PR Lessons From the Apprentice!

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...or listens to.

Explore all the angles

There is a mass of news sitting in your business, if you just know how to unlock it.

Draw on the strengths of their specialists in the team

Your business experts could be a fantastic source of media material, points of view, expert downloads, feature material...use them.

Pitch the idea clearly

When pitching your news you need to have the story very clearly in your head, and be able to convey the essence of it in 30 seconds...no waffle, no lengthy preamble about your business...get to the point.

Think of all the possible objections or questions and...

...prepare for them

What questions might the journalist you’re pitching to ask? Have the answers ready. If they’re going to ask for photos, or extra comments or data, be prepared. Have your key spokespeople prepared (make sure they’re not on holiday) have the photos to hand to email immediately etc.

Use common sense

PR is often rooted in common sense... for instance don’t call journalists when they’re on deadline, if you want to be in a media target get familiar with it first to see where you or your company might fit, if you’re given a deadline meet it, don’t promise a story as an exclusive and then break the deal...I could go on but you get the gist.

Be persistent

If your news doesn’t grab the media that just means the specific story didn’t work. Perhaps your angle wasn’t strong enough, or you hadn’t put the news release together well. It doesn’t mean that PR isn’t going to work for your business. Every business is suited to PR... You just need to learn, improve and persist.


As this list shows, a lot of PR isn’t rocket science, but it does require a few basic skills, a heap of common sense and commitment. That’s... continued on page three >

 

 

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