Top 5 Dating Clichés Applied to PR
We’ve all experienced the well-intentioned, yet cliché advice our friends and family offer about love and dating. (Not everyone meets his/her soul mate in high school, grandma!) Although rarely true in relationships, many clichés can be applied to effective public relations practices.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we thought it’d be fun to put a little public relations twist on some of the most overused clichés in the crazy game we call “love.”
Nobody will love you until you love yourself.
People say you can’t find true love until you’re content with the person you are. In public relations, this rule transfers to finding brand advocates. To inspire audiences to be passionate about your brand, you must first inspire employees to be passionate about your company’s products or services. As the writers of The Passion Conversation put it, “Passion is not something you own; it’s something you pass forward.”
You need to put yourself out there more.
No one is going to find the love of their life by staying in every night and watching How I Met Your Mother. You may feel like one of the characters, but at least they’re out every night looking for “the one.” The same goes for finding fans. Companies today need to connect with their publics however and wherever they can—whether through social media, special events, media relations, etc.
There are plenty of fish in the sea.
This cliché that’s often used after a breakup can also be used when communicating with target audiences. In the world of niche marketing, it can be hard to build a brand that suits everyone. Keep searching until you find the right audience, and once you do, cultivate a real, meaningful relationship.
Wait three days before you call.
Every sitcom you’ve seen talks about the “three days rule.” It’s a fact: You can’t be too available or too eager. Pitching journalists can be a similar cat-and-mouse game. Follow-up phone calls the day after an email pitch is too eager, as the journalists may not have even read your message yet. Let the initial pitch sit for a bit, then make your follow-up calls a few days later to reel them in.
Everything happens for a reason.
After a rough breakup, people may tell you that everything happens for a reason. You had to get dumped so you could make way for true love. For those of us in public relations, we also think everything happens for a reason—we just need to find the reason. Clients won’t always like our ideas, and we need to re-evaluate our strategies and tactics to figure out why.
Whether you’re spending Valentine’s Day on a hot date like Heather or watching Love Actually with tissues and a tub of ice cream like Chris, remember that the dating game can be applied to effective public relations.
Do you have other dating clichés that apply to your professional life? Tell us about them in the comments below!
This was a guest post written by Vice President of Chapter Development Chris Bonelli and Vice President of Member Services Heather Harder. Follow them on Twitter @BonelliSays and @HeathHarder.
