Part One of this series identified three of the six biggest mistakes that businesses often make that costs them media coverage and reduces the effectiveness of their PR.
While the right PR agent can secure a journalist’s interest in your business, there are a number of things that you can do to hinder your PR from converting in to great media coverage. Take a look at these final three mistakes and make sure you are not guilty of making them.
4. Low quality collateral
Your PR agent has scored you a product shot in a magazine spread and you send a photo that is the wrong resolution and/or looks amateur. Big mistake. Or a media outlet accepts your PR agent’s pitch to interview you, but you don’t have a professional headshot of yourself that can be sent to the journalist. A busy journalist has little time to chase you for the right shot, so s/he might find it easier to drop you or give you less space in the piece. As with your website, your collateral—including images and any material you send to support your business—needs to be professional and representative of your business.
Make sure images are of professional quality, in focus and at the right size for use. Print publications require high resolution (300dpi) images; if you don’t know what this means, ask your PR agent to put a kit together for you.
Here are some more tips on making sure images are media-friendly: Photos for media use.
5. Ignoring public response
Ignoring feedback and comments on social media can be detrimental to your brand as it can be seen as evasive. If you don’t have time to respond, a simple acknowledgement can be a good way to appease the public while you’re working out a full response. Always provide some response and never delete a post unless it is deemed offensive. It’s important to promote honest and open communication.
6. Inaccurate information
Giving your PR agent inaccurate information doesn’t help you or the PR agency in the long run because when (not if) you are caught out, it affects both your reputation and theirs and will mean it’ll be harder to attain coverage later on. PR agents are there to help you, so don’t be afraid to be honest with them—it is their job to seek the best way to assist you.
There are many things a good professional PR agent can do to help boost your business’ reputation, so make sure your organisation is equally equipped to optimise coverage.
