How not to do media relations

Hey, it's not like all I do around here is parrot something on Strumpette, but I'm certainly glad Phil Hall said it: Calling journalists to ask whether they've received your press release is a waste of their time and your credibility.

If you are going to call a journalist, do something that is useful for the journalist. Offer the journalist exclusive interviews, provide original articles or op-ed pieces carrying the bylines of top-tier leaders, arrange super-secret peeks at the latest groundbreaking products. But don’t – please, DON’T – ask them if they received your press release!

You can call it "follow-up" all you want, it's still not relationship building and it's not a good idea.

On my own PR front, we're getting great response on the news release on our hearing this week, although most of the people who read this blog will never see it because they don't read ag trades or listen to farm radio. In the interest of fairness to my association peers, I should point out that we're opposed on this initiative by the bankers' associations (ABA and ICBA).

Tagged: Associations, Media Relations, PR.