Point #2
Brian: Pick the Right Person or Team to Lead PR
Loic: Do not pick a PR person, be the spokesperson of the company
These two points aren’t diametrically opposed, but Brian’s point is more universal -pick the right person – and therefore more applicable than Loic’s. While a lot of CEOs understand marketing or PR, many don’t. That’s especially true of startups. See point #1. Some CEOs haven’t developed the ability to have coherent marketing themed conversations, be they to the media or on blogs. That’s because many can be overtly promotional as opposed to evangelical when they’re put on the spot. Or they may be technology focused and struggle to explain things in layman’s terms.
General comments such as “The best person to represent the company is not a PR person and even less an external one. It is YOU. You, the founder, you the CEO” are way off because it’s a blanket theory that doesn’t apply to everyone. Not everyone is a longtime blogger who’s developed his (or her) own community and is starting a Web 2.0 company that produces a service that applies to social media. Some CEOs don’t want the responsibility. Some don’t have the time. Some don’t have the patience. Or the desire. Or the capability to do it effectively. It’s a simplistic statement and concept. It’s not directly wrong. But it just isn’t applicable the majority of the time. Perhaps its more common in Web 2.0 companies that produce a service that applies to social media, but for most starups – most tech startups – the label doesn’t apply.
But Loic does have a point. It should be a responsibility of a PR firm to prepare a CEO for the PR challenges they will face. That’s because while a PR rep can act as a spokesperson for a company, the CEO will become the face of the company. And faces have mouths and mouths speak. If the CEO is not willing to become a chief evangelist of the company, then that company may have a problem.
CEOs need to understand the marketplace, the types of media that covers their industry, the types of communities that can develop. Then they have to have almost an innate understanding of how to talk to them. They often have to receive some sort of PR training. And then they have to learn how to evangelize, not promote. How to balance the concepts of features and benefits. How to put the listener first. Hiring a PR firm can make that happen more easily. Not always, but more often than not.
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