Define your unique "Point B" and move beyond it.

Every product launch has a Point A and Point B. While it is usually easy to define Point A, figuring out what Point B should look like in PR can vary from business to business, and even from product to product within a business. I have seen many CEOs and entrepreneurs turn entire product campaigns into dumpster fires because they didn’t know how to define the right Point B, had delusional expectations about it, or sometimes didn’t know they had already reached it. If I had a dollar for every business decision-maker who told me Point B was Oprah or The Today Show, well, I wouldn’t need to be blogging as a business development tool. Don’t get locked into a Point B that is unrealistic, takes too long to acquire, or isn’t the right fit for your product. While it’s exciting to think that Point B can include nailing a placement in a major national media outlet, it can also be a series of product reviews on small blogs with readers who will buy what you are selling. And occasionally, it can be an innocent-looking article that sets up something special. Point B should, however, have some kind of measurable metric or specific future use. For example, after spending months pitching a start-up fitness client to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the published article was Point B for the following reasons: 1. The client’s monthly unique visits to his website tripled from 100,000 to 300,000. 2. Other reporters and editors complimented the feature in response to my pitches. 3. It helped him recruit more contributors to his blog, which led to more guest columns in other outlets. 4. He acquired clients who mentioned it as a reason for contacting him. Point B took time, but not too much time, and helped my client move beyond it. Here’s what “beyond” looks like: his tips are now being featured in Shape Magazine. My favorite Point B story of all time is CitiKitty. I worked on a shoestring budget project for an inventor who created a toilet seat cats could use instead of stinking up the house or apartment with a litter box. The seat included a training manual, and the inventor’s site featured videos of cats using the product. I landed a small article in the New York Times City Room blog that didn’t immediately help sales, and soon afterward, my client was out of money for PR. But the article was still Point B because she used it to apply as a “contestant” for the ABC show “Shark Tank”. She made it on the air, nailed $100,000 in investment capital from one of the sharks, and if you walk through the pet section at WalMart, you’ll know she is doing quite well. Getting from Point A to Point B and beyond is within anyone’s reach if it is intelligently defined.

Why the NFL Should Run Crisis PR for Everybody

Everyone knows the NFL’s replacement officials have been a train wreck. The NFL also knows it. After being destroyed in the media after Monday night’s fiasco, including rare lead segments on The Today Show and GMA, it would seem odd the league would issue a statement on Tuesday that mostly defended the refs. But I think it was brilliant, and here is why: 1) The NFL knows we’ll watch the games regardless of the officiating. It was laughable that talk radio hosts or "guy-in-mom's-basement" fans could organize boycotts. I ironically think the controversy over the replacement refs is getting more eyes on the games; and 2) The public wasn’t the target of the NFL’s Tuesday statement. Instead of caving like babies to the demands of the referees, the NFL let them know on Tuesday that they would still “dig in”, even if the owners were getting killed by the public. The NFL had a serious point that part-time officials should not be collecting free pensions, and at the very least, Tuesday’s statement sent a message that the refs should be prepared to negotiate on that issue. We live in a nation of over-reactors who were screaming, “Oh my God! Settle with the refs right now!” While caving can make people feel better in the short-term, that kind of thinking can start to erode the core culture of a successful business. The NFL didn’t become a $10 billion enterprise for being a bunch of knee-jerks, which is why I view the league’s statement as external action to continuing internal contract negotiation issues. To paraphrase a famous Right Guard deodorant commercial - The NFL was sweating on Tuesday, but brilliant crisis PR prevented the regular officials from seeing how much sweating was going on.

5 Rules of Crisis PR to Help Carnival Cruise Lines Stay Afloat

Carnival, the parent company of the tragically half-sunken cruise ship off Italy, might be doing more to sink its brand than Captain Francesco Schettino.

I have 5 rules in Crisis PR and here is why Carnival needs to stop breaking all of them:

1. Control the face and voice of your brand. You can't manage a crisis from 5,000 miles away. That's why the only face and voice we have heard on the news is that of Schettino. It's inexcusable. Carnival's CEO needs to be on site immediately and ready to do interview after interview.

2. Alter the optics on the ground. All I see on the Today Show is a reporter with an eerily grounded ship in the background. Insert Carnival's CEO and half the screen is already filled. Carnival can also alter the optics with company executives comforting victims and company rescue and recovery workers in the water. For all the grief we gave BP after the oil spill, they at least tried to alter the optics by drilling a new well.

3. Establish order. No one currently knows how many crew officers stayed or fled the ship when things went south. As a result, consumers will not be booking Carnival cruises if they don't know who will stay and help them if there's a problem. It's obvious that the captain is a grease fire, so Carnival needs to release accurate statements from the rest of the crew - regardless of how embarrassing they might be. It's the first step toward restoring "order".

4. Be decisive. I've heard that Carnival hasn't fired Captain Schettino because Italian employment law makes it almost impossible to fire anyone - regardless of competency. That is probably true, but are you kidding me? Fire him! If the Italian government protests. it would be a game-changing PR gift to Carnival. When in a crisis, looking like you're afraid to make a decisive move can be a death sentence for your brand.

5. Accept partial defeat. No one gets out of a crisis unscathed, so Carnival needs to decide if last weekend's tragic grounding will compromise its brand in Italian ports or worldwide. The Italian government already looks ridiculous by allowing Captain Schettino to return home. I think Carnival needs to accept a regional hit because ultimately, travelers worldwide will distrust a nearly bankrupt, clueless Italian government already mired in multiple corruption scandals more than a successful cruise company that operates safely throughout the globe.

Why the Best of Intentions Can Compromise Your Brand

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently proposed razing the 25-year-old Javits Center for a more modern and expansive convention facility by Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.

Besides the money, politics, endless environmental studies and major transportation issues (you know what I mean if you have taken the A subway through Brooklyn), the Governor's proposal implies that New York simply cannot compete for business travelers and conventions.

Ironically, the opposite is true.

The Javits Center, while outdated, is in the middle of a $463 million renovation and is booked solid throughout the next few years. Yeah, it's somewhat small, but who cares? The McCormick Center in Chicago - considered the "model" of convention facilities with more raw square feet than Javits - is regularly half-empty.

I learned in politics that it's better to hold an event in a room that is packed versus too roomy. Uncomfortable and "hot" looks better as a brand then empty and "lame".

The governor also missed the point when he proposed hotels and condos at the Javits Center site as "economic development". The New York hotel industry is booming, doesn't need government to boost it, and with new exciting properties opening monthly, the business traveler will not find more options with better amenities anywhere else in the world.

Before you blow up your brand with a grandiose idea that is well-intentioned, remember the demand you already have - even if it's not perfect.