Top 10 PR mistakes - and how to avoid them

The most widely known element of PR is media relations – the art of building a productive working relationship between you and members of the media, most commonly this means journalists. Look at the list below and find out if you’ve accidentally aggravated a journalist by making any of our ‘Top 10 PR mistakes’…

  1. Telling a journalist a story is newsworthy. Journalists will make a judgement on whether or not they feel a story is worth running. You telling them their job won’t help.
  2. Thinking editorial is the same as advertising - a common misunderstanding. Editorial can’t be paid for, that’s advertising or advertorials.
  3. Phoning a journalist when they’re on deadline. Different media have different deadlines. Journalists on a weekly paper, a monthly magazine and a regional TV news programme will all need to submit their work at different times during the day or week. Before you pick up the phone, think when the deadline is and avoid it. A journalist won’t thank you for phoning when they’re getting barked at by their boss...
  4. Not researching the media that you send your press release or feature pitch to. Don’t just send it to a list of media you’ve found on a database. Irrelevant, badly targeted information will aggravate editorial teams and they won’t be very helpful when you phone to follow up!
  5. Targeting the wrong media for your audience. It’s great to get positive coverage in the media but if it’s not going to affect your bottom line and be seen by the people that will want to buy your product or service, perhaps you could have spent your time more effectively?
  6. Expecting a miracle overnight. To get the most out of PR you need to have a planned programme of activities that meet your business objectives to create a ‘drip, drip’ effect. Reputations don’t change forever with one or two newspaper articles.
  7. Not thinking before you answer a journalist’s question. Don’t make things up if you don’t know the answer and don’t feel pressured to say what the journalist wants to hear. Take a moment to consider what you’re going to say and what angle that will give to the story.
  8. Believing that journalists are out to get you. Generally, that’s not true. Journalists really want:
    a) A story of interest and relevance to their readers/listeners
    b) Concise, factual & timely information
    c) More detailed information on a subject
    d) As little extra work as possible
    e) Recognition from their editor/producer
    f) To meet their deadlines
  9. Expecting a press release to be printed as you’ve written it. This happens rarely. More often, a journalist will want to investigate the story, ask questions and contribute their own opinion to the story.
  10. Thinking that if you send the media a positive story, it will stay a positive story. There are two sides to every story – what’s the other one? However unlikely it is that your great news will be given a negative slant, you need to have considered the risks. Whichever way a story goes, the media is very powerful.

Bampton Communications can help you make the most of your media relations, why not contact us to find out how we can help?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caption

A journalist will remember you for all the wrong reasons if you make a classic mistake