After some interesting debate on Twitter this morning primarily involving the rarely-shy Charles Arthur and Paul Maher, with the sticking in of an oar (in her inimitable and admirable style) by Sally Whittle, something has been drawn into sharp focus for me.
PRs who get told to do something when they know it’s a bloody stupid thing to do should stand up for themselves.
The issue under the microscope earlier today was media audits, that hollow, hated and typically worthless process whereby a junior PR person is tasked with calling a bunch of journalists and asking their opinions on the PR operation of a certain client, their editorial focus, their views of a market sector and so on. My view on media audits is that they can work well – if you ask the right questions of the right people you can help deliver a better service for them as a result. It’s qualitative research.
Yet the majority of media audits are a pile of irritating plop. A case of shit in, shit out.
A round of calls made to hacks who don’t want to answer the questions, or give fob-off answers. Questions posed by people who don’t fully understand them, or that they’re probably not even the right questions to be asking. And all dreamed up by someone more senior at the agency whose standard new client or pitch playbook includes the media audit.
Because they somehow think that it’s a good idea to demonstrate that this is stuff you’d never thought to ask before, and that as a PR agency you never really talk much to journalists, so doing so now might be a good thing. A bit like a dating agency calling all of the blokes on its books and asking whether they like fanny, and expecting to receive a pat on the back from the ladies for doing so.
Still though, too many clients lap up the media audit. Largely because the ‘senior strategist’ on the agency or pitch team will have thought it to be a good idea. And the poor junior PRs get tasked with whipping one up.
For me the media audit underlines the contention that junior PRs in agency who know that what they’re being asked to do is a daft idea need to stand up for themselves more. And those asking them to do the deed need to apply their brains to what will really deliver value for their clients, and how they can go about really learning what journalists do and don’t want from them.
The same is true of other questionable media tasks that some account directors and managers ask for:
1. Call back to ask why the hack is not interested in the story
2. Repitch the same information as purported news days after it broke
3. Ask a freelancer when the piece will run and on which page
4. Ask if the journalist wants to go to a small village near Swindon to see a piece of software in action
5. Ask why they left a certain bit of information out of the story, or ask them to add something in as a ‘correction’
So if you work for an agency and your boss asks for something that makes you think they’re a bit of a knob for even asking it, please do question its value and whether there’s a better way to achieve the same goal. Do so politely, with the best interests of the client and media at heart, being rational and citing examples that make your experience radiate.
And if they’re still a knob, consider changing agencies.
And if you know which agency is now giving journalists £30 (a whole 30 English pounds) for suffering a media audit call, do share.
