Why engaging PR services early matters

We have finally reached Melbourne Cup week, the time of year where in Australia we can universally acknowledge the holidays are in sight and we breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Conversations with clients start turning to what can be achieved within the last six or seven weeks of the calendar year, what needs to be pushed and planning for 2025.

The role of PR may start coming into these conversations, which is why I am taking the opportunity to persuade anyone listening that if you are considering engaging PR, do it early.

Now, before I start prosecuting my case, I wanted to share a quick refresher on some of the myths around PR and what PR professionals can do so we are all on the same page:

PR professionals can control all media coverage.

A common misconception is that PR professionals can completely control how a story is told in the media. In the spirit of the impending US election, this is Fake News.

In truth, we can only influence how messages are framed; journalists ultimately decide what to report.

We can’t always prevent negative coverage or guarantee positive stories.

PR is spin and PR professionals are ‘spin doctors’.

While the speed at which the media cycle moves can be dizzying, I do not consider myself to be master of spin – nor should I be anyway associated with a doctor.

Misleading or manipulating the truth is not the ABC PR way primarily because misleading information can backfire, damaging credibility and relationships with the public, media, and clients which then makes my job harder.

Rather, I subscribe to a lower risk process focused on transparency, authenticity, and building trust – no less stress, but I generally can sleep well at night.

PR is an easy, quick fix.

PR is a grind, so be prepared for a commitment of both time and financial.

PR doesn’t drive business results.

It’s often thought that PR doesn’t contribute directly to business outcomes like sales or growth.

However it can significantly impact brand perception, customer loyalty, and stakeholder trust, which are essential to long-term success and revenue generation vis a vie PR CAN help in driving business results. It just may not be a linear metric to trace in the short term.

PR is just distributing media releases.  

While press releases are one tool, PR encompasses a broad range of activities, including media relations, crisis management, and reputation management.

The role of PR is to be the brand custodian.

There are also other tools to deploy such as targeted media pitches, media alerts, or opinion pieces that can be used strategically to achieve business outcomes.

Distributing a media release ≠ media strategy

Further to the above, let me be clear, a media release is not a media strategy.

And by extension distributing a media release to a list of journalists without a strategy is setting yourself up for failure. Hear me out.

This approach is often referred to as the ‘spray and pray’ method. Which as the name suggests is rooted in faith that a journalist might be interested in your news – the pray element.

In my experience it often has the desired effect of pissing journo’s off whereby they either ignore the media release (either because it’s completely irrelevant to their publication) or if they are feeling particularly irritated, respond with a polite ‘please remove me from your mailing list.’ Brutal, but fair.

Choosing to engage PR purely in a distribution capacity can taint your reputation before you even get started. Sure you could score some coverage, but it might come at the cost of future opportunities.

Remember PR is the long game and like with any charm offensive you must constantly assess what the other person needs or wants.

I can categorically say that no one wants unsolicited, irrelevant media releases popping into their inbox – even if they are beautifully crafted.

So, what are the benefits of bringing PR early?

The overarching benefit of engaging with PR early in the planning process is to take a strategic approach to communicating your news externally. Other benefits include:

Telling a good… or better story

The crux, the core, the very essence of any product launch, company news or communications campaign is the story.

What are you trying to say and who are trying say it to?

By identifying responses to these two questions will help anchor your comms and guide the story.

The communication tools or assets like media releases, media pitches or longer form bylines/opinion pieces will be extensions of this.  

The storytelling process takes time to refine and requires constant attention as it evolves. A professional can help craft that story from the perspective of outside eyes, we can also help shape something that is your news to become the news – a critical distinction.

Having a professional in the room when these stories start to take root can be a guardian of the core narrative without getting bogged down in the bells and whistles.

Telling a good story is only worthy when the audience understands.

It's about more than just distribution — it's about building a story that resonates with your audience. Then telling it again and again across a variety of channels until people start to understand.

Get the timing right

Timing. Is. Everything.

You can have the most exciting news in the world, but if you decide to launch the same week Taylor Swift drops her Taylor’s version Reputation album, you will be gazumped. Period.

Equally if your news relates to a relevant timely event, you could leverage this to try and secure coverage.

Assessing what events are happening outside of your business or organisation is pivotal to the planning process and PR’s can assist with this.

Some things you can plan for like Central Bank meetings, elections and earnings season. But other things like TSwift’s album drop you cannot.

They will just drop, and you will need to pivot. Building flexibility into the PR component of a launch plan is essential because you have no control of the news.

Identify risks, prepare accordingly

The essence of PR is an exercise in risk management.

We are constantly thinking about what could go wrong, while simultaneously working towards a positive outcome.

Preparation is nine tenths of execution as my Mother drilled into me, which rings especially true when engaging in an uncontrolled environment like media.

Gather proof points that stack up

I cannot stress this enough, saying something is different from showing something.

Having appropriate and relatable metrics are critical before engaging any media or starting any external communications.

Journalists work under the creed, trust but verify. If you cannot verify your claims, you cannot win media…unless you are Trump. But that’s a whole other blog.

Looking beyond act one

Assessing what talent is available and identifying their role within the communications rollout can be really helpful before outreach. As this will help build a better story over the long term, beyond the announcement or ‘hard news.’

Engaging PR early in your ‘big news’ project can help you to maximise opportunities and mitigate potential risks so you can move forward with eyes wide open.

Engaging media or even the possibility can be daunting, so by preparing well with a clear strategy for best case scenario and worst will empower you to confidently step into the unknown.  

When should you engage a PR?

You have identified the news you want to share; you know what you want to say and now it’s time to assemble the team.

1.      Get clear on your ask and your budget
Develop your brief and get clear on your objectives, what success looks like and how you expect to work together. Budget is also really important to establish before prospecting for pro’s and makes the process a lot smoother for everyone.

2.      Research the right fit
PR is a wide spectrum, so do your research; a good PR will always explain their area of expertise and offer advice based on experience.
If they aren’t the right fit, they may have other recommendations or someone else they can refer you to.

3.      Start the process early
In case you missed it, start early.  Finding the right fit can take time and a good rule of thumb would be to engage PR service three months before the slated ‘go-live’ date.  

I usually like to have at least 8-10 weeks pre ‘go live’ date to start preparing.
This allows time to workshop the messaging, agree on a strategy that aligns with business goals, develop the assets and start the pre-launch media engagement.

Remember the launch is only the beginning of the conversation, just like any good story, people will want to hear more.

So it’s important to consider how you can keep the momentum going with ongoing engagement.

As everyone starts turning their minds to those sweet summer hols.

Think ahead to your upcoming campaigns, business milestone and launches.

Don’t wait until the last minute — engage PR early and get the ball rolling now to set yourself up for success.