Developing and maintaining strong healthy media relations and positive media coverage is a real challenge. Today we have a very competitive and a 24/7 information overload news environment. Your “PR Doctor” and other professionals must adapt to the increasing importance of electronic communications and related technologies to remain professional and competitive. And strategic thinking and processes to manage PR programs and campaigns have become essential.
If we use a “preventative medicine” approach to healthy media relations, we need to identify the top 10 public relations errors we want to avoid. Here are your “PR Doctor’s” top 10 public relations errors to avoid.
1. Not using a strategic thinking approach to develop a strategic public relations plan.
2. Not building and maintaining ongoing positive relationships with editors, reporters, et al within your targeted media coverage areas.
3. Failure to maintain and update media lists to ensure up to date contact information for the media.
4. Using “form letter” or “generic email” to contact the media.
5. Failure to use “targeted” media lists when pitching journalists.
6. Not being accessible, responsive or easy to contact by journalists.
7. Failure to provide easy-to-access information for the media.
8. Duplication of contacts from your organization to the same journalists.
9. Failure to analyze and measure news coverage from your public relations efforts.
10. Failure to say thank you!
After reading the above list, do any of these errors apply to you and/or your public relations efforts? If you answered Yes, there is good news. There are “antidotes” for these errors. If you would like to learn about the remedies in the “PR Doctor’s” medicine cabinet and how to improve the health of your media relations, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at www.prdoctor4u.com or by email at jgeprman@aol.com.
J. Glenn Ebersole, Jr. is a multi-faceted professional, who is recognized as a visionary, guide and facilitator in the fields of business coaching, marketing, public relations, management, strategic planning and engineering. Glenn is the Founder and Chief Executive of two Lancaster, PA based consulting practices: The Renaissance Group, a creative marketing, public relations, strategic planning and business development consulting firm and J. G. Ebersole Associates, an independent professional engineering, marketing, and management consulting firm. He is a Certified Facilitator and serves as a business coach and a strategic planning facilitator and consultant to a diverse list of clients. Glenn is also the author of a monthly newsletter, “Glenn’s Guiding Lines – Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach” and has published more than 275 articles on business.