By Frank Strong, Founder & President of Sword and the Script Media
Media relations is hard and getting harder.
That’s according to 223 PR professionals polled for the 2019
JOTW Communications Survey.
A majority (68%) of respondents said media relations is getting “harder” (53%) or “much harder” (15%). That number was up sharply – 17% – from the same survey the previous year.
But, why?
We solicited commentary around this question from PR
professionals that took the survey to find out. Some of the written responses
are what you might expect – comments like these:
- “There are fewer reporters and getting their attention is harder.”
- “Journalists, like everyone else, are increasingly seeing their time splintered, their resources [getting] cut and responsibilities increase.”
- “Journalists are bombarded with email pitches,
many which stink, and there seems to be less opportunity to build an actual
relationship with journalists.”
Yet some of the other answers might surprise you:
- “Journalists are increasingly strident toward,
instead of partnering with, PR professionals. It’s virtually impossible to have
an actual conversation with a writer.
- “Journalists are no longer objective, they are
much more subjective and if you do not fall within their lane or their bias,
they are not interested, and you are left by the wayside. The days of
objectivity are gone and the days of combative, aggressive, argumentative ‘in
your face’ journalism has taken its place.”
- “It’s harder to know who is [the] media and who
isn’t. And there used to be rules of engagement – behavior, fairness. Now, it’s
say whatever you want about whomever you want.”
Strident? Combative? Say whatever you want?
Media relations isn’t just harder, it’s beginning to sound
like a sparring match.
The Intersection of
Bias, Ethics and PR Stunts in Media Relations
Whether bias is real or perceived, in my assessment of the data and sentiment, there are few realities:
- There are fewer opportunities to earn bona fide
media coverage;
- There are more pitches vying for those fewer
opportunities;
- It’s more challenging to get good and relevant
ideas considered; and
- When an idea is considered, the environment
today can be more flammable.
When you combined these realities with the fact that news
skews toward the anomaly – news by definition defies expectations – you start
to come to the idea that manufacturing the exception is a path to earned media.
This idea reminds me of a clothing retailer, who years ago
put up controversial billboards and then an employee intentionally – and surreptitiously
– defaced them. A high profile blog was “tipped off” to the feigned outrage and
the rest of the media then picked up on it and duly reported the incident as
controversy.
That particular company grew a reputation for manufacturing
controversy. I’d hasten to point out it also went bankrupt twice before finally
closing forever. Those two facts may not be causal, but they are almost
assuredly related.
To be clear, this may not unfold in such a calculated or
nefarious fashion. It’s more likely to evolve as the result of one-upmanship –
where PR pushes the boundaries a little more, and then a little more, without
stopping to realize just how far the boundaries have moved.
4 Ways to Make the
Most of Media Relations Without Selling Your Soul
The temptation to replace thoughtfully considered and
strategic communications with foolish antics
(link may not be NSFW, but it is relevant) feigned outrage, or manufactured
controversy is shortsighted. In the long run, people will see through it and PR
will have failed at its mandate as keeper of the organizational reputation.
It’s also entirely unnecessary. You can still drive news
coverage with without losing, or worse, selling your soul. Here’s how:
1) Be the voice of
reason.
PR has long positioned itself as the conscience of an
organization and there’s a clear advantage to it: the truth is often more
interesting than fiction. A voice of reason implies transparency and candor. As
such it’s helpful to invoke the vulnerability of being human in the stories we
tell.
My friend, Lou Hoffman calls it the “F word” in
storytelling – failure. It’s essential to teasing out the tension that’s a
prerequisite for good stories. The challenge with this is, that leaders
typically only want to put their best foot forward – to discuss all the success
without all the strife.
Yet the voice of reason isn’t just ethical, it’s an
inspirational way to communicate. More importantly, it’s one with which people
can identify. It builds trust along with intrigue. You don’t need stunts to
appeal to the media, you just need good honest stories.
2) Truly study the
media.
Too many overlook the basics of media relations – investing
the time to truly understand a reporter, what they cover and why. For many,
media relations is just an exercise in exporting a spreadsheet of contacts and
hitting the send button.
The paradox is that fewer pitches, that are personalized,
highly relevant and timely, will generally outperform mass emails and high
volume. It’s not rocket science: a good pitch should, in a couple of hundred
words or less, show the reporter you understand them by linking your pitch to
their audience.
This isn’t just a tactical application. If you are involved
in media relations, studying the media is imperative. It is your job to know
who is covering what and why.
3) Augment media
relations with content marketing.
As I wrote for an IABC
feature in Communication World, my epiphany with content came years ago,
when a pitch I thought was timely and relevant fell on deaf ears. I took that pitch, transformed it into a blog
post which in turn, took off once it was published. It gained traction to the
extent it wound up capturing the attention of very publication that had ignored
my pitch in the first place…and earned coverage anyway.
There are a lot of PR
myths about content marketing, but the fact remains, it’s a genuine
opportunity to fill an information gap and build an audience. This is PR at its
finest – relations with a public community. In the course of doing so, your
audience will naturally help surface those ideas that have broader appeal and
may merit broader, or more traditional coverage.
In other words, well-executed content marketing helps you
develop an additional platform to communicate with reporters. At the same time,
you’ll also be honing skills – editorial and audience building – that allow you
to better identify with reporters and add value to your organization.
4) Make the most of
the coverage you do earn.
The typical inclination in PR is to look forward to the next
piece, without truly appreciating what you’ve already earned. Yet what you do
with earned media is just as important as getting it in the first place.
There’s a long list of things you can do to amplify
a media mention, including:
- Share it internally – really get the word out in your organization;
- Weave parts of the interview that didn’t make it
into blog posts and other contributions;
- Post it to social media; then pay to promote it
once organic reach is exhausted;
- Pitch it to an industry newsletter;
- Send a link to sales; they appreciate an excuse
to contact customers and prospects;
- Buy reprints and mail them out to key
stakeholders; and
- Bring copies of the reprint to your next
tradeshow, among others.
There’s a side benefit to all this too – that coverage tends
to beget coverage. Nobody watches the media like the media.
* * *
The 2019
JOTW Communications Survey polled 223 communications and public relations (PR)
professionals. Most (68%) respondents report holding in-house communication
roles and 90% have 10 years or more experience in the industry.
The second annual survey was conducted by yours truly in
collaboration with Ned
Lundquist. Ned launched “Job of
the Week” (JOTW) email newsletter in 2001 as a free resource for PR and
communications professionals looking for work.
An analysis of the survey along with a link to SlideShare
where you can view or download the complete report can be found here: Corporate
Communications is Taking More PR Work In-House, finds Survey; Media Relations
Gets Even Harder.
# # #
Frank Strong is the founder and president of Sword and the Script Media, LLC, a veteran-owned PR and marketing agency based in Atlanta. Find him on Twitter @Frank_Strong.
Featured Image Photo Credit: Sam McGhee on Unsplash
