The goal of any PR campaign is to secure interviews with media, analysts and bloggers; then follow up by seeing articles come to fruition. Aside from the pre- and live-event interviews, a quintessential component to securing coverage are post-event interviews.
Maintaining an open and immediate line of contact with your PR team can streamlining these interviews–especially since media requests can come without warning.
Every company executive/spokesperson should have their PR team cell phone and office numbers. Programming these numbers into a cell phone/PDA helps to know instantly who is calling.
The media work on very tight deadlines and need to get information as quickly as possible. There are strong and valid reasons a spokesperson should avoid allowing a reporter to call through to their cell line directly. However, there should never be a time, especially during the launch of a new product/service that a company spokesperson didn't answer a call because they didn't recognize their PR person's phone number.
Your Call Cannot Be Completed As Dialed
The Sounds of Silence
Once you've begun a public relations initiative, it is important to maintain a steady flow of news. Communicatively speaking, nothing could be more detrimental to your business than to go quiet.
Regardless of extreme optimisms, human nature tends to gravitate toward the negative; and when your company stops making noise, the media began to wonder what is going on behind the closed doors. Or worse… they forget about you.
This is why it is imperative to continue sending out regular press releases, and conducting outreach. If you feel that there is little or no news to share, take a look back at where you've been and what has been completed. Is there something you could share about the growth your company has experienced? Is there an anniversary coming up? How do you compare with where you were last year this time?
Be creative about the news you share. You may not get the intended coverage as with the launch of a new product; however, simply continuing the conversation helps the media know they are working with a company that is more than just a “flash in the pan."
Don Osmond
Senior Associate
- Specialization
- Focus
- Results
"During the launch of my last company's consumer technology product, I was extremely impressed with the results of Cheryl Snapp Conner's PR team. We achieved coverage in Businessweek, Newsweek, Financial Times and even the New York Times. I was also impressed at the depth of the relationships Cheryl's team has within the computer technology press."
-Dave Brown
Serial Entrepreneur
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