Do You Need Professional Media Relations Help?

Do you need help from a media relations professional? The simple answer is “probably”. That, however, doesn’t mean you need your own publicist. Professional media relations help comes in many forms.

 

I always dislike when financial advisors give seminars and tell their audience to “always seek professional help”. I dislike it because they are usually selling such services (or want those who are to recommend their book). It’s true that I am in the business of providing such services. However, I advise some form of professional advice, seminar or representation because I think that laymen who understand the media are in the minority. I believe that most journalists with whom I have worked would agree.

 

Professional help can involve some one-on-one coaching in dealing with media and doing interviews. It can be in the form of seminars on how a story gets to the media and how to recognize story opportunities. Once you reach a more advanced stage in your quest for higher visibility, professional help may involve having a publicist for yourself or your organization. If you belong to an organization that has one and you are not seeing results, you may want to engage a personal one.

 

Professional help might be as simple as having a professionally written, information-rich, media-friendly set of printed or electronic materials to give to the media or post on-line. Make sure it includes stats. Most members of the media like to quote stats and one stat can often give them something around which to shape an entire story.

 

One of the overlooked areas of professional media relations service is consulting on matters that are peripheral to actual media coverage, but can enhance it. For example if you put on special events, a media relations consultant can help you make the event media-friendly, from layout to scheduling, to naming it. If you are starting a new organization, the same is true. Picking a name and a mandate are all part of appealing to and being understood by the media in the future.

 

Suppose you are an athlete just starting to compete at a level that gets media coverage. You might be close to being ready to get local coverage or close to being ready to get national coverage. Long before you get too close, you should educate yourself about what will happen when you get there. You will also need to know what you will need to contribute to getting good coverage. In other words, learn what you have to do for yourself and what a professional can’t do on your behalf.