 |
| Dustin Siggins |
As public relations professionals, we pride ourselves on being great storytellers. We make the mundane exciting, craft narratives that resonate with diverse stakeholders and prepare campaigns that will make seemingly minor news items go viral.
But for all the stories we tell audiences, the most important story is the one we tell clients and principals. Otherwise, all of the great media potential in the world won’t come to fruition, because we haven’t earned the trust necessary to execute on their behalf.
In short: every PR pro is a salesperson, even if we don’t call ourselves that.
Rocket ships
Many clients tend to mistakenly think about PR as a sniper shot, where a single “magic bullet” is the answer. This often results in focusing on a short-term tactic, like placing the perfect op-ed in a major outlet, instead of investing in a long-term strategy.
PR pros know that there are no guarantees, even the most carefully crafted campaigns with unlimited resources can turn into flops. However, we often fail to tell clients this reality. And if you haven’t prepared the client for the occasional miss, then you’re in for a lot of trouble—including possibly a canceled contract.
We get in front of this problem by showing clients how PR is more akin to a rocket ship launching into space.
- A great idea, product, or service—the story—is like a rocket that’s been built with tons of research, testing and careful planning.
- The initial push—making pitches, writing press releases, securing exclusive coverage—is the critical launch day where the brand gets off the ground.
- The downstream effect—republishings, syndications, follow-up pitches for downstream coverage—is the process of reaching orbit by capitalizing on a successful launch.
- Surround-sound marketing and branding—repurposing PR content for social media and marketing materials and continuing the cadence with media gatekeepers—results in the rocket orbiting the planet, beaming your client’s message to the right people all the time.
Most savvy principals buy into this analogy, but they still tend to hope we have the magic button that starts the launch sequence and puts everything on autopilot. That’s why the next step is to show the process by which you produce client results.
Process matters
Many clients think their “rocket” deserves front-page coverage in the Wall Street Journal or New York Times … tomorrow. But they don’t fully grasp the elements that earn major news placements, even if their inner circle likes the idea.
Furthermore, it can be tempting to gloss over the detailed process explanations to protect the secret sauce—or out of worry the minutiae will bog down negotiations because the prospect’s expectation is they can pay a PR pro to make their problem go away.
So, address this by articulating a three-step process that quickly generates trust. It takes only 60 seconds to explain and it can be laid out in as much—or as little—detail as the client or prospect will tolerate.
First up are the 3Ts:
- The right TOPIC is an on-brand, disciplined message that stands out.
- The right TIME is when the message fits the content that the outlets intend to prioritize, whether seasonal or because of how the message intersects with other current coverage.
- The right TITLE is the spokesperson who’s not only relevant to the brand but has the kind of authority on the message that will resonate with the intended audiences.
Next, take the bull by the horns and help the client uncover three key components of a successful campaign:
Narrative. Is the message on-brand and does it stand out? Is it consistent across all platforms?
Right spokesperson. Who is the best spokesperson for the narrative? Why that person? And what are the person’s communications strengths and weaknesses for the brand?
Right platform. Not all platforms are equal. Some don’t reach the target audience; some have styles that are a bad fit for the spokesperson’s strengths.
The final step in the process is to explain that getting top-tier press takes time. This is where the rocket analogy once again comes in handy. When SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket in late October, it didn’t reach space right away or with one big effort. The narrator explained to viewers that there was the initial launch stage, then a point of maximum pressure on the rocket and subsequently separation of the rocket from its engines—and within each stage, there were multiple changes going on that the cameras couldn’t catch.
Your client must likewise understand that there are many steps to earning media coverage, because nobody is going to take their credibility for granted. Securing lower-tier press over and over again helps the team perfect the process, showcases credible and brand-building news and thought leadership and provides the marketing team with lots of reusable content.
Process matters. And no campaign can reach the haloed status of “orbiting” in people’s minds until each step has been completed.
More exposure means crises are bigger
The last part of the journey is to be intellectually honest about helping clients become big, successful media brands. Yeah, celebrities have millions of dollars, but they also have paparazzi and hate mail.
The bigger and more influential your brand becomes, the more scrutiny you’ll get from the press and stakeholders alike. Just ask the county commissioner who decides to run for Congress. Clients must know how to anticipate increased brand risk from the bigger profile and understand the need to build up a trust reservoir before the crisis hits by defining who and what they are before the critics put them on defense.
After all, rockets can and do fall from orbit—or, as Boeing discovered, your team can get stuck in space. Crises can quickly erode trust—which often equals customers and sales—built over months or years.
Great storylines build trust early and often
Every PR pro is excited to help craft, shape and place great stories in the right places to add value to the human experience. But we can’t do that without trust from those who pay us and whose brands we represent. We have to show the story that leads to the right solution.
***
Dustin Siggins is the founder of Proven Media Solutions. His media and business writing has been featured at Business Insider, Forbes, PR Week and elsewhere.
Newsjacking promises quick wins, but often delivers silence, not coverage.
The media landscape has been radically transformed by digital acceleration, AI integration, the collapse of traditional newsrooms and an increasingly polarized public discourse. Against this backdrop, PR has shifted from a support function to a strategic core of organizational identity, resilience and trust.
Cultural snobbery from scientists has left many citizens unprepared to evaluate scientific claims and ceded ground to the ill-informed, propagandists and those seeking to manipulate others. Here are some tips on how to remedy that state of affairs.
The ranks of the players in the pay-to-play game have been increasing, and PR people have at times had no choice to use it more frequently as part of their PR playbook.
When a media pitch doesn’t land, it’s time to stop wasting time. Take a step back (or several) and take a deep dive to pivot your pitch. It can be the difference between crickets and coverage.
