PR: So What?
While every public relations campaign or idea starts out with the greatest of intentions, sometimes the results may fall short of meeting our expectations. What do you do next and how do you recover if you find yourself in this situation?
A fundamental challenge with public relations is that the end result is out of your control. You start out with a great plan with the swankiest media kit full of photos, bios and press releases. You schedule the press conference. Nobody shows. What happened?
What you’re communicating has to have VALUE to the public and media. In a world where open houses, ribbon cuttings and “new initiatives” are a dime a dozen you have to start by asking yourself the tough questions.
- Have I read about anything like my event in the last month?
- Is there anything unique about what my organization is doing?
- If I didn’t work at XYZ Company and I read my press release in the paper, would I be intrigued?
Put simply – you have to ask yourself, “So what?”Pretend we work at XYZ Company, which is a local burger joint. We decide to add a new burger to our menu and write a press release. Most likely not. But what if we expand upon our idea. Instead, we develop four new "limited time" burgers and give our customers two months to try them out and cast their votes on our website. The local favorite goes on our new menu permanently. By developing something unique and getting the public involved, we not only increase our changes for exposure, but also create a sense of urgency with the public because they can ONLY get these four burgers during a set period of time.
Take another example...a museum is bringing in a new exhibit and it's your job to share the news. What's the angle? Is the artist local or famous outside of the intimate art world? Can a curriculum or program be developed to go along with it? Or can you host an event where you show a film or host a reception that will provide a deeper experience for the consumer.
Find the inherent drama.
I had an assignment in college where my professor handed us all a white paper plate and wrote on the board, "Your assignment for Wednesday - find the inherent drama in this paper plate." (It's ALL white, it's disposable, and can be used as a base in crafting projects!) Yes, it was an odd assignment - but the takeaway was simple: find the drama, ask "so what" and then make those connections for your audience.
In today's world, rarely are you going to be handed an opportunity that will make you stand out among all the events, grand openings and headline-making stories happening around us. So - dig deep, find the drama, and make those headlines for yourself.
Heather Venema is the lead TAG-er on PR work and longer-form writing (i.e. websites and publications). To put it simply, if it’s longer than a paragraph, she probably wrote it.
