Q&A with PR expert Michelle Garrett

In today’s article, we visit with Public Relations expert Michelle Garrett.

According to her bio:

Michelle Garrett is a PR consultant, writer, and speaker who helps B2B businesses create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Michelle’s articles have been featured in Entrepreneur, Muck Rack and Ragan’s PR Daily, among others. She’s the founder and host of #FreelanceChat on Twitter, a co-host of #PRLunchHour on Twitter Spaces, and a frequent speaker on public relations. Michelle was named among the top ten most influential PR professionals in 2021 and 2022.

She has been a Public Relations expert for over 24 years, working with clients across the globe with various public relations needs, including content, press releases, and planning strategy help and more.

You can learn more about her on her website at www.michellegarrett.com.

Today Michelle answers questions that a web care agency might need to know to use public relations more effectively.

Some topics we address are the difference between public relations and marketing, advice on finding a PR professional, the use of influencer marketing, the effectiveness of Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and having a crisis communication plan.

How do you describe the difference between public relations and marketing?

There are probably a lot of ways to describe it, but I’d say that public relations focuses primarily on earned and owned media, while marketing focuses more on paid media. PR is more about building and maintaining a company’s reputation, while marketing is more about increasing sales.

Public relations, as defined by PRSA, “is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

When should a company use a press release, and when is it just noise?

That’s a great question – and one I see a lot. I think what often happens is when people think of public relations, they immediately think of press releases. First, press releases are not ALL PR professionals work on – and second, an organization does not always need a press release. Depending on what type of news or story they want to communicate and who they are trying to reach, a press release may be an effective vehicle for that – or it may not be necessary.

My thought is that if someone requests that a press release be written, questions should be asked first. I wrote about it here:

Read 5 Questions to Ask Before You Write Your Next Press Release

Beyond that, if you do determine that a press release is an effective way to share your news, keep in mind there are still things to discuss, such as:

• Do we need to use a wire service to disseminate the press release? No.
• Do we need to pitch the press release to the media if we want earned media coverage? Yes.

Should a company pay to have their business featured as a top company in a niche magazine, etc? To be on a “top 50” list, etc.?

Absolutely not. These are scams. If you’re being asked to pay for media coverage, it’s no longer PR – it’s paid media (often known as advertising).

While people still fall for these scams, those who know what these are understand that they carry NO credibility.

If you decide to pay, just be upfront about it by communicating that this is a paid opportunity and not trying to pass it off as PR or earned media.

IS HARO still an effective tool? Should we look at other options to help with public relations?

Hmm…well, sometimes? A lot of what is there now is somewhat junky, to be honest. There are a few opportunities here and there that are legitimate, but the issue there is that there are often SO many responses that yours may not be selected for inclusion. I view HARO as reactive PR and sort of an “extra” – but it should not be the focus of your PR program.

What is your advice for finding podcasts to expand our range and visibility?

Podcasts are tough because there are SO many. I have a colleague, Michelle Glogovac, who is an expert on pitching her clients to podcasts and understands how to do it. I think she might agree that there is no reliable database to help with this, although I think some of the media database companies are trying to catch up on this.

My advice would be to listen to the podcasts you want to be a guest on, then pitch them an idea based on what you know they focus on. I see a lot of podcast hosts express annoyance that those who pitch haven’t listened to their show before pitching (similar to how journalists might be annoyed by those who pitch story ideas without reading a single article they’ve written).

Should service based businesses use influence marketing? What do you think?

I don’t know about this one. I think if you can figure out a way to work with influencers in your industry – by featuring their quotes in a blog post or article, for example – that can help increase your visibility and credibility.

What should a business look for when hiring a PR professional to help?

I think they should ask questions about the type of clients they’ve worked with and the results they’ve been able to achieve. I think there are clients who expect overnight results and maybe PR pros who promise this – but in reality, it takes time to get results.

And the client needs to participate in the process and collaborate with the PR pro. What is the client bringing to the table? Can they offer thought leaders? Customer stories? Something beyond product news? If they’re looking for a PR pro to wave a magic wand and make something happen – without bringing anything for the PR pro to work with – that can be a problem.

I guess I’m saying that the client should take a look at themselves before they start talking to PR pros. Here are 10 questions I suggest they ask themselves before engaging in a PR effort:

Read Are You REALLY Ready for a PR Push? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself First

Should a company have something in place to handle “damage control?”

Yes! A crisis communications plan can be helpful. Also, if you work with a PR pro on an ongoing basis, they can help you manage a crisis and respond to any issues. If you stick your head in the sand and say nothing in a situation like this, that isn’t a good look. And keep in mind that there are ALL types of crises – a company executive can say something off color, there can be a data breach, there can be a financial crisis, there could be some type of natural disaster, and on and on.

Companies that believe they will never face a crisis and therefore do NO planning or preparation are vulnerable if something does go wrong.

Wrapping it up

To sum up, Michelle Garrett provides valuable insights and advice on various PR-related topics, helping web care agencies and businesses understand how to use PR effectively to build their reputation and increase their visibility.

Have you used Public Relations for your web care business? Let us know in the MainWP Facebook Users Group.