Public Relations: It's Easy To Not Be Sleazy

July 6, 2025 - 1:39pm - by Luke Thiessen

The very idea of Public Relations tends to get a bad rap.

For an industry based largely around reputation management, it’s ironic, isn’t it? If you just google “public relations,” the search engine generates a definition and sample sentence which includes the phrase “public relations is often looked down upon by the media.” I guess PR needs a new PR person.

To the average person who isn’t neck-deep in communications jargon, I believe public relations is mostly associated with celebrities and corporations who are defending themselves against some allegation or scandal. The media might quote a statement issued by a PR representative. You might hear a bad situation called a “PR nightmare.” You might see a company doing some act of charity or good will described as “a PR stunt.” 

As a marketer with a background in public relations, I dislike this characterization. In my opinion, PR is just another part of marketing and advertising (as I wrote about on this blog earlier this year), and should always aim to serve some benefit in both directions.

Good advertising is effective because it helps match products, services, causes, etc. to people who are interested in them. It benefits the advertiser by bringing in new customers or donors, and – ideally – benefits the consumer by introducing them to something that meets a need or improves their lives in some way.

Public relations should aim to do the same thing, except the product is information and content. The media is hungry for stories, interviews and material that will be of interest to its viewers. The work of PR supplies those things for free, in exchange for coverage and exposure.

It’s easy to not be sleazy

I believe that good PR is never sleazy.

Public relations often gets criticized as “spin,” and is accused of bending or obscuring the truth. Some companies and PR firms do engage in that, and like any other industry, there are bad actors. But I believe that, even in the face of tough questions and legitimate criticism, there is always a better way.

Of course, the best PR is positive and proactive – and we’ll get to that shortly. But if something at your company has gone wrong and the media has come calling, my advice always starts with honesty.

If “mistakes were made,” admit to the mistakes. Take ownership, commit to making things right (or doing better in the future), and make a plan to honour that commitment. It is so rare for a corporation to do this well that honesty itself can help make the news. Plus, it builds trust with both journalists and your audience, and makes your brand (or client, etc) more human.

If you are facing controversy due to some misunderstanding of a situation, this can be an opportunity for education and elevating the narrative. The key is to remain honest and engage in good faith. Acknowledge the complexity of the situation and the aspects that have been reported correctly. Then, use your strongest and simplest evidence to show why the public may have misunderstood the issue. And finally, describe the situation as you see it, re-emphasizing the new facts that make your case.

Example: the complexity of homelessness

I gained a lot of firsthand experience with this while working in communications for a large nonprofit that served those experiencing homelessness. Most people would agree that it’s a complex issue, and that it would be better if it didn’t exist. But that’s about where public consensus ends.

Over many years of fielding questions from reporters, donors, and strangers on social media, it became clear that even a small amount of education could help make these conversations more productive, and help ensure that media coverage was actually benefitting the cause.

Rather than dumbing down the issue or answering tough questions defensively, I took the time to educate people in good faith. With a few data points (for instance, did you know that half of people experiencing homelessness also live with a brain injury?), we were able to bust some myths, introduce some nuance, and build empathy in these conversations. It also helped position us as go-to experts with the media, and increase the number of interview opportunities that came our way.

Proactive PR and earned media

While public relations is most known for the moments where it is reactive – responding to scandals and crises, defending the actions of people and businesses – the best PR is positive and proactive. I promised you we’d get here eventually.

I’m a firm believer that most companies and nonprofits have great, newsworthy stories to tell, but are either too close to their own work to see them, or don’t have the resources to tell them. The stories are there, