As a PR professional, you are there in support for your client and its company. But how much support would you be willing to give to your client? Would you be supportive of all your client's rants? At most times though, PR experts are becoming to sheepish to act on their own will, thus, to the extent, greatly affecting their work and overall performance as a professional. So essentially, what happens is that bossy clients spoon feed every PR's action that oftentimes result to unsuccessful PR campaign and drastic reputation of the practitioner towards media people.
Sarcastic, yet at the same time sensibly humorous, Joan Stewart's shares her thoughts on avoiding this kind of dilemma. She wishes (that) "every publicist or PR person would sign a prenuptual agreement with their client before signing the actual contract". This contract would ultimately endow a PR pro all the authority over his work as a publicist. This includes a total control over "exact wording of pitches to the media, or the length and wording of press releases", Stewart added. If Stewart's idea would only be valid in the professional world, many PR experts would really be known in their profession as an effective publicist. But sadly, no one can grant this wish and only PR experts themselves would have the ability to change their situation in the corporate arena.
PR Mistakes Stewart narrated the common mistakes that PR make when they work with their clients:
• They write a short, compelling pitch that, later, the client waters down and orders them not to change. The pitch, instead of catching the media's attention, simply massages the client's ego. The PR person does as told, and looks foolish.• They write a long, rambling press release that includes the obligatory B.S. quote from a client high in the release. The quote adds nothing, and makes the client sound pompous and self-promotional.
• They let the client badger them into turning down invitations to appear in top-tier media, after the publicist has worked tirelessly to secure the placement. Clients sometimes tell the publicist at the beginning of a publicity campaign that they want national publicity. Then for whatever reason, they suddenly get cold feet when a paper like USA Today or a program like "Dateline" calls. Rather than convince the client to get media-trained, the publicists cave in, then end up with a 100-pound resentment.
• They make pests out of themselves following up with the media after sending a routine press release. When I worked as an editor, I sometimes got calls from PR people who said: "I hate to bother you, but my boss is insisting I make this phone call. Can you tell me if you got our release and do you know when it will be printed?" If you make calls like that, you probably have no idea how ridiculous you sound. To make matters worse, the media person to whom you are speaking is making a mental note that you're a real pain to deal with.
These mistakes should have been avoided in the first place, yet, most of them are afraid to speak against their client's wishes. The reason behind, according to Stewart, is because "too many PR people are so thankful to get the work that they feel beholden to their clients. So they jump every time the clients snap their fingers."
I have been inspired at this quote from a movie I watched when I was little, which says, "It's still that little voice that may change the world". I know that speaking up with your client is hard to do given the fear of losing your job at an instant. But once you have the principle of loving your job and becoming truly a professional, you'll soon be able to talk to your clients about anything you are planning to do. It is just a matter of negotiating and clearing things with your client, such as the principle of mind your own business.
Stewart's wish has given us an idea on how to initially start your own "prenuptual agreement" with clients. You have to clearly state that once you are in the job, you are fully in charge of everything concerning their publicity. This contract is not about who's the boss, but more on building trust and respect between you and your clients. Make that happen. Your little voice, still, is the one that would change your treatment status among corporations.
http://onlinepr.gbwatch.com gives updates on the ins and outs of public relations and marketing within the Internet. It helps various companies of all sizes to become competitive entrepreneurs, and to focus on building good publicity, promotion and higher sales. It aims to teach businessmen to be witty, confident, and strategic in whichever industry they hope to build their dreams upon.
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