Reporter, meet company; company, meet reporter. Did you know that you two share an intense interest in IT outsourcing/wireless backhaul/energy storage? Reporter here, in fact, wrote a fascinating piece on the subject last week, and if I’m not mistaken, company has some exciting news on this front. Canapé?
It’s a joke, but it’s not. Jim might howl at the comparison, but in my experience great PR people have a world of skills in common with the gracious host of a fantastic party — putting the right people together, in the right atmosphere, and nudging them along the path to mutually beneficial results. The trick is to prep and position a client to do well, supply them with the right materials, and then create opportunities for them to be very well liked.
Often this involves media, but there’s a reason the field is called “public” and not just “press” relations. It pays to remember (and I’m going to quickly knock content marketing a bit here) that a hit is cool — but it is an intermediate result on the way to a healthy business with lots of customers.
A good PR firm knows all the right editors; a great PR firm knows the editors, reporters, bloggers, analysts, trade shows, networking events, and how best to reach your next client. That may be with a knock-out byline — but it could also be a strategic phone call, a speaking engagement, or an ingenious product sample campaign that generates buzz.
Being locked into a vision of PR that’s limited to reporters is as myopic as thinking that issuing a press release guarantees coverage. It’s a denial of reality that can get very expensive without adding to the bottom line. And you should never forget that the goal of your company’s PR is business, not just ink.
