People Need People

PR, as we know it, is usually associated with the process of creating messaging, distributing it via wire services such as PR Newswire, BusinessWire, or Marketwire, and sending messages to “beat” reporters and analysts via e-mail (usually generated via a list service). And although one-to-one relationships still exist with key influencers, those relationships don’t scale in a way that encourages PR professionals to spend the time necessary to embrace those who aren’t “A-listers.” Psychologically, it’s the same in almost every organization. If you invest in one-on-one relationships—meaning you call or meet your influential contacts directly—it’s because you feel you need to. And if your relationships are solid, you feel confident that you can leverage them when needed. You also do things differently for them (for example, taking the time to prepare the story in a way that matters) because you don’t want to lose the relationship. However, we don’t see this across the board.

Although you should make things personal, you might not because you perceive the less-influential voices as, well, less valuable. So you decide to send them information in the hopes that they’ll receive it and publish it because you took the time to send it to them. Unfortunately, things just don’t work that mechanically. Reporters, regardless of their authority, are inundated with messages from hopeful PR types who believe that their news is “newsworthy.” There’s just not enough time in the day to cover, let alone respond to, every inbound request.