Building bridges not walls

Regardless of the field of PR and communications you work in, it can take months and years to build good working relationships with the media, based on mutual trust and respect. However it can take moments to destroy this dynamic; just look at the speed with which the White House press secretary demolished the previous administration’s press relations efforts through exclusion, favouritism and botched briefings.

President Trump has himself branded elements of the media ‘enemies of the people’ – seemingly without irony or awareness of the ominous historical echoes of this phrasing. Certainly, there may be times when a journalist feels like a thorn in your side, publishing stories that a client would rather not have seen in print, but they are just doing their job. Ultimately having a good relationship with that journalist can buy extra time to prepare an appropriate response on behalf of your client if needed and give you the opportunity to re-shape the narrative. Here are five tips to remember for good media relations:

• Face-to-face meetings mean a lot: make the effort, go for one-to-one lunches, coffees, drinks, and arrange to meet at trade shows and events whenever possible;
• Don’t just meet the editor: after all, the new up-and-coming reporter could very well be the editor in a few years’ time, and will likely be writing just as many stories about your clients if not more;
• Do show trust over exclusives: this works both ways; if a journalist comes to you with a story they’ve put together about a client, don’t sell them out, respect the fact that you’ve been offered the right to reply, work with the journalist and not against them. Build bridges not walls – good relationships will help you work an unexpected story to your client’s advantage;
• Do show trust over embargos: giving journalists a heads-up on a story allows them time to prepare, and avoids hasty scrambles to get newsworthy stories published the moment they are issued. However, don’t abuse the term ‘embargo’ by using it as a marketing tool – this is painfully transparent and will ultimately damage your credibility as a good PR person;
• Don’t miss a deadline: deliver what you’ve said you’re going to deliver on, or before, an agreed deadline. If for some unavoidable reason you do need a bit of flexibility over a deadline on the odd occasion, your relationship with the journalist will matter more than ever.

There’s much more to it than that, but these are a good start at least. If in doubt, remember one thing: Trump and his team’s penchant for building walls – both literal and metaphorical – should be avoided at all costs in the world of business-to-business PR.

Be bold, creative, tenacious and resourceful. Never forget that your mission is to work equally as well with the media and your client.