I was inspired today by the cleverly titled, “Relationships Don’t Matter Most in Media Relations” blog post from fellow PR professional David Mullen. The lesson David made was that writing a well-crafted pitch and knowing your media targets was the most effective way to generating media coverage for your company or clients.

I do agree with David’s point that when all is said and done (relationships or not) if you don’t have a pitch or angle that is on-target for each media contact, you won’t likely be successful.  There is however one catch to this overall argument, in particular when working with the national media…if you do have that relationship established your chances of success will greatly increase.

David makes the argument that PR agencies often have multiple clients spanning across many different industries, hence making it impossible to maintain such relationships. While this may be the case when working with industry or trade media, I don’t believe this to be the case when working with regional or national media…and here are some simple steps to follow that explain why:

Create at least one internal champion at every key media outlet.  It could be the technology reporter at the Chicago Tribune, the personal finance reporter at the Wall Street Journal, or the consumer interest producer at the TODAY Show.

Gain the trust and credibility from these champions through establishing yourself as someone knowledgeable of their outlet and audience and most important, someone who can deliver quality resources in a timely fashion.

Lean on these champions to help identify the appropriate contacts within their respective outlet, if not themselves.  This way you’ve now been given the inside track or referral from within (I now have the mobster image in my head…”he’s a friend of ours”) and have a leg up on anyone blindly pitching an unfamiliar contact.  If sending via email, I will often put in the subject line, “[your media champion's name] suggested I contact you.”

Again, I have a ton of respect for David and fully grasp the point he was making on his blog today.  I just felt the need to elaborate on the importance and ability to have such relationships in place before you make that most important relevant pitch.

How do you effectively manage your media (or non-media) relationships? 

For anyone that knows or follows me on Twitter they know how passionate I am about “doing the right thing.”  Most recently you’ve probably seen how frustrated I’ve been about this week’s national media blitz from Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

As a business owner and PR professional, I make it a priority to focus on ethics above all else.  In fact, let me share my checklist for any new business opportunity (more for myself vs. a tried & true process):

1. Does the prospect have an amazing story to tell…if not several amazing stories to tell? If yes….
2. Would I feel comfortable representing such a client and introducing them to the media contacts that I cherish? If yes…
3. Do they have a clearly defined need tied into a business goal or goals for our services (i.e., not just wanting to see their face in the WSJ)? If yes…
4. Do they understand the value and process of media relations? If yes…
5. Is there a reciprocating connection between the prospect and our firm (sometimes a gut instinct)? If yes…
6. Do they have $ and time to invest in this process (daddy does have to feed the boys, right?)?

I feel the need to share this with you because I learned that Gov. Blagojevich had hired a firm in Tampa, FL called The Publicity Agency to represent him on this recent media tour.  Glenn Selig, owner of this firm touts right on his homepage that his firm also represnted Drew Peterson, a former Illinois police sergeant who was accused of killing his third & fourth wives.  Was there any ethical decision made when Mr. Selig decided to take on both Blagojevich & Peterson as clients?  Did Mr. Selig apply a similar set of personal requirements when assessing either of these opportunities? 

I would love to hear from others on this topic and specifically on this particular example.  Is it our “duty” as PR professionals to represent these characters (accused criminals)?  Once again, ethics should drive every decision we make…my answer is plain and simply, “no.”

Admittedly I have to credit the U.O phrase to David Armano who I had the pleasure of meeting and hearing his presentation on Thursday at the Chicago Social Media Club meeting (thank you Kelly Olexa for this video link):

As marketers we are so often charged at the opportunity to leverage new mediums for our clients. I can remember when direct mail was all the rage yet folks were seeing an average return rate of 2-3% (according to the Direct Marketing Association). Yet we continue to seek out new avenues for our clients to receive a leg up on their competitors.

Along comes “social media” and yet a new medium to stoke the marketing ambers we so desperately want to turn into a raging fire. To continue rolling with such an analogy…my word of caution to marketers is to ease into the social media space or watch your clients go down in flames.

