The PR Industry Is Dead to Me You want buzz? You must become the PR machine, create the story, the news and the excitement and then disseminate your story on every vehicle possible to tell the world.
By Grant Cardone Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Are you in the market for a public-relations firm to help you get known? Today there is so much technology and so many platforms available that hiring a PR firm isn't even worth it. The entire game of the public-relations industry has been changed and it's a dying industry. PR is dead to me!
There are more than 800 channels on TV, thousands of satellite-radio channels and social-media giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Medium, Meerkat, Periscope, Blab, blogging and all of the other platforms. No PR firm is putting you out on every possible social channel and every stream you can be on.
PR firms can be lazy and have too many excuses. They simply can not keep up.
Related: The Ultimate PR Cheat Sheet: Creating a Strategy, Crafting a Press Release and Handling the Media
I have given five different PR firms one year each to produce results for me. At the same time, I used technology that's free and available to everyone.
Each PR firm was hopeful, excited and believed they could give me better results than anyone else. We met at my home or for lunch, I told them my story and they asked my what my ideal target was. They talked a big game about Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.
I then signed a contract and they promised to get back to me weekly to see where I was with current news and content. I pumped them with massive amounts of relevant content and I could already see the bewildered and overwhelmed look on their faces. Within two weeks they had already given up on the weekly updates and started giving me the standard excuses such as "we pitched them yesterday, it would be offensive to call them again today."
You can become your own massive PR machine in four steps:
1. Take charge of your own PR.
First, you must commit to taking charge of your own PR. I am constantly posting videos on YouTube, beating up Twitter like a bully and banging on every other social platform available to me. One person committed to their own cause and getting known for it is more important and powerful than an entire PR company that has no real commitment.
2. Make a list of every communication line you can push content on.
I've posted more than 1,900 videos on YouTube with more than 14.6 million views, streamed more than 1,000 broadcasts over Meerkat, Periscope and Facebook Mentions, posted almost 70,000 Tweets and I bang on every other platform available to me. All while the well-connected PR firm that knows so much about public relations can't even get me an interview -- I'm making the news while they're making excuses.
3. Make a list of what you can push on those lines.
Once you've established these lines to push content on, you need to know what kind of content to push. Keep it varied, serial and serious -- repeating the same message over and over will get you in the same place as the other failed entrepreneurs: bankrupt.
Related: 3 Ways to Expand Your Content's Reach
I realized that the best PR firm I could ever find is me. Only I know how to promote myself accurately to the right people, at the right level of action and with the right message to get what I want.
You want PR? You must become the PR machine, create the story, the news and the excitement and then disseminate your story on every vehicle possible to tell the world.
4. Create content daily to push down each line to the public.
One person committed to getting known is a powerhouse compared to an entire PR company that has no real commitment to you, your brand or your idea. To become massive I create my own media ploys by watching the news and jumping on hot stories.
For example, when Donald Trump became the top media story, I was creating videos, writing articles and blogs and doing stunts to take advantage of the buzz. Notice how Trump commands the media? He is a PR machine. He doesn't have a PR firm doing his work. He has people fielding his calls, but he is the machine.
One person committed to getting their dream, product or idea known is worth more than a half-assed commitment from a PR firm that just wants their monthly check.
This week I will reach some 20 million people through social media, podcasts, articles and live streams. This is bigger than the entire audience that Fox Business and MSNBC would ever reach in a 10-minute interview, which, by the way, they would never give me.
Only you know the full and complete evolving story of you, your brand and your company. People fail because they fail to get noticed. People hire PR firms to get noticed and then fail again because the PR firm is actually lost in a world that no longer exists. Yesterday's PR stands for "purely ridiculous," unless you just want to add it to what you are already doing for extra support or to field phone calls.
To all the PR people out there that might object to this message: I challenge you to get me more PR this week than I can get myself. Otherwise, you are dead to me. Results in PR don't mean you get someone on The Today Show and CNN once and nothing else for a year. Prove me wrong.
I await your call if you still actually use the phone: 310-777-0255.
