We don't know enough about the other side
by Volker Weber
On November 12, 2002 -- yes, my memory is terrible as in 'I don't forget' -- I read a dossier about myself. And it was very good.
I was in Florence for an IBM event and I returned from a party to our hotel (@Vesey, this is where me met). At the welcome desk I picked up some material and in that stack of paper, there was a folder intended for an IBM executive, preparing her for the event. This was the first time I read the "other side".
Then yesterday I read this tweet by my esteemed colleague:
Frage an @TMickeleit: Hat auch Microsoft Deutschland solche Dossiers über Journalisten? https://t.co/CfXRKAxVqU
— Dr. Michael Spehr (@MicSpehr) August 6, 2016
Does Microsoft Germany have dossiers about journalists? Of course they do.
It dawned on me that journalists know too little about the hard work of PR professionals. The work they do when preparing meetings between executives and journalists. I was just lucky to have seen it years ago. And it was quite a revelation. Not that this folder contained anything shocking. It was just a testament of the excellent work that went into it. What was in there?
- A complete list of the messages IBM wanted to convey at this event. The products and services to be announced. Like a long form press release without the fluff.
- An FAQ. The questions that were expected to be asked as well as the answers to all of them.
- A list of all participants with a short bio. That included all journalists, their publication, the recent articles they had published, their interests, their relationship with IBM. And of course an assessment for each of them. I only read my own dossier and skipped over the other ones, btw.
This was fascinating reading. Not only did I have everything I needed to prepare my story. I also knew which questions I did not need to ask, because I already had all the answers to those. This was one of the best and most enjoyable interviews I ever had. An intelligent conversation between two well prepared people.
I wasn't supposed to have this folder and I returned it in the most discrete way. But it has opened my eyes to just a small part of what PR people do. And it made me curious enough to learn more about this profession. I think that journalists should do an internship in a PR agency to understand what is going on there.
We can turn this observation around. There are too many PR people who have no idea what happens between their pitch and an article in a newspaper.
Comments
Ha ha! Only the other day I was remembering that Florence conference. Totally agree about the value of a top-quality agency. For a tech company intelligent and well-thought-through PR is probably the best form of marketing, IMHO.