How to generate real publicity

Nearly every day, I get press releases by email, with cover notes that start something like, "Because you blog about nonprofit issues...." In nearly every case, it's immediately obvious that the PR flack who sent it doesn't read my blog at all. Otherwise they'd know I don't cover the kind of thing they're sending me.

They're just carpet-bombing every blog they can find that's remotely related to their client's need for publicity. Send out enough, and you're sure to get some coverage. And it doesn't cost anything to add one more blog to your list -- even if the chance that blogger wants to hear from you is pretty close to nil.

That's the problem with PR. It typically tries to overcome relevance and reality with brute force of numbers.

Which is just one reason, as the Church of the Customer Blog notes, PR is useless. Useful PR would be about doing things so remarkable that people remark about them; about getting the small stuff right in the first place:

The best PR comes from the smallest of actions by the root-level people. They smile when they first meet you. They call you by your name. They compliment competitors. They don't blame you for their system's misgivings. When forced to make a decision, they always, always, always do the right thing, even if it's not in the economic or political interests of their employer. They break the rules when it's obvious they must.

For nonprofits this might mean:

• Treating your donors with the same care, attention to detail, and respect you offer those you serve. (If you aren't treating them right, you need to go get a real job right now.)
  
• Giving your donors a chance to meaningfully change the world in specific ways with true feedback.
  
• Making it easy and pleasant for donors to communicate with you.
  
• Getting the small stuff right: No duplicate records. No misrecorded gifts. No request accidentally ignored.
  

Doing those thing will buy you more PR than all the clueless flacks (and many of the smart ones) put together.

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