A quick look had me suspicious of the newly hired doctor my primary practitioner wanted to pawn me of on. He was a bit slovenly, scented by a touch of stale cigarettes and weighed in at about 100 bills too much.
There was no way I was listening to medical advice from someone who failed to take care of their own health.
This painful experience came to mind last week after reading blog posts from two PR shops apologizing for their failure to maintain a consistent time investment in their social media marketing programs. First up was inmedia Public Relations who explained away a two month blog hiatus on an economy-induced focus on business development activities.
After rambling through a spat of client wins and articulation of their competitive strengths, they encouraged readers to “stay tuned for more on this as we renew our commitment to this blog.”
Next came San Francisco-based Cutline Communications with a blog post entitled, “Wondering Were We Have Been? Wonder No More.” They attributed their failure to post on a myriad of client assignments and other “exciting things” that readers can anxiously look forward to learning about in the coming weeks.
Now I have nothing personally against inmedia and Cutline. I’m sure they are fine PR agencies populated with talented professionals.
My problem rests with the often-cited rationale by marketing, advertising and public relations firms that they are too busy to invest time and resources in their own promotion. Some even pretend this faulty justification is some type of validation of their expertise, capabilities and track record.
Guess what? The cobbler’s kids owned shoes – and probably damn nice ones.
Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) markets itself aggressively, regardless of how much work we have in-house. We have an ongoing investment in our Web presence. We issue press releases. We pitch the trade media. We publish multiple blogs and Twitter feeds. And our senior team is actively engaged in social networks.
In-strategy, targeted and aggressive promotion is a priority for us because this is exactly the counsel we provide to our clients. Plus, we are unconditionally committed to the notion that external communications enhances the success of any business.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Apologizing for dropping off the social media map merely calls more attention to this failure to engage.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Fallacy of the Cobbler’s Shoe-less Kids
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1 comment:
Many agencies fail in this regard because they refuse to treat themselves as a paying client. Team members are expected to perform miracles in their spare time, with little more than an "atta boy" at the monthly all-hands meetings.
The best agencies I've worked for have assigned a team and treated agency promotion just like any other paying client. It's considered in the context of work load, client assignments and new business pitches. Not unexpectedly, those are the agencies that most frequently experience the greatest success in this regard.
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