Tips on becoming a media liaison rock star

The above points either stem from PRs' lack of understanding of the industry or the professionals not willing to take responsibility of their actions. This is something that has always baffled me. Surely in the work space, regardless of the industry, one needs to take ownership of one's work?

PR specifically has received a lot of flak, especially in terms of media liaison. I like to think the below five tips derived from the 5 W's and H which we so often forget about, have worked for our client campaigns at Greater Than PR ranging in the corporate, consumer, eventing and technology space.

Who?

Basic PR 101... Understand the media, the journalists' respective 'beats' and their target market before you pick up the phone or draft your email. Rather spend 20 minutes extra knowing who you are targeting than hit a brick wall with your pitch. By understanding your target market you will also know what type of content to pitch and how to deliver/package it to the media.

When?

PR professionals need to understand when the right time is to contact the respective media, their deadlines for news and their availability. I.e. if you are speaking to a broadcast news station, the majority of reporters have daily status meetings in the morning to discuss key stories for the day. For broadcast specific, if your story doesn't have an immediate expiry date, find out when the best time is to contact the producers before you offer them your story.

What?

Gone are the days where PR people get away with the "spray and pray" technique. Competition is on the rise between media houses where media are pressured to offer unique content to their audiences. A press release should merely give a journalist a synopsis of the news story, product, service or brand and should support unique angles, exclusive comment from the spokesperson or one-on-one interviews. A good measurement that one could use is the "140 Character Tool" - try to explain your story in 140 characters or less when pitching to a journalist.

How?

Something that PR people fail to see is that a PR/media relationship should be based on a mutual respect of the PR offering the journalist good content and in return receiving leverage for their client brand. Engagement is important in the communications industry and is obviously key when liaising with media. Take into consideration how often you are speaking to your contacts, what medium(s) you are using and the media's preferred engagement method.

Why?

Understand what you want to achieve prior to offering content, be upfront with the media contact and tell them why the story will add value to them and their audience. Understand the etiquette of the tweet. There is a fine line between social media seeding and spamming on social platforms such as Twitter. Distinguish what the media is using its social media platforms for (personal or professional) and whether it is open to engagement about clients or brands on those social media platforms.