Public Relations

We recently had a call from someone who wanted to hire us to “distribute a release and build media relationships” for them. Those requests immediately gave me concerns and I was pretty certain that we wouldn’t be a good fit for this particular project. However, we never want to shut someone down before understanding what they need. If we’re not a good fit, we will do our best to help them find someone who is.

I questioned this person a bit further. Even though AHA doesn’t distribute releases that aren’t written by us, I asked to see the release so I could understand what this person wanted to promote. It was five pages long, filled with corporate speak and industry jargon. And, as far as I could see, there was no news value. When I explained the fact that we aren’t a news release distribution service and identified the challenges in the release, this person then asked if we could just develop a media database for them of all the journalists we know and they would distribute it. He went on to explain that he needed to create some media relationships and wanted to do that as quickly as possible. I did my best to explain how it doesn’t work that way, but I am not sure that he understood what I was trying to tell him.

At our PR agency, media, blogger and social media relationships are an important component of what we do. We spend a great deal of time and effort on this. We have established strong, positive relationships in a wide range of areas including travel/hospitality, entertainment, food and beverage, education, non-profit and government to name a few. As we build our relationships with journalists, bloggers and influencers, we build our clients relationships with them as well. We set up information meetings, we help our clients provide relevant information (which is not always about them), we provide access to interviews with senior people at client organizations, and we make sure there are images, information, facts and stats ready and available to their deadlines. We get our clients to participate in social media and to authentically connect with their communities.

We follow journalists on Twitter, connect on LinkedIn and even on Facebook (sometimes – but that’s a different blog post). We read their articles every day, we watch their newscasts, we listen to the radio shows and we spend a lot of time online to see what is going on. We engage on social media sites with influencers (never disguising who we are, by the way). It takes time and effort. We work at it. And we get results for our clients.

You can’t just casually hand over relationships like those and expect that it would work that way. And the fact is, even if you could, we wouldn’t.

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I came across this quote recently: “Public relations are a key component of any operation in this day of instant communications and rightly inquisitive citizens.” – Alvin Adams, diplomat, (1804-1877)

It’s interesting that in the 1800s, Mr. Adams thought they had instant communications and inquisitive citizens. I wonder what he would make of social media and our online, connected world.

It also reinforced a key element that we, at AHA, believe in and have been sharing for some time. That is: Good communication is a result of strategy, not technology.

Don’t get me wrong – social media, the online world, and technology have created much positive impact in the area of communication. And the use of these tools needs to be acknowledged and integrated into an overall communications strategy. But, it’s a part of the overall strategy – it isn’t the strategy.

You can have plans for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest or any other social media networking site. We believe that is important; but these plans are components of an overall communications plan which should support your overall organizational objectives. How does that happen? With a communications strategy.

Communicators have a more complex role these days. It is important that we see the bigger picture, as well as the day-to-day details. We still live in a world of “instant communications and rightly inquisitive citizens” and it takes attention, effort and strategy to effectively and authentically connect.

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Over the weekend, I had dinner with friends and the talk turned to the ethics of public relations. Their son is in grade 10 and he wants to be a journalist, so we often have discussions about public relations, journalism and the shift that both fields are going through right now. We got onto the topic of the importance of ethics in a person’s life. Then it turned to what happens when an organization has an issue – how they are able to be ethical and manage their reputation.



The values of an organization and the ethics of the senior team are key drivers in how the organization does business. Having solid values and ethics doesn’t mean that they will never face an issue or a crisis, but it does mean that they will likely deal with it in a respectful, productive, transparent manner. As a communicator, our role is to communicate internally and externally about what is being done. Often, we are brought into the planning because we can provide the perspective of stakeholders and ask the tough questions that need to be asked.



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This post is somewhat of a follow-up to my last post. At AHA, we have had several meetings with potential new clients that required an explanation of the process of public relations and what they might expect when it comes to return-on-investment.

Even with a range of variables, depending on the organization and the objectives, there are clear components to a PR campaign. They are:

Exposure

People learn about your organization and its products and services through a range of mediums: traditional media, online (websites, SEO, etc.), social media, community events, etc.

Engagement

People sign up for information, they visit your website, they post comments on your blog, they join the social media conversation, they read/watch/listen to media coverage, they tell their friends and colleagues, they share information, they search for information online, they attend events, they recall and retain the messages you are sharing, they are interested in what your organization is doing, etc.

Influence

People consider participating, purchasing or connecting with your organization; they recommend it to family, friends, colleagues; a relationship is beginning (or continuing).

Action

People actively participate, purchase or connect; they contact your organization; they attend an event as a supporter; they sign petitions; they write letters to the editor; they show their support for what your organization stands for; they are connected to your brand and actively participate.

Each of these components is like a building block. They support and leverage each other and they build momentum. There are times (for which we are always grateful) that you can make an announcement and it happens to hit a trend or immediately fill a need and people jump from discovery (awareness) to action. However, this is a rare occurrence. And it is not sustainable unless you continue public relations in a consistent and strategic manner.

One of the challenges of explaining what is needed to develop, execute and measure a successful PR campaign is that many people don’t realize that it takes time and ongoing effort. Often, people see a campaign and it looks a little like an overnight success – when, in reality, it took weeks, months or even years to get to that point.

Public relations is an important and valuable component of an organization’s marketing efforts and it can create exceptional results – with adequate resources and effort.

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