Are you Guilty of Making These PR Faux Pas? 4 Bad Communications Habits You’ll Want to Break in 2021
The most common New Year’s resolutions are fairly predictable: financial resolutions, like saving money or paying down debt, or health-related ones like quitting smoking, eating healthier, exercising more, losing weight and so on.
But there's one New Year's resolution that will help PR practitioners and brands for the long run: committing to better communications, both internally and externally.
Communication is one of those skills we all say we want to improve in our relationships, professionally and personally. As PR professionals, communications is our strongest tool. It may be hard to admit, but we’ve all been guilty of committing at least one PR “don’t” in our career. Why? Simple--they’re easy to make.
If your PR efforts aren’t producing the results you seek it may be due to one or more of these common PR bad habits.
Here are 5 PR “don’ts” to put on your New Year resolutions list:
Go Big or Go Home
Everybody wants their client on the front page of the Globe and Mail, but if we focus on only getting that “big win” we might be missing out on opportunities to get our clients seen and tell their story to unique demographics that are closer to affecting a brand’s bottom line. Broaden your outreach list and don’t be afraid to educate your client on the importance of smaller-reaching and niche publications. They are less likely to be saturated by PR outreach, they’ll still get your client in front of their target audience and they may even offer your client a more in-depth story than a larger publication would. That doesn’t mean you need to omit your client’s “big publication” wish list from your outreach, but spreading the love will often result in better results.
Not Making Friends
I can’t stress this enough, but PR professionals must work hard to build and maintain strong media relationships. Simply pitching to a database of random media emails won’t cut it. You need to dive deeper and better understand topics of interest for each journalist and make sure what you send to them is relevant to their beat. Get out of your comfort zone and get to know the media you are pitching better, and I don’t just mean social media. Post-COVID try inviting them out for an in-person coffee or cocktail (gasp), or try scheduling a quick 15-minute Zoom chat to get to know them.
Being Longwinded
Like my high school English teacher always said, “don’t give me 7 words when 4 will do.” Sending lengthy pitches when a short email will suffice is a major PR no-no. Though there may be people who will argue against this, sending a concise pitch to a reporter is almost always better. On any given day, media inboxes can oftentimes be frightening with the sheer volume of incoming PR pitches and correspondence. If your pitch drags on or doesn’t get to the point quickly, you risk being ignored. When sending a release, aim for a tight, concise and engaging upfront that sums up your big news.
The Blame Game
I’m a huge proponent for telling it like it is, and it hasn’t veered me in the wrong direction yet. When things go wrong-- and they always do at some point -- it’s easy to want to blame someone or something, but try taking responsibility and being transparent with your client. Trust me, they’ll think it’s refreshing. Don’t be afraid to tell them the pitch isn’t delivering the results you sought out and you want to change gears and try something else. PR is never guaranteed, but as long as you educate your client throughout the process and show them you’re trying everything you can to deliver results, business-savvy clients will not only understand but appreciate just how hard you’re working for them. Plus, switching gears may help avoid having to go back to them with zero results to show for your efforts.
Recognize any of these bad habits?