PR is a great career. It provides endless variety and opportunities to work with dynamic personalities and there’s rarely a dull moment.
However, along with that come some amazing highs and terrifying lows. While PR pros are busy doing their best to get their clients media coverage, the clients can sometimes be less than cooperative.
In honor of Halloween, let’s take a look at how clients can sometimes make our jobs in PR very scary.
1. They fail to get back to you. While this may be a symptom of the busy times we live in, it seems more commonplace these days for clients to engage a consultant or firm and then fail to reply in a timely fashion when you send them content to approve, ideas to ponder, or requests for information. If the client isn’t engaged, how can they expect the PR pro to stay engaged and get the job done? It’s a two-way street. The PR pro works as a partner with the client to achieve their goals. It doesn’t work so well when one party isn’t engaged and responsive.
2. They aren’t flexible. The client wants media appointments, so you start reaching out. When you ask for the client’s calendar, you’re told, “Well, he’s traveling on personal business for the next two weeks. Then, the following week, he has meetings that can’t be rescheduled.” How does one work around a schedule like that? The response should be, “We’ll do whatever we need to do to work these meetings with the media in.” If it’s the other way around, don’t expect much media attention.
3. They cancel a meeting with a reporter, or worse, fail to show up at all. Yes, this has happened, believe it or not. Most people in PR (and probably a lot of those not in PR, as well) understand how valuable a reporter’s time is. So, when you’re lucky enough to land 20 minutes on their calendar, you never cancel. And if you just plain forget or fail to show up, 20 lashes with a Wall Street Journal. You can consider your bridge burned with that reporter.
4. They tell you material has never been previously published, when in reality it has. If a client provides material for you to use in a contributed article, for example, make sure they let you know if it’s been previously published elsewhere. If you don’t know and submit it as fresh material, this can be a big turn-off to the publication. You lose credibility in the editors’ eyes, and maybe you’ll lose future opportunities, as well.
5. They don’t bend over backwards to serve the media. For this one, I’ll use an example of a situation that actually happened. An editor who saw the client’s product at a trade show proactively contacted us about getting a product to review. The client placed so many parameters around the conditions for the review that the editor pretty much threw in the towel and the opportunity for a full page of coverage was lost, not to mention the good will of the editor.
6. They think everything they do is news. Some items fall under the category of news, while others don’t. Yet many clients go about their business under the impression that if they find it interesting, why wouldn’t reporters? If your client asks you to write a press release every time he crosses the street, it’s probably time to have a serious chat. Not only is this a waste of your time and their time, even worse, it can alienate reporters who keep seeing “nuisance” press releases from your client. Not everything is worthy of a press release.
7. They don’t appreciate the value of what you deliver. When you land a client a full page of coverage, that’s worth literally thousands of dollars. When the client just wants more, more, more, and doesn’t stop to appreciate what you’ve accomplished or the value that PR delivers/brings, it’s a case of missing the big picture. PR delivers a great value and when done right, the value goes beyond dollars. Can you put a price on your reputation?
8. They go out of town and fail to let you know. I don’t care if you’re on a remote island for a month, you either need to let me know how to reach you or provide a back-up who can step in if a reporter calls with questions.
9. They tell you a spokesperson is available for interview, but then you can’t reach him/her.Again, this actually happened to me. A reporter responded with interest to a pitch, in which we promised an interview with the keynote speaker at an event, who’d said previously that she would take interviews. When the reporter tried to reach the spokesperson, she was unresponsive. This jeopardized the relationship with both the reporter and the publication.
We all love our clients, but these scary behaviors are something to be on the look out for.
If you want a marketing partner that is passionate about helping you grow your business then get in touch. It’s what we’re best at.
