Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

I’ve been reading a new Hill and Knowlton blog recently, TechNed, which is written by four tech PR specialists in the Netherlands, after spotting a mention on Niall Cook’s website. One of the posts caught my attention was highlights from some basic research carried out on tech and telco journalists in the country to judge Dutch teclos and their press departments. No surprise that the accessibility and reaction speed of spokespersons ranked highest on journalists’ priorities.

I found it quite interesting in terms of tech PR in Ireland. We have a relatively small pool of technology journalists. The decision by Mediateam, the publishers of the majority of the tech trades magazines, to stagger their production times will mean that company spokespeople are needed at short notice over the course of a month.

Working in an agency, it suits me better because rather than having a sudden rush of media queries, requests are more balanced over four weeks. However from the client’s perspective it could seem more rushed to them.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, you should be as accomodating as possible to journalists. Tension builds as deadlines approach and if you can make their lives easier in any way, you’ll end up with a much better relationship with them.