Mapping PR
About a week ago, I was driving from Tulsa to visit a friend in Bixby. Near the midpoint of my journey, traffic came to a screeching halt near a construction zone along a main road. The bright orange street signs were the perfect complement to my already anxious nervous system. After what seemed like endless hours of waiting (probably 15 minutes in reality), I took a desperate and daring right turn into the adjacent residential subdivision. My mind celebrated its own brilliance.
“I can’t believe nobody else is doing this,” I thought as I traveled the now winding roads. “I’m going to bypass that entire hassle and lead the pack!”
Winding roads gave way to a labyrinth of identical homes which led me to the end of the line: a dead end. Back-tracking my detour to the outlet I had come from took 10 minutes. I reached the original turn to find additional cars obstructing the road, leaving me to wait longer. In my attempt to bypass inconvenience, I spent more time and effort only to end up wasting time – and my place in line.
My experience can be applied to the way I approach PR. How much grief could I have saved myself if I had a map to guide me? This is the danger of strategies without proper research. Technology acts as a catalyst to trigger desperate and impatient reactions. Before jumping into what might seem to be the most groundbreaking “big idea,” we should take the time to make sure our shortcut won’t lead us to a dead end. Will it require us to invest more time and more capital? Sure, but none of it will be wasted. It may take a lot of patience, but unlike my driving fiasco, you won’t have to backtrack to undo the work you wasted on your “shortcut.” (Remember the Nestle Family Twitter situation?)
I’m not saying we shouldn’t think outside the box – it is essential in today’s media-saturated world – but we should base every strategy on research. The main roads may be congested, and the temptation to take shortcuts to get an edge in the market may be great, but traversing these uncharted paths without proper, research-based direction may lead you to a dead end in the neighborhood of regret.
“I can’t believe nobody else is doing this,” I thought as I traveled the now winding roads. “I’m going to bypass that entire hassle and lead the pack!”
Winding roads gave way to a labyrinth of identical homes which led me to the end of the line: a dead end. Back-tracking my detour to the outlet I had come from took 10 minutes. I reached the original turn to find additional cars obstructing the road, leaving me to wait longer. In my attempt to bypass inconvenience, I spent more time and effort only to end up wasting time – and my place in line.
My experience can be applied to the way I approach PR. How much grief could I have saved myself if I had a map to guide me? This is the danger of strategies without proper research. Technology acts as a catalyst to trigger desperate and impatient reactions. Before jumping into what might seem to be the most groundbreaking “big idea,” we should take the time to make sure our shortcut won’t lead us to a dead end. Will it require us to invest more time and more capital? Sure, but none of it will be wasted. It may take a lot of patience, but unlike my driving fiasco, you won’t have to backtrack to undo the work you wasted on your “shortcut.” (Remember the Nestle Family Twitter situation?)
I’m not saying we shouldn’t think outside the box – it is essential in today’s media-saturated world – but we should base every strategy on research. The main roads may be congested, and the temptation to take shortcuts to get an edge in the market may be great, but traversing these uncharted paths without proper, research-based direction may lead you to a dead end in the neighborhood of regret.
Posted by: Cristi Freudenrich | May 17, 2010 at 08:17 PM