Keeping Up Appearances: The Importance of Media Visits

Last week I spent a couple of days in London catching up with some of their key trade publications – Housebuilder, New Civil Engineer, Building and Construction News, amongst others. My client was looking to have a general catch-up with the editors, talk about new product development and more importantly, a recent raft of legislation that will have a big impact on their market sector. The discussions surrounding legislation understandably became the meatiest part of the conversations as the client shared their knowledge and brought the journalists up to speed – potentially leading to some interesting opportunities. 

What stood out for me during the meetings was the immense amounts of knowledge that businesses hold about their own market and how much of that can be shared with journalists and the media. Obviously not all editor meetings are the same, but I’ve also tended to go for the relaxed and informal approach where people can sit and chat – I trust the client not to drop a clanger ‘a la’ Gerald Ratner and they trust me to brief them in advance and allow the conversation to flow (whilst ensuring we cover their key points, but shhh, that bit’s a secret, haha). 

I’ve done many of these visits now and quite a few without clients. Establishing and maintaining relationships with the media are some of the most basic skills that a PR can possess, but it’s surprising that some don’t make the effort or the time. Speaking to some of my friendly journalism contacts, it seems that only those PRs who genuinely make an effort are remembered and contacted on behalf of their clients – I’ll reference Liz Male here as a great example and someone I take inspiration from. Personally, I couldn’t do my job this way. Ongoing contact with the media, even when there’s nothing to ‘sell in’ about your clients is vital for me (and the company I work for, probably) and I’m glad that I can call some of the journalists I’ve met through work my friends. 

Yes, there are limits on people’s time. Yes, some journalists can be difficult, but they’re no more guilty than some PRs who push their luck (Charles Arthur of the Guardian has written a few blogs on this). I tend to think that people appreciate personal contact every once in a while, particularly when you can educate them on something they didn’t know that’s of interest (takes me back to my point about my client discussing the legislation). None of my relationships with journalists have ever gotten worse after we’ve met, quite the opposite in fact. 

So if you work in PR (particularly in a specific trade or market, like me), then get out and meet your journalists. There are plenty of opportunities and the best editors welcome the contact, especially if you can hook them up with an interesting story or client. Go for it, if you handle it properly, it could be one of the best moves you make. 

Source: Flickr - nick.garrod