Media Relations

What to do when you have trouble communicating and there’s an important message to send? Qualification: You’re an ineffective communicator in the eyes of your 25-year-old daughter. And to make things more complex, you happen to be governor of the country’s coronavirus epicenter?

A bevy of questions asked during a recent PRNEWS webinar about media relations form the basis for this roundtable where PR pros discuss pitching and product launches during the pandemic. In short, you can pitch and launch products during the pandemic. It requires careful research and a sensitive approach, however.

Does the American public appreciate brand messaging during the pandemic? Is it reading your messages? How much is too much? These are some of the questions Clyde Group of Washington, DC, asked Ipsos to answer in the form of a poll of 1,000 consumers early in April. In general, the public likes corporate America’s coronavirus response, though there is room for improvement. The data was shared exclusively with PRNEWS.

It’s a useful coincidence that the PRSA chief also is a veteran healthcare communicator. After our initial visit with T. Garland Stansell during the very early moments of the coronavirus outbreak, we thought it was time to ask him how he thinks communicators are doing now, two months into the pandemic. The actions taken and message sent will linger in the public’s mind long after the pandemic subsides, he says.

Sometimes data confirms what you thought was occurring, other times it can offer surprises. Propel, a software firm, looked at data about pitching and found media relations pros are pitching more during the pandemic than they did in previous months. Fortunately, content creators are opening more pitches too. Propel also found pitching days have shifted.

Despite how the world’s changed in recent months, the fundamental axiom of media relations remains unchallenged.

The PPP loan program was supposed to help small businesses that the coronavirus ravaged. How, then, did ‘small businesses’ like the Los Angeles Lakers, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and AutoNation apply for and receive money?

After a weekend without any coronavirus task force updates from the federal government, the White House announced a full cancellation of today’s daily briefing. 

Pitching and media relations during the pandemic requires more nuance than it did before this moment. Still, media relations pros should not hibernate. Even if you decide it’s not the right time to be pitching, you should be planning for the time when more states begin to ease lockdown restrictions. These and other topics will be covered during an April 29 PRNEWS webinar.

In late February, coronavirus was starting to pierce the US zeitgeist. Garland Stansell, the PRSA chair and a veteran health care communicator, told us then that producing a consistent message is critical to communications during… Continued