There is NOwhere to hide…

Tom Murphy

This is an old chestnut that comes up with enjoyable regularity.

We are talking about the PR imposter…

  • The sweaty, overweight, 30+ PR ‘professional’ posing as the “rad”, “cool” and “hip” student in an online forum.
  • The slim 21 year old PR ‘professional’ sending e-mails posing as a concerned 65 year old.

    • How long before we all realize that:

  • a) Transparent communication isn’t recommended, it’s essential
  • b) Your activity online can be tracked and identified using free, easy to use online tools.

    • Concentrate on communication rather than subterfuge and you’ll do much better.

    Danny Goodall sent me a recent example. He’s a fan of English soccer team Southampton. There growing pressure on the club’s chairman and he’s recently hired a “PR Firm”. Rather than engage in dialogue they ‘cleverly’ posed as a ‘fan’ and went posting supportive messages on Southampton’s message boards.

    Only problem was, the messages were tracked back to the PR firm’s web address. Doh!

    Good job. Where did they learn about communication? Good ROI on those billable hours though.