#ChaseTake Recap - Drive-By PR Tips for Speedy Consumption

The following are some of the #ChaseTake posts I've made in 2022. I've aggregated them here for new followers who don't feel like scrolling through dozens of old posts for one-sentence bites of PR wisdom.

If you like what you read, for every #chasetake ?hashtag follow, an angel gets its street cred.

• The cool product updates your company does for your community are not necessarily newsworthy to reporters, so know what to tweet and what to pitch.
• Sermon time: The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that putting a press release over the Wire would result in meaningful coverage; God created embargoes knowing the media who matter don't like to chase news after it has been announced.
• Save announcements for things that matter and not to meet quotas; The more press releases you distribute, the less meaningful coverage you will get.
• In PR, avoid being a yes person when working with clients and avoid being a no person when working with anyone else.
• Saying something to a reporter and then adding the caveat that it is "off the record" is like giving me a box of thin mints and then asking to have one - you're too late, sucker; OTRs always have to be agreed on first, just like my thin mints.?
• If a reporter pauses during an interview, it's not because they are thinking; they're just waiting for your spokesperson to go off script to fill the space.
• When onboarding a PR agency, do it months in advance like you were planning a big wedding, or the results will be like eloping?- rushed and without much fanfare.
• The hardest part of working at a PR agency that bills by the hour is not the work, it's documenting the time spent doing it.
• Never hard sell something that doesn't deserve it even if you can find a buyer; once they discover the truth, you will have also sold off your credibility.
• Sorry if you can't hear me over the music...I said a dinner with 5 reporters is more beneficial for bonding than a party with 100.
• If you give away or mail out promotional swag that is not visible during a Zoom call, then are you actually promoting something?
• If asked if a reporter is on your primary media list and you have to check, then your list is too long; when it comes to outreach quality should trump quantity.
• When it comes to planning, don't let perfection obstruct the window of opportunity; perfection only matters when it comes to embargo dates/time zones and the name of the reporter.
• Somebody asked me what's the most common mistake startups without PR make...it's thinking they can do PR effectively on their own without a background in it.
• A good publicist has to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations such as being the conversation starter when hosting a media dinner with strangers where shyness is a liability.
• The best story idea you can share with a reporter is one that doesn't involve your own company; eventually you will get your turn when your story is the right one.
• Oh wow, a product from an established brand that the media were excited about got plenty of coverage: The true skill of a PR professional is measured on what they accomplish between major announcements, not just during one.
• PR agency staff often focus on the client who barks the loudest, but the quietest clients are not always the happiest.
• Guaranteed success means spoiling your own surprise (but in a small vague way): PR people often come up with costly novel events they think will wow the press, but few backward engineer it by auditing some reporters in advance to see if it is something they would attend or cover.
• Twitter apologies are a game you can't win: the public will either say it looked like a publicist wrote it or that the person needed a publicist.
• Pitching media on covering a press release on the same day it was distributed is like going into a videogame boss battle without first stocking up on supplies.
• Time travel does exist: If a spokesperson mangles their speaking points during an interview, there is no harm in emailing the reporter a more articulate take from the same spokesperson for "added clarity."
• Unless the media cares about your C-suite, the best way to announce new hires is to tie it in with another?company announcement like investments or product releases; few pubs cover new hires, so this increases the chance that those who?don't will include it when covering your other news.
• The Trojan Horse is the ideal blueprint for PR outreach to press: Keep your pitch 3 sentences or less to gain entrance, and if they open the gate for a conversation then share the army of text that backs up your story idea.
• The kidnapping is more compelling than the ransom, so judge a publicist by how they secured coverage not where they secured it.
• If you are measuring coverage by the number of impressions a site gets, then you might as well measure the popularity of a restaurant by the number of cars that drive by it.
• Always get a second set of eyes on any release, blog post, or event invitation you draft, because there will always be one error your own expert editing eyyes missed.
• There is a difference between knowing good PR practices and practicing good PR.
• The only person excited to see the word "excited" in a canned press release quote is the spokesperson with lazy PR counsel.
• All press is good press until they call your product shit or your CEO a predator.
• Trusting that the reporters on a media list you didn't vet yourself are all there is like trusting me around your fries...at least a handful are gone.
• Don't partner with someone for a press release and then ask for their help to amplify it AFTER it is distributed...a lifted embargo is like expired milk when it comes to garnering post-distribution media interest.
• A big PR agency doesn't necessarily get you better publicists than a smaller one, it just gets you more of them.
• Props to tapeworms for teaching the most important rule about pitching reporters: a good parasite never kills its host
• Treat co-workers like clients when fielding their questions--there is usually more guidance you can provide that goes beyond just saying yes, no, or I don't know.
• Never keep all your key documents solely in the Cloud since the power will go out when you need them most.
• As long as no drone can prove otherwise, the success of an event will come down to a perfect shot not a perfect attendance: a photo of 20 enthusiastic people crammed together trying to get a free shirt will impress people more than 100 indifferent people loosely spaced out.?