Council Post: What To Look For When Hiring A Publicist

An experienced communications strategist is more than a publicist. They should be a sound advisor who provides a broader societal view when it comes to messaging — someone who understands where the news is headed and how to position your brand into that cycle. It helps if they have a strong intuition for what makes for a good story.

There are many successful entrepreneurs, politicians and entertainers who have a gut instinct on how to move the media narrative. Like or dislike his politics, President Trump has a pretty good understanding of how to get his different brands on the news.

Going back to his time in reality TV and even farther back as a New York tabloid fixture, Trump knew what the media liked. White House correspondent Jonathan Karl shares a story in his new book on how a younger Donald Trump followed his gut to publicity when they were both younger cubs in their respective industries.

Karl tells a story of how Trump broke all the rules of confidentiality for the sake of media coverage when Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley stayed in Trump Tower as newlyweds. He writes how Trump took him up to Jackson’s apartment and showed him how the famous couple was living and evading reporters.

Even though the approach was controversial and risked alienating the trust of current tenants, Trump followed his gut, knowing what the public wanted to hear. The approach led to front-page exposure for his brand.

Best Publicists Understand Messaging Nuances

I’ve advised many CMOs from elite business schools. They have a deep understanding of business and marketing — and they’re very smart — but they frequently get lost when it comes to identifying the narrative needed for coverage.

The media has many nuances that aren’t taught in journalism or business schools. If you’re looking for that takeaway here, sorry; explaining media nuances is too vast for a short editorial. But in a simplified manner, the messaging between marketing and news is different.

Many CEOs, CMOs and entrepreneurs have a unique perspective based on their day-to-day experiences and exposures, but those stories frequently don’t come out because they’re framed as a marketing message. It’s the job of the publicist to dig deeper and reframe that marketing story into a news story. Marketing is selling. News is timely and contains an angle that adds insight to the current situation. A good publicist can distinguish and pivot between the two.

Experienced Publicists Follow Media Practices

You can get into a lot of trouble with the media if you don’t understand their playbook. For example, there is no such thing as “off the record” when a reporter approaches you directly for answers. Many people wrongly think in the middle of the interview that they can switch to being off the record. It doesn’t work like that.

If a reporter is pursuing a story and approaches you directly for an answer, what you say is on the record. Even if you say, “I don’t have a comment,” that is your comment, and it will likely be printed. And for the record, you never want to give a reporter a blanket response like “No comment” because it gives the journalist carte blanche. For any story that has legal ramifications, a response is needed. If your response is “No comment,” the reporter has effectively given you an opportunity to respond, and since you said no, your accountability is weakened.

An experienced publicist knows how to be a bodyguard protecting you from negative stories. I’ve worked with a few politicians and CEOs who tell the reporter, “Hey, call me directly anytime.” I understand their rationale for this approach; they want to be receptive to media opportunities. But this is extremely dangerous.

Let’s use a real-life situation with President Trump. There is no shelter if President Trump hears a question he doesn’t want to answer. He might try to deflect or even attack the reporter, but that doesn’t remove the question and answer from the public record.

But when you have a media intermediary, you have a little more time to think through the responses and debate the ramifications of specific questions. If President Trump had an active press secretary fielding questions, he would have more time to formulate a thoughtful answer and approach. You lose this advantage when you’re in the firing range.

Intuition Is A Publicist’s Hidden Gem

Intuition will take you far with the media, since much of journalism revolves around human behavior. I found during my time in journalism that most people make the same mistakes when it comes to telling their stories.

This is where intuition can play a factor in securing positive publicity. A great publicist can read tea leaves, and it’s not pseudoscience. It’s actually behavioral science.

Try to look beyond the surface with your potential publicist. Do they have a solid sense of intuition? If so, you might have a winner.

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