CEE - Warsaw
PR – Expert v celebrity?
Not knowing the media is the fundamental
source of problems with communication in
professional services firms.This was the
opinion of journalists from national dailies,
who met with lawyers and PR professionals
during the Forum’s Media Panel in Warsaw,
hosted by Deloitte.
Publications can get hundreds of press
releases each week, so they need to grab an
editor’s attention. Some stories sell themselves,
others need a little more work,
though how can professional firms best
balance two different approaches to getting
media coverage? There is the ‘expert’
approach and there is the ‘celebrity’ or ‘any
visibility’ approach.The expert approach
takes dedication and time and the meeting
discussed what the media expect from
professional advisors who want to be seen
as experts and how to make your professional
opinion attractive and how to give it a
wider context, making it business or sociallyoriented.
Many professional firms are guilty of not
knowing the publications well enough that
they want to get coverage in. Equally, many
journalists do not know how difficult it is
sometimes to respond quickly with an
expert opinion to a complicated subject.
This meeting built more understanding in
this area. Our special guests shared their
thoughts briefly. Grzegorz Kiszluk, an expert
on sales, marketing and communication,
talked on the role of Public Relations in
professional services. Maria Jasinska from
Wolters Kluwer Poland and Krzysztof
Chmielewski from Ipsos Polling Institute
showed examples of soon-to-be-launched
business confidence surveys that are aimed
to attract media attention and bring
integrity to lawyers. Journalists of the four
most influential Polish daily broadsheets,
Forbes monthly magazine and economic
Radio PIN, shared their experiences and
provided advice on how to develop media
relations in business and professional services.
According to Jim Schachter, the New York
Times Business Editor:“Sending a press
release to the New York Times is like sending
a satellite to Pluto.” Press releases written by
lawyers have all the appeal, news, and timeliness
of white rice.We place 300 to 400
different legal stories every month, using a
total of one to two press releases monthly
as the tools to place those stories. Guests of
the Media Panel agreed that press releases,
like any legal tactic in a lawyer’s bag, have
their place and time but it is seldom and not
always.Why? Do not write in the style of a
law report – magazines are looking for
analysis and opinion written in an entertaining
way, not just the facts. Attendees
proposed and pointed to the beginning of a
good revolution in the Polish media. It is
good or even very good, when professional
services public relations consultants are
involved between the expert and the
media. In the face of huge competition in
the media market the information which is
prompt, well-structured, to the point and
with background in respect of the current
economic and legal affairs is valuable and
there is no time for a never ending discussions.
Research or other insights can be
offered to the media to maintain the relationship
when other stories are few and far
between.The Forum’s Media Panel gathered
together more than 40 attendees, including
managing partners of Deloitte Poland and
Laszczuk & Partners, one of the biggest
Polish law offices.
Pawel Osowski
Warsaw Consultants
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