OMG! Melania wore high heels on a plane! OMG! Trump likes fast food! OMG! That senator flirted with a bartender! OMG! That starlet didn’t wear the right color to the awards ceremony! OMG! Unisex bathrooms! OMG! Someone did something and someone is offended! OMG! The wolf is chasing the sheep!
In the meantime, while everyone is OUTRAGED over every single, little, thing, no matter how insignificant, there are events and decisions of true consequence taking place. But these often go unnoticed because they are being drowned out in all the hysteria.
When you cry and scream at the top of your lungs about EVERYTHING, people tune you out. They stop listening.
This applies to marketing and public relations, too. Stop yelling about everything your company is doing.
According to many press releases and ads and statements, CEOs and presidents are always “excited” about everything. Are they? Are they really “excited to announce” an office redesign? About a new pizza box shape? About the new “green” vending machines offering salads and smoothies? And to be honest, unless you’re McDonalds or Tesla, no one really cares about your new logo or how you dropped a word from your tagline.
And as a PR professional, it is my responsibility to tell clients when their “news” isn’t. And I do.
Not every single thing your company does, makes or offers is newsworthy. Therefore not everything needs to be blasted across all available channels. It is a waste of your time, energy and resources. It is not efficient or effective. And it makes recipients click “delete” when they see they another communication from you, or scroll past the post and skip over your sponsored content. Meaning they might miss the important news when you do have something to say.
If you want potential customers to listen to what you have to say, sell or offer, then only speak about things they want to hear or buy, or in the case of public relations, what their audiences are interested in.
Don’t be Peter.