Everything You Always Wanted to Know About PR...

No amount of press coverage can make you what you aren't. The stodgy can't become innovative or the authoritarian enlightened merely by journalistic fiat. That's the one PR rule to remember. A good agency can help you polish your story; it can package it perfectly and may have great connections in the press. But you're wasting your time and retainer unless your company has something good to say. Effective PR is the truth, effectively communicated to the company's many publics, not just an illusion foisted on the press.

So what, besides celebrity, do a new pig, a perpetual light bulb, and the Watergate paper-shredder have in common?

All three show what small companies can achieve, if they realize that PR is a process, not a press release. All three CEOs are media mavens, but their success with the media is only a final step, one more reflection of the values and aims that lie at the souls of their companies.

"Unless you go in with the attitude that you're here to serve the press, you've got the wrong perspective," Beaver says. "If it serves them well there's always something wonderful in it for New Pig, as long as we aren't bimbos.

"I feel that same way about all my relationships. The press, my customers, my suppliers, the manufacturers, the engineering community, the maintenence community: the better you serve them, they more likely they are to come to you.

"My role," Beaver continues, "is to be a servant to all of those groups. They're all in one boat. My one PR message is my ultimate accountability.''

What's the payoff for that message? "It translates beautifully. It's the warp and woof of everything we do. The more you tell people what you believe in, the more the hold you to it.''

That's not just smart PR. That's leadership.

SO YOU REALLY WANT TO HIRE AN AGENCY?

If you must, here's help

Michael Fox is lucky. Over the past three years he's gotten results from his public-relations adviser -- and a new understanding of marketing.

During a dozen years in the wholesale travel business, Fox had worked with quite a few agencies: the good, the bad, and the ugly. So when he decided in 1985 to start a company to package African safaris he knew just what, and just who, he wanted. Dick Griffith of Richard C. Griffith & Associates Inc., hired before Fox was out of his apartment, became Fox's colleague and sounding board. Together they coined the company name, Classic Tours International, then Griffith wrote most of the brochure.

"But Dick wouldn't just send out press releases," Fox says. "He's really educated me." Rather than try to make a newsworthy announcement, Griffith and Fox set out to develop legitimately newsworthy products -- fishing safaris, singles safaris, a travel insurance program. Then, just as Griffith promised, meeting the market's needs in innovative ways paid off in industry attention, in stories in the trade and general press, and in a steadily growing stream of customers. After three years of growth, the two men still talk on the phone "five or six times a week," Fox says. "Virtually every decision I make is related to what the public-relations response will be.''

Not many chief executive officers are as lucky as Fox. Lacking his personal connection, they venture timidly into the world of professional PR and almost invariably come out soured on the process. Few know how to search for or select the right kind of help. Fewer still know how to make the adviser/client relationship work once they've made the choice. "Never again," they vow, complaining of money wasted on vague promises that never turned into measurable results.

It doesn't have to be that way, if you'll begin at the beginning. Hiring an agency can bring dramatic -- and measurable -- impact; the best will add extraordinary creativity and professionalism to your entire marketing plan.

You can learn the lessons that Fox learned, if you don't confuse PR with getting in the papers, or expect an agency to work a miracle.

If you can't be lucky, be smart.

1. The Search
Smart PR starts at home.

No wonder you're confused. There are more than 142,000 practitioners out there competing for America's PR dollars, more than 2,000 different firms from which to choose. Do you need a part-timer with a Macintosh or the head honcho from Hill & Knowlton Inc., last year's $114.5-million net fee industry leader? An M.B.A. "communications consultant" brandishing 12 volumes of computer printout or an old-style flack with a cigar and a spiel?

Start by taking a hard look at yourself. What do you need and what can you spend? Does your cause require $500 for a solo practitioner to do your logo, business cards, and brochure, or $350,000 for a lobbying firm to press the flesh on Capitol Hill?

Larger agencies generally offer the broadest capabilities, as well as the highest overhead and fees. Smaller agencies mean more personal attention from a principal, although with the smallest you run the risk of being charged their hourly rate for the filing and photocopying performed by a bigger shop's clerical staff.

Big or small, you'll almost always be paying for time, with fees that range from $35 to $150 an hour up to whatever the market will bear. The larger the firm, the more likely it is to demand a hefty retainer, while a hungry boutique might be willing to take a gamble on a sliver of equity or the hope of piggybacking to market share on your expected growth, à la Regis McKenna Inc. and Apple Computer.

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