Crisis advice – Is it better to remain quiet during a crisis and let time resettle the storyline?
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
One of the biggest mistakes people make during a crisis is believing they can “win” the story after the public has already moved on.
That can quickly backfire if the strategy or approach is off.
We’re seeing this in real-time with the Bill Belichick and Jordan Hudson scandal. Remember their scandal? We almost forgot after Mike Vrbael and Dianna Russini dominated the headlines with their scandal.
Belichick was so close to becoming irrelevant but his girlfriend made a classic PR mistake that brought their story back into the news cycle.
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
“How many media stories can you guarantee?”
That is one of the most popular questions I hear from potential clients during our initial conversations. It’s a telling question because it helps me better understand how much they know about PR.
No matter what any publicist or PR agency tells you, no one can guarantee earned media coverage. You can’t buy a story with any major news organization. Yes, you can buy an advertisement or a commercial on TV but that is not the same as a news segment or article that relinquishes control to the editorial leaders.
Scope of Work: Event Publicity – Coordinated and Promoted their Annual Tech Summit – MBS CalculTech
Background:
The accounting tech firm, MBSATA, approached for help in promoting their annual tech summit in New York City – MBS CalculTech. The accounting tech firm also wanted to elevate their brand presence, generate new business leads, and sales for their fintech products. Given the challenges of making accounting an engaging topic for the media, MACIAS PR devised a targeted strategy to position MBSATA as a thought leader in the nonprofit and tech startup space. All of our advanced publicity promoted their annual tech event helped it achieve its largest turnout ever.
Challenge:
Accounting is a mundane and systematically boring topic for journalists. Additionally, the broad nature of accounting services—including bookkeeping and financial advisory— reinforced a perception that this firm was like all the rest. Our PR campaign needed to identify fresh angles and create narratives to differentiate MBSATA from their competition.
Messaging:
MACIAS PR focused the media campaign around thought leadership every business owner needs to know. We positioned the event as an opportunity to network, learn and meet similar people by attending their tech summit.
Media Deliverables:
MACIAS PR successfully placed articles in prominent publications, including Forbes and ValueWalk. The Forbes editorial, “5 Red Flags That Inexperienced Entrepreneurs Must Avoid to Attract Investors”, gained so much traction that Forbes added it to their Editor’s Choice section, amplifying its reach and credibility.
Our story in Valuewalk also elevated their accounting firm with their targeted clients. We ghost wrote a story on behalf of the CEO and placed it with Valuewalk. The story, “Biggest Mistakes Nonprofits Make with Audits” was a targeted thought leadership approach that gave advice directly to CEOs and CFOs in position to hire MBSATA.
Why do so many PR campaigns fail with the media? It’s very likely the strategy is off and a generic PR approach from a previous campaign was applied.
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
One of the biggest misconceptions people have about PR is the belief that media campaigns operate like a generic transaction.
Build a large enough media list, send enough emails, follow the right “formula,” and eventually coverage will hit. It doesn’t work like that. And unfortunately, it’s not just founders and CMOs that believe PR is as simple as that.
A few weeks ago, I received an email from an international agency asking for PR support with their client. The agency has a strong roster of international clients and corporations. On the surface, I thought this group understood the complexities of PR and the nuance of messaging.
And then I got an email from the account supervisor. She said the client wanted to hear more specifics on the actual deliverables. “For example: How many articles/features would be included? What type of TV placements? Podcast interviews? Estimated timelines? Any guaranteed deliverables?”
But here’s the kicker: she didn’t share any details about the client, their goals from PR, their timeframe, their targeted audience, etc. She treated the campaign like it was another generic PR campaign.
They were asking for a media outcome before defining the actual media challenge. And honestly, that exchange perfectly explains why so many generic PR approaches fail.
Maybe this account executive was young but she should have told the client there is no such thing as guaranteed media coverage. You can’t buy a story on CNBC or the Wall Street Journal. Yes, you can buy an ad, but that’s not the same thing as earned coverage.
(You can read more about the differences of PR and advertising by clicking here).
A closer look at the Hidden PR Advantage: Understanding How Newsroom Deadlines Really Work
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
Deadlines Shape Everything
Many people looking for publicity talk about storytelling but their execution misses newsroom timing.
Deadlines have a large influence over stories, and how quickly reporters respond. A reporter’s mood, openness to new ideas and responsiveness can be influenced by the deadlines they face.
