The best media relations teams treat valued media contacts as if they were clients, catering to their needs, interests, and preferences, seeking ways to help journalists, not force feeding their clients’ agendas.
Recently, Chief Marketer managing editor Tim Parry told me he experienced the opposite approach first hand. He shared with me a pitch from a well-known consumer-oriented magazine relating the content of its most recent issue. While interesting, this news was not something he would cover for his publication’s audience, so he politely asked to be removed from the list.
Despite his request, he continued to receive correspondence from the PR reps. Finally, he called the head of the PR agency to relay his grievance and unexpectedly encountered irritation and anger—right from the top of the organization.
This shows nothing but blatant negligence on the part of the PR contact to fine tune or simply make updates to a media list. What can CMOs investing in public relations do to ensure their PR dollars don’t lead to this type of media backlash? For one thing, they should ask some basic questions of themselves and their potential PR teams to ensure their best interests are being served.
· What are the company’s goals for media coverage?
· Does the PR firm specialize in your industry?
· Who actually contacts the media?
· What is their philosophy on working with the media?
· Do I trust that those team members know the media they’re targeting and treat them with respect?
· Can I speak with a client or two as reference point?
By asking these questions, CMOs typically become more or less comfortable with a firm’s ability to work with the media. CMOs should steer clear of any firms likely to drive reporters crazy with constant and superfluous follow-up or by bombarding reporters with e-mails or phone calls. Chasing press releases rarely leads to success. These tactics can cause enough problems even when the information is relevant to the reporter’s focus. Unfortunately, many firms automate list building and outreach to reporters and as a result, commonly send out information that is anything but relevant.
Mistakes will happen. It’s not practical to think otherwise. But mistakes should be addressed promptly and professionally. There may also be instances where reporters get removed from a list only to be re-added when that list is refreshed and updated. But again, when they receive an opt out request from media, they should quickly correct the situation.
The news distribution process offers PR reps yet another chance to weed out inappropriate reporters from the group about to receive the news. Only the right contacts should be selected.
As CMOs shop for PR firms or internal PR reps, they should seek out teams that treat media contacts like clients. This service-oriented view of media relations ensures proactive pitches will be more likely to fit into journalists’ agendas and that opt out requests will be obliged—not met with resistance or indifference.
Kraig Smith is founder of PReturn Inc.
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