Last week we were delighted to announce that PR planning specialist Gorkana is joining Metrica and Durrants to provide a best of breed PR planning, media monitoring and evaluation solution for every stage of the PR process.
I managed to catch up with Celina Maguire, Gorkana’s Consumer Director, and asked her to answer a very vexing public relations problem. Over to Celina:
Pet Peeve, noun: something about which one frequently complains; a particular personal vexation
Speak to any journalist and ask them their pet peeve about PRs and they will usually say one of two things: PRs who ring to “check” they have received their press release and PRs who clearly haven’t read their publication before phoning to sell in their “hot” news.
I hear these two gripes time and again from senior journalists I have in the hot seat as part of Gorkana’s regular breakfast briefing programme to help PRs get under the skin of key publications. On the Gorkana couch to date we’ve had the likes of Lisa Smorsarski, the savvy Stylist editor and her team, Heat editor Sam Delaney and his team, the Glam Media crew, News of the World’s Fabulous team (5.2 million readers and counting) and the boys from FHM revealing all about how they want to be approached by PRs and what stories will work for them.
On May 7, in front of a room full of 250+ PRs, I’ll be grilling Terri White, the editor of ShortList, the free weekly men’s title which has become a media phenomenon, her style director Adrian Clark and features editor Lucy Foster. Terri is planning to spill the beans on some brand new editorial plans for the magazine as well as telling PRs how they can get their client included in its sought after pages. If you want to know more about the Gorkana breakfast briefings emailevents@gorkana.com.
In the meantime, I’ve pulled together some little gems – anti-vexes if you will! – gleaned from the journos I’ve interviewed over the last six months about how they want to interact with PRs:
Lizanne Harris, Fashion Director, Stylist
Arrange press events in the morning around 8.30am or in the late afternoon from 3pm onwards as it is very difficult to leave the office once she has started for the day. Central London is the best location for convenience.
Lucie Cave, Executive Editor, heat
Lucie receives around 20 pitches from PRs each day and she and the team can spot which emails are circulars. Offer an exclusive as this will increase the size of the feature, for example they exclusively covered Fern Britton dressed as a man and will always attend celeb parties if they are given a unique opportunity. Lucie’s golden advice is: know the team, read the magazine, familiarise yourself with the sections and pitch to these directly.
Ally Pyle, Editor, Glam.com
Ally encourages personal relationships and one-on-one meetings with PRs wherever possible. She will always try to make time for a coffee or quick lunch meeting. Emails are the preferred method of contact.
Jo Upcraft, Lifestyle Editor, Fabulous
Jo is unlikely to cover anything older than six months, anything that has been placed elsewhere already or anything aesthetically unappealing. Statistics (eg 50% of women saw improved results…) are important and PRs should put those in the first few lines of a concise email, along with an interesting header. PRs should also read the magazine and suggest sections that would suit the story they’re selling in.
Colin Kennedy, Editor, FHM
Colin says PRs should not call before 10.30am – best to aim for between 5pm and 6pm, once the majority of the day’s work is behind the team. He likes PRs to email him, suggesting why a story might suit the magazine, and then follow up with a phone call the following day.
Jon Gripton, Chief News Editor, Sky News Online
Jon prefers to be contacted via email and particularly dislikes it when a cold call is made asking “have you received my email?” However, he actively encourages the personal touch, and appreciates those PRs who have forged a relationship with him over time by understanding the Sky News remit and audience.
Celina Maguire is Gorkana’s Consumer Director. Prior to joining Gorkana in 2008, Celina’s career incorporated journalism and PR where she has worked both in house and for a number of high profile agencies including Consolidated Communications and Le Fevre Communications.
Celina is on twitter @celinamary50 where you can follow her to keep up to date with all of her latest PR news and tips. Gorkana itself can be found at @Gorkana. Gorkana also regularly tweets about both journalist job opportunities and PR job opportunities.
