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Getting a story done: what clients need to know
By Editor on Sep 27, 2006 in clientservicing, mediarelations
I have a friend whose client CEO had visited India some time back. Before he came, the client made it clear that he wanted The Economic Times and other top tier media at all costs. However hard my friend tried to explain that there cannot be any story in these publications with the story pegs they had, everything fell into deaf ears. Rather it became a ‘get these done, the account will stay with the agency’ scenario.
So my friend gathered his media networks, got interactions of The Economic Times, Business Standard, and The Times of India organised. The CEO came, met up the journalists, talked about how great his products were, and how his company was the best in the world, and went back. My friend thought it was all over until some days past when he got a call from the client asking when are the stories coming out in print.
The Economic Times and The Times of India had flatly refused any story. However my friend requested the Business Standard journalist to do something. Because of the close relationship they shared, the journalist wrote some two paras and filed a story. But the story didn’t come out in print at all. The reason: it got shot down by the Copy Editor.
How many of us are familiar with this type of situation? Many, including myself. This is what happens when we as PR professionals give in to the whims and fancies of our clients who don’t understand how PR works. It was a wasted effort. The exercise was doomed to fail from the start. The PR agency, the journalists and the client - all of them wasted their time for nothing.
There are clients today who are professional and understand PR well. They know the importance of good story pegs, and when to do a story, and not just because somebody from overseas is visiting India.
Then there are clients who still believe that PR works on how well a PR agency is connected with journalists. All they say is ‘Why have we hired a PR agency? It is the agency’s job to get the journalist and get the story done’, even if they have nothing to say, nothing to announce.
Spending time with journalists, I realise that half of the day of every business journalist everyday in India is spent in following up government officials and getting information on what happened during the meetings of the PSUs. Unlike private companies, these officials do not come to them with sugar coated press releases and interview requests. Still any journalist cannot afford to miss any information, less they can see a rival publication coming up with exclusive stories the next day.
Journalists usually do not tell this to PR people, but their editors are on their backs almost all the time asking where they are, and why they are wasting their time interviewing some useless chap, while so many things are happening with the government departments.
As PR professionals, we still need to pitch, but lets remember many times journalists are right in saying that whatever news we are providing them are kid’s stuff. They’d rather follow government officials who wouldn’t even talk to them for a minute, but when they do, it is enough to make frontpage headlines.
We need to make our clients know all this. Gone are the days of giving a wine bottle to a journalist and getting a story done. Every story passes through various stages, and even if we manage to get pass one stage using our clout, it won’t pass through the next. The strength of every pitch is the news value only.
Technorati tags: PR, Public Relations, India, India Public Relations, India PR,Marketing,
On Sep 28, 2006, managinginnovation said:
Well said my friend. What ever you have said is totally true. Clients always ask for ET, BS, FE, TOI, HT without understanding that all the media houses have their editorial policies and they have their own priorities. Without real meat organising Press breifings and interviews will be a total futile Exercise. Over commitment to the client can make the client happy but on the longer run its going to be a big pain (when interviews don’t yeild any coverage).
There are few clients (where the corp com guy is coming from agency background) the situation is bit better.
On Sep 28, 2006, hobbit said:
Thanks there. If we all can share even lil bits of our experiences openly, everyone can benefit immensely and help the industry. What we are talking about today is no secret and rocket science and anybody who is in PR for some time will be well aware about it. I think the problem we have in India is that we don’t discuss much constructively and openly but continue with the cat fights among the agencies.
On Sep 29, 2006, K said:
If you thought that we sit around Shastri Bhawan all day long chasing some shady bureaucrat you’re stuck in 1990 my friend. Your rationale is correct that some inconsequential client wants the some coverage as say Infosys, just because they have American CEO, big deal. waste of time meeting, yeah, I have done my fair share of those, can I promise newsprint, noope, unless you’re a global biggie.
But honestly, you guys also need to get a better understanding of how we work.
