PR Tips: Managing Expectations and the Consequences of Failing to Do So

PR Tips: Managing Expectations

and the Consequences of Failing to Do So

By: Ryan Duncan

If you missed last week’s Friday video post, “Teachable PR Tips from Howard University's CapComm Lecture Series” one of Gwen’s PR Tips was about “managing expectations,” an important lesson for all public relations work.

Today, we were presented with another perfect example of the consequences of failing to manage expectations. Apple Inc. – beloved tech company which created the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, had scheduled a highly anticipated press event in which expectations were high.

For the past year, there was endless chatter and rumors surrounding Apple’s next iPhone device, which everyone assumed would be called the iPhone 5. Plus, with the announcement of Steve Jobs retiring and this event being his replacement, Tim Cook’s big debut, the excitement and expectations were even more heightened. All day on Twitter and Facebook, my friend’s updates and posts reflected their extreme anticipation for the event and Apple’s announcement of their next device.

But boy were they disappointed. It turns out, there was no iPhone 5. Instead, Apple debuted the iPhone 4S. It may be faster, it may be on more carriers, and have a nicer camera, but it looks pretty much the same as the iPhone4. The press and the public were clearly let down and disappointed in the announcement.

Apple‘s stock fell as much as 5% after its iPhone 4S announcement Tuesday, illustrating that the news failed to wow investors. This is the first time I can ever remember Apple’s stock going down after one of their press events. What lessons can we learn from this? What we have here is another perfect example of failing to manage expectations. Usually Apple had always done an incredible job of keeping their products secret while also under-promising and over-delivering.

What do you think? Was this a failure by the new CEO Tim Cook’s failure to manage expectations? Are you disappointed by the iPhone 4S? How could Apple have done a better job of communicating in advance what to expect ahead of their product unveiling?