Getting Ink: Public Relations Takes Time

Carrie Jones // March 26, 2009 // Public Relations // No Comments

Sometimes waiting for a PR placement can be like watching grass grow. You tend to it, check on it, try new things, but you don’t see the immediate results you crave. But then one day, as if out of nowhere, the placement (or growth) finally happens. At times it only takes a few months, and other times it takes years. Which is why the PR process is a long-term investment and something that doesn’t just happen over night.

To illustrate my point, here are a few examples on just how long a great hit can take.

For Beauty Encounter the team worked with a freelance writer last spring on a story about discontinued beauty products. Since Beauty Encounter offers one of the deepest selections online, this was a great angle for us to take with the writer. The article just came out in ShopSmart Magazine and the editor went on CBS The Early Show to talk about the story and mentioned Beauty Encounter.

In January 2008 the Vet-Stem team at BG started pitching a reporter at the Orange County Register. The team followed up numerous times, and the reporter finally responded she was interested. After many more months of trying to fit in the story and checking in with the reporter every month for almost a year, the story on stem cell therapy placed. It was mentioned on the front page, top of the fold and then ran front page of the Life section with a jump to another half page. Full color photos, links to Vet-Stem’s website and the vet involved. SO worth the wait.

Another Vet-Stem example is with a recent placement in the Chicago Tribune. The team started pitching in January 2008, then repitched many more times. Finally a pitch in February 2009 got a response. The story took another month before it ran, but after a year of constant monitoring and pitching the story finally resonated with the reporter. The story was picked up as a syndicated story and eventually ran in more than 30 newspapers across the country.

So if you work with an agency, or are an agency, be patient and stick with it. Because when the placements finally happen they are well worth the wait!