The subtle art of media outreach: Lessons from mistakes

I recently had the honor of being featured in a Forbes article that tackled a topic dear to my heart – media outreach and the lessons we've learned from our mistakes. The article, titled "17 Comms Pros Share Lessons Learned From Media Outreach Mistakes," is a treasure trove of insights from seasoned professionals in the communications field.

For those of you who are just starting out in PR or even veterans looking for a refresher, this article is a must-read. It uncovers real-world mistakes and provides actionable advice on how to avoid these common pitfalls.

My two cents on the matter

I was quoted as Contributor 8, where I talked about the dangers of 'Pitching Indiscriminately'. As communication professionals, it's crucial to remember that journalists are not just 'receivers' of our messages. They are individuals with their own interests, beats, and audiences. Blasting your story to every journalist you can find is not just ineffective; it can also be counterproductive. A pitch that is irrelevant to a journalist is a surefire way to land your email in the 'ignore' pile and tarnish future interactions.

Instead, take time to understand the journalists you're reaching out to. What topics do they cover? What is their target audience? Is your story relevant to them? These questions aren't mere niceties; they are essential steps to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the media.

A goldmine of advice

Beyond my contribution, the article features numerous other gems:

The Importance of In-Market Research: Before you launch a PR campaign, make sure you understand the nuances of your target market. Preparation Is Key: Never underestimate the power of preparation. Whether it's a big media interview or a small blog post, doing your homework can make all the difference.

Personalization Over Generalization: A generic pitch is like white noise. Tailoring your message to a journalist’s specific beat or recent articles can significantly increase your chances of getting noticed. Understanding Journalists: Remember, the media is not a monolith. Understanding the needs and pressures of journalists can go a long way in making your outreach successful. Why It Matters

In an era where information is abundant but attention is scarce, knowing how to effectively communicate your message is vital. The lessons shared in this article are not just tips; they are foundational principles that can shape your PR strategy for the better.

If you haven't read the article yet, you can check it out here. Trust me; it's worth the read!

Who works for who, and why it matters to you?

Erik Mclean on Unsplash.

In my career so far, I have managed hundreds of people. I've managed small teams and large teams. I've lead teams in multiple countries and industries, in one physical location, and virtual and remote teams across multiple offices and timezones.

The critical question is, who works for who?

Most people believe that the team I have work for me, and any org chart or hierarchy would support that. My employer or customer has hired me to do a job. That's true, just as I've hired my team members and contractors to do a job.

But my job, similar to yours, is to enable my team to do their job. We should resource our teams, equip them with software and hardware, tools and platforms, and training. In addition to this, we must shield them from pointless interruptions within the organisation, the demanding customers, and low-value work. We intercept, deflect, and handle the interruptions that they don't need to avoid slowing them down or distracting them.

By taking this approach, my team can get their job done and deliver on their goals and objectives and the work we have tasked them to do.

I believe that looking at this question in the inverse provides a different perspective. This approach focuses me on enabling my team to do their job. Meaning that team members can do the job I've hired them for, not fighting for scarce resources or drowning in politics, confrontation, and time-wasting.

It also positions each of us as leaders with a function or team performing and delivering a high-quality service. By enabling our teams to do their job correctly, they can also develop their skills, strengths, and careers and grow their sense of job satisfaction.

The combined effect of this also stacks the odds in our favour and enables us to work in roles that we enjoy — a win-win for everyone.

Delivering service quality at scale

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

One of the challenges we all face is scarce resources. Not having enough time, tools, money, or team members to deliver can be an everyday experience. This scarcity can be overwhelming to those involved in situations where demand exceeds the available supply of a product or service. But could it be that we are looking at our problem in the wrong way?

In a recent post by Seth Godin - Mouth to mouth resuscitation, he points out the value of this lifesaving intervention. But it does not scale. You cannot perform Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on more than one person at a time. Yes, you could scale it by training more people, but it is still a service delivered singularly, one at a time.

"It might be the best way to save someone in distress. But it doesn’t scale. You can only offer this sort of lifesaving intervention to one person at a time." — Seth Godin

This analogy has a direct relation to the concept of communications, design, and creative work. As we produce art that's on-brand and relevant to the world we are experiencing, how do you deliver bespoke art at scale?

So far in my career, I've built, managed, and lead the introduction of multiple platforms and technologies. These platforms have supported marketing, content, brand, design, video, and training. In speaking with my team leaders over the last few weeks, I've asked them to to to consider how they could deliver double the amount of work they produce now using tools, technology, and automation?

Seth's post has prompted me to think about this from the root cause. To continue his analogy, if we deliver CPR and do it well, we cannot scale CPR. But is CPR what is required? How else can we provide services around brand and design, content, media, events, video, animation, and web?

This awareness causes me to rethink how else we could solve the problem and produce the same quality results? The service must still restore and maintain the health of the patient.

What service can we deliver of the same quality or better - using technology and automation? One of the questions I'll also be taking a deeper look at is how we could use training to enable the user to self-serve and deflect the need for the service entirely?

Rethinking the exit we will all make

Design is such a powerful tool that when it is used well, can be life-changing. My Godfather is a funeral director and has been for many decades, so this article on rethinking and redesigning death and funerals had a great resonance with me.

Change is ever-present. If we want to affect the outcome of a process using design, we need to approach it from all angles. Sometimes we need to rethink the entire process from top to bottom, and inside out. Creative Review has a great article about rethinking a process that we all encounter, that of funerals - Exit Here: The Future of Funeral Planning?

While the core elements of a funeral remain the same: collecting a body; preparing it for burial or cremation; and the conduct of a ceremony. By being willing to reconsider how the funeral industry approaches its core service, Exit Here has used design thinking to reimagine the customer journey and experience.

There was also a conscious decision to “all but eliminate black from the funeral world”, … opting for a neutral but more cheerful blue instead.

Ben Masterton-Smith, Director at Transit Studio

Without changing the function of a funeral parlour, but by changing the visual appearance of a funeral parlour, subsequently changes the experience from the start. Similarly, looking at how you can change other pieces of the user journey, such as bright yellow coffins and modern blue urns help to shift focus. By including options such as the choice of being buried on a farm the design team have, in short, reimagined funerals. We are all different, and no two funerals should be the same.

“You want to leave people with a positive memory of your life. You want people to think, ‘that’s the person I knew and loved’ – and I think we need to try and change the compass on how people see the culmination of their life. Of course, no-one wants to die, but we’re all going to – we know it’s coming – so let’s make it a more joyous affair, particularly for the people left behind.”

Oliver Peyton, Exit Here

This is an excellent example of rethinking the approach to a problem and improving the experience for those involved. What could you reimagine by changing your approach?

Photo by Kerri Shaver on Unsplash