Last year Strategic Communications Group (Strategic) was hired by a company right after they pulled off a major coup – a big time acquisition that more than doubled their revenue, vaulting them into a new segment of the market. Everything was in place for a successful public relations campaign. Yet, after the M&A transaction was announced the PR effort lost momentum, limped along and was soon shut down by the client.
We are all about great work for great clients. The foundation of this core mission is shared expectations about the success criteria for a PR/communications program. Strategic is responsible for delivering great work, but our clients have an equally important role. It truly is a collaborative effort.
In the case of last year’s short-lived engagement, the company just wanted someone to hype their acquisition. There wasn’t recognition that a public relations campaign is never defined by one moment in time. Sure, you can ratchet up the market awareness around noteworthy corporate events, but true credibility with influential PR targets is better established by demonstrating how a company executes on its strategic growth plan over a sustained period.
It’s like giving a speech: tell the market what you are going to do, do it and then remind them what you have done. It is the hurdles of execution that separate companies destined for market leadership from those that merely have fleeting buzz.
Here is an example of public relations done right. When Tellabs decided to more aggressively pursue federal government business, the company allocated appropriate sales and marketing resources. In partnership with Strategic, positioning and messaging was formulated based on customer and partner requirements, aligned with Tellabs strengths and product differentiation.
A concise, well-defined plan was developed and is now in the process of implementation through a series of market announcements:
New Market Study: Federal Telecom Networks Needs are Carrier Class; Tellabs Launches Federal Group to Address Growing Need
http://www.tellabs.com/news/2007/nr010907.shtml
Government IT Managers Need Carrier-Class Network Reliability, Says New Federal User Survey
http://www.tellabs.com/news/2007/nr022607.shtml
The public relations results (see below) have helped Tellabs increase awareness in a new market, as well as garner critical. There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done, but the company is on a path to achieve its goals.
We encourage our clients to view public relations as an ongoing effort. It’s important to put in place near-term performance benchmarks, but ultimately success is defined by how the public relations work contributes to growth in sales, profitability and valuation. And that is rarely measured at one moment in time.
Tellabs pushes carrier-class networks for feds
Federal Computer Week
http://www.fcw.com/article97301-01-09-07-Web
GSA Prepares to Award Huge Telecom Deals
Associated Press
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070109/apfn_federal_telecom_contracts.html?.v=1
Study: Agencies Need Top-Notch Telecom Networks
Government Executive
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35818&dcn=e_gvet
Tellabs Picks Up on Federal Network Needs
Crain’s Chicago Business
http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?article_id=27292&bt=tellabs&arc=n&searchType=all
