The problem many people have with PR – which I understand completely – is that you shell out a truck load of money, with no guarantee of anything in return. PR companies often ask for a monthly retainer, over-promise you the earth, and then all too frequently fail to deliver (often because senior people will pitch you, then an inexperienced person will actually work on the account). That’s not always the case, of course, some agencies really do the business, but all too often they don’t.
PR isn’t rocket science, but unless you get the fundamentals right you haven’t a hope in hell of getting coverage. And a big part of the problem is often you (the client), but I’ll go back to this in a bit.
So back to you. You love your business, you live and breathe it. It’s a huge part of who you are. That’s great, of course, but the problem is you probably haven’t got the foggiest idea of what makes a good press story. Why would you? Yet time and time again you think you do, and many PR people (at times me – in the past) haven’t the balls to tell you otherwise.
A press release announcing “the launch of the groundbreaking V3.1.1 of Widget 3.0” just isn’t news (and will be deleted before the journalist has even finished reading the headline), however important it might be to you.
But pretty much every business has a good story to tell. Whether that’s your personal story, the growth of the business, the bit about your widget business that really is interesting, and so on.
Do contact me if you fancy having a chat about it all.
Quingenti 