Public Relations - Staying on Course

Once you've launched and outlined your PR campaign, give yourself room to change and alter the game plane as you go, but only if there's a strong definitive reason. Don't change direction, or start to panic because you're not on Oprah after three weeks of sending out press releases. Give your campaign and your story ideas a chance to do their work.

A recent study showed that only 20% of press releases are actually read by the media. Which means you have to send it again and again and follow ups have to be made? If you're working with a PR company give them the time and the space to do their job. Patience is not only a virtue; it's a necessary ingredient for success.

Because you now understand some of the basics of media relations, don't assume you are now a media Ph.D. In media relations, often what appears to be the obvious decision is the wrong decision. What makes it especially difficult is that everyone thinks that they know all there is to know about PR. Most people believe they can tell writers how to write and everyone will know more about your PR campaign than you or your public relations firm. You will be given advice from your neighbors, co-workers, pastors, janitors, clients, patients, relatives - you name it.

When I was a magazine editor, I worked for one particular publisher who had a tendency to listen to, and take advice from, any and everyone he met. When he went to lunch, I used to pray that the elevator would be empty and that he'd go for drive-through fast food where no one would talk to him. If he spoke to a waitress, a salesperson, or a stranger in an elevator, he would invariably call me into his office and propose that we implement some revolutionary suggestions that he had been given. Never mind that nine times out of ten these changes were totally inappropriate, to him they were dynamic, new - revolutionary!

People love to give advice, whether they know what they're talking about or not. Remember, these people who tell you exactly how you should run your PR campaign have nothing at stake, which is why they can afford to make such definitive and authoritative pronouncements. So, when these know-it-alls give you advice, smile, listen, maybe even nod, but stay on course.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2006

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