What PR pros want every client to understand
Industry practitioners make a living working media miracles for their clients, but there’s a process for achieving success. What do you wish clients would realize about your strategy?
Clients’ desires can run a little high. PR pros have to temper them with reality.
A client once approached Camille Jamerson with grandiose expectations of securing high-level placements, sitting down for interviews with the networks and tripling their media reach within 90 days.
Then, Jamerson watched as the principal delivered a short speech in which he did not articulate his vision, nor read the audience, nor relate the main points of his message.
“We slammed the brakes on everything,” Jamerson recalls. “Putting him in front of a seasoned interviewer would have been disastrous for his brand.”
It happens all too often. Businesses approach PR firms anticipating a glamorous reception and immediate return on investment. In reality the best exposure demands planning and patience due to the intense competition for the most coveted, highest-profile TV, radio and magazine placements.
So, how can organizations harvest the most fruit from the PR firms that they hire?
Understanding reality
They can start by understanding that the media landscape and where a customer will fit requires intensive discovery in which PR pros probe for motivations, objectives and true metrics for success.
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