PR DIY

Last week we had Guy Kawasaki posting the "Top Ten Reasons PR Doesn't Work from Margie Zable Fisher. Today Guy posts a response from Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin. Glenn's synopsis is:

So what I am recommending is not how to manage an agency, but something more radical: not hiring an agency at all.

Glenn goes on to state his top ten reasons not to hire a PR agency. The list is accurate for the most part, but unfortunately focuses primarily on generating publicity, not public relations. There is an enormous difference. I'm NOT a publicist; I help communicate messages through various channels, including, but not solely, through journalists to various publics (customers, investors, partners, employees, etc). I could create a top ten list of my own on why to hire a PR agency (1. We aren't drunk on your kool-aid; 2. Established relationships with more than just press; 3. Collaborative brain power; 4. Flexibility in economies of scale; 5. More hands touching your business...), but the truth is, with all the agency bashing over the past few months people have an overall bitter taste to PR agencies and the water is simply too cloudy. Rather than duke it out with Top Ten lists I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing here on the blog. There are a lot of folks who get what PR actually is (hint, it is NOT publicity or even media relations) and how to use today's technologies to better communicate with different publics. Some of those people actually do work for PR agencies and make a HUGE difference for their clients! /kff