In Part 1 of this 3 part series, I poked some serious holes in the myth that it’s not ok for PR to fail. Next, I’d like to have a frank discussion about how PR professionals think about their output.
Until fairly recently, most PR teams were mainly responsible for two things:
- Getting press coverage
- Covering people’s asses
That’s changed, and PR teams now handle a plethora of aspects of a business from content creation and social media, to analyst and media relations and events. As such, the public relations industry has started to use a bevy of tools for fully integrated programs.
Gini Dietrich, leading voice for the PR industry and author of Spin Sucks, said it best: “If you aren’t using the PESO model for your communications work, and measuring the meaningful metrics that help an organization grow, you will not have a job in 10 years.”
So, if the ole’ “one and done” way of doing PR is bupkis, why do so many PR pros continue to execute their work in a silo? Seems like it’s time to debunk our second prominent PR myth…
Myth #2: Once the story is published, your work is done
Now, I will be the first to say that PR is not an easy job. It’s an incredibly nuanced role and it requires a tremendous amount of emotional intelligence, creativity, and grit.
Often it can take weeks, if not months, to secure a single story. This is even more of a reason why PR pros and their colleagues should stop thinking of the securement of a placement as a period ending a sentence and view it more like a set of ellipses leading to what’s next.
Whenever a piece of earned, owned, or newswire content goes live, the work isn’t done…it’s just getting going.
Because of the PESO model, there are now numerous avenues for a PR pro to take that will prolong the shelf life and impact of content. What’s more, responses to content or the content itself likely contain the strongest signals for what a PR team should do next.
Can you morph last month’s authoritative editorial into a blog post by piggy backing on the existing narrative, adding a stimulating new conversation angle, and inviting your audience’s’ thoughts? YES…and you should!
Content marketing authority Ann Handley absolutely nailed it when she said, “Content shouldn’t be created as one-off pieces, or even as a campaign. Rather each piece should become part of an ecosystem. The overall ecosystem produces a customer experience that dovetails back to the brand.”
Here are examples of 3 frameworks I continuously encourage AirPR customers to consider in order to make the most of their hard work:
- Look for challenges, questions, or concerns being vocalized. These could clearly reveal the topics you should write about next or educational opportunities to seize.
- Notice if your company was aligned with larger industry or business trends. Deeply exploring these through contributed content can demonstrate the kind of prowess and expertise prospects love to see.
- Use your earned media to drive your owned media content strategy. Create follow on content to press pieces to drive narratives forward and think about creative ways to resurface what’s been explored in past coverage.
One fantastic tool that you might consider using to help you identify where to focus is this animated PESO model developed by 1min30, a French digital agency specializing in inbound marketing.
To show how a placement is the starting point, Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media recently wrote a fantastic piece offering 21 things to do after winning media coverage that is also well worth a read.
To me, great PR is all about building a connected web of influence. There are ample opportunities to publish content on owned media channels, contribute to conversations, and participate in thought leadership circles. All of these actions fall under the greater PR umbrella and are powerful avenues that can boost a company’s digital presence/street cred while keeping momentum going during traditional PR lulls.
Remember, the publishing of content isn’t the end of a conversation, it’s the beginning.
Tomorrow: Myth #3 More = Better