No matter how talented your PR specialist or agency is, successful PR is impossible without the active involvement of the company’s founder. A founder’s actions can either amplify the PR team’s efforts or destroy even the best communication strategies. Here are a few “harmful tips” — guaranteed ways to sabotage your PR efforts — along with explanations of why you should avoid them. They were provided by Olga Golovina, PR Director at SKL.vc and an expert with extensive experience working in tech companies and PR agencies.
1. Don’t participate in PR at all
Limit your interaction with PR professionals to reviewing reports. What to do, how to do it, and when to do it — let them decide. As for sharing your expertise, don’t bother: you’re a busy person, and you don’t have time for such trivial matters.
Why this is a bad idea:
Most likely, your target audience consists of people who are involved in the market. They are interested in hearing something relevant that addresses their problems and interests. Only the founder, being at the forefront of the business, can provide deep expert assessments. PR specialists, no matter how good they are, don’t have your level of market immersion. Their job is to package and convey your ideas, but they cannot create them.
2. Sell in every possible way
Loudly proclaim at every opportunity that your product is the best in the world. After all, isn’t that why you’re investing in PR? If journalists don’t publish such texts, it means your PR team isn’t trying hard enough.
Why this is a bad idea:
PR is about reputation management, so direct sales and aggressive self-promotion don’t work here. People are more interested in what they can gain from your experience than just hearing about you and your product. You need to talk about what interests your audience, integrating the necessary messages and demonstrating expertise in the area where you want to be recognised as an expert.
Reputation has a cumulative effect that can lead to sales over time, but that’s a side effect, not the primary goal of PR.
3. Demand leads from your PR team.
Made a publication or launched a channel on social media? Don’t forget to ask one question: “How many leads did this generate?” If there are no leads, cut your PR team’s bonuses.
Why this is a bad idea:
Leads belong entirely to the realm of marketing. PR, on the other hand, works with your reputation and market positioning. PR helps create the first touchpoint with the audience, strengthen your expertise, and build the basis for your future ads. However, it doesn’t generate direct sales. Measuring PR by lead generation shows a fundamental misunderstanding of its purpose.
4. Talk about success, not the process
No one should know your mistakes! Exaggerate your achievements and inflate your numbers — an ideal image works best.
Why this is a bad idea:
The story of a perfect person who never makes mistakes and has success in every point is of little interest to most people. It’s hard for people to believe in such a scenario, let alone put themselves in the hero’s shoes. What generates sympathy are real stories of real people who don’t always make the right decisions. Stories that include ups and downs. Show your authentic experience, and it will help your audience better understand you and your company.
5. Ignore market trends
Why keep up with the latest news and trends when you’re already so busy? You have a PR team responsible for creating content and tracking trends.
Why this is a bad idea:
This brings us back to point #1: if you want to talk about what is interesting to your audience, you need to understand the current agenda and stay updated on the latest news. Without this, you won’t be able to provide a well-rounded expert opinion. Additionally, you might find yourself in an awkward situation at an event if a guest asks you a question about a topic you know nothing about.
6. Make your PR team wait
Is your PR team asking you for weeks to approve a content plan or provide information for a column? No big deal, they can wait: you’ve got more important things to do.
Why this is a bad idea:
Firstly, by disappearing from your audience’s sight, you risk being quickly forgotten. People receive so much information daily that you need to constantly remind them about yourself to avoid getting lost in the noise. Secondly, expert commentary on certain market events, just like news, has an expiration date: while you delay the approval process, the news hook may lose its relevance.
7. Ignore professional events
Speaking at conferences and forums is just a waste of time and a way to feed your ego. So leave it to others
Why this is a bad idea:
Events are not just another channel for sharing expertise and reminding people about your company, but an excellent way to develop networking. Your regular presence at such events strengthens your influence, boosts your visibility, and builds connections with key market players. Ignoring them means missing out on one of PR’s most effective tools.
8. Don’t invest in content
Anyone can write texts, so there’s no need to spend money on expensive writers. You can always find a student to write the text for $20, or pay for a ChatGPT subscription.
Why this is a bad idea:
It’s not just about the “what,” but also about the “how.” Texts are your way of communicating with your audience, and poorly written articles, news, or even Facebook posts won’t attract readers. If you want to engage your audience, you need to invest in high-quality content. Unfortunately, a student or ChatGPT won’t create a text you can be proud of — quality writing comes at a price.
9. Dictate to PR team what to do
You’re the CEO, which means you know best how to promote your business. Why listen to the opinions of PR professionals when you can impose your vision?
Why this is a bad idea:
Despite your experience in business development, PR is a large and distinct field with its own rules. A good PR specialist has a huge toolkit for building reputation, establishing communication, working with audiences and media, mitigating risks, handling negative feedback — and this toolkit has been developed over years.
If you ignore PR specialists’ advice and impose your own decisions, you risk making mistakes and missing out on opportunities. It’s important to understand that a PR specialist is not just an executor focused on meeting KPIs, but a partner who totally shares your goals and knows everything about your business. Therefore, you should trust the professional opinion of your team and let them develop your business together with you — but using PR methods.
10. Copy your competitors
Everything has already been invented, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel: just copy everything from your successful competitors.
Why this is a bad idea:
Every business is unique, and what worked for one may not work for you. Moreover, to avoid getting lost in a sea of similar businesses, you need to stand out from your competitors. Behind every company stands a person, a team, a story, and values that cannot simply be copied. People are drawn to people, not faceless corporations. That’s why it’s so important to find and develop your own identity.
Olga Golovina is a PR and business communications expert with over nine years of experience helping tech startups, innovation-driven companies, and venture funds expand their global presence. Global PR Director at Humanoid and SKL.vc.
