Axle PR

There is a saying "charity starts at home." In the corporate world it is important to understand that "PR starts at the office." The way staff, vendors and subs are treated by the company is equally important to - if not more important than - all the publicity and marketing activities that a company may try generating for itself by other means.

"I’m not saying that [journalists] necessarily like me. Sometimes they write positively, and sometimes they write negatively. But from a pure business point of view, the benefits of being written about have far outweighed the drawbacks. It’s really quite simple. If I take a full-page ad in the New York Times to publicize a project, it might cost $40,000, and in any case, people tend to be skeptical about advertising. But if the New York Times writes even a moderately positive one-column story about one of my deals, it doesn’t cost me anything, and it’s worth a lot more than $40,000." - Donald Trump, The Art of the Deal

Fitbit started a ten-digit (above $10 million) ad campaign in November. The recent IPO did much better than expected and the stock burst out this week in its open. http://www.cnbc.com/id/102769777

Companies in general but more so service firms need to make their public image about the company itself rather than its (senior) staff. The latest example as to how it hurts when (senior) staff is the face of the company, is Common Ground Public Relations. The firm was hired by the Government in Ferguson, MO to assist with media relations following the shooting of a Black teen by a White Cop. But within hours that the hire was made public, the firm and the local government fa...ced a barrage of critique. The problem? The company's website has a section called "Meet The Team" where it showcases photos of seven (senior) staffers all of whom who are White. The argument if you cannot have an all-White team solve an inter-racial issue. In fairness to the company, they were not hired to heal the inter-racial wounds. They were hired to handle media requests. But instead of being free to do their job, the company is now distracted by the faces of its senior staff. Faces and names of staff do obviously not need to be a secret but shaping the company's brand through (past) successes and achievements is a better option.