5 Reasons Why Your PR Strategy May Not Be Working

How Newsworthy Are You?

Find out if you have what it takes to get international media coverage.

Public relations is essential in building a brand’s reputation. However, it’s important that your PR angle is tailored to your target media outlet’s needs. There is no cookie-cutter strategy because each and every news story is unique.

5 common PR issues

So if you want to check whether or not your PR strategy has been executed properly, you have to be aware of issues that you will possibly encounter during the implementation process. 

Here are 5 common PR issues and their solutions:

1. Sending Out Press Releases With A Scattergun Approach 

Crafting and sending out press releases are the norms of PR. While press releases are effective in securing coverage, these stories do not necessarily translate to coverage if they are not newsworthy. 

Solution: Before you write a story, ask yourself if it’s something that  readers will be interested in. Are you pitching something new or is it just a recycled PR angle? Be sure to create a release that will get the media’s attention.

2. Poor Pitch Strategy

Keep in mind that the only way to capture journalists’ attention is by writing a story that is exceptional and out of the ordinary. A rehashed topic will not help you to secure coverage. Think of the number of stories that media outlets receive on a daily basis. If yours is no different from the rest, journalists will not even bother opening your email.

Solution: Give your emails personal touches when pitching your story so when it crosses their path, they will immediately take interest in featuring your story.

5 common PR issues

3. Wrong Target

So you have already written a great story, now all you have to do is to send it out to your media contacts. However, you are not getting results you have hoped for. What could have gone wrong? More often than not, it is not the story that ruins your execution but having wrong media contacts. So for instance, you’re pitching a story about beauty products, you have to target beauty magazines because targeting the wrong contacts, sending out mass emails can be annoying and ineffective to journalists.

5 common PR issues

Solution: Be sure to take the time to do your research. Search for journalists that can specifically cover your story. You will not get any coverage from a journalist in health and wellness if you are sending a story about technology. While it may take a while to acquire media contacts, your efforts will pay off in the long run. 

4. No Clear Goals

You cannot measure the success of your PR strategy if you do not have a goal and objective. The natural progression of your business will depend on the goals you want to accomplish. 

Solution: Reflect on the goals and objectives you wish to achieve for your PR campaign. Find out about the media contacts you want to target and the strategy you will implement to reach this goal. 

5. No Follow Up

So someone responded to your story and they want to feature products or services in their next issue. What’s next? Any prospective contact will not be converted into a regular contact unless you take the time to follow up with them.

Solution: Have a dedicated team member to handle emails from media contacts. It is important that your team member is familiar with the story so they can answer questions or connect the contact to the right people.

5 common PR issues

You do not have to give up right away just because your public relations strategy is not working. There might be practices that you need to keep in check as they can be the reasons behind your slow progress. Being aware of setbacks will help you think of a better way for your PR strategy implementation to work smoothly.

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