With Sandra, we have brought a freelancer from the "other side" on board: she has been working in journalism for twenty years and still writes and blogs for various media. She helps us with copywriting, storytelling - and understanding the journalistic perspective. And because we are basically nice and don't want to be the only ones to benefit from her expertise, Sandra shares the five most common PR mistakes that communication professionals make with journalists:
1. from dog food to rabbit breeding competitions
Yes, of course, there are always journalists who complain about emails they have received from an automatically generated mailing list. Conversely, they have not realized that they are on a huge list and that their computer has a delete button. And of course, you don't have to check every contact in a mailing list to see whether or not they match the offer one hundred percent. But if you offer something separately to a medium, you have to know who you are dealing with. You don't have to want to sell a coffee machine to a people magazine (unless it's called Jura and comes with an interview with Roger Federer) or a beauty product to a music program. Logical, actually. And yet, as a people journalist, I still have PR people on the phone trying to sell me vacuum cleaners, dog food or rabbit breeding competitions.
It would be even better if you also have a minimal knowledge of journalistic forms - a reportage, for example, requires a timeline - before you offer it to a professional. It would be ideal if you knew what departments and sections the medium in question has. Not only can you often "supply" something in such sections that would otherwise have no chance. Media professionals who realize that you have dealt with their medium will be more likely to support you.
2. "I thought you could do something"
Everyone is talking about storytelling. But hardly anyone knows what it actually is. Yet it's relatively simple if you know a little bit of English: Telling a story. Or rather a little story. Nothing huge. But a huge problem for many PR people. "Yes, I thought you could do something." Remember: unless you're offering me a Roger Federer-style superstar or a Coachella-style triple A event, "something" isn't good enough. Think about a story you can tell. It doesn't have to be a blockbuster - but half a storyline would be a start.
3. deal or no deal?
Your task is different from mine: You have to "sell" your customer, I have to inform and entertain my audience. I don't really care about your customer. Even if you mention their name 57 times in an email, 98 times in a media release and 14 times on the phone. I'm interested in the relevance, the story, the entertainment value. Because I want to inform, entertain and tell this story, I make the connection with your customer. That's the deal.
4. no means no
Persistence is good. It often happens that you have a really good story to tell, but the media person just doesn't get it. Or is reluctant because it comes from the PR side. If you have the feeling that this is the case, try again with him or someone else from the same medium. But at some point, it's good. No actually always means no. And when it says "I need to clarify this", the first time it means "I need to clarify this", the second time it means "I forgot" and the third time it means "I'm not really interested, but I don't dare say that." And another thing: such rejections are not meant personally. Sometimes you're just unlucky and it doesn't work out.
5. fair play
Yes, I know, it's tricky: the client wants to be represented in as many media as possible, the media want their stories to be as exclusive as possible. And what do you do? You don't tell one medium that you've promised the other something. Not a good idea - even if you haven't sold the exact same story. This may pay off for the client in the short term, but your relationship with the journalist and her medium is tarnished. And the industry isn't that big. It's easy to get a bad reputation - and it's very difficult to get rid of. So it's better to be fair. And you certainly can't lie. If you're confronted by journalists about something that's not yet allowed to be published, for example, it's better to say that you're not allowed to say anything about it at the moment. And if you have already promised someone the primeur, speak up. Even if someone is offended, it's still better to play second fiddle than to be lied to.
The fact that we have such a good relationship with journalists at FBC is probably because we do everything we can to avoid these PR mistakes and can always ask our Sandra for advice - and above all because we always have a story ready! You can also learn how to avoid these PR mistakes in our PR seminar.