The most glaring issue I have encountered in my six years as a Web3, crypto, and blockchain PR consultant is that founders and C-levels confuse marketing and advertising with public relations. Nothing is more frustrating than a CEO or founder trying to turn a press release or article into a promotional marketing piece, ruining any chance of getting the media coverage they desperately need and, on many occasions, deserve.
That being said, let’s move on to explaining public relations in the simplest terms possible.
PR focuses on maintaining a positive, credible, and reputable image of a company, brand, or person through media coverage, while marketing is more about sales and generating leads by promoting products, services, or ideas via their websites and social media channels.
Advertising is also too frequently confused by too many business and startup leaders with public relations.
Still, I’ll put this one to rest easily using ChicExecs PR and Retail Strategy Firm’s Co-Founder Kailynn Bowling’s words: “In a nutshell, advertising is like saying, ‘I’m great,’ while PR is having someone else say you’re great.”
Let’s Get More Controversial
I know what I’m about to say will cause some controversy, but now that we’ve settled the differences between PR, marketing, and advertising, let’s discuss which is more efficient.
PR can and should be treated as a long-term investment, as media coverage remains on the Internet forever. Marketing campaigns, on the other hand, have a more short-term effect, as they are aimed at immediate sales.
Companies need PR to create brand awareness, attract investors and partners, hire top talent, and build communities. PR always trumps advertising because people lend more credibility and trust to editorial coverage than ads.
So, again, I’ll quote Bowling. “Whether it’s a journalist or TV feature, this comes off as fairer and less biased to your customers. Since customers prefer editorial coverage over product pitches, they pay more attention to your product in a PR feature.”
Regardless of a business’s stage—startup or large corporation—public relations is one of the most critical areas in its development. Yet, too many founders and CEOs fail to understand how crucial it is to create long-term relationships with investors, stakeholders, consumers, and prospective employees.
However, most PR practitioners face issues, such as the fact that few founders and CEOs understand and appreciate public relations value. Thus, they frequently believe they can do the work themselves.
If they knew the best public relations specialists were former journalists, they would undoubtedly appreciate the work of PR experts even more.
Let me expand on this point: I understand the media as a former journalist. I am naturally curious, not afraid to ask questions, a great storyteller, and know what editors and news outlets prefer. I know what is newsworthy and has more chances of being published organically.
Not an Exact Science
Public relations is not an exact science; it is more of a creative process, and its results can sometimes be instant, but on other occasions, it takes time to render a positive outcome.
However, the fantastic thing about media coverage is that once on the Internet, it remains there forever, giving brands and leaders the presence they need.”
Startups and well-established businesses often wonder if they should or should not slash public relations from their budgets. Slashing PR spending is a short-sighted decision.
Other ill-conceived considerations by startups and businesses alike include believing that it’s okay to do without PR altogether in economic woes, but that could not be further from the truth. The advantages of earned media coverage and public relations during a downturn ensure brands remain in the eyes of their target audiences.
PRs Must Respect Themselves
Ian Monk is one of the UK’s most prominent public relations specialists. He says, “Clients and in-house teams are all frenetically seeking value for money. Many come to our industry with small budgets, less intention of spending them, minimal respect for our craft, and absurdly inflated ideas about the return on investment to be derived from it.”
He added: “In short, despite the vast strides made by the industry, too many of those seeking its services still view it as a cottage industry.” He also said that in economic downturns, some believe PR “services can be bought on the cheap, that we remain poor relations to a declining advertising industry.”
I could not agree more with his statement that “price cutting to win business can bolster negative perceptions of our profession and damage our industry’s reputation… Practitioners should look at the cost of their time and the value of their services and charge accordingly. Slashing fees wounds us all. “If you aren’t worth a reasonable rate, you shouldn’t be in the business.”
Successful Pitching Tips
To increase the chances of organically placing a PR, one needs to craft a compelling story that journalists want to cover, not just a press release.
So, firstly, it’s necessary to have newsworthy content or make it newsworthy by finding out why people should care. Tie the story to trends. Connect your PR to current events or industry shifts. And here’s our top tip—offer exclusivity.
Unique data, insights, or interviews increase your chances of coverage. Here’s an example of what I mean: Instead of “Our startup launched a new AI tool,” pitch “How AI is reshaping jobs—and what businesses must do now.”
Knowing the journalist by reading their work and tailoring the pitch to their interests is a great idea. Keep pitches concise because journalists’ inboxes are flooded with emails. Here’s an example of a proper pitch: “Hi, journalist. I saw your piece on X topic and wanted to share a fresh angle.”
If the journalist does not respond within three to five days, follow up with a short, polite message and consider offering them new information, quotes, or the possibility of asking questions. PR pitching is about relationships, not spam. Be relevant, concise, and provide real value.
PR Done Badly
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is hiring PR specialists and agencies that only write press releases and distribute them through dedicated newswires that offer “placements” in dozens to hundreds of websites. In the PR space, we call this the “spray and pray” tactic, which I now call the “pay, spray, and pray” tactic. This tactic rarely works.
Many clients are wrongly happy with this strategy because they get their press releases onto reputable websites such as Bloomberg, AP, Yahoo News, MSN, Reuters, etc. They also wrongly believe that having their company name on these prominent news outlets is a huge win, and it is not because press releases get buried in those websites, and discoverability is terrible.
I’ll quote Mike Butcher, a prominent UK journalist and editor-at-large for Techcrunch. “Mostly, ‘press releases’ are written in the way a PR client would write a news story. They are usually pretty rambling and designed to please the client (read: stroke their ego) rather than assist the journalist to get shit done and fast. So, I think the press release format is DEAD.”
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Whether you decide to PR or not to PR, business leaders, entrepreneurs, and startup founders need to make sure they understand public relations is the one brilliant move that helps them position themselves and build strong relationships with customers, partners, and other stakeholders. Even in downturns, companies that invest in PR emerge more potent and more visible when the market recovers.
