Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The PR Light Bulb: Generating the Best Ideas

When you own a small business, you always know what’s best. Decisions are on you. Operations are your kingdom. Customer service is your world. And PR, well that’s easy, right? Why would you need help? You know your business. The truth is; a little bit of external idea generation can go a long way.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

As emotional human beings, we always think our own ideas work best. According to Dan Ariely, author and professor at Duke University, we sometimes become sensitively attached to our own thoughts. Think of the last time you were brainstorming in a group. You propose an idea. It gets shut down. Bob, to the left of you, comes up with a better solution. It gets accepted. You know it’s a more thoughtful, intellectual idea. But all night, you think of how your own suggestion could have worked. It makes no sense, but it’s a part of who we are.

Wisdom of the Crowd

Now think of the benefits of working in a group: more knowledge, different perspectives and various backgrounds of expertise. The wisdom of the crowd theory refers to just this. Collectively, we make better decisions than we can alone. Two heads are better than one. Take, for example, the classic “guess how many jellybeans are in this jar” game. Alone, no one individual often guesses correctly. But if you average the guesses from a large group, it comes scarily close to the right answer.

Putting Heads Together

Applying these concepts to your small business, it is definitely an asset to have an external PR team. You bring knowledge of your company; they bring knowledge of the public relations industry. Together, you can come up with a campaign that wins.

Kathryn Kates is an experienced master of ideas. We invite you to check out our website, or join the Kathryn Kates Public Relations Facebook Fan Page. We would love to hear from you.

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