Journal of Mass Communication
at Francis Marion University
Spring 2008, Volume 2, Number 1

Public Relations Is More Than Just Sending Out News Releases
by David A. Sacash

Public relations, along with marketing communications, is more than just sending out news releases, setting up interviews or holding news conferences. PR professionals must have the ability to provide strategic counsel to senior executives on how customer service can impact corporate image.

How a business cares for a customer can impact sales and the reputation of the organization. All companies make mistakes. How a business handles a customer complaint can determine if your business is the lead story on the evening news or if the story becomes a national story. Marketing communications executives need to realize customer service is key to driving sales and strategic public relations.

Customers need to trust your business.          

When I do consulting projects, there is one strategic rule I follow: “Give the client more than they expect.” It doesn’t matter if it is a Fortune 500 company or a small business. 

A few years ago, I was hired to design a web page and logo for a medical center in South Carolina. During the presentation, we showed the web site and new logo. Then we did something else. We showed the client how the logo would appear on their business cards and letterhead. Business card samples were printed along with letterhead. We didn’t stop there. Our team showed the client how the new logo would look on the exterior signs.

In my classes at Francis Marion University, we discuss customer service and its relationship to PR. The discussion starts with a simple focus group question. “What company will you no longer do business with and why? The comments range from cell phone companies to why I won’t buy my next computer from the last company I did business with.

Customer complaints can become a news story and if ignored the story can develop into a national story. For example, when I managed press relations for a Fortune 500 company, a sales representative called press relations concerned that the local newspaper was running stories about a performance issue with our equipment. 

The sales representative needed help and counsel on what to do. I asked: “Does our equipment work?” Naturally the first response was “yes.” After I asked some tough questions, I learned there were problems with how our client, a government agency, thought things were going. The client was talking to the news media. My advice was to fix the problem. Do what it takes. First and foremost, ethics require a business to do the right thing for the customer, with or without press coverage.

Ethics is how a company conducts business. Customer service has to be more than a slogan posted on the wall by management. There are businesses, large and small, that give the customer more than they expect. There are organizations where service is not an after thought. One of those companies is Lexus. 

I learned that lesson when I took our special edition Toyota Camry, which came with a Lexus paint color, to buy some touch-up paint. My plan was to buy the paint, go home and fix the chipped paint. When I arrived at the Lexus dealership, I asked the service representative, “Do you have pearl white Lexus touch up paint and the sealer?”

“We sure do,” he replied. “What do you need it for?”

“For a few scratches on my Camry,” I said. “Where is your car?” he asked. “In the parking lot,” I responded.

“Follow-me,” he said.

Rather than sell me paint, he walked to the car and touched up the paint chips in the parking lot. I was impressed. If you have ever been inside a Lexus dealer’s service area, it is like no other. You can almost eat off the floor they are so clean. The company is service driven.  

I have shared this story with my students to drive the message on what I mean by giving the customer more than they expect. While I have yet to purchase a Lexus, I did purchase my second Toyota. Lexus is manufactured by Toyota

Turning customers into PR ambassadors for your business is not difficult. A few weeks ago I was looking for a new dry cleaner because the one I was using kept returning my starched shirts with cracked buttons. My button sewing ended when I walked into a new dry cleaner that had opened down the street. Why was this dry cleaner special?

This business has a button inspector.

What happens when they find a cracked button? They sew on a new button for free and put a note on the shirt.   Most of the cleaners I have used wanted to charge the customers to repair a missing button. But not at my new cleaners, they sew buttons on free. You are not the first person to hear my dry cleaner story and you won’t be the last.

Corporations can help businesses avoid PR blunders and create customer PR ambassadors by giving their customers more than they expect. This is a must for any strategic marketing communications program, small town or Fortune 500 company.    

David Sacash is an assistant professor of mass communication at Francis Marion University and has managed media relations programs at two Fortune 500 companies.