What’s Your Biggest PR Challenge?
We do a lot of “talking” about public relations on this blog–but we also want to listen.
We’re looking for you small business owners, non-profit execs, corporate PR pros, politicians, consultants, authors and musicians (and really anyone else) to weigh in with your biggest public relations challenge. Do you feel like you’re always climbing a wall, pushing a boulder–yet getting nowhere?
In your public relations efforts, is there something holding you back or getting in your way?
Is it:
- Hiring the right PR pro?
- Finding budget for PR?
- Finding your message?
- Moving from tactical to strategic efforts?
- A bad image?
- No image?
- Rebranding?
- …or something else?
Please share your challenges in the comments section below. We may feature your challenge and some suggestions on how to address it in an upcoming post. You can also remain anonymous by emailing us with your challenge at team@alexgpr.com.
So let’s hear from you–the PR program you save could be your own!
Alex has earned a reputation for success and ingenuity from his more than twenty years experience in public relations, journalism, marketing and broadcasting. His career has spanned several industries including healthcare, television, non-profit organizations and higher education.
His work in the news media included positions as an editor, journalist, radio talk show host and vice president of Kansas City Public Television.
He founded AlexanderG Public Relations, LLC in January 2010. AlexanderG PR is a member agency of PRConsultants Group, a collaborative made up of senior-level PR experts in every major market in the United States.
Alex is also the award-winning author of several works of fiction, including the popular mystery novels "Pilate's Cross" & "Pilate's Key," available wherever ebooks are sold. The books are also available in paperback at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Lulu. Visit the website at www.PilatesCross.com for more info.
Hey there, I think this is a great question. I was just talking to a friend on the phone about some personal issues that she was having, and she knew how she “felt” but didn’t know what the problem was. I spent a lot of time explaining to her that, before you can make an effort to fix how you’re feeling, you’re going to HAVE TO get to the root of what’s making you feel this way! And I think this applies to PR strategies as well.
I think often times, we don’t even know what questions we’re supposed to be asking as it relates to PR; so then we either do nothing, or do something (just to be doing something) and those can yield some pretty slow results as we learn by way of trial and error.
Once I finally had some concept of what questions I should be asking myself, these are the things that I’ve struggled the most with (both past and present). What types of people would like my music? Where would I find these people (both physical location and on the internet)? What do I want my message and my persona to convey? How do I interact with these folks? How do I get them to be ‘fanatical’ about my music and how do I get them to want to tell their friends and family about me?
These are very challenging questions for me; so challenging that I’m not sure I would even realize it if I answered them correctly.
So what have I done? I’ve just started doing. I try and try and try really really hard to consistently ask myself these questions; drop the things that don’t seem to be creating any traction, and sink more time into the things that do.
While this does seem to be a slow process, as I constantly learn from my mistakes and then re-plot my course, for those of us that are not innately PR-minded, it is a great exercise in “going for it” – knowing what you want and doing what you have to do to achieve it.
There is a time to be stubborn and refuse to give in, and there is a time to take the path of least resistance, and it seems to me like figuring out and evaluating (in real-time) a consistent, effective, and interesting strategy really challenges me to use both of these ways of achieving.
So what questions should we be asking? How should we evaluate our progress? How much time should we give something before we drop it in order to pursue other possible avenues for PR success?
Dan–tremendously thoughtful comments. We will be back with you on this one! (Folks, I highly recommend Dan’s music. Check it out at http://www.DanCoyle.com )