An Olympic Challenge

Want to get in the nationals? No problem.

Success for some clients is national coverage – and the challenge for those of us in PR is to manage their expectations.

The truth is we don’t have a magic wand and some PR companies actually sit down with their clients and a pile of magazines/newspapers to jointly discuss where exactly they think they would 'fit'.

You might think filling all those pages and broadcast slots every day is tough, but the reality is most press releases/pitches end up in the bin. Having said that, the good news is that there are small armies of journalists out there urging us PR folk to get in touch.

The less good news is that they’ve usually got very specific, not to say imaginative, angles in mind.

Today for instance, you’re in with a chance if you:

• Got married to a man you weren’t madly in love with, but who you’ve grown to love deeply
• Are a woman living with HIV
• Consider your girlfriend more intelligent than you
• Look great for 40
• Spend a fortune to look good on holiday
• Had a whirlwind marriage that didn’t work out
• Are a super male slimmer
• A woman who hasn’t had sex for a year

It’s probably fair to say business angles are pretty thin on the ground – unless you’re quick off the ground and able to comment on something super topical such as cash-in-hand payments or employing people over retirement age.

I suppose the morale of the story is that getting quality coverage is never easy – it’s something that takes time, patience – and teamwork. Olympic tattoo anyone?

Making an Exhibition of Yourself

A day at Hospitality 2011 yesterday at the NEC provided me with some food for thought….


Most exhibitions don’t come cheap, yet it’s surprising just how many businesses fail to maximise their investment from a PR perspective:

Here are ten top tips:

1. Start early - remember deadlines may be months ahead of the actual event

2. Take time to read through the exhibitors’ manual, some are extremely informative and can save you lots of time

3. Find out which magazines are planning show/exhibition preview features and check editorial deadlines (remember ‘copy deadlines’ often refer to advertising deadlines, which will be a lot later than editorial deadlines)

4. Prepare your show preview press release highlighting what you will be exhibiting (ideally something new)

5. Distribute your release, along with a professional high res image

6. Spread the word – tell everyone you’ll be there. Don’t forget regional and social media!

7. Invite key journalists to visit your stand

8. Prepare a press pack for the show – a journalist’s first stop will be the exhibition press lounge, so make sure you have press packs available, summarising who you are and what you’re exhibiting

9. Unless you’ve got something really special to unveil/announce don’t waste your time hosting a press conference at the show – it’s usually better to work with the media one to one

10. Prepare a show follow up release – sing about your success!