The Submarine

"Suits make a corporate comeback," says the [_New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/14/fashion/thursdaystyles/14peacock.html?ex=1271131200&en=e96f2670387e3636&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland). Why does this sound familiar? Maybe because the suit was also back in [February](http://www.cvbizlink.com/articles/2005/04/07/news/news/doc42406f05edf53293947237.prt), [September 2004](http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2004-09-01-suits_x.htm), [June 2004](http://www.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/06/23/go.fashion.jones/), [March 2004](http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04062/279616.stm), [September 2003](http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/09-03/09-21-03/c01li238.htm), [November 2002](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_46/b3808122.htm), [April 2002](http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/s_65540.html), and [February 2002](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1836010.stm).

Why do the media keep running stories saying suits are back? Because PR firms [tell](http://www.maximumexposurepr.com/middleMAA.html) them to. One of the most surprising things I discovered during my brief business career was the existence of the PR industry, lurking like a huge, quiet submarine beneath the news. Of the stories you read in traditional media that aren't about politics, crimes, or disasters, more than half probably come from PR firms.

I know because I spent years hunting such "press hits." Our startup spent its entire marketing budget on PR: at a time when we were assembling our own computers to save money, we were paying a PR firm $16,000 a month. And they were worth it. PR is the news equivalent of search engine optimization; instead of buying ads, which readers ignore, you get yourself inserted directly into the stories. \[[1](#f1n)\]

[Our PR firm](http://schwartz-pr.com/client_coverage.php) was one of the best in the business. In 18 months, they got press hits in over 60 different publications. And we weren't the only ones they did great things for. In 1997 I got a call from another startup founder considering hiring them to promote his company. I told him they were PR gods, worth every penny of their outrageous fees. But I remember thinking his company's name was odd. Why call an auction site "eBay"?

**Symbiosis**

PR is not dishonest. Not quite. In fact, the reason the best PR firms are so effective is precisely that they aren't dishonest. They give reporters genuinely valuable information. A good PR firm won't bug reporters just because the client tells them to; they've worked hard to build their credibility with reporters, and they don't want to destroy it by feeding them mere propaganda.

If anyone is dishonest, it's the reporters. The main reason PR firms exist is that reporters are lazy. Or, to put it more nicely, overworked. Really they ought to be out there digging up stories for themselves. But it's so tempting to sit in their offices and let PR firms bring the stories to them. After all, they know good PR firms won't lie to them.

A good flatterer doesn't lie, but tells his victim selective truths (what a nice color your eyes are). Good PR firms use the same strategy: they give reporters stories that are true, but whose truth favors their clients.

For example, our PR firm often pitched stories about how the Web let small merchants compete with big ones. This was perfectly true. But the reason reporters ended up writing stories about this particular truth, rather than some other one, was that small merchants were our target market, and we were paying the piper.

Different publications vary greatly in their reliance on PR firms. At the bottom of the heap are the trade press, who make most of their money from advertising and would give the magazines away for free if advertisers would let them. \[[2](#f2n)\]