One of the lessons I learnt from a manager was that she didn't want me to just play postman, one who just delivers programs after programs. She wanted us to create, or work on to improve a system so we be seen as fire-starters rather than a "postman" at work.
Below is a REAL STORY on why PR agencies should also buck up and not play the role of "postman" for their clients.
Wrote a IT Journalist on Facebook,
"Journo: Hey I cant install any apps in the tablet u passed to me becoz I dont ha ve admin rights, can I have the admin password?
OS company: We cannot give you admin password, we have to reinstall for you
Three weeks later
OS company: Oh, we found out the problem, you didnt have admin rights.
Journo: Yah, that's what I told you three weeks ago and which is why you took the tablet back."
One of the important lessons learnt here is that when you send a product to a journalist or for a blogger review, make sure it is a full product which allows the journalist or blogger to test out everything.
If the executive at this PR agency had stepped out and tested the product before delivering it, the executive would have done a great deal to manage the media perception of the brand.
True that this didn't appear on the main papers, but with social networks being mainstream these days, what appears on Facebook, Twitter, etc can affect the friend's perception of the brand.
Like how one friend of the journo commented, "So they lost 3 weeks of time. Cutting edge to dull edge...".
The product review could have appeared earlier but now it is on hold indefinitely,or until this OS company find out what is the admin password. Maybe the product takes three weeks to uninstall and reinstall, too.
See how the damage to the brand's reputation can be done even if the story does not appear in main print.
Below is a REAL STORY on why PR agencies should also buck up and not play the role of "postman" for their clients.
Wrote a IT Journalist on Facebook,
"Journo: Hey I cant install any apps in the tablet u passed to me becoz I dont ha ve admin rights, can I have the admin password?
OS company: We cannot give you admin password, we have to reinstall for you
Three weeks later
OS company: Oh, we found out the problem, you didnt have admin rights.
Journo: Yah, that's what I told you three weeks ago and which is why you took the tablet back."
One of the important lessons learnt here is that when you send a product to a journalist or for a blogger review, make sure it is a full product which allows the journalist or blogger to test out everything.
If the executive at this PR agency had stepped out and tested the product before delivering it, the executive would have done a great deal to manage the media perception of the brand.
True that this didn't appear on the main papers, but with social networks being mainstream these days, what appears on Facebook, Twitter, etc can affect the friend's perception of the brand.
Like how one friend of the journo commented, "So they lost 3 weeks of time. Cutting edge to dull edge...".
The product review could have appeared earlier but now it is on hold indefinitely,or until this OS company find out what is the admin password. Maybe the product takes three weeks to uninstall and reinstall, too.
See how the damage to the brand's reputation can be done even if the story does not appear in main print.
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