PR Squared: Nobody Buys A 10lb. Zucchini

IStock_000002009418XSmall The timeless client question, “How will we measure success?” has rarely if ever been answered satisfactorily in the PR industry. A few years ago, frustrated that a young buck like me couldn’t come up with a better answer than, “You’ll feel it in your gut,” I set out to resolve the issue.

(Although, holy mission aside, the “trust your gut” response was still better than any related to ad-value equivalency, and probably not any worse than an answer related to share-of-voice metrics. But that’s another post.)

Working with a Siebel expatriate and other smarties for over 2 years, ultimately a system was developed that identified and tagged all inbound sales leads, by campaign source. The system integrated CRM, call centers, website development, etc., and allowed marketers to show up at Boardroom meetings with detailed graphics showing the relative ROI of each marketing program.

It was vetted by VCs from Sand Hill, who approved the methodology. Our one beta user – a CMO at a mid-sized Silicon Valley firm – not only bought the final product, but bought it again when she moved on to another company. Validation on all fronts! The “How Do We Measure” question, finally and satisfactorily answered, from campaign to bottom-line!

But, we haven’t been able to sell it much. I’ve explained it to interested clients and prospects a hundred times, but very few offer to pony-up the 5–figure fee.

It’s not that it is too expensive.

The problem is that it is a 10lb. zucchini.

During my extended travels this week, I read an interview with an exec who got his start on his family’s farm, selling their produce at a roadside stand. Every now and then, a freakishly large vegetable sprouted, and the boy salesman couldn’t wait to show it off to customers.

And, indeed, everyone was interested.

But, nobody actually BUYS a 10lb. zucchini. It’s a curiosity. It’s literally too big to swallow.

Same thing with our “LeadSensor” service. It touches too many systems. Even if it works -and we have evidence that it does – it just sounds too damn big. At some point I may make the effort, working with our consultant, to “break it down” into more digestible, cheaper components.

Meanwhile, this is a valuable lesson for PR pros who sometimes try to pack too much into a single pitch. If the client’s story sounds too good to be true; if your outreach campaign is focused on 101 distinct reasons why the client is “poised to dominate” its industry, then you’ll likely experience a seemingly unreasonable amount of media rejection.

It’s not that the story isn’t good. It’s just that it’s too big.