Be wary when making promotional pitches

If you want some good tips on dealing with the media, check out the Reporters and Editors blog at Public Relations Ideas. There are some sound suggestions there.

I wish I could say the same for other public realations ideas I see online. Though I'm in PR myself now, I previously worked as reporter for a large daily newspaper for 20 years and have a journalists' natural wariness of PR. I've always believed that good PR practitioners are invaluable aids to journalists. But, frankly, there are a lot of them who don't understand the news business and see reporters as nothing more than troublesome but necessary conduits to getting their clients some ink.

That attitude often is evident in online advice by PR people on how to grab reporters' and editors' attention. Many of the tips are good, but there are also loads of weak promotional gimmicks being suggested that reporters will quickly see for what they are. Nothing irks a reporter more than having a PR person pitch a "story idea" that's no more than a thinly veiled ruse aimed at getting a news outlet to give a client some free advertising. Journalists don't like being used any more than anyone else does and asking them to bite on a cheap PR stunt is the same as calling and saying, "Look, I think you're so stupid that you'll go for this ..." Make a pitch like that and your credibility with that journalist will instantly plummet.

One online PR pundit recently suggested having a magician perform at a bank opening. Please. That's one step up from a ribbon-cutting or check presentation, but not much of an improvement. Small dailies and weeklies might cover this fluff, but it's rare that you'll get a bigger outlet to pick it up unless maybe it's a slooow news day.

If you want reporters to publicize your event or do a story on your business or organization, you need to tie your pitch for coverage to something newsworthy. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't stage an event with the hope of getting news coverage. Just try to put on something of real interest like a 5K intended to benefit a good cause. One of my clients recently created a program in which construction contractors donated time and materials to rehab the homes of disabled veterans wounded since 9/11. That worthy effort netted lots of coverage.

If you're stumped for an idea on what to stage, try thinking about something that will help others or the community as a whole. Then write a well-crafted news release and make your pitch. Even if a reporter or editor doesn't go for it, they'll at least appreciate that you didn't try to outwit them with a flimsy promotional ploy.