PR Studies

How to be bad

As reported in Management Today, entrepreneur Guy Kingston is so fed up with 'dodgy PR agents' he's trying to find Britain's worst public relations agent.

He lists 9 signs of a bad PR agent - a reasonable list of bad practice indicators.

What's unsaid is that a good PR consultant (note how I prefer to use the c word) will choose to develop long-term business relationships with the best clients. The problem here, as so often, probably comes down to expectation management. Short-term publicity does not always equate to long-term reputation, which is why payment by results is usually such a bad choice (it ensures the focus is only on tomorrow's headines whether good, bad or ugly). Seven PR agents in just over a year does suggest a focus on the short-term.

Yet this stunt's clearly gained him some publicity. Either he's going alone and shows he's learnt the rules of the game or - quite possibly - this was dreamed up by his latest 'scumbag masquerading as a PR agent.' If so, it's a textbook example of how to turn around a difficult client. Trebles all round!

Comments

How to be bad

As reported in Management Today, entrepreneur Guy Kingston is so fed up with 'dodgy PR agents' he's trying to find Britain's worst public relations agent.

He lists 9 signs of a bad PR agent - a reasonable list of bad practice indicators.

What's unsaid is that a good PR consultant (note how I prefer to use the c word) will choose to develop long-term business relationships with the best clients. The problem here, as so often, probably comes down to expectation management. Short-term publicity does not always equate to long-term reputation, which is why payment by results is usually such a bad choice (it ensures the focus is only on tomorrow's headines whether good, bad or ugly). Seven PR agents in just over a year does suggest a focus on the short-term.

Yet this stunt's clearly gained him some publicity. Either he's going alone and shows he's learnt the rules of the game or - quite possibly - this was dreamed up by his latest 'scumbag masquerading as a PR agent.' If so, it's a textbook example of how to turn around a difficult client. Trebles all round!