PR Studies

How PR works (cont)

Newsworthy stories are by definition worthy of being reported in the media. The skill of the public relations practitioner is often in turning the humdrum and mundane into talking points.

Take the Travelodge hotel chain. Its 'research' suggesting the survival of north-south prejudices is reported in The Observer, The Times, Southern Daily Echo.

Two obvious questions arise from this. Academics (and journalists) tend to question the ethics of such manufactured news (pseudo events); marketers may question the 'advertising value' of a story that stands up perfectly well without any reference to Travelodge.

I'll sidestep the first objection for now by saying that this is harmless enough as long as the research has some credibility (it's not clear to me from the Travelodge website that this is the case in this instance); as to the other objection, I think this steers a course mid way between advertising promotion and independent news. We know about advertorials; this is a form of 'journadvertisement'.

Half-truth business

Peter Wilby writes this in his Media Guardian commentary on Alastair Campbell's Cudlipp memorial lecture:

Most journalists at least aspire to some version of the truth. Public relations, at best, aspires to a partial truth and, at worst, to outright fabrication.

Let's acknowledge the large grain of truth here: Kevin Moloney describes the in-built bias in public relations as 'hemispheric communications' because of the tendency always to focus on the sunny side, not the dark side.

But Wilby's language is nuanced. Which would you prefer: 'some version of the truth' or 'a partial truth'? There's little to choose, but at least, with public relations the perspective is (or should be) obvious and declared.

Don't sell, tell

The key phrase for me from The Art and Science of Blogger Relations, an ebook from Brian Solis, is this:

It's the difference between commission and fixed salary - it's all related to the ability to sell a story vs. tell a story. (p. 49)

Think of the role of the PR practitioner as storyteller, not as sales representative.

In this (and in so much of the territory covered in the book) there's little to distinguish blogger relations from media relations. Especially when many of his blogger examples, like Chris Anderson, are well known reporters.

Hacks v flacks special

Good, bad or ugly: which is most memorable? Sometimes we need examples of the bad and the ugly in learning (and teaching). Sometimes we need to repeat the basics, loud and clear.

• Chris Anderson (Wired magazine, author of The Long Tail) says Sorry PR people: you're blocked (via Luke Armour on Facebook).
• Mark Hodson (Sunday Times travel journalist) offers 10 top tips for PRs (via Strive Notes)
• Graciously and unusually he allows a swift right of reply: 10 tips for travel writers
• Pete Wilby is writing an excellent series starting with How to influence editors and bring joy to journalists (links continue below)
• #1: Give them a story not a plug
• #2: Give them a hook on which to hang the story
• #3: Press releases are still popular with journalists...
• #4: Leave clever headlines to the experts
• To be continued on Screaming Headlines

UPDATE: This interview with Ian Green in HackFlack fits well with this theme.

He came, he saw, he Googled

I was sitting next to Philip Young at last night's guest lecture - and admiring his shorthand. I somehow felt absolved from making notes and following up with cogent observations, confident that this would be done by someone sensible. He hasn't disappointed.

Philip from Sunderland and John Hitchins from Marjon in Plymouth had travelled to Leeds to discuss plans for Behind the Spin. More news on this to follow soon.

Media relations and PR: why oh why?

Stephen Waddington suggests that online searches are more valuable than press coverage as a promotional tool, so the PR business should change gear.

This reality, alas, hasn’t sunk into the UK PR industry yet, which still regards hard copy coverage as delivering the best value to clients when in reality web hits and increased search engine optimisation (SEO) is the way forward.

Andrew Smith adds a commentary on this, attacking the industry focus on news releases.

Given that no one could argue in favour of unproductive, wasteful PR tactics, the question must be asked why media relations retains such a prominent place in the PR toolkit in our disintermediated, Web 2.0 world. Here are some suggestions:

• Media relations is the principal service that clients hire PR consultancies to provide, so there's continued pressure on them to deliver ink and measure the thickness of cuttings. (In other words, there's a procurement and client management problem).
• Expressed another way, no other corporate function (eg marketing, HR, IT) has laid claim to media relations, leaving it unchallenged as a service delivered by PR. Contrast this with the turf wars over ownership of SEO, internal comms, events etc.
• Given the low barriers to entering the online space, a tipping point is still needed to turn low level blog chatter into high profile campaigns. The traditional media (who also publish online) frequently provides this tipping point - so playing an important part of an online PR campaign.
• Can so much experience simply be wrong? Just think of these recent campaigns and imagine how they could have reached public consciousness without the media - Apple iPhone, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Find Maddie, Jamie Oliver's School Dinners campaign.

