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PR Corner

Ten Deadly Sins of Media Relations
By Ernie Reno, President Avatar Communications Group

This column focuses on 10 common mistakes companies and their public relations people make when dealing with reporters. The list was compiled by noted technology writer, Andy Walker, executive editor of Dig It magazine.

1. Follow-up calls.

"PR people placing follow-up calls after sending out releases or e-mails — that’s one of my all time classic peeves," says Walker. "In general, follow-ups are a no-no. Journalists receive hundreds of releases via fax and mail each week. We get even more unsolicited e-mail. Worse, follow-ups typically are conducted by junior- level people. Experienced PR people don’t bother — they’re too embarrassed to make the calls themselves. I also find that smaller shops or in-house PR departments avoid wasting our time with follow-ups [unlike] the way big agencies with letters in their names do."

His advice: "Recognize time limitations. If we spent one minute per [release], we’d have no time to report or write stories. Most of us read the headline and first graph — so trust us. If you don’t hear back, assume we’re not interested." On the other hand, "pitches are different. If it’s targeted and you show you understand our audience and coverage, we’re more likely to be open to a follow-up. But people who repeatedly follow up non-targeted releases go straight to my blacklist. In those cases, we plug e-mail addresses or agency names into our spam filters."

2. Lackadaisical response.

"Another top peeve is PR people who don’t get back [to journalists] in time," continues Walker. "PR people spend a lot of time trying to get our attention. So when we turn that attention to a specific company or product, you’ve won the battle. You made it through our barriers — We’re now motivated to pursue your idea. It makes no sense at that point to ignore our requests or to take days getting back to us."

His advice: "Get back to us within the same day," Walker pleads. "Fifty percent of all PR people take between 48 and 72 hours to get back to me. Why? There are a lot of reasons — including bureaucracy, lengthy approval processes, and too many clients. We understand that many PR people are overloaded. We also realize we might not always fall near the top of your priority list. For example, we’re a newer magazine so we’re lower on the ladder. But you could still send a quick e-mail or leave a voice mail explaining the holdup. That shows you appreciate the pressures we face and that you’re working on it."

3. Lack of contact info.

"Surprisingly, a lot of companies still don’t put press contacts on their Web sites — or even on releases," Walker says. "Trust me, this is a lost opportunity. For example, we needed a photo of a tablet PC for our [first] issue. I tried eight different vendors. Three of those didn’t have easily accessible contact info online. Needless to say, I didn’t call them." Who’d he call? "I pulled phone numbers and e-mails from the Fujitsu site," Walker says. "They had two or three contacts on their press page — and their people got back to me within an hour. Ultimately, their tablet PC ended up on our cover."

His advice: "Always make your online press room easily accessible. Put it near the top of your homepage. Also, make sure PR contact info is only one or two clicks away. Don’t make us dig up releases to find it."

4. Newsroom naiveté.

"Not understanding newsroom realities — that’s a big one," according to Walker. "It seems that few PR people have journalism experience these days. They don’t understand the day-to-day operations of news production." He offers this example: "Nobody seems to understand the mechanics of image resolution anymore. Magazines and free-lancers run into this all the time. PR types seem to think we can just cut and paste pictures from Web sites, even though the resolution is too low for print. The result could be that your mention gets pushed down, or that someone with adequate art gets better [above-the-fold] placement."

His advice: "Take a tour of a local newsroom". "Get in there and see how the job gets done. If you can’t do that, consider hiring more PR people who used to work in the media. At the very least, do some research or send somebody to a news production class or seminar."

5. Misspelling names.

"Journalists get releases directed to the wrong person all the time," says Walker. "Sometimes, the person isn’t even at the [magazine] anymore. Also, misspelling or mispronouncing names is a sure sign that you haven’t done your research. If you can’t take the time to research us, why should we take the time to hear what you have to say?"

This is a widespread problem, according to CNN.com technology editor Jeordan Legon. Though his PR handlers were reluctant to grant an interview for this story, Legon did concede that his name frequently gets mangled by those seeking coverage [i.e., it’s "Jeordan," not "Jordan"]. His feeling was that PR pros often make faulty assumptions about their targets prior to distribution.

He suggested PR pros use media directories to double-check such things as beat assignments, name spellings, and pronunciations.