Spooky Season is here! What better way to mark the occasion than to outline some of the spooky truths about the Public Relations industry?
Product reviews can be a mystery
We never know how the press will respond to our clients’ products until we get in there and start pitching! The process involves creating media lists, drafting pitches, and sending them to targeted journalists. If they like our pitch, they will then ask for a sample of the product to review. That’s where the mystery begins. They could give the product an amazing review – or they could Boo it! But we will never know unless we give them an opportunity to test the product for themselves. More often than not, journalists don’t bother with negative reviews because it simply isn’t worth their time to write about something they don’t like.
Journalists sometimes ghost us
While we have excellent relationships with journalists, they don’t always respond to our pitches. Editors & reporters are very busy. The newsroom and news cycle are complicated. An uninterested journalist will usually delete our pitch with no explanation as to why they didn’t want to cover it. Or sometimes, they do respond and tell us they’re interested, and then ghost us when we follow up. We do everything we can to get an answer from them, but sometimes they disappear and that is just the reality of the businesses. Consistency is key.
We go trick or treating
Sending out a pitch can feel a lot like trick or treating. This is especially true if we are working on an exclusive story or byline article. We have to approach one editor at a time, ringing every doorbell until one of them says “yes” to our pitch. Just like candy in a Halloween bucket, a published article is a treat in the end.
We can’t make you witch & famous
So many founders come to us looking to become the next Oprah or Steve Jobs. The reality is, most thought-leadership celebrities are built over decades of experience. Their PR teams likely spent years building a public profile. Celebrity status certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Good PR takes time to build. It’s like planting a garden and waiting for harvest.
We’re often keeping great stories under wraps
Like a mummy in the graveyard, we’re keeping things under wraps! Our clients share their company news and insider secrets with us before they tell anyone else. Our job is to turn their announcements into stories. We then strategically decide who to share those stories with.
There’s no magic spell or potion
In the words of our Sr VP, Julie Simon, “There’s no secret sauce to PR.” We can’t cast a spell or pour a magic potion that will make the press cover your products or stories. So much of the PR industry is about getting the right message, to the right person, at the right time. The Orca Communications team has the experience and knowledge to make that happen, but it often takes time.
This guest blog post was provided by Amanda Green from Orca Communications. Orca Communications provides PR services to inventors and entrepreneurs. When you choose Orca Communications to handle your PR, you have the combined brainpower of the entire Orca Pod working to get press coverage for your brand. Contact them today to learn more about their campaign options.
