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HELP US HELP YOU!

The decision to begin a relationship with a PR firm is a very important and exciting one. Taking the time to research and interview various consultancies is vital, but this is only the first step in ensuring you maximise your PR campaign.

Square One PR has been in operation for over 3 years, and during this time we’ve been able to work with a huge range of clients with a variety of backgrounds, goals and personalities. Senior Square One Consultant Sarah O’Brien said that some client behaviours contribute very positively to a PR campaign, helping consultants to achieve wonderful results, while other behaviours impinge on the PR process, making it much more difficult for outcomes to be achieved. In an attempt to provide a constructive, candid view of the client-PR consultant relationship, Sarah has developed the following tips for helping your PR consultant achieve the best outcomes for you.

• Don’t ask your PR consultant to promise you media coverage. It is simply impossible. Even if we’re armed with a strong story and a great set of media contacts, we don’t have control over the news events of the day or what the journalist/editor chooses to cover. Advertising can provide definite guarantees about date and position of placement, but PR cannot.

• Do pass on all information to us as soon as it comes to hand. Too often, businesses forget to pass on information to their PR consultant, or choose to exclude information because they assume it won’t be of value. Let your PR consultant decide what is newsworthy and what is not – that’s what you pay them to do. If we advise you that an angle isn’t really strong enough– please take our advice on board and work with us to strengthen it, or identify a new approach before sending it to the media. We are only trying to safeguard your reputation and maintain the strength of our media contacts (which benefits you).

• Don’t be afraid to reveal information about your business to the media. Listen to your PR consultants recommendations. Even if the story is associated with conflict, the outcomes can often be positive if you allow your PR consultant to freely and actively pursue the angle with media contacts.

• Do be active in the PR process, but not too active. Be available for strategy reviews, and pass on information to us. But don’t hassle us daily about which journalists we’ve spoken to in the last 24 hours. If you need to be available for interviews – please be contactable at all times.

• Don’t ask us to obtain copies of article for you to review before they go to print. Newspapers and magazines don’t allow this. Making us ask for them can tarnish our relationship with journalists.

• Do be friendly, helpful and responsive during media interviews. We have worked very hard to get you there – it’s your turn to shine and ensure the final result is spectacular.

• Don’t expect specific media opportunities to come to fruition straight away. Sometimes it takes months of negotiation with a journalist to get them to commit to a story, then additional time for them to research and write the article and wait for an appropriate placement opportunity.