in his studio “The State of PR 2021“the Muck Rack company disclosed various insights of value for those of us who do PR, such as the fact that 78% of professionals consider that one of the most important skills in the exercise of the profession is relations with the media.
However, in his report on the state of journalism in the United States, Muck Rack, notes that there is a low assessment, by journalists, of professionals who work in corporate communication, going from 55% in 2021 to a 50% in 2022. And the picture worsens when it comes to public relations consultants who have a meager 36 percent.
So, thinking that on this side of the world we find ourselves with a similar scenario, what should we take into account to change this dynamic and strengthen a bond that is so necessary for the profession?
Perhaps here it is worth remembering some of the advice proposed by Ronn Torossian in his book “For immediate release”. One of them points to a rule that, although it seems obvious, despite so much information, is overlooked on more than one occasion. And it is that the news is entertainment, therefore to be taken into account by the journalist we must be interesting and relevant.
This rule leads to another, and that is that journalists generally work within defined hours and deadlines, so it is key to become part of their agenda and not forget that news moves quickly.
But it is also essential to know who we are targeting. Today we have everything within our reach to make a fast check of the journalist, in what medium he works, what is his style or what were his last notes. This will help us understand how we can be relevant to him knowing that today, with the amount of information that reaches his email every day, if we do not add context to our content with valuable data, our news will be archived.
This also happens because times have changed, the real time. In fact today the press release, as we know it, has lost effectiveness and notoriety and if we don’t really have something important to tell, it won’t come out.
It is also key that, although as I said above, today we have a variety of channels to “study” the journalist before contacting him, once the link is established we must not forget that they have a life and schedules. Calling them or filling them with messages on WhatsApp to find out if the information arrived, when it will come out or why it did not come out, will not help build a good relationship.
In short, although the dynamics of the relationship between PR professionals and journalists has evolved, there are basic rules that never change if we want to build ethical and responsible relationships. This implies not forgetting that our relationship with them is back and forth. As the phrase “today for you, tomorrow for me” says.