Measuring Public Relations: Leading them to water...

You can lead a horse to water...
But you cant' make it drink.

Four days after a grand opening event, the restaurant manager questioned the fact that he had not “seen much publicity." He said, “I believe that event was a waste of time and a failure.”

At the event:

• 150 guests were in attendance;
• 30 reporters represented different media outlets;
• Extremely positive comments were heard during the 2 1/2 hours;
• Someone thought the WOW! moment (video and photo op) aka grand opening blessing came from a famous book (oh it was an original idea...mine : -);
• An hour into the event the mayor's staffer cancelled all his other obligations that evening because he was having a great time and did not want to leave; and
• The night went off without a hitch (not exactly what happened behind the scenes, but who knew except for us?).

Now...about what he did and/or didn't do:

• Gave the internal and external marketing and public relations team two weeks to pull off the event (the team already put in the plan the pre-event work would require at least a month);
• Distributed invitations two days before the event by email and a few hand-delivered invitations to elected officials (the plan suggested...and Miss Manners would say that invitations should be sent out at least two weeks ahead of time);
• Cancelled the $500 live entertainment because it was “too expensive” two days before the event and didn't tell anyone (the original budget was $1,500);
• Didn't order the $2 nametag logo'd credentials and didn't tell the team (this was also in the plan);
• Didn't put together the media kit (he had insisted on doing it himself because he loved the design he had created for the CD cover; so the marketing team with the help of bartenders made black and white copies and stuffed kits in plain blue folders 30 minutes before the event was to start);
• Forgot ???? to bring collateral, i.e. to go menus, catering menus, brochures (again...in the plan);
• Produced a much “less than special” goody bag as a take home (the day before he had shown everyone what it was going to look like, and then we all said...under our breath...NOT exactly the same one!);
• Finally, held the dress rehearsal 45 minutes before the event (it had already been rescheduled three times); and
• Failed to send any kind of thank you to guests...not even an an email (his final task in the plan).

Even though the client did not fulfill his assigned sales and marketing tasks, (a day-by-day two-week checklist was provided) he pointed a finger at the marketing and public relations team and said:

• “Business is too slow."
• "There wasn't anyone here the night after the grand opening except for one couple."
• "We paid a lot of money for the grand opening and are not seeing the results."
• "Why are we not on the front page of the newspaper?"
• "Why has channel X not been here to do a story?"
• "Why is there not a story on X website?”

As the saying goes...you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. And that is hard for a client to understand when they are a bull.

Long story short, two days after this one-sided conversation, the clips poured in and a reporter from a national media outlet called to set up a story.

The media and invited VIP guests had been lead to the water (otherwise at this event known as Martinis, Fois Gras and Crustinis), they just didn't drink as fast as the client expected.

Marketing, public relations and events are not exclusive. Though each uses different tactics and measurements, they all support the sales function. And like a ball of snow gathers more and more snow as it rolls down a hill getting bigger and bigger, so works the process of sales and marketing.

The client and the marketing and public relations team must work hand-in-hand. If a task is assigned. The delegate must perform...whether assigned down by the client or up by the team.

Do you want to know more about how to lead a horse to drink? Even if you have a beer budget, together, we can teach that horse to love it as much as drinking finest of champagnes.