It might seem obvious but you never want to pitch a reporter when they’re overwhelmed by a deadline. The challenge is understanding when those deadlines occur and identifying those pressure points.
How Deadlines Work for Different Media Outlets
Deadlines are not always obvious. Different outlets operate under different timelines. TV, print, digital, magazines, podcasts and newsletters all face a different type of deadline. TV deadlines can frequently go down to the second while newsletters might only have editorial calendars that are never concrete.
This is one of the hidden advantages experienced media professionals bring into PR. They understand the behavioral flow of newsrooms — when reporters are hunting aggressively for stories versus when they’re simply trying to survive the day. It’s much easier to catch a journalist that is on the hunt versus one who is about the produce a new segment.
Why Timing Matters More Than Most Pitches
During my time as Executive Producer with NBC and CBS, I saw average story ideas get coverage because they landed at the right moment. A segment needed to get filled or a story fell-through at the last minute.
I’ve also seen strong ideas get lost or overlooked because they were introduced at the wrong time. A reporter could have been 2 days away from going on vacation, and even though he wanted to pursue it, there was really no time to finish it.
Understanding the story approval process is a critical component to securing media coverage. The best PR agencies understand how a story is nearly guaranteed if you can get over this last hurdle.
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
This is another area where many executives misunderstand the media.
By the time a national reporter calls you, there’s a good chance the story already received some level of editorial approval. It could be an informal or formal approval with an editor, or just a simple directive from an Executive Producer to pursue the angle.
This reassurance saves the reporter time from chasing angles that might never get approval. This process is especially prominent at the national level.
A closer look at how newsrooms work with editorial meetings, story approvals, deadlines and what happens before a reporter calls you.
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
I received a spam email recently from a publicist trying to sell me PR. The sales pitch itself revealed something much bigger about how disconnected many people are from how the media actually works. His email read:
“One proven strategy I’ve used for the last 20 years is to use Editorial Calendars to find out what topics a media outlet is covering and what type of people they are looking to interview…then reach out to them and let them know you are available. We offer guaranteed placements…”
There are several problems with this email.
First, nobody in PR can guarantee media placements. You can’t guarantee earned media because reporters, editors, and producers ultimately control coverage decisions — not publicists. Anyone promising guaranteed placements is usually selling sponsored content, low-level placements, or they simply don’t understand how real newsrooms operate.
But the bigger issue was the simplistic understanding of editorial calendars.
That advice might have worked twenty years ago for long-lead magazines planning holiday gift guides six months in advance. But modern newsrooms — especially national TV, business media, and digital outlets — no longer use editorial calendars.
Here’s a closer look at why the cost for PR might vary by industry or company. Did you know there’s a simple calculator you can use to determine the real cost for your campaign?
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
The popular question: “How much does PR cost?”
The better question: “What exactly will this campaign require?” Your answer changes everything.
One of the most common requests I receive from potential clients sounds simple enough: “Can you send me a pricing sheet?” They want to know – for good reason – how much is this going to cost.
And every time I hear it, I realize there’s still a major misunderstanding around how PR actually works.
Serious PR campaigns are not priced like airline tickets, advertising campaigns or software subscriptions. There isn’t a universal rate card where media coverage costs one amount for startups, healthcare companies, and public companies.
PR is based on a scope of work that changes by industry, complexity, time and resources needed.
What is the Scope of Work for your Media Campaign
MACIAS PR has led media campaigns for boot-strapped startups, national brands, tech companies, financial firms, nonprofits and publicly traded companies. Their scope of work is as different as their individual industries.
A founder launching a startup may need help positioning his brand, media training, narrative development, and a strategic rollout to establish credibility. A more established company may already have strong branding but they need continual media outreach to keep their story in the news. A public company dealing with investor scrutiny requires an entirely different level of communication strategy and responsiveness, while crisis situations can quickly become full-time operations where every word, interview, and response matters.
The question isn’t: “How much does PR cost?”
The better question is: “What exactly will this campaign require?” And your answer changes everything.
By Mark Macias Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
When I read the headline that the Heisman winner and first pick in the NFL draft, Fernando Mendoza, turned down an offer to meet President Trump in the White House, I thought: “here it comes. They’re going to attack him, politically.”
But then I read the article and realized this young Indiana graduate and son of Cubans played the PR game perfectly. It’s a case study in how to walk that delicate line.
