PR Guarantees vs. PR Promises
Search Google for “guaranteed PR” and you’ll see results that say things like:
Guaranteed PR coverage is not only unethical, it can even be illegal.
Or this:
Make Sure Clients Know That PR Results Aren't Guaranteed (and That It's An Industry Standard Practice).
And this one from a Forbes article:
PR reps are quick to tell you they can’t guarantee placement because they have no control over the journalists. How can they guarantee something that is out of their control?
As with many debates, this one largely comes down to semantics—those who say you can guarantee PR and those who say you can’t are arguing about two different things but using the same words, hence the confusion.
What’s “Promised PR?”
I’ve never heard anyone use the term “promised PR” so I think that means I get to define what it means. A PR promise would be if a PR firm told you, “We promise we will get you a full-feature article in the New York Times that has your company name in the headline and only says good things about you.”
To make this kind of promise would be unethical at best, although at its worst probably not illegal.
No one can make this kind of promise for all the reasons those who decry “guaranteed PR” use. PR firms don’t control journalists and journalists don’t control editors (and if they do, then they’re not top-tier news outlets).
For a PR firm to make this kind of promise would be like a priest officiating at a wedding to tell the happy couple, “I promise you will have a long and happy marriage full of nothing but happiness, no matter what you do.” There are too many things outside the priest’s control for him to make any such promise.
What’s “Guaranteed PR?”
A guarantee is not the same thing as a promise, although it’s easy to see how they get confused with each other.
Whereas a promise says, “This will happen,” or “I will do ABC,” a guarantee says, “This will happen or else this other thing will happen,” or “I will do ABC or else I will do XYZ.”
It’s the “or else” that changes an unethical and likely impossible PR promise into a completely ethical and 100% possible PR guarantee.
For example, here at Canvas our guarantee is that for a flat fee, clients get to:
Choose the publication where they want a placement (from our list of available news outlets).
Collaborate with us on the headline.
Collaborate with us on the article and provide final approval.
And then we will get that article placed in the outlet they chose within 90 days or else they can get a full refund. Note: We don’t automatically give a refund because in the rare cases a placement takes more than 90 days to secure, sometimes the client wants to keep trying to get it and doesn’t want us to give up, especially if we’re really close.
Although our success rate is high (about 95%) when it comes to getting PR placements for our clients, we can’t promise them the placements because we would need to be at 100%. However, our success rate is high enough that we can offer a money back guarantee on their PR placement, and we have 100% control over our ability to provide a refund and therefore what we offer is completely ethical.
The next time you hear someone say, “You can’t guarantee PR!” remember, what they’re really saying is you can’t promise PR. I agree, but a PR promise is different than a PR guarantee.
Want to try out our PR guarantee for yourself?
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