Both sides now: PR lessons from a target’s viewpoint

Marketer offers insights into what attracts journalist—and what repels them

In a movie released several years ago, Mel Gibson plays a man who is struck by lightning and then can detect women’s thoughts. The character, an ad agency executive (Hollywood’s default jerk stereotype), uses his new ability to learn truths about women that he would never have known otherwise.

What does this have to do with PR, you ask? In the past several months, I’ve attended several events registered as a member of the media as a result of my blogs and contributions to online publications. This status has given me the chance to see hundreds of pitches and experience PR as a “target.”

I’ve started to realize many things about public relations that most journalists know and many PR pros are blissfully unaware of. I typically describe myself first as a marketer and second as working in a large PR agency. This media-member experience, however, has been invaluable for my understanding the world of PR and how to work with my teammates better, as well as how to be more effective in a PR environment. Here are a few lessons I’ve learned: