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Five Things We (Probably) Cannot Do

By Alex Greenwood

I strive for positivity and a “can do” attitude when working with prospective clients. However, there are some things prospective clients request that a PR/Social Media agency (probably) cannot do.

Perhaps I should speak for myself–there are PR/Social Media agencies that can and have succeeded at these five things, but in our experience, it’s usually not as simple as people may think.

Let’s take a look at the quintet of things we are most often asked to do that we (probably) cannot.

  1. Can you get me on Ellen?

Well, technically, yes. If you saved a baby who fell in a well, or have built a better mousetrap or created an incredible, funny viral video, then yes–with a whole lot of work, we have a shot at getting you on Ellen (or Today, Good Morning America, Steve Harvey, etc.) or other such shows.Ellen

However, most prospective clients don’t have that kind of earth-shattering, compelling story, at least not right off the bat. What we do is work with clients to determine their most newsworthy and interesting aspects so we have a chance at a national broadcast.

Perhaps after careful examination, we determine there’s a good fit for a local TV station’s midday chat show, not a national broadcast watched by millions. Nothing wrong with local TV! (Besides, local exposure can build into national exposure.)

(The same answer goes for People magazine, the New York Times, and even Buzzfeed for that matter.)

  1. Can you get me 10,000 Twitter followers right away?

Sorry, no. We build social media communities organically–meaning we earn every follower with quality content that focuses on a common interest between you/your brand and the follower. We do not engage services that allow you to “buy” followers. Sure, acquiring thousands of followers can look impressive, but we focus on quality, not quantity.

Who wants followers who don’t care about what you have to say? Is that really helpful to advancing your mission, cause, brand or sales? Bought followers are dead weight, not brand ambassadors. Building a following takes time, persistence and a willingness to be incremental in growth.

  1. We have enough budget to hire you for one month. Can you place stories in every local business publication about my Better Mousetrap?

This is another “technically, yes” answer. Given a month and cooperation with the client, we can devise a pitch that just might garner the coverage you seek. However, newspapers and magazines compete with each other, and that great score you got in the Business Gazette may well hinder your chances of scoring a similar story in the business section of the Daily Bugle in the same month.

That’s why we caution prospective clients that even with a great story, one big placement may be all you can hope for in a 30-day period. A longer-term strategy makes more sense, so we can plan a series of pitches to media that gets your brand consistent coverage in several media outlets over the long haul, not just a short strike in one place.

We recommend businesses plan a reasonable budget for public relations (and social media) from the get-go. All too often, PR is an afterthought, and the lack of budget hinders efforts to earn media mentions and develop relationships with the reporters, editors and producers who can help you spread the word.

Click here for the conclusion of this post. In the meantime, what do you think? Am I right or wrong? I’d love to hear your opinion about these five things in the comments section below.

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