Michelle Han February 9, 2016 | 12:05:09
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SWAK: PR Valentines For 2016

Public relations work can sometimes be a thankless task, but occasionally PR pros receive “valentines” of sorts. Like the ideal client, or the story that just keeps getting better and better, the approach of Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to chronicle our favorite gifts. Here are just a few PR valentines that make us feel like we’ve been struck by Cupid’s arrow all over again.

Real news. Many PR professionals are familiar with the dreaded scenario of a client with little (or lackluster) news to promote, but very high expectations. What a difference it makes to have truly newsworthy stories to share with media. Not only does it make the job easier, but it ups the caliber of results we’re able to deliver and strengthens relationships with media contacts.

The ideal PR client. What makes the ideal client? It’s different for different PR professionals, of course, but we’ve been fortunate enough to work with some clients that have a good understanding of how public relations works, have interesting and newsworthy things to say, are present enough to provide the resources our team needs but trust us enough that we’re free to execute the work, and are just fun people to work with to boot. What more could you ask for?

The story that keeps on giving. If nothing else, the U.S. election season, and in particular the Donald Trump presidential bid, has been a media feast, as well as a gift to PRs and pundits of all stripes. Wherever you are on the political spectrum, it’s obvious that Trump has done a masterful job of creating, dominating, and controlling the news. Media and PR professionals don’t see that kind of story very often. Barring a crazy New Hampshire outcome, it seems the election, and the Trump factor, will be covered for a good, long while.

The perfect alignment of schedules. Providing top-notch service to a full roster of clients is a juggling act that often requires some clever scheduling tactics. It can get especially tricky when arranging interviews between media on one US coast (while you’re on the other) with clients in Europe or Asia. So we thank our lucky stars when the opportunities we’ve worked so hard to create sync up without contortions on our part.

The journalist who loves you back. Anyone who goes into public relations is a natural media junkie, and one of the things we love about the work is getting to develop relationships with media professionals whose work we admire. So it’s a shot in the arm when the journalists you pitch start to love you back!  Though this is a Valentine’s Day post, we know infatuation has little to do with it. As with any relationship, it’s built on mutual respect and understanding, and learning how to provide value to one another so the relationship continues to work going forward, as we recently had the pleasure of writing about in this post.

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