As a marketing professional, you may be convinced your organisation needs help from a specialist PR agency. But how do you convince senior managers, who may not fully understand the role of PR and how it can help the business?

Meeting a journalist face to face, while becoming a little harder to arrange as the media sector re-configures itself, is still a crucial component in any strategic media relations program.

Increased time constraints on journalists means they are more likely to suggest phone interviews rather than agree to face to face meetings.

Knowing what is newsworthy and what journalists need in order to develop stories are essential qualities to have before you start thinking about contacting journalists to pitch or contribute to stories.

A media release should provide journalists with information that is newsworthy, accurate and relevant to their readers. Once those three boxes are ticked, you should make sure that the headline is simple and informative.

So you want to run an event to get media coverage. You’ve got a high-powered international executive lined up to do the talking and you’ve booked an exclusive venue in the city. The last step is to get journalists to come along, and then write an article. Should be easy, right?

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, does it make a sound? You could ask the same question about brands and products that don’t get enough exposure to potential customers.

People continually change their habits, including the way they access information. More and more, people want to see even complex information at a glance, preferring visual dashboards or videos instead of long written pieces.

We’ve all been there. The end of another day when we only completed a fraction of the items on our to-do list. The ideas we come up with in the shower but forget to write down.

In the simplest terms, professional services organisations exist to give people advice that will help make their lives better or their businesses more successful. Too many professional services firms fail to understand the importance of building trusting relationships.

Thought leadership has become a buzz word over the last few years. Reputation and influence are the new business currencies of the 21st century.

What springs to mind when you hear the term ‘plain English’? Do you think ‘straightforward’, ‘basic’ or ‘old-fashioned’? In the world of PR and marketing it is crucial that the audience, including journalists, get what we write about on behalf of our clients.

Forget the negatives you hear about media training – without it, it could cost your business. Having a meltdown on camera is never cool.  It makes great TV for viewers, but it destroys your message.

It often surprises the team at Recognition PR how frequently we line up a media interview, or the opportunity to write a by-lined article, only to have the spokespeople query the deadline and ask for extensions. Why, they wonder, does it need to be so soon?

One of the common causes of conflict between journalists and companies that attempt to engage them is the definition of the word ‘deadline’.

Everybody loves to get awards. Being named vendor of the year by a magazine or having a leading analyst house name you the most innovative brand in your marketplace (for example) is an extremely positive experience.

Social media, email, mobile phones and credit cards have no doubt contributed to the current culture of instant gratification! I know I do it myself. I’ll send a quick text or email anytime rather than waiting, I’ll tweet or Facebook my thoughts from my mobile rather than waiting to share with someone in real life. We get pleasure from doing something now and getting instant feedback and results. What’s wrong with that?

Companies regularly ring us to price ‘sending out a media release’, and in almost every case, we explain the chances of receiving coverage is unlikely if this is their only tactic – unless the media already has an interest in them.