Don't drink the Kool-Aid!

I can't comment on the specifics for obvious reasons, but a recent crisis in my industry pointed out a few (often fatal) traps that PR professionals (myself included!) often fall into. The best example that I can think of is drinking your company/non-profit/charity's Kool-Aid.

As the voice of an organization, you have to believe wholeheartedly in what it is that your organization is doing. Unfortunately, it's all too easy for an organization to get sidetracked by projects or new and exciting prospects and stray from their mandate. If you're not doing regular evaluations of your activities to see how effective they are as well as how they relate to your organization as a whole, it's easy to start falling down a path different from the one you started on.

There are a few important things to remember here that will help you out immensely!


1. Don't rely on inside sources only! Reach out and talk to people other than your co-workers and fans of the brand, they can often give you some much-needed perspective

2. Regularly evaluate and adjust your strategy if it's not getting the results you started out to achieve

3. Ask your brand fans/members/target audience for feedback even if you're being successful. They might see something that you miss, or even come up with brilliant additions to any campaign.


What else do you do when organizing a campaign?