"No news" its no excuse...

I started my career when I was 22 in a PR Agency and had the fortune to work with an exceptional boss who took the time to explain to me how the Media Relations world works. He was also a very talented strategist, from whom I learned many things. I went to work for 2 more PR agencies afterwards and most of what he had shared with me helped me really be successful. I also learned a lot more by working with a varied set of clients including businesses in entertainment, beverages, technology, telecommunications, banks and software.

Here are 5 things that I learned from my experience in PR.

1. Most things companies want to say are no news. And less so to the media. The reason companies around the world pay large sums of money to PR agencies is because they want them to "create news" from something that is not, otherwise, anyone would be able to do PR. The value of PR strategy is very rarely known and understood by many PR professionals I know. Many people believe that a press release and a couple of interviews will do. They're wrong! To get a cover story you have to create the news, say something interesting, different, BIG. The art of "creating news" is quite more difficult than most think. Your most usual brief is "I am launching my new product and I want it in the front cover of the most important papers in the world". To be honest? No one cares about another product launch. So then is when the magic begins. Last week I saw the launch of a new luxury car in London, which everyone noticed because they carried the car in a helicopter and took it across the city at sunset. Every single media reported on it, every person that was out and saw it took a picture and posted it on social media... They created news! When was the last launch of a car that you saw in London? No one remembers. This one, they will.
2. Journalists receive hundreds or thousands of mails and press releases every day. And they one have enough time to skim through them. If your content is not good, it won't be picked up. You can build amazing relationships with journalists, have lunch with them, give them presents and send them a Christmas card. If you're not creating content that will make THEM look good, they won't get you a cover story. It has to be a win-win situation. It has to be news, it has to be interesting, and it has to be relevant to THEIR target audience. Otherwise, you'll keep getting your little articles on page 18 of the newspaper that will keep your stakeholders happy but won't have any impact. When you build relationships with journalists based on good content that makes their work easier, but also makes them look good, then these are better relationships.
3. Trying to do PR as if it were advertising doesn't work. You can't really pretend that the media will publish everything you want, as you want it. They have their editorial guidelines and they will report on what they find interesting, newsworthy and relevant to their audience. If you want advertising, do advertising. But one thing is definitely more powerful: when advertising and PR work together. PR is a great tool to establish and talk about trends, and if you're able to create the right news and content that shows how something is trending, the media will report on it. If you add relevant advertising in the right media, then you will achieve something great in the mind of the consumer: the problem (the trend) and the solution (your product).
4. The targeting and reach principles of advertising apply to PR. When you're working on an advertising media plan, you select the best media to reach your target audience effectively. So why should PR work different?
5. When creating a PR strategy, think about angles. You should think about the different angles of your story that you can tell to different media sources and their readers. One example of this is could be when you're launching a perfume you create different content to disseminate to the media: new "Celebrity X" fragrance (distributed to tabloids and celebrity magazines), new trends on aromas (for beauty and lifestyle media), company X expects 500 million dollars in sales from new "Celebrity X" perfume (business and finance), new technology creates perfume from dead flowers (technology). These are just a few examples of a content matrix you could do with the single launch of a perfume. It's about finding all the possible angles (as long as there is news in them) to tell the story and position your product out there and get better media coverage. Because in PR, content is King too!