{"id":11300,"date":"2015-02-16T16:57:09","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T21:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/?p=11300"},"modified":"2016-07-05T11:02:12","modified_gmt":"2016-07-05T15:02:12","slug":"never-mix-politics-b2b-publicity-stunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/never-mix-politics-b2b-publicity-stunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Mix Your Politics with Your B2B Publicity Stunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"How<\/p>\n

Want to generate some positive PR for your biotech\u00a0brand and endear yourself to the local workforce? \u00a0Here’s one way not<\/strong> <\/em>to execute a B2B\u00a0publicity stunt<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Recently, here in Connecticut, a local biotech manufacturer actually decided to halt its proposed expansion plans in the state<\/a>\u00a0simply because – whether\u00a0intentionally or not<\/em> – Connecticut\u2019s governor\u00a0didn’t use their product.<\/p>\n

As the story goes, Governor Dannel Malloy received a flu shot made by an overseas company\u00a0instead of an alternate flu vaccine developed by Meriden, CT-based Protein Sciences Corp. \u00a0In response to this, Protein Sciences Corp’s president Don Adams went on the record, claiming “the governor\u2019s actions have left Protein Sciences no choice but to go to New York<\/em>.” \u00a0Sounds like a joke, right? \u00a0It’s not. \u00a0He’s serious.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, what this does sound like is that Mr. Adams is using Governor Malloy’s “misstep”\u00a0as part of a poorly orchestrated\u00a0attempt at generating some press for his\u00a0company.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the old adage that \u201cany press is good press\u201d does not apply here. (For the record, I’ve said it before and I\u2019ll say it again: never mix politics and\u00a0business<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

When navigating the waters of publicity and promotion, B2B brands should keep the following critical factors in mind:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Have a goal<\/strong> – What are you looking to accomplish? Whatever it is, make sure it is clearly defined beforehand.<\/li>\n
  2. Have a strategy<\/strong> – How are you going to achieve the above goal? Spray-and-pray is not an option here. Having a tactical strategy will enable you to ensure that your message gets in front of the right audience.<\/li>\n
  3. Have a plan for addressing the media<\/strong> – A well-executed B2B publicity stunt will likely draw some coverage (print\/online, TV, radio, etc.) Have a designated spokesperson who is trained on how to properly respond to inquiries – specifically those surrounding your planned stunt.<\/li>\n
  4. Have a spin<\/strong> – As the saying goes: The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry<\/em>. \u00a0You’ve generated the buzz, but what if your strategy\u00a0backfires or doesn’t produce the desired result? Always, be prepared to spin it into a positive.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    At this juncture, Protein Sciences Corp has probably reached the stage where\u00a0it’s time to start spinning\u00a0and begin damage control on\u00a0their B2B publicity stunt<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0– before they\u00a0begin to alienate customers and prospects look in other directions.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Want to generate some positive PR for your biotech\u00a0brand and endear yourself to the local workforce? \u00a0Here’s one way not to execute a B2B\u00a0publicity stunt: Recently, here in Connecticut, a local biotech manufacturer actually decided to halt its proposed expansion plans in the state\u00a0simply because – whether\u00a0intentionally or not – Connecticut\u2019s governor\u00a0didn’t use their product. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,103],"tags":[186,187,184,181,183,180,182,185],"class_list":["post-11300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consider-this","category-marketing-strategy-2","tag-b2b-public-relations","tag-b2b-publicity","tag-biotech-marketing","tag-damage-control","tag-political-agenda","tag-politics","tag-public-relations","tag-publicity-stunt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11300"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12809,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11300\/revisions\/12809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}