On Sep 29, 2006, ankan said:
hehe. so a lot of what we are reading in the pink pages is also fixed ! thanks for the insiders info.
another reason to take a dump on the slimes of india and their ilk.
On Sep 30, 2006, Anonymous said:
Hi, great to see this, because being on the other side of the deal, so to speak, (I’m a features journalist with a daily) I face this problem almost everday. I’m afraid to say most PR personnel don’t understand that coaxing/cajoling/whining is not going to get them a story. Especially not whining
It’s only when a story has merit and when it fits into my publication’s scheme of things will it see the light of day. Wish more PR people understood this.
On Oct 7, 2006, hobbit said:
So there we have it from the fourth estate itself
On Oct 12, 2006, Manisha Bhatia said:
Hey friend ur absolutey right. the clients think that we are god and we do anything. what they dont understand that they have nothing to offer to the media in terms of content. they at times screw up the interactions too and then blame us that we didnt get them teh visibility anywhere.i hope the clients read this blog and then tehy will understand that its easier said than done
On Oct 12, 2006, hobbit said:
Hi Manisha, maybe we need to focus on client education more as many PR practioners are sharing the same concern.
On Oct 31, 2006, Anonymous said:
Hi! As a Corp Comm professional i think the pressure is not just on the agency person but more so on the Corp Comm guy as well. Its the top bosses who need to understand that there can be no story without a peg.
On Dec 21, 2006, manisha said:
Yes Hobbit, you are right! We must organise some Client Education Programs. But who will bell the cat thats a million dollar question. I have seen PR people taking crap from the client even when they know that the client has no story. My only question is WHY. Cant we like for a change tell the client that What he is asking for is unrealistic ??? And Anonymous we all understand ur concern, but i guess u have an upper hand in this case, since u have the liberty to tell your boss that it aint gonna work this way. I think together we can enlighten the client in a much better way. What do u say??
On Jun 4, 2007, Srinivasulu said:
Hi Hobbit,
That’s an interesting piece. We encounter such clients often, who presume that their news is earth shaking. Not to loose out on the confidence the client places in us and the threat of the domiciles sword hanging on our head, we are compelled to act. Such exercises are doomed from the word go. However, to be on the side of caution making an attempt and being satisfied on the non feasibility of the exercise is advisable before conveying to the client. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by our sense of non feasibility, but the journo could smell a story. Then there is also a chance of the client not willing to take our no and in desperation could approach the reporter directly and the reporter just to oblige someone, who has called him, may cook up a story even if there is nothing worth.
My own experimentation with such presumed to be doomed projects sometimes reaped stories. It is advisable to discuss with the journo about the pegs and take his feedback, if the feedback is negative, we can confidently convey the same to the client. Also, sometimes during such doomed exercises, in the course of the interaction with the client interesting facts could evolve and could make a good story.
Srinivaslu
Hyderabad
On Jun 4, 2007, hobbithob said:
hi Srinivaslu, thanks for your inputs. I agree sometimes we might be a bit too cautious. I like the idea of checking out with journalists..that’s something we can do and if we give the feedback to our clients, then we have a valid proof also. It might not look at least like we are shrinking away from work.
On Feb 3, 2008, K. Srikrishna said:
The more things change, the more they stay the same! Having been in all three positions, the visiting CEO/Exec, the in-house marcom person and the outside PR agency I have faced this identical situation. IMHO, the internal marcom person is the first one who can put a stop to this, by either educating internally or setting expectations with execs, or even creating an appropriate story that’s relevant to the journalist(s) or scuttling a time-wasting meeting; if for whatever reason (too junior, too stressed) the in house marcom person can’t handle it, then the PR person has two options - do the job of the internal marcom person to achieve one of the three options. Usually this situation results I find, when the in-house marcom or marketing folks have been sleeping at the helm - so they are not able to stand up internally to the execs nor create a meaningful story for the encounter.