Dear PR Matters,
I recently graduated from a communications course that includes PR subjects, and after reading your column, I am thinking of pursuing a career in public relations.
Do you think that what I have learned in school will be helpful to me and what else will I have to learn as I go on with my work? I will greatly appreciate your guidance on this.
Sincerely,
Bernardine S.
Dear Bernardine,
My colleagues and I are happy you are thinking of pursuing a career in public relations. We all can say that this is very challenging, but very fulfilling, as you will find as you go along.
It is a good thing that you took some subjects on public relations in college. This will give you some PR basics and align you to the discipline, but from experience, we can say that the best way you can learn about it is on the job.
In an article on PR News Online, Arthur Solomon, enlightens us about “9 Things About PR They Didn’t Teach You in College.” Solomon, who is SVP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller and is on the Seoul Peace Prize Nominating Committee, is definitely an expert in communications. And what he shares with us is very enlightening, even with those already working in the industry.
He begins by saying that he was surprised that “there are several things about dealing with journalists that I find new and some experienced PR pros are not aware of.” With that, “unless your college instructors are working news people, the following may have eluded you.”
Embargo
Embargo in PR speak means restricting the release of a statement or news item until such time. But as Solomon says, “PR pros should know that once a release is distributed, when it is used is up to the editors.”
In short, just because a PR firm distributes a press release with the words “Embargoed Until” atop it doesn’t mean the reporter will honor it. It may work to speak to the journalist and request that he or she honor the embargo, but the best thing is not to release anything unless you are prepared to have it published.
Off-the-record
“If you don’t want it reported, don’t say it’ is the advice I always give to executives before interviews of when they socialize with the media,” says Solomon.
While you can establish off-the-record ground rules upfront when conveying the information you want kept off-the-record, it doesn’t mean a reporter considers it so. This is especially true in a social setting when you can be relaxed and off-guard. Better to keep important information close to your heart.
Wheat and chaff
“Treat the minors like the majors,” says Solomon. That means, not limiting your network to the major media companies. What can be considered minor companies may grow and may give you good exposure.
After-hours availability
Many PR firms and companies have normal business hours, but journalists work round-the-clock. After pitching a good story, Solomon says, “the best way you can cement media contacts is to let journalists know where you can be reached at all hours.” In short, always be there for your contacts.
Journalists can’t do without us
While too many PR pros think content creators can’t survive without their help, it’s really the opposite, says Solomon. After all, “there’s enough legitimate non-PR pitched news to fill editorial holes without the help of PR pros.”
In short, “they can survive without us. We can’t survive without them.”
Your executive
“Just because your very important executive is in town and wants media coverage doesn’t mean that reporters will jump at the opportunity of doing an interview,” says Solomon.
There are several reasons for this. To begin with, the industry your executive works in won’t interest every news outlet. Sometimes, it can be clear that the executive is only after self-promotion. In addition, “even if a reporter agrees to a get-to-know session, he might not find anything the executive says important enough to warrant writing a story.”
Your agency
Solomon shares with us this reality. “Even if you work for a top 5 agency, journalists will not be impressed when you contact them. It’s the story that matters, not the agency that provides it.”
He also shares with us an experience how an important editor at a major media outlet intimated to him how she would throw out her hand-written pitches without opening them as the PR failed to spell her name correctly. This is something we all have to think about.
Your title
Solomon shares with us another reality in the PR world—“an important-sounding title will fail to give you an in with media.”
Being helpful and being there
If you are looking at a long-term relationship with the media, Solomon says it means always being there for them. This is, perhaps, the most important thing we don’t learn in school.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom- based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie F. Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.
Image credits: Muhammad Ribkhan | Dreamstime.com