. If I don’t, I’ll resort to throwing out tactics like spaghetti on the wall, and we all know what that ends up looking like. If I spend the time figuring out what my client wants to achieve, who he needs on board to achieve it, and what that group or person needs to hear it, I’ve created value. Next comes tidy execution – with the target known it becomes straightforward to reach them with your (yes, now we can talk about the shiny new stuff) changing list of tactics.

So perhaps we should stop talking about changing the tactics of our industry, and begin getting back to basics. That’s where the value is.

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First and foremost, welcome to the Story Labs blog. When I get a moment to think about what I do, and have something novel or interesting to share about it, here is where I’ll be. Thanks for reading.

To kick things off, I want to discuss something often confused with what I do (which is Public Relations for all intents and purposes). That thing is hype. I happen to think about hype quite a bit, and, I think its usage in our industry is well past its expiration date. If you use it, beware.

Firstly, what is hype? Nicely put it is “extravagant or excessive promotion,” and not so nicely, “deception or fraud.” It has played a key role in PR and Marketing disciplines and in some circles, has attracted some devoted fans. Brands, products and personalities can be built overnight with a good application of hype, and the media industry has a terribly bad record in creating hype cycles around products, businesses and people that are perhaps, not so deserving of their rampant adoration. This bad habit is where the hype takes hold: PR reps push the limit, and every now and again (well, in the tech industry seemingly once a month), reporters get caught up in the dreamy world these smart story-tellers so cleverly create. And thus, a hype-cycle is born.

It is important to note how the changing media landscape, from the near ubiquity of social media to the not so new, more informal, timely writing style created by publishing on the Web (both blogs and traditional news sources) has created a new set of opportunities, and new challenges for the hype-inclined. The speed and breadth of the Web means that hype is created and can travel faster than ever. The Web also democratizes the sources of hype: today there are 50x the sources that can hype a product versus the media world of 15 years ago. This means, authority is not necessarily earned by the source covering the story, and spin can have a much bigger playground to, well… get into trouble on.

This all may be sounding kind of nice right about now. Especially to folks who wouldn’t mind some attention. Well here is the problem: hype doesn’t last, and while it may get you some amazing buzz, it is more likely than not going to lead to longer term credibility issues, and most problematic: it can alienate two of the most important members of your circle: your employees and your primary customers.

Examples abound for the argument to avoid hype, here is one in the headlines this week: Ausra, the darling of the solar industry just two years ago was set to take the world by storm. That’s what the stories said. However reality came with time: when engineering truths didn’t match marketed expectations. This week the company announced it would not be able to fulfill its visions without major backing. It’s now for sale. While this story has its own case study (an interesting one) the important thing to note is what went wrong: a bad case of marketing messages that didn’t meet the reality the company was facing.

Here is the important question for every company, young and old that wants to make it big: what’s your objective? Do you need money? Customers? If so, what’s the most efficacious pathway to success? Is it Venturebeat? Maybe. Is it the New York Times? Possibly. Is it execution to your business objectives, with or without the press? Absolutely.

I’m not saying PR isn’t an incredibly valuable tool. What I am saying is: be honest. Instead of desiring the big leagues of PR think small. What will your customer read, and more importantly: what will they believe? The new world order of media transparency means that PR professionals need to be vigilant about the truth versus the shinier version of the ’sort of truth’. While ’spin’ is still in the game here, hype is out.

Just because you make someone write it, does not make it true.

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