There Is Such A Thing As Bad Press

This blog is about helping people—you—communicate better. Part of that is marketing your services and products in a way that gets positive attention, not negative feedback.

What can I do to help you? Please email your questions, comments and suggestions to David Reynolds at davereyn83@gmail.com. Anything worthwhile will be taken into consideration and used. Your comments will be given the credit they deserve.

And now for the gist of this post: comments I strongly disagree with will be ignored.

Some people believe the saying, “There’s no such thing as bad press.” As a former reporter and editor, I disagree.

There is a huge difference between “good press” and “bad press.” Good press coverage shows you and your firm in a positive or neutral light. Readers and viewers either see your virtues being touted or are left to make up their own minds.

Bad press essentially is something that upsets and angers people. The result of this is (warning: the next few words are intentionally offensive) a bunch of pissed off reporters, editors, readers and/or viewers.

Supporters of the “no such thing as bad press” statement argue that even bad press puts a person, group or firm’s name in the public eye. But do you really want investigative reporters or private people who hate your comments looking into your past, literally digging through your trash, to see what other dirt they can unearth?

The potential impact of bad press is the complete dismantling of your group or firm and, depending on the severity of the response to your comments, legal action against you.

Here’s one other important point many people completely overlook: when many editors read or see something that offends them, and may offend their readers, they ignore it. Your statements may not get good press or bad press. They may—and often do—end up in the garbage can where they belong.

So when you are writing anything—press releases, blog posts, even personal comments on Facebook or Twitter—look at how you can put them in a positive light. The results will ultimately benefit you.