It makes sense for a corporate person to ask this. After all, larger companies are receiving solicitations – or pitches – every week from publicists, and a lot is written about the field. Seeing the word, you may think of Hollywood press agents doing stunts to attract media attention.
But for a serious company, the reality is different. Here, the publicist is responsible for all sorts of things that often are gathered under the title,”Public Relations.” Such as helping sell the product or service. Or improving the impression of the corporation in the minds of customers, prospects, holders of the company’s stock, investors of other kinds, and the world in general. Or handling media relations in time of emergency.
So how does a publicist for a company go about it?
For starters, he or she is definitely responsible for finding major feature article stories within the company, and finding editors that the stories will fit, and bringing the two together. For this function, it helps to be a journalist. Because a journalist can spot stories you may not realize exist. And a journalist can talk to other journalists knowledgeably.
In our firm, we actually guarantee a certain number of major feature articles per year, and pledge to work for free if the target is not met.
A second publicists’ responsibility – most think this is the primary goal, but it probably isn’t – is to turn out news releases. (Often called “Press Releases,” which ignores the fact that broadcasters – who are a major target – don’t have presses.) The reason it isn’t a primary goal is that of 100 releases sent out, today maybe 10 get printed or broadcast, except when there’s real news…which isn’t all that often. When there is no real news, your journalist will be creating stories that quote you or the company, such as “Company reports 10 things to think about…” etc. If you have a really good publicist, who writes in decent journalese, you may get picked up by 20% or 50% of your target media. Writing to journalistic standards is crucial. We see so many news releases that start with a company name and say that the company “proudly announces.” No newspaper or magazine uses “proudly announces.” Awhile back, a client inserted the word “esteemed” before the name of a new board member. We axed it because no reputable editor will carry such an adjective.
Third major role for your publicist is to be there in case of catastrophe. Say you are a hotel and someone jumps from a window. The press and TV come a-running. It helps greatly to have a journalist to help work with the press and blunt any criticism of your hotel. Another example, from a few years ago, is the poisoning of some consumer products. Back then, Johnson & Johnson did fabulously in instantly recalling a product, and won many kudoes. They’ve not been so fabulous in a recent instance of a product liability.
Your publicist may also help you settle on a central theme for your news and advertising. And then fight to retain it. Years ago, the president of an aspirin manufacturer asked his agency, “You keep proposing that we continue the theme, ‘Fast, fast, relief.’ Aren’t we paying you for new ideas? The president of the agency replied, “No, you’re paying us to insist that you continue a winning theme.”
So whatever you call the job – public relations consultant, publicist, PR person, Communications Manager or ? – it’s a valuable function and worth some fraction of the corporate treasure.
By Ronald T. Smith, Managing Member, JournalistPR LLC www.journalistpr.com. journalistpr@gmail.com. 888/730-6630 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 888/730-6630
