The greatest blog post you will ever read

For good PR and media relations, move your brand away from exaggerations

A very excited person looking at a phone. I’m warning you now that this is the greatest blog post you may ever read. Maybe. This is a hyperbole. How often are your company and your PR team boasting — to the extreme — how amazing your company, its thought leaders, and its products are? Your company may be pretty amazing, and not everyone is going to think your company is the greatest thing since sliced bread. As an executive, you have to recognize and realize this fact.

Media relations, earning news media coverage, and the public’s trust can be difficult for some companies to earn. You want to stand out from all the other companies you are competing with for business. But you don’t want to fall into the trap of using phrases like “the greatest,” “the leading,” and “the largest” to describe your company and its products. These phrases are hyperbole without citing a source and/or measurement.

Think about how often you are lying awake at 2 a.m. and watching infomercials of companies claiming to be the best, and you roll your eyes because you know that isn’t true. Do you want someone else doing that for you?
One of our PR industry friends Michael Smart likens it to the movie Elf when Buddy gets overly enthusiastic about a nondescript coffee shop with the description: “World’s Best Cup of Coffee.” Anyone can claim they are the best, but what does that really mean?

As a PR agency advising our clients, you need to know that we must attribute claims credibly for media relations, earning news media coverage, and public trust. If your team and PR firm isn’t stopping you from using flowery and exaggerated language when connecting with the media, then you need to find someone who will. It’s recommended to instead say: “The largest by ____ based on ____ (or according to _______).”

Facts, figures, and research matter in establishing believability, which leads to credibility. These also take time and money. A strategic PR campaign begins with research, planning, and implementation, which assist in lending credibility to your company and the claims you make when connecting with the news media.

Perhaps the next step is to hire Axia Public Relations for strategic insights to establish a more credible statement and avoid using hyperbole.

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Clients love Marjorie’s work ethic, speed and diligence. She has worked with Axia Public Relations since October 2011. Marjorie graduated from Rockhurst University with a Bachelor of Arts in communication and loves to cheer for her hometown Kansas City Royals. Learn more about Marjorie.