The phrase “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” is associated with P.T. Barnum, and is a fitting belief for a man that made a name for himself with a circus featuring sideshows and the exploitation of people with physical disabilities that made people call them freaks. Laude him or loathe him, so long as you were talking about him Barnum was happy, but in this day of 24 hour news cycles, internet searches, and social media, is all publicity really good publicity? Let’s look at it.
What Kind of Image Are You Trying to Project?
A lot of whether all publicity is good depends on the image that you’re trying to project to the public. For companies like Toyota, General Motors, Disney, and Sony, they’re trying to project a positive image that makes you feel secure in doing business with them. Even celebrities and athletes try to project a clean, family-friendly image, which made a certain golf star’s recent PR nightmare all the more severe.
Others, however, do tend to look at all publicity as being good. Many celebrities and sports stars like to be in the spotlight, even if they have to put it there themselves.
Choosing What Kind of Publicity You Want
Ideally everybody would prefer to have positive publicity – very few people and fewer companies really want to be the villain, but that’s not really always a choice. So how do you settle on what type of publicity you want to strive for and what kind you want to avoid and even take legal action against?
The first step can be to hire a PR firm that specializes in crisis management. They’ll guide you through your legal options and help lead you down the path to the type of publicity and public image that you want while helping to deal with the types that you don’t
Second, decide whether you’re striving for publicity for yourself or a company. There are celebrities and sports stars and owners that own businesses that are successful, but are also selling themselves as a separate brand that has a different kind of publicity. Knowing what you need and prefer can influence what type of publicity you seek out.
Finally, remember that you’ll never make everybody happy. No matter what image you project and maintain, somebody will be unhappy with you and try to bring you down, so taking it all with a grain of salt is key to maintaining your composure and protecting your brand.
Thom Constantine has worked with several crisis management firms, including a legal PR firm and a healthcare PR firm. To learn more about crisis management, visit: MACStrategies.com.
By Thom Constantine