Question: Is Tiger Woods' Public Relations Strategy All Wrong?

Answer: Who cares?

Or, to answer a question with yet another question: As public relations professionals, is this really the most ideal way to spend our time and expertise?

Don't get me wrong, I've had some of the same countless water-cooler conversations about current events, large and small (i.e., “Well, if I was heading up public relations for Subject X, you better believe that the first thing I would recommend is . . . “). And I certainly don't begrudge the media pursuing the story. It does what it does best, and it plays its part well. I feel like an oddity in PR in that regard – take a peek at this headline – even if you don't speak Spanish, you can probably figure it out quickly enough.

So what am I getting at? I'm getting at the public relations second-guessing – made public via the media – about Tiger Woods' personal situation, and by extension, any similar stories played out in broadcast and online.

Stories like:

Is Tiger Woods' public-relations strategy all wrong? PR experts: Tiger Woods could lose endorsements . . .

Jack Trout, author, marketing guru and president of Trout & Partners in Old Greenwich, CT (and co-author of a great favorite of mine – “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing”) was quoted in a Mediapost.com article, and in part sums up my thoughts on the issue: “It's a stupid story blown out of proportion, and it's not even worth the ink.”

Trout does go on to mention that a response from Tiger Woods is an ideal next step. “There's an old saying in the PR business that silence grants the point, and I think someone as visible as Tiger Woods can't stay silent. It supports all the stuff flying around. By not speaking, you grant whatever people want to cook up.”

So, what has Tiger said? “Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.”

Amen.

As PR professionals, if we're going to offer up conjecture, and advice, and statements of what we would do to improve Subject X, here's an idea: let's spend our energy somewhere useful, somewhere practical. Somewhere meaningful.

Perhaps a local synagogue or church has an outreach or marketing committee that could use our expertise. For those not “faithfully inclined,” (and even for those who are) perhaps we offer our expertise to a local food bank, homeless shelter, domestic violence support group, health care clinic, group home, or countless other charities.

To care is, in itself, neutral. What we care about can make all the difference in the world.

photo courtesy Dru Bloomfield, per Creative Commons License

http://www.flickr.com/photos/athomeinscottsdale/ / CC BY 2.0