Trish Skram’s Blog

As a writer turned media/PR professional, I’ve learned a thing or two about media relations etiquette. If you work in PR or marketing, you’ve definitely seen some struggles in relationship building—we’ve all been there. One of which is your relationships with your business contacts. I always see blog posts and articles on topics like: Top things PR people should know about reporters, journalists and editors. But I wanted to take the opposite approach.

Now don’t get me wrong folks. I’m extremely lucky and honored to have a great network of reporters, editors and journalists that I work with on a daily basis—truly lucky. I definitely do not know everything about the media/public relations profession, nor do I claim to. What I do know, is that we all hope and wish for the best possible outcomes with our jobs, whatever the case may be.

I have access to some of the greatest PR and marketing minds around (my mastermind alliance) mostly through my every day interactions with local and social media networks. So, I put together five things that me and my fellow PR colleagues think the media should know about PR people:

1. Our contacts/clients’ schedules aren’t always at our fingertips. Oh, we wish it were different. We would love to have every physician, director or client’s schedule at our disposal so we could tackle whatever it is that you need, when you need it … but let’s face it, that’s not the way the cookie crumbles. Often the person you want to talk to is also the busiest person on the planet (there are a few). So, we just ask for you to consider those situations if we can’t always make things happen for you.

2. Cancellations hurt us as much as they hurt you. We all hate canceling phone interviews and meetings as much as you do. I know I hate it more than most reporters and editors do because I know it’s hurting my credibility and trust. But do know that we’re also making it harder to get future media for that client and it means we’ll have to do extra work.

3. Story angles aren’t always obvious. You may have a clear idea of the story you want to write, but sometimes we don’t get the picture by the way you explain it (I have to work on this too). So I say this, when we pitch a story angle that seems way past newsworthy, it’s not because we are trying to spam you, but because we are uncertain as to how you’ll use the info or write your story. I understand that not every reporter or editor wants to receive my news. That’s why I give my contacts a chance to “opt out” of my distribution lists.

4. Don’t promise unless you can follow through. One of my PR mentors always used to say, “What a reporter promises me becomes my promise to my clients.” And I never really knew what she meant until I really got my hands dirty in the PR/media relations field. And it is so “on the money”. We know we shouldn’t do this, but in our world of tight deadlines, faster communication and our client’s high expectations, often what you promise to us becomes our promise to the client (in my case administration and the professionals I work for every day in the health care profession). If you decide to not follow through or take a different angle, we’re the ones that look really bad. My advice to journalists: avoid making a promise or always follow though.

5. Better offers are always considered. Reporters know that‘s true more than anything. Admit it, if you found a better resource for your story, you’d jump at the chance. Same for us as well. If a more relevant or prestigious media outlet sways our way in certain situations, we have to take it. We’d be stupid not to. Remember, we’re all professionals trying to do the best job we can for our clients and readers.

PR and marketing professionals: do you have other tips or suggestions? Please comment or send me a tweet! I’d love to hear your feedback.

Trish Skram (TrishSkram) on Twitter