Staying Out of the Story

Media relations is the most recognized/understood aspect of public relations. It’s often what gets clients in the door — coming to us in search of publicity, sometimes after seeing competitors in the newspaper. As a result, many PR agencies have adopted a “clips, clips, clips” mentality (which I hate, for the record). PR account execs spend all day, every day pitching reporters … researching story opportunities … looking for additional opportunities to secure media coverage. Like it or not, many PR people are judged by size of their clip book — not their ability to “move the needle.”

Sounds all too familiar, right?

When it comes to media relations, how do we account for the behind-the-scenes work? For example, sometimes it’s far more beneficial for a client to be excluded from a story. I got to thinking about this frequently overlooked part of a PR person’s job after reading this New York Times article: Why So Stodgy, Prada.com? Bet Prada’s PR people are cringing over that headline! In the article, Burberry is credited for its recent social media initiatives, but Coach — who recently hiring a senior manager of new media — gets no mentions. Could that mean Coach isn’t doing anything exceptional (yet), and the PR team did a good job keeping the company out of this story? Or, maybe there just wasn’t room in the article to include Coach? Whatever the details behind this specific situation, it’s a good reminder that not all PR/media relations ends up in print. In fact, sometimes the best PR occurs off the public radar.

In this rush to accumulate stacks of media hits, do you think we’re devaluing public relations? How do you explain to “clip-centric” management that there’s more to PR than front-page news stories?

agustinaprigosin

I couldn't agree with you more, however, I don't think it's necessarily the publicists who voluntarily take on the "clips, clips, clips" mentality, at least not in my case. I have become the type of publicist you describe out of giving clients what they want. I think there's a common misconception of what PR is ALL about, but companies only know about and request media attention. How do you say no to business? Especially when it's a facet of what you do?

I try to educate my clients on everything that PR entails, but some are just set on media attention and won't budge.

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heatherwhaling

Good point. I don't blame the publicists. Certainly, you're not going to turn down work. :) Many clients just want clips -- and that's totally fine. Broadening the discussion, I think the PR industry as a whole needs to do a better job communicating the full scope of PR, specifically how our skill set can help companies strengthen the bottom line and meet their business objectives. Sometimes that involves media relations, but it will often incorporate other elements of PR.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

jeffespo

Great post. Staying out of the story is perhaps the biggest factor of our profession. I cringe at the site of my name in stories for my company and also can bet that Prada's team had to be not so happy with the story.

Sean Williams

Heather, you finish with "How do you explain to u00e2u0080u009cclip-centricu00e2u0080u009d management that thereu00e2u0080u0099s more to PR than front-page news stories?"

Sometimes, that's a fool's errand. It's akin to being a great feature writer and trying to convince your editor that you can cover hardball politics -- it's hard!

The "clip-centric" types want to see a connection between activity and results -- one thing we can do is log our inbound media relations efforts and point out the potentially negative (or at least not complimentary) stories we've avoided over a quarter. We also can skinny down our target media list and be sure that management knows which outlets we're going after and with what type of story -- getting them off the "got a mention in the Dispatch" mindset by focusing on the strategic use of the media. Lastly, performance against objectives is the easiest measurement strategy around -- here's what we decided to do and here's what happened -- and then tie that back to other types of outcome. Web visits/views, for example -- did they increase following our media relations effort?

This isn't a magic bullet -- there will be many marketing-driven organizations that see media relations as an extension of those efforts. And that thinking will extend to social media as well. We're still writing the rules on that one yet...

Cheers!

Sean, thanks for the insightful comment. I don't disagree with what you're saying. Your thoughts about strategic media relations are spot on.

Taking it a step further, as PR people, it's our job to educate the decision-makers that we bring other, just as valuable, skills and services to the table. For example, how can PR support the sales cycle? Or, what's our role when it comes to marketing, customer services, and (as you touched on) social media? When it comes to spearheading integrated communication efforts, I think many PR people can provide a great deal of value -- even though those specific areas have nothing to do with media relations. You're right -- there is no magic bullet. What works one organization may or may not translate to another.

Thanks for stopping by!

My pleasure = I think I need to write my own post on integration. Beth Harte and I had a discussion on her blog last week (I think...) touching on the themes you mention here. Namely, PR is more than media relations -- I'm especially interested in internal communications, which is a bear to integrate with marketing. We fit very well in sales communications from a skills development sense (HR always likes to have training under its wing, though); we certainly can manage direct customer service communications -- provided we're the type of PR people who indeed do think outside the media box. My own expertise is in managerial communication and measurement -- "helping organizations improve communication and measure the results." It's fun!

Staying Out of the Story

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