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FACT VS FICTION
Smashing myths / Many public relations people are headed in the wrong
direction
By Marc Jampole
Every profession has its myths that are eradicated through time and
advances in knowledge. In the 17th century, physicians thought they
could break fevers by opening a vein and letting the patient's blood flow
out. And in the 1920s, some prominent physicians prescribed deadly
radiation treatments to promote longevity. In the medical profession,
these and many other myths have long ago given ground to rational,
scientific analysis.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for public relations. To an
alarming degree, public relations practitioners, especially at agencies,
continue to make important strategic decisions based on myths
developed in long-dead eras.
Here are three of the myths we run into most often:
Myth 1: Always release bad news and never release good news on
Friday afternoon. This myth is based on a superficial analysis of old
surveys of newspaper readership that suggests that fewer people use the
news media on Saturday.
But what if the target audience is educated, operates a business or has a
high income or net worth? All of these audiences use the news media at
least as extensively on Saturday as they do on other days. If these
audiences are important to an organization, as they might be to
companies selling to other companies, companies selling luxury goods or
nonprofits in the middle of capital campaigns, then releasing good news
on Friday may be a good thing and releasing bad news on Friday may
not achieve the goal of reducing widespread dissemination of the
negative facts.
Consideration of a very important audience, employees, usually argues
against a Friday release of bad news. When an organization releases
bad news on Friday, your employees have the entire weekend to stew
about it at home without the guidance of management. If maintaining the
commitment of employees or persuading employees to take certain
actions is important to an organization, as it so often the case in merger
battles, bankruptcies, downsizing programs and other "bad" situations,
then a Friday release may hurt the organization. Even if the organization
holds meetings with employees to let them know the bad news before the
announcement, it is still sending them home to two days of negative news
coverage and rumors, instead of reinforcing to them its messages about
the bad news the very next day.
Myth 2: You have to write long case histories to attract feature coverage
of how your organization helped a client or customer. We run into this
myth virtually every time my public relations agency begins working for a
technology client. In all cases, the company is deep into completing a six-
or seven-page case history that tries to demonstrate how the customer
solved a problem by using the client's product or service.
To prove that this is another public relations myth, merely peruse some of
the thousands of pages of case histories that appear in print and Internet
news media every month -- virtually all of the case histories are written by
reporters. In most cases, the reporters like to do their own research,
although they are appreciative of the information and contacts that an
agency or company can provide.
What persuades a reporter to do a case history is not a lengthy narrative,
but the hook -- the angle of the story that makes it interesting, unique or
trendy. Telling the reporter what's newsworthy shouldn't take more than a
few paragraphs. If the hook isn't in the headline or first paragraph, it's
likely reporters will never understand why the story is important, because
they don't have the time to read deep enough into the story to find it.
Reporters are busy, and they're inundated with mediocre story ideas; so
an organization must tell them right away why the case history is
important. Once that task is accomplished, there's no need to tell them
anything else until they ask for additional information.
A company will attract far more positive news coverage if it develops six
intriguing, newsworthy case histories of one-page each, then identifies
the reporters with the optimal interest in each, than if it writes one
six-page case history.
Myth 3: I have friends in the news media who will cover the story. The
underlying assumption behind this myth is not only fallacious, but also
suggests that reporters are driven more by friendship than by their
analysis of what is newsworthy. Yet, more than half of our clients tell us
that most agencies have promoted "friends in the news media" as a major
reason to engage them as public relations consultants.
What that statement says about journalists is that they are unprofessional
and do not pursue excellence. What does it do to a sports team on any
level when coaches play favorites instead of putting the best players on
the field or floor? Typically, it tears the team apart, the team loses and,
depending on the level of play, either the coach is fired or ends up
surrounded by a lot of angry parents. A reporter playing favorites is just
as doomed to failure, and that's why the overwhelming majority of
reporters do not do it.
Every journalist has a constantly evolving set of screens by which she or
he judges if a story is worth covering, including: the media outlet's
definition of what is newsworthy; the editorial scope of the media outlet;
the outlet's regularly scheduled formatted stories, such as profiles, lists,
case histories or news round-ups; the specialization of the reporter; and
the current trends in the reporter's coverage area.
With that fairly long list, friendship is never really an issue.
These are examples of many myths perpetrated by many PR
professionals that reduce the effectiveness of PR campaigns. At the heart
of all these myths is a failure to analyze the current needs of the target
audiences. These target audiences may include the public; but for many
organizations, important audiences are just as likely to include an
industry, investors or large donors, a job title at targeted businesses,
employees or other groups with special viewing, surfing and reading
habits.
And in every case, the news media itself must be considered one of the
most important of all target audiences, since the story will not appear if
the organization fails to persuade reporters to cover it. An analysis of the
needs of this very important target market before beginning any public
relations campaign will yield better results than reliance on old myths.
(Marc Jampole, of Squirrel Hill, is principal of Jampole Communications
Inc., a Pittsburgh-based public relations and advertising agency. Reach
him at 412-471-2463, www.jampole.com, or mjampole@jampole.com.)
