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Home  Marketing Public Relations and the Media
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Public Relations and the Media |
A good Public Relations company will know the routes to take and the right people to talk to, backed by an approach that the media understands, so when you engage a PR company it is essential to find out what they can do for your business voice and the individuals who will be working with you and your team.
Recently I was asked to give a short talk to a group of businessmen about public relations and the media. I declined. The reason was my website is being redesigned and my business cards and other material relative to my business are about to undergo changes. None of this is radical but it is a routine freshening up of the public aspect of the business. I have a date in mind for its completion. There will be no big fanfare but it keeps my business on its toes.
This could be called in-house PR with linked aims to improve the business’ impact externally of James O’Brien and Associates on behalf of its clients. So, even companies in the PR sector require some of their own medicine occasionally.
But what can be said of those companies that think about public relations and then allow the idea to fade with the result that nothing happens. Many companies - I am thinking here of SMEs - fall into two categories: Firstly, they are too busy to spend some time thinking about what they could do with PR and secondly they often believe they can do the job successfully themselves.
Last year I went to see the managing director of an engineering company who said: “We get the radio and television people coming down occasionally but they are sent to us by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. When we try to get copy into the written media or on radio and television through our own efforts we get nowhere.” A good PR company will know the routes to take and the right people to talk to, backed by an approach that the media understands.
The answer to the first point raised is to look carefully at what your business has achieved, is achieving and is likely to achieve. Get a public relations company in to your business to talk through those areas where there is an interesting message waiting to go out to the public domain.
On the second point, if you try to do it yourself you may find the route difficult and the success rate poor.
My background is in the media as a journalist – I worked as a reporter on The Hull Daily Mail – and several years later I was on The Daily Telegraph where I remained for 20 years. When I left I was editor a company newspaper for Lucas Industries which had a circulation of 75,000. I then joined the business desk of The Birmingham Post, specialising in automotive and manufacturing. Now, having set-up nearly three years ago James O’Brien and Associates, Writing and PR for Business, my operational field has extended.
As a journalist I have been the recipient of a vast number of public relation releases many of which have been high on claims and short on content. When you seek out a public relations company it is essential to find out what they can do for your business voice and who will be working with you and your team.
Make sure that you have an experienced individual as your PR adviser who is totally aware of what the media wants and how it should be presented. Two or three paragraphs and a few telephone numbers for contacts at the end of the release is not what you want. But equally important, you should have something to say about your business which can be interesting to a wider public.
The media wants interesting stories, a theme I will develop next month. Your business may not want to be out searching for headlines. I frequently send out, at the request of one client, an intentionally short release with a picture to some small circulation but specialised trade publications – they just want their rivals to know they are doing well. I tell them frequently there is more that can be done with the material they give me . . . but they are happy to operate at that level. Don’t forget you are still the boss and your chosen PR adviser should take that on board while offering sound suggestions to bring your business to a wider public.
www.jamesobrienuk.com email:
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4, Manor Square, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 3RBTele: 0121 711 4703. Fax 0121 711 2476. Mobile 07740 438795
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