For a good journalist professional communication is a matter of finding the right angle. An angle is a claim that the receiver demands justification for! Bingo.
Basically, PR and communication is an interesting interaction between a sender, a subject matter, and a receiver.
It begins with the preparations: What do you want to achieve? Get to the point! And who do you want to reach? Define the objective and the target group.
The next step is the challenge of finding the exact claims on the matter which can catch the interest of the receivers to the extent that they demand more information on your website. This is what finding an angle is all about: creating interaction in a one-way communication.
I am the King of Angling, and I am wild about development. Therefore I can without bragging say: My press releases are used as articles in newspapers and for TV and radio reports.
I have done PR and Communication for DanChurch Aid, ActionAid Denmark, World Bank, Scandinavian Medical Society of Paraplegia, Aarhus Business School, VIA University College Horsens and many, many more.
Ads and commercials I don’t know much about. And I am not a big believer in them, either. My advice will often be: Save the money, also those to the advertisement companies.
Please note, that I don’t do PR for anyone or anything. It must make some sense for me, and even more importantly, it must not do any harm.
It is better to be pro-active end reactionary. When communication consultants offer damage control, it is because the change is occurring too late. I don’t mind damage control, but for me the aim is not to cover up but rather to correct an error and gain time for changes. Better late than never! And I will never say never again.
Disclaimer: There are limits for what I want to be part of. If a client has something to hide, it is better to find another consultant, or even better a lawyer. I don’t want to sound sanctimonious, but if the consideration to the public’s ”right to know” has more weight that the consideration to the client, then I go with the public.