Originally published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday,
November 23, 2004
direction
By Marc Jampole
Every profession has its myths that are eradicated through time and
advances in knowledge. In the 17th century, physicians thought they
could break fevers by opening a vein and letting the patient's blood flow
out. And in the 1920s, some prominent physicians prescribed deadly
radiation treatments to promote longevity. In the medical profession,
these and many other myths have long ago given ground to rational,
scientific analysis.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for public relations. To an
alarming degree, public relations practitioners, especially at agencies,
continue to make important strategic decisions based on myths
developed in long-dead eras.
Here are three of the myths we run into most often:
Myth 1: Always release bad news and never release good news on
Friday afternoon. This myth is based on a superficial analysis of old
surveys of newspaper readership that suggests that fewer people use the
news media on Saturday.
But what if the target audience is educated, operates a business or has a
high income or net worth? All of these audiences use the news media at
least as extensively on Saturday as they do on other days. If these
audiences are important to an organization, as they might be to
companies selling to other companies, companies selling luxury goods or
nonprofits in the middle of capital campaigns, then releasing good news
on Friday may be a good thing and releasing bad news on Friday may
not achieve the goal of reducing widespread dissemination of the
negative facts.
Consideration of a very important audience, employees, usually argues
against a Friday release of bad news. When an organization releases
bad news on Friday, your employees have the entire weekend to stew
about it at home without the guidance of management. If maintaining the
commitment of employees or persuading employees to take certain
actions is important to an organization, as it so often the case in merger
battles, bankruptcies, downsizing programs and other "bad" situations,
then a Friday release may hurt the organization. Even if the organization
holds meetings with employees to let them know the bad news before the
announcement, it is still sending them home to two days of negative news
coverage and rumors, instead of reinforcing to them its messages about
the bad news the very next day.
Myth 2: You have to write long case histories to attract feature coverage
of how your organization helped a client or customer. We run into this
myth virtually every time my public relations agency begins working for a
technology client. In all cases, the company is deep into completing a six-
or seven-page case history that tries to demonstrate how the customer
solved a problem by using the client's product or service.
To prove that this is another public relations myth, merely peruse some of
the thousands of pages of case histories that appear in print and Internet
news media every month -- virtually all of the case histories are written by
reporters. In most cases, the reporters like to do their own research,
although they are appreciative of the information and contacts that an
agency or company can provide.
What persuades a reporter to do a case history is not a lengthy narrative,
but the hook -- the angle of the story that makes it interesting, unique or
trendy. Telling the reporter what's newsworthy shouldn't take more than a
few paragraphs. If the hook isn't in the headline or first paragraph, it's
likely reporters will never understand why the story is important, because
they don't have the time to read deep enough into the story to find it.
Reporters are busy, and they're inundated with mediocre story ideas; so
an organization must tell them right away why the case history is
important. Once that task is accomplished, there's no need to tell them
anything else until they ask for additional information.
A company will attract far more positive news coverage if it develops six
intriguing, newsworthy case histories of one-page each, then identifies
the reporters with the optimal interest in each, than if it writes one
six-page case history.
Myth 3: I have friends in the news media who will cover the story. The
underlying assumption behind this myth is not only fallacious, but also
suggests that reporters are driven more by friendship than by their
analysis of what is newsworthy. Yet, more than half of our clients tell us
that most agencies have promoted "friends in the news media" as a major
reason to engage them as public relations consultants.
What that statement says about journalists is that they are unprofessional
and do not pursue excellence. What does it do to a sports team on any
level when coaches play favorites instead of putting the best players on
the field or floor? Typically, it tears the team apart, the team loses and,
depending on the level of play, either the coach is fired or ends up
surrounded by a lot of angry parents. A reporter playing favorites is just
as doomed to failure, and that's why the overwhelming majority of
reporters do not do it.
Every journalist has a constantly evolving set of screens by which she or
he judges if a story is worth covering, including: the media outlet's
definition of what is newsworthy; the editorial scope of the media outlet;
the outlet's regularly scheduled formatted stories, such as profiles, lists,
case histories or news round-ups; the specialization of the reporter; and
the current trends in the reporter's coverage area.
With that fairly long list, friendship is never really an issue.
These are examples of many myths perpetrated by many PR
professionals that reduce the effectiveness of PR campaigns. At the heart
of all these myths is a failure to analyze the current needs of the target
audiences. These target audiences may include the public; but for many
organizations, important audiences are just as likely to include an
industry, investors or large donors, a job title at targeted businesses,
employees or other groups with special viewing, surfing and reading
habits.
And in every case, the news media itself must be considered one of the
most important of all target audiences, since the story will not appear if
the organization fails to persuade reporters to cover it. An analysis of the
needs of this very important target market before beginning any public
relations campaign will yield better results than reliance on old myths.
(Marc Jampole, of Squirrel Hill, is principal of Jampole Communications
Inc., a Pittsburgh-based public relations and advertising agency. Reach
him at 412-471-2463, www.jampole.com, or mjampole@jampole.com.)
Originally published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday,
November 23, 2004
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Find Out
Return to The Insider
FLMS offers press relations
seminars and workshops. Visit our
Services page to learn more.
Return to The Insider
Find out more about the FLMS
Proactive Approach to press
relations. Visit our About Us page.
Return to The Insider
Thought Leadership shapes the
conversation and frames the
debate in a Crisis Control situation.
Return to The Insider
Less is more in a news interview.
Contact Us for a consultation if you
have an important one coming up.
Return to The Insider
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