So, you’ve got some news and you bring it to your PR team.
You’re pretty excited about it and think it’s important, and it’s important to get the word out as part of your organization’s marketing outreach. In the past, perhaps your public relations team has taken your news yet struggled to get you any coverage of it? No interviews or online posts, no guest blogging, no interest at all, yet still sent you an invoice despite zero results?
Counseling. We are aggressive, transparent counselors who don’t shy away from saying “No” to a client and to assist in finding a better direction. You may think your news is the most important thing in the world but in the large playing field of media, it may be wholly insignificant. We know what journalists want. Do you know when I worked in the newsrooms, I was bombarded by HUNDREDS of story ideas and pitches per day by PR people? Some also called to talk to me, some reading off horrific scripts and speaking awkwardly to try to tell me their “news”.
Understand you are competing with a very fractured media landscape and competing for attention against many others in your comp set. Therefore, your public relations team must always have its internal news compass on (We do) and if it doesn’t rise to the level of newsworthy, you should expect them to say no. We do. That being said, we don’t just say “no” and walk away. We will discuss and collaborate with you to take that nugget and expand on it, research and drill down to find a way to make it newsworthy and of interest to our friends in newsrooms across the country.
Moral of the story? You WANT a PR firm that occasionally tells you “No!”. They’re the ones like us who will get you results for your money. If all you’re hearing is “yes!” and your “results report” isn’t forthcoming, it’s time to have a conversation elsewhere.
