Want to get in the nationals? No problem.
Success for some clients is national coverage – and the challenge for those of us in PR is to manage their expectations.
The truth is we don’t have a magic wand and some PR companies actually sit down with their clients and a pile of magazines/newspapers to jointly discuss where exactly they think they would 'fit'.
You might think filling all those pages and broadcast slots every day is tough, but the reality is most press releases/pitches end up in the bin. Having said that, the good news is that there are small armies of journalists out there urging us PR folk to get in touch.
The less good news is that they’ve usually got very specific, not to say imaginative, angles in mind.
Today for instance, you’re in with a chance if you:
• Got married to a man you weren’t madly in love with, but who you’ve grown to love deeply
• Are a woman living with HIV
• Consider your girlfriend more intelligent than you
• Look great for 40
• Spend a fortune to look good on holiday
• Had a whirlwind marriage that didn’t work out
• Are a super male slimmer
• A woman who hasn’t had sex for a year
It’s probably fair to say business angles are pretty thin on the ground – unless you’re quick off the ground and able to comment on something super topical such as cash-in-hand payments or employing people over retirement age.
I suppose the morale of the story is that getting quality coverage is never easy – it’s something that takes time, patience – and teamwork. Olympic tattoo anyone?
