This document discusses public relations (PR) and the relationship between PR professionals and journalists. It provides definitions of PR, outlines where media relations fits within PR, and examines the typical structures and salaries of PR agencies. It also explores some of the challenges of getting media coverage, including navigating client expectations and demands. The document advocates for PR professionals to take a tough but realistic approach when working with clients and media, focusing on creating interesting stories and building trusted relationships.

1. PR, innit?

2. The official (and unofficial) definition
• Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputation,
with the aim of earning understanding and support and
influencing opinion and behaviour.
• It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain
goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and
its publics.
– Public Relations Consultancy Association
• “I want coverage”
– Almost every client

3. In practice, where media relations sits
The s w e e t s p o t...
W h a t t h e m e d ia Topical, quick, timely Ve nd o rs ’
w r it e s Business issues e x p e c t a t io n s
User pain points
Real research
Hard news - often ‘bad’ We have great products
Practical impact
Disaster/scandal Customers and case studies Our great track record
Business issues/trends Average Joe interest Our illustrious history
End-user issues/trends Pictures, box-outs, Our ecstatic customers
Interesting things value-add...

4. A Grange Hill analogy
Scruffy McGuffy Mr Bronson

5. The two middle men extremes…
Estate agents Consultants
•Coverage-led •Client relations-led
•“Got the press release?” merchants •Airy fairy ego strokers
•Response Source •PowerPoint jazz hands
•v2.1 •Corporate sausage machine
•“Press release a month” – Awful at implementation
– Good at (client) lunches
•“Only as good as your last piece of
•“His first born in my godson”
coverage”

6. Another reason for PR/journo conflict

7. It would be worse if PR wasn’t inept
Social media
Reporting
Getting approval
Convincing a vendor to Changing
say something Zs to Ss
interesting
Pitching to
media
Trying to explain to Americans why
The Register headline isn’t offensive

8. The PR business model
• PR is usually a small line item in the overall marketing budget
• Small companies will have a “in-house” marketing person (or
team) that covers PR
– Difficult to make things happen
• Large companies will have a “in-house” PR person (or team)
• Difficult to make things happen
• That in-house person (or team) will work with a PR agency for
– A brain and a spine
– Up to date, relevant, experience
– Fresh thinking
– Arms and legs support
– A scapegoat…

9. PR - Slim profit margin business
• Any fool can start a PR company
• Agencies are poorly managed (simply break even)
• Chargeable rates go down
• More and more junior (cheap) people
• Quality gets worse

10. Typical PR agency structure

11. Typical PR salaries
Title Experience Bracket
Associate director 8+ years £60K plus
Account director 5+ years £40-60K
Account manager 2+ years £25-40K
Account executive 0+ years £18-24K

12. The pain in the arse of getting coverage
• Agency PR: “Great piece in The Register.”
• Spineless in-house PR: “Yes, it’s great. Can you get me 20
hardcopies.”
• CEO: “What is this comic? I hate it. The headline is rude.”
• Spineless in-house PR: “This is awful coverage. Grrr”
• Agency PR: “That’s how The Reg writes, that’s why it has 5m
readers and is your key publication.”
• Spineless in-house PR: “Get them to change the headline. Our
CEO doesn’t like The Reg.”
• Agency PR: “It was offered to The Reg as an exclusive, we
supplied example coverage. You discussed it with your CEO and
it was signed off.”
• Spineless in-house PR: “Get them to change the headline.”

13. What a good PR should be…
• ‘Tough loving’ the client to make them operate in the real world
• Working with the client to discover/create interesting stories
(with some sort of beneficial link back to the company)
• Cutting out the corporate nonsense
• Ensuring the story/company sits in context to the outside world
• Prepping the story with proof points, third parties, photography,
infographic etc
• Looking at things from the journo point of view
• Working with known and trusted journos to have a resulting
piece of coverage that works well for both parties
• Growing a big pair of balls…

14. Thoughts from a PR on how journos can
use a (good) PR person
• A (not always successful) route to senior execs and customers
– Sometimes the brief is to hide the exec
• A source for additional/future content/ideas/angles
– A decent PR knows markets/people beyond their clients
• Build a trusted relationship with the PR, so they can take the risk
of championing you to client with a little more confidence
– Because life is too short
• Understand and ‘play the game’ with business culture
– CEOs don’t want late, scruffy, ill-prepared
• See it from the PR (agency and in-house) point of view
– Mortgage payments are at risk