Thursday, August 16, 2012

What's the biggest PR mistake?


We recently ran across one of the biggest mistakes businesses make in their public relations: Letting a partner do publicity.

No one would ever have an engineer work as a lawyer, yet this happens all the time in public relations.

Invariably, the person chosen to do the PR says “Why don’t journalists ever write anything good?”

This immediately shows they know nothing about newsworthiness—the basis of journalism.

Journalism thrives on conflict. But, journalists also use the following criteria to decide what to run:
·         Impact (how many people are affected);
·         Timeliness (how recent);
·         Prominence (how important the players are);
·         Proximity (how close);
·         Bizarre-factor (how unique, i.e., man bites dog);
·         Currency (how topical).

Choosing someone with no journalism experience just shows how little firm executives value their credibility with the media.

If you want the media to know you’re a player, if you want press, hire someone who knows what they’re doing.  

For more information, call us at (916) 455-4790 or go to Dell Richards Publicity at www.dellrichards.com.