Fill In The Blank

A few days ago, I heard a group of people discussing some rumors they heard about a local employer.  I don't know whether their speculations were true or false, and it doesn't really matter - the rumor mill was in full force because the company had chosen to remain silent about what was really going on. 

In the absence of information, people will fill in the blanks themselves and what they choose to believe (and repeat) is often much worse than reality. Public relations is something many businesses only give consideration when something is going wrong and they need to manage the public's perception. This is unfortunate because people get used to only hearing about those particular companies when something bad has happened.  Businesses should communicate regularly so the public will get a balanced perspective of the business, including the ups and downs that any normal business faces. 

Public relations can be tricky because you have far less control over your message than you do in paid advertising.  When you place an ad, you have complete control over the message (a good thing), but the reader knows it's the business promoting itself; therefore, the impact of the message can be diminished.  When you place press releases and pitch stories to the media, you may lose some control over the message because they might not write exactly what you intended, your story could get delayed or you might not see any results at all. The upside is when the media writes about your business, it's a third party talking which lends credibility to the story.

My advice to you is communicate the good news and the bad news early and often.  In doing so, you'll minimize the number of people filling in the blanks.