I rarely got to speak to the public I was trying to reach. Having a press middleman irked me, big time. Reaching people with your message was like playing Chinese whispers. You tell the journalist “I want to say this…” and the journalist replies “well, hmm, i’m going to decide to change your message to this…”
Which sometimes works fine, PR is valuable for many companies. It scales quite well, and people believe it. But I still think there is usually a better way to spend my time.
I was once working with a client who wanted more women to begin a career in trade skills. I spent my time working with various women’s magazines, websites and even managed to get some editorial in The Sun. At the time, I thought it went well.
Today I have that niggling feeling, as I do about many PR efforts, that the time could be better spent just talking directly to the people I want to reach. I think, had I spent my hours talking to women in career forums, at DIY centres and just mingling with the right people – the results would have been better.
What does everyone else think? Would you do better just speaking to your public?
