As I read through your wish list of resolutions you would like public relations professionals to commit to — while I completely agree with and understand your frustration — I am hopeful you have ever encountered a successful relationship with a public relations practitioner. I agree with every one of your resolutions, especially those regarding knowing who you are talking to and what beat the journalist covers before you pick up the phone. On the public relations side of things, nothing would be more embarrassing than a journalist explaining to me I am not contacting the correct beat reporter.

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We’ve heard most of these tips before, yet some PR professionals avoid them, giving the rest of us a bad rap.  I recently attended a PRSA lunch here in Chicago, and although it was supposed to be on healthcare media, it was actually more about what to do and not to do when pitching. 

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Blog written by Molli Megasko

Good PR doesn’t just mean adding photos or links to your emails and making sure your pitch is sent on a slow news day?  Come on!  I’m here to tell you folks, good PR is about the relationships. 

In the past few weeks I have seen too many articles on how to get your pitches read, and how to get reporters to respond, which is good and all, but don’t get your hopes up for amazing results.

The best results I have received are not from adding interesting subject lines to my emails, it’s because I pick up the phone, get to know the reporter, and ask them what they want to hear about. 

Yes, building a relationship takes time and energy, but good PR is about quality not quantity.  It is building that trust so that one day the reporter turns to you for stories.

If you don’t want to end up on Wired’s next email blacklist, or have your reputation trashed by PR Watch, let’s do our jobs and do them well.  Let’s teach our staff that is out there pitching how to pitch the right way.  Let’s do PR for the PR industry from the inside out, one step at a time.