Press the flesh - Best way to build relationships
Published May 15th, 2006 in GeneralCompanies always seem to wonder about how they can develop better relationships with the media. The answer is simple - press the flesh.
Working in PR, there is nothing worse than having to talk to journalists on a regular basis on the phone, without ever having met them face-to-face. I often wonder if we come across as badly as telesales staff. The quality of our relationship with the media vastly improves when we meet in person. Journalists are a lot more receptive, not because they got a free lunch, but because you have a common talking point and a better sense of each other’s personalities and habits.
In much the same way, if you want to build a relationship with the media then you should try to meet them. There’s no better way of telling journalists about your company/product/service and makes them more likely to pick up the phone and give you a call when looking for a comment in the future.
Please remember that journalists are busy people though so don’t get too upset if they don’t have time to meet you or have to cry off at the last minute in order to meet a deadline. Of course, this is a lot easier in practice in Ireland because the majority of journalists are based in Dublin.
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Speaking as someone working in PR in Cork, and hoping Cork based journalists and editors are reading this, some of the country’s best media, photographers and design people are either based in Cork or cut their teeth here!
I was about to make a similar point to Tom above - Piaras your point
should have read
By the way Piaras - your server is reporting the time on these comments as being five hours after they are posted (5 hours into the future!).
Are your hosters hosting this site in Russia somewhere?
No Tom, never bothered reseting the time in WordPress, really should in case my boss thinks I’m posting during work hours.
I know my Rebel County brethern were going to call me up on the Dublin reference…apologies!
Does your boss subscribe to the Wal-mart principle of time theft then? What a bold boss!
I think it’s ridiculous to say:
‘Please remember that journalists are busy people though so don’t get too upset if they don’t have time to meet you or have to cry off at the last minute in order to meet a deadline’
Journalists are no busier than the rest of us and if an appointment has to be rearranged it should be done so BEFORE it has impacted on the other party.
I don’t agree with ANYONE (so I’m not slating journo’s only) having a ‘god complex’ on their time … we all have deadlines, pressure, etc.