Public Relations | 3 min

Things PR Pros Should Do and What They Must Stop Doing

Prowly

For those who still see PR as rocket science here is a short list of things PR pros should do to be effective and what they should stop doing forever.

1. Don’t be an ignoramus – get to know your audience

Doing research before sending your pitch is necessary – otherwise you can make a terrible mistake that will not be forgotten. Make sure you know what the journalist writes about; it’s worth the effort.

2. Don’t send your pitch before double-checking it –it’s a must

Making typos can cost you time, money and give you bad publicity, and that’s definitely the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve.

3. Make sure your pitch is newsworthy – don’t waste the time of others

Before hitting send, think again – is this really news? If not, don’t send it – it won’t get picked up.

4. Take your time and do the research

When the whole world was talking about Brexit, it seems that Ryanair didn’t get the message right. Do your research; make sure the facts you use are “true facts” – using the right facts will make you trustworthy, misinforming your audience will do the exact opposite.

5. Don’t be rude

Rejection may hurt but you should never be harsh to people you want to rely on. By being rude you’re shooting yourself in the foot – it causes more harm to you than to anyone else.

6. Be relevant – don’t send outdated pitches

If you don’t manage to send your release on time, don’t do it at all. There’s only one time your news is relevant and it’s now.

7. Don’t use caps-lock

People don’t like it and if you hope to catch somebody’s attention that way, I assure you – you won’t.

8. Don’t use automated mailing systems (or learn how to do it right)

There’s nothing worst then getting a message that pretends to be personal but it’s clearly not. If you use one of those tools, send the first email to yourself to make sure everything works fine – or just stop using it at all.

9. Don’t lie

Journalists will most likely remember whether they spoke to you or not. Don’t lie, it doesn’t pay.

10. Don’t be intrusive

No is a no. Don’t try to persuade someone that your text was good although it wasn’t. Learn from it and do your job better next time.

Implementing this list will not make you a PR pro in one day but will definitely save you a lot of stress and unnecessary fails. In the end, PR specialists are only people and it’s good to be able to learn from their mistakes.

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