RACING TO NOWHERE

I was once asked by a new client why, after a week, I had not received any major national media commitments. I thought about the answer for a minute. And then I fired the client.

That’s the conundrum facing so many PR practitioners today. Every client wants results now. But many of them just don’t understand the importance of focusing on a strategy that generates results over the long term – and generates them consistently.

I’ve learned to always ask new prospects one important question. Are you looking for a quick, short-term “bump” now? Or a long-term strategy that brings you into the future? If the answer is the former, I often suggest to them that they might feel more comfortable with a different PR firm.

Some prospects can relate to what I call my “snowflake analogy.” (It may seem like a bit of a stretch, people, but bear with me for a minute.) You might be able to see a snowflake; but, in actuality, it really doesn’t have much of an impact. But what if that snowflake turned into flurries? And what if those flurries turned into a snowball that starts rolling downhill? What if that snowball grew in size and momentum, into the size of a boulder. What if that boulder grew into a snowdrift? And what if that snowdrift grew into an avalanche?

What the hell is the rush???

Which is more important, for example, in media relations…an immediate “hit” that generates good feelings (and, often, little else), or a series of hits that builds in momentum over the longer-term? Which is more important…seeing the client’s name in the media, or actually generating new business? Which is more important…tossing out release after release, and hoping that one or two of them generate a bit of coverage; or focusing on a structured strategy that results in coverage that increases over time, in both frequency and size?

If we can’t – or won’t – ask those questions of ourselves as well as our clients, we’re actually guilty of aiding and abetting the unrealistic expectations that many clients have. And, in doing so, we’re guaranteeing that these wasteful, short-term, band-aid approaches will continue to characterize our industry – and our image.

It’s time that all of us who consider ourselves Public Relations “professionals” realize that our discipline is generally most effective if it’s strategic. And the strategic approach is usually not a sprint. It’s, most often, a marathon.

Otherwise, it often turns out to be a Race to Nowhere.

THE NEW RULES OF THE GAME

The rules for media relations success - even in this economy, and even with a rapidly-shrinking media base - are so simple that they bear repeating:

TARGET your media.
TARGET your journalist.
TARGET your pitch.
TARGET how you can become an ongoing resource for the media, rather than a pain-in-the-ass shill for your client or company.

People...the rules have changed! "Pitchmen" (or women) who specialize in pushing a button and sending out the same release to hundreds of media (no matter what their demographics, their slant, etc.) have gone the way of the dinosaur. "Output" artists who just throw a bunch of mud (hundreds - or thousands - of releases) against the wall and hope that some of it sticks are no longer welcome in journalists' inboxes.

There aren't many journalists left to "pitch" these days, of course. Recently, a good friend of mine was laid off after 22 years as an Editor at a major daily. A few months earlier, he had mentioned to me that there were so few people left in the newsroom that you could roll a bowling ball across it and not hit anyone. And that you practically had to shout across the room to converse with any other journalists.

In this new world, if we don't help journalists do their job, they're not going to help us do ours (generate coverage)! And if that becomes the case, our own offices are going to look like newsrooms do today - empty.

Steve Winston
President, WINSTON COMMUNICATIONS
(954) 575-4089
steve@winstoncommunications.com
www.winstoncommunications.com