Why it’s time to humanise PR
How often have we, as PR professionals, typed out the redundant greeting ‘Dear Editors’? After carefully selecting each email address that goes into the BCC tab, we then ruin our efforts by sending a blanket, impersonal greeting that immediately suggests a lack of care and attention. While digital communication has connected us like never before, it can also make us forget that we are contacting real people, and many of us have developed bad habits as a result. A BCC email saves time, but what does it lose?
I’m not suggesting that we duplicate the same email and change the name at the top either. This is almost as bad as a BCC, because in a world where relationships are more important than ever and where we want to be engaged on a human level, it is high time that we went the extra mile to curate our own communication process.
During my PR career, I’ve learnt that every email, every phone call and every greeting is a building block in a relationship and a page in the story we’re telling. This isn’t limited to media relations, but in fact goes beyond that to include our interactions with our clients and even colleagues. Before hitting send, dialing a number or attending a meeting, we need to think about the person we are talking to and how we can best establish a personable engagement with them.
As pros, we are the masters of communication, how we can put this to good use to foster meaningful, mutually beneficial media relationships?
How to forge empathy in PR
How can we humanise our process in light of our new mandate to engage by transforming our approach to communicating with the media?
- Getting to know you: We need to learn more about the people we deal with on a regular basis by sensitively searching out common ground through LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media platforms. When done considerately, this can reveal shared hobbies, interests or backgrounds, sparking a better relationship from the word go.
- Eliminate impersonal communication: Let’s say goodbye to the BCC email once and for all and tailor our approach to every contact based on our understanding of their preferences, interests and personality. Take the time to customise your communication and send original emails to each individual.
- Face-to-face communication: We live in a digital world, but you still can’t beat a face-to-face meeting. Don’t let your relationship be limited to your inbox or mobile phone – branch out and have the confidence to see them in person. Putting a face to a name is essential for establishing a human connection and building a relationship.
- Show respect: This should be obvious, but is sometimes neglected. Showing respect for your media contacts involves honouring agreed deadlines, sending only newsworthy content, and maintaining a professional relationship by contacting them a reasonable amount at sensible times, and only with content that is relevant to their publication.
- Mutual benefits: A good relationship is a two-way street. In return for showing interest in our stories and publishing our content, we must give back by providing the media with market insights, quotes and reports that we believe could be helpful to them in their job. This will be appreciated by them and create a mutually beneficial relationship.
At the end of the day, nobody likes receiving another template email that has been sent to hundreds of other addresses. Let’s personalise our approaches to the media; it’s worth a shot to humanise our profession.
Khaled Abu Hishme is Account Director at Cicero & Bernay Public Relations. An independent PR agency headquartered in Dubai and offering new-age public relations consultancy to the UAE and across the MENA. |www.cbpr.me