Three signs your PR approach needs a reset.
If you are wondering why your PR is falling flat, then your approach might be the answer. Most founders put out a release when something happens and hoping a journalist cares. That's not a strategy, it's a waiting game. Here's why it isn't working, and what it would take to actually fix it.
Three signs your PR needs a reset:
You only do PR when there is news.
If your media activity is entirely reactive, tied to product launches, hires, or awards, you are leaving 90% of your coverage potential on the table. The best PR programmes generate consistent coverage from insight and expertise, not just announcements.
You are pitching features, not angles.
Telling a journalist what your product does is not a story. Telling them why the market is shifting and what it means for their readers, backed by your experience, is. If your pitches read like a sales brochure, they are being deleted.
You have never had a proper media strategy.
A list of publications you would like to be in is not a strategy. A strategy identifies your strongest angles, maps them to the right outlets and journalists, and creates a rolling programme of activity. Without that, PR will always feel like a gamble.
What a proper PR approach looks like
It starts with an audit. What does the business actually know? What data exists? What opinions does the founder hold that are worth sharing publicly? What is happening in the sector that the business can credibly comment on?
From there, you build a bank of angles. Not one press release, but a rolling list of stories that can be pitched across different outlets, timed to the news cycle, and refreshed as new data or developments come in.
Then you build relationships with the journalists who cover your space. Not by sending them press releases, but by being useful. Offering expert comment. Sharing a stat they can use. Being the person they call when they need a quote.
That is how businesses build a sustained media presence. Not by shouting louder, but by being consistently useful to the people who write the stories.
For the founders and MDs who know they should be getting more press but have been burned by the spray-and-pray approach, this is where the real opportunity sits. The stories are already inside your business. You just need someone to help you see them and get them in front of the right people.
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