The advice I’ve learned from the very best in this social media space are to walk before you run and crawl before you walk…but do it immediately and consistently. In addition to David Armano, I’ve been reading Chris Brogan’s blog and following him on Twitter for some time. Chris has numerous blog posts on the subject of “personal branding”or as David Armano puts it – U.O.

Quite simply, before you start running with various social media strategies (if even relevant for your business or clients), work on creating a brand for your self, an experience that you can then share with your client in this space. Otherwise you’re sure to misstep in a space where there are no do-over’s.

For example here are the 5 tips I’m following as I plunge into social media & U.O:

1. Get professional guidance – I was fortunate enough to have met Kelly Olexa early on in my social media learning process. I immediately knew that Kelly would serve as a terrific advisor as she was savvy and versed in social media but also had a strong business foundation. In other words, she was “geeky” enough to know her stuff but professional enough to know how to advise business owners or executives on its value for self and business.

2. Set your personal goals – Why are you participating in social media? What are you looking to achieve? How are you going to accomplish such goals?

3. Let down your guard - As you begin dipping your toes into social media such as Twitter, blogging, Facebook, etc., you will instinctively have some resistance or hesitation interacting with strangers. You must remember that people know people and even if someone doesn’t “appear” to be an ideal connection…they might know others who are. You have to let down your guard if making the switch to social media.

4. Be yourself & be transparent – This might seem logical, yet so many people jump into social media and become something so much different than themselves. Here is a great blog post from Ignite Social Media on “5 ways to be yourself online.”

5. Build some credibility for yourself – It’s really easy to think that you’ve got social media down and you’re ready to do anything in this space. Take the time (several months) to build credibility for yourself through conversations, blog posts, blog comments, etc.

I’m certainly not an expert but I believe in sharing what I’ve learned from others who are true thought leaders, influencers, and experts in this space. I’d love to hear about any advice or tips you’d like to share about entering the social media space and/or creating U.O. Looking forward to our conversations!

I continue to look at the Public Relations industry (specifically Media Relations) and I am constantly amazed at the number of ways that PR firms continue to “pitch” various media outlets. If it isn’t a press release it is “dial for dialog” mentality requiring you to call your media targets until you’ve finally reached them “live.” Overall, I blame the traditional structure of our PR agencies who traditionally put entry-level staff on the front lines making the outreach to these media outlets. Historically, once you’ve put in your time…you don’t have to pitch anymore and you can focus on being “strategic” and/or managing account teams. This (in my opinion…hence my blog) is the major flaw of our industry and hence the reason we are labled as flacks, spin-doctors, etc.

If our industry (PR) is to sync with the ever-changing media industry, we have to get back to putting relationships back in Media Relations. Here are my no brainer 3 Simple Tips for Practicing Common Sense PR:

1. Read, Read, Read – Again, logic comes into play. Would you go into a new business meeting without learning anything about the prospect? Or how about asking a doctor to give you a haircut?! That is no different than pitching a reporter or producer that doesn’t cover what you or your client is pitching to them. Read the latest if not several months worth of your media target’s stories. Understand their interests, story trends, and style before you even think about engaging about a story idea.
2. Ask Before You Pitch – Educating yourself about the media you are pitching is a logical first step, but we often forget that just because a story idea falls within a media contact’s “beat” or area of focus, doesn’t mean it is timely for them. Start by asking about how you can make their lives easier and find out about the stories they are currently working on and/or seeking resources for. Remember, a journalist’s goals are quite simple: 1) they would like to write a good story and 2) they would like to get home as soon as humanly possible. Be a resource and be time-sensitive.
3. Put The Media’s Needs First – Until I actually started my own Media Relations practice was I finally able to speak these words around my clients and prospects. In the PR agency world we are taught to put the clients needs first and often to say “yes” to even the most ridiculous story ideas. The reality is although we think our stories are wonderful (right or wrong), we forget that the only thing we control is how the story ideas are presented to the media. Once that takes place, the destiny of you or your client’s story is ultimately in the hands of the media. Please just try putting the media’s needs first for a change…your company or clients will thank (and likely reward) you later:-)

How about you…what can you add to this list of Common Sense PR Tips?