Just Because You Can Generate Media Coverage Doesn't Mean You Should
Just Because You Can Generate Media Coverage Doesn't Mean You Should
There's a time to generate media coverage and a time to stay off the radar screen. Recognizing when to time a media relations effort requires effective public relations skills. The Virginia Opera recently stepped in it when they failed to recognize when to keep a round in the chamber.
In case you missed it, the Virginia Opera has their own soap opera playing out with its Board and Executive Committee. The executive committee wants a new artistic director and has the authority to make it happen. But, some powerful folks on the board want to keep the man who's been there for decades.
Disagreements occur all the time in organizations. In fact, the back and forth discussion can be healthy for the long-term benefit of the organization -- even when there are strong opinions. Usually these disagreements come with little fanfare.
If this matter were kept among the arts community, which is what this public relations agency would have proposed, that would be fine.
But that's not how this issue played out. Instead, certain board members have launched a highly visible and expensive public relations campaign to retain the current artistic director. In the past two weeks these disgruntled (and outmaneuvered) board members have generated two front-page stories in The Virginian-Pilot as well as local TV coverage.
They've also run half-page ads in The Virginian-Pilot at great expense. All of this generated an editorial, as well as letters to the editor. That means potential donors in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News, Hampton Roads, and throughout Virginia were exposed to this news.
The fallout from this tactic is not good. If you think all media coverage is good coverage you're wrong. The timing is terrible. In a difficult economy when most non-profits and performing arts organizations are struggling with fundraising or even going out of business, going public with petty in-fighting hurts the organization in the public eye.
An effective public relations agency could have seen over the horizon and predicted that this type of negative campaign would hamper fundraising efforts and would have worked to keep this issue in the boardroom and out of the public eye. When a company in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake or Hampton Roads is down to making its last donation, do you think they'll:
- give to a company that has been all over the media crying about who's hired and fired and wasting precious dollars on an ad campaign against its own board?
- or, give to one of many organizations whose reputation remains steady, strong and projects a great image?
The only recent image in a potential contributor's mind is a negative one for the Opera.
Just because you can generate media coverage doesn't mean you should. Many public relations agencies in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News, Hampton Roads, and throughout Virginia have a hard time with the nuance of this public relations tactic. Their first move is to run to the media because they can get a story written and they hope that will make things go their way. That's not how it works. Today's public is more savvy, sophisticated and jaded than ever before, so foolish tactics like this will backfire to the detriment of the organization.
An effective public relations agency knows when to generate media coverage and when to operate under the radar.
The next time your public relations agency quickly jumps up and says "I know a reporter who will write about this," make sure you think through all the unintended consequences that sometimes come with media coverage.
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