When thoughtless corp comms = bad PR. Round 2

Almost a year ago, I wrote on LinkedIn about a peculiar experience I’d had at a meeting at a large bank, which prompted me to ponder the actions of in-house and external PR professionals and how they influence the reputations of the organisations they’re supposed to be protecting.

I’m now actively working as an independent in the financial mediasphere and my experiences with PR folks have prompted me to come back for a second round.

Having switched from being a cog in a multinational media conglomerate to working for myself, my time these days is divided between freelance writing; event management, production and hosting; and media consulting.

More than ever before, my work is putting me in direct contact with media relations folks, particularly away from my core contact base in banking and capital markets.

According to Wikipedia, media relations involves “working with media for the purpose of informing the public of an organisation's mission, policies and practices in a positive, consistent and credible manner. Typically, this means co-ordinating directly with the people responsible for producing the news and features in the mass media”. I’d add stuff about building, maintaining or enhancing reputation; and about raising profile in areas of strategic focus for the organisation.

So here’s the thing that drives me to utter insanity: media relations people who don’t respond to emails or follow-up emails, don’t answer calls, and ignore voicemails.

I say this not as a by-product of any sense of my own self-importance but because it is by definition the antithesis of what good media relations is supposed to be about. Beyond the rudeness, it’s – intentionally or unintentionally – an arrogant display of their sense of self-importance and reflects very badly on the organisations they represent. And it’s as frustrating as hell.

If you think about that thumbnail definition of media relations; think about the opposite and ponder the harmful and damaging impacts of bad media relations. For the avoidance of any doubt, ignoring media is bad media relations.

I understand that PR is partly also a gatekeeping function, and fine; I no longer work for a powerful media conglomerate so I guess can’t be classed as priority media. But I do have relationships with, have worked with and continue to work with key media and other organisations in my specialised field of banking, finance and capital markets. And I do have a track record in the field, built on over 30 years of experience.

Yes I do harbour some up-front expectation that I’ll get what I need when I reach out to someone, but I accept I have no pre-determined right to demand. This is not what this is about. If an organisation can’t or doesn’t want to assist me with my endeavour for any number of reasons, there’s nothing I can do about that.

But faced with a choice between being ignored or being told someone can’t help, I’d much prefer the latter because we both know where we stand and I can move on.

Ideally the rebuttal comes with a short explanation; and one that makes sense. I had an email dialogue with a communications head regarding something that was a perfect fit for the organisation in terms of what they do and what I was after – and something that would have put them in a positive light.

I got this: “After further review I’ve determined that this is not a good fit”. The comms person clearly hadn’t read (or understood) what I was seeking and opted not to reach out internally to check with the principal I was after. Annoying as that was, it’s a huge improvement over the silent treatment. So I guess I shouldn’t really be complaining …

Would love to hear the views of PR professionals on this.