Relationship or one-night-stand?

Here's why media relations is not the same as media publicity.

Take a typical scenario. Imagine you've surveyed 1,000 people on their attitute to inheritance tax or garden gnomes on behalf of a mortgage supplier or estate agent. It's still August and your findings have made it into the pages of a national newspaper or onto a broadcast news bulletin. Great. Except for one thing: there was no mention of the mortgage supplier or estate agent in the news report. Your boss or client is not happy.

Hit or miss? As a piece of 'free advertising' it's clearly a failure. But what about this as a piece of media relations? It suggests that your news release was newsworthy and that your targeting had some success. It also gives you an opening to go back to that reporter - not to recriminate, but to offer further relevant stories in future.

Here's another consideration. Given the rate of churn in our industry, your relationship with that reporter will possibly be longer-lasting than your relationship with your client or employer. This isn't an invitation to get sacked, but simply a plea for longer-term thinking to prevail.

UPDATE: For a behind-the-scenes account of how PR surveys are conducted, check out Ben Goldacre writing in the Guardian blog.

The Death Wish of the Press Release

[Please note: This post is a guest contribution from a dissertation student, Kate Talbot.]

Someone once told me that the relationship between journalists and PRs is like an alcoholic who does not know he/she is addicted. I am fond of this metaphor, probably because I am in the PR industry and despite journalists telling us constantly we are an unnecessary intermediary, it allows the PR professional a moment of satisfaction.

I also liken this metaphor to the relationship between a journalist and a press release. It is not uncommon to come across journalists who despise press releases. Come to think of it, there are a few PR practitioners who aren’t that keen either, so why does the press release dominate media relations tactics?

I have heard a couple of stories concerning stupid PR people sending over press releases or making sell in phone calls to a journalist who writes in a completely different subject area. Yes, this is a waste of everybody’s time and the good practitioners will not be making these kinds of mistakes.

Although it seems to generate some annoyance, the press release is a useful communications tool.

The fact of the matter is, the press release (if written well) is an easy way to communicate all the facts on a topic, company or news item, giving a journalist the opportunity to use the release to generate a story. Investigative journalism is a skill that cannot be lifted from a press release but when simple facts about a company or product are needed, a press release is one of the easiest, most reliable places to get them from.

Media is evolving online and sources of information are much more widely available, however this is not a reason for the press release to die a death. The internet and corporate blogs can be used to gain information from a more direct source than the PR agency behind the brand but that’s not the single use of a press release. A press release can break news to a journalist that is not available over the internet or anywhere else.

Press releases need to be more targeted and PR practitioners must take into account new information sources available to journalists to ensure consistency of messages throughout all corporate publication, whether online or in print.

I think the next few years will see change in media relations, for example the targeting of social media such as blogs and in turn the monitoring of this media, but one thing I think will remain secure is the press release. As technology develops the format of the press release may change as it has from post, to fax, to email, however the objective of the release will remain the same – an exchange of information with a journalist in the hope that they will write about it.

Good news, bad

'Why do they always hate us?'
'It's not you. They hate everyone.'

This is an abbreviated version of a conversation about the media I must have had with every client and boss in my time in public relations practice.

Any purveyor of 'good news' faces similar frustration when banging their head against the wall of media indifference. Is it any easier for charities? It's even harder according to this report in a supplement on charities with The Guardian today.

Public relationships

The term public relations has been in use for a century. But for all of this time, people have in reality been conducting private relations. Not in the sense of illicit, but rather as discreet relations. Even today, the media can make a big story out of the normal conduct of these discreet relations. Newspapers should beware: public relationships will mean an end of the privileged access to information granted by most organisations to the media.

We are now entering a new era of public relationships. There are public networks such as LinkedIn championed by Simon and Alex, who have both used blogging to build personal-professional networks and advance their careers. And there's the example of Paull, who is turning his global blogging network into a world tour and then into a new life.