The relationship between journalists and PR people is complex. When PR is done well, it’s symbiotic, but when done badly it’s a waste of everyone’s time and your money.
Sadly, great PR people seem to be in the minority, but those that exist do a critical job. The independent endorsement provided by editorial coverage is extremely valuable for a growing business. As well as raising awareness of your brand, it enhances credibility with suppliers, customers, banks and investors far more than a paid-for advertisement can.
So how do you ensure your PR personnel are getting you the right column inches?
Agency or in-house?
One of the biggest dilemmas is whether or not to outsource. Cost will invariably be a factor. Most agencies charge a monthly retainer, which will vary depending on your campaign objectives, the amount of time spent on your account and the size of your business.
Entrepreneurs can often secure a lower rate on the understanding that, as the business grows, the fee will reflect that.
However, Andrew Pearce, founder of low-cost conference call provider Powwownow, warns that you need a decent budget to outsource. “One of the biggest challenges is paying an agency enough to become recognised within them,” he says. In the past, he has paid £1,500 to £2,000 a month, and found this “wasn’t enough for them to do anything with”.
He’s been working with More2 since February, and is very happy. For his £4,000 retainer, he has received “the equivalent of £130,000 worth of advertising slots” and is getting around 10 to 15 articles written about his business every month.
With “a decent budget”, he is a strong advocate of PR agencies, which he feels offer a level of experience and influence difficult to rival in-house. “If you compare the costs, it’s the equivalent of employing two people full-time, but I don’t believe we would get the breadth of experience,” he says. “Having the multiple contacts has really improved our PR.” He argues that you need at least three or four people in-house to have enough knowledge of the right journalists and hold these relationships to get results.
Katharine Butler would disagree. She became a PR executive at fast-growing telecoms reseller Daisy two years ago. She’s the only person handling their PR, and so far has been highly successful at getting Daisy covered in the local, trade and national press. She counters that keeping PR in-house provides a level of focus an agency struggles to match.
“You have one thing to concentrate on rather than juggling different accounts,” she says. “I can exhaust every opportunity, rather than being hindered by time or budget.”
What to look for
Whichever route you take, there are certain attributes any PR person worth their salt will have in abundance, and aspects of their approach that are integral to your campaign’s success:
Knowledge of your brand
A good PR person will know your brand inside and out. There is nothing more frustrating than someone who is unable to answer the simplest of questions about the business or product they are pitching.
Thorough research
Actually, I take that back. A pitch from someone who quite clearly knows nothing about your publication is far more annoying. Former journalist Butler researches not just titles, but individual reporters, to see what areas they cover before contacting them. “There’s a value in not annoying people,” she says.
Considered targeting
Butler never sends out blanket press releases, either. “We’ll always think: ‘How is this relevant to local or business press? What kind of national hook can we go in on?’ If there isn’t one, there’s no point in flogging a dead horse,” she says. For example, she has found that national press tends to be a lot more successful when there is a human element to it.
Rania Johnson, account director at agency Brian MacLaurin, concurs. In fact, she rarely even sends out press releases. “It’s always good to approach the journalist on a one-to-one level,” she says. “I’d rather pick up the phone and get a journalist to do something significant knowing they’re the only person doing it, rather than sending out a thousand press releases randomly and not knowing if anyone is going to write anything.”
Approach different mediums
There are so many different media channels these days. By targeting just one of them, you may be missing out on many PR opportunities, particularly online.
Devising your strategy
The first step to any good PR campaign, says Johnson, is to find the ‘legend’ behind your business. She cites one of her clients, founder of Glasses Direct James Murray-Wells, as a prime example. “Jamie was a 21-year-old guy who started a business on his student loan in his parents’ bedroom,” she says. “It’s a brilliant story; it was going to sell to the press.”
Essentially, make sure you’re offering an angle that is of interest to a publication’s target audience. Rather than sending out press releases regarding specific company appointments, More2 has drafted editorial pieces relevant to Powwownow’s customer base, such as how to help small businesses during the credit crunch. This has proved extremely successful.
“If you’re in a B2B marketplace, you need to be creative with your PR to get publications interested,” says Pearce. “Writing about what’s happening in the press and then linking that to conference calling is much more successful than saying we’ve just launched across Europe because no one picks that up.”
Many news pieces are based on surveys, so conducting one about an issue affecting your market that you can comment on can also be effective. Similarly, websites like www.responsesource.com are useful. Journalists post details of features they are writing to attract relevant interviewees and case studies.
Whether in-house or outsourced, regular contact with your PR team is vital. If using an agency, find one you click with and who understands your goals. And, as Pearce concludes: “Make sure you have decent monthly reports, showing all the coverage they’re getting and the journalists they’re talking to.”
How to lose one of our journalists in 10 seconds
• Accidentally sending an email to journalist X, which reads: “Here are contact details for journalist X – she’s lovely, but a little bit flaky.”
• Inviting journalist X to an event, then retracting the offer unless coverage is guaranteed.
• PR person: “I’ve got this great entrepreneur who would be perfect for a Growing Business profile.” Good start. “Most of their business comes from new customers. They’re not very good at keeping them.” Oops!
• Phoning to say you’re sending over an exclusive, and then doing the same to our colleagues on Startups.co.uk.
• Starting your email with: “I’ve got a story that would be perfect for Real Business [one of our major competitors].”