Stretching Boundaries Episode 5: Jason Michael on What Today's PR Requires

“A lot of people think PR equals ‘press release’ – we put a press release out, we’re gonna put it over the wire and then let the money flow in.”That’s Jason Michael, Elasticity’s Senior VP of Public Relations talking on the newest episode of the Stretching Boundaries Podcast about the false expectations clients can have when it comes to the PR space. “I love Mad Men, but I think it ruined a lot of people’s perception of what this job is.”He’s right. Mad Men is a show set in a 1960s ad agency. Back then, they were advertising Kodak slide projectors and Western Union telegrams. So it’ll come as no surprise that the advertising industry itself, just like the brands it pushed, has evolved in the last 70 years. You can’t just put out a press release and expect it to be picked up anymore. There’s way more to it these days. “A company will see a competitor on the front page of the New York Times, or quoted in CNN, or they’re on Squawk Box, and they wonder how they got on there,” says Michael. “That conversation may have started 18 months ago. They talked to that producer, they gave them a bit of insight, they laid the seeds. And when that story came up, they had a chance to jump on it.”Relationships have always mattered in the PR space, but as time moves forward and the pace of news speeds up, finding ways to provide unique value is proving to be the real difference maker in getting your client’s name out there. And that means not just being reactive to the current environment, but being proactive as well. “People think that all you have to do is know those reporters and know those producers and you’ll be able to jump in – they’ve already made their phone calls, they’ve already reached out and they’ve already got their guests booked. That’s why it’s so important to play that long game.”So how do you play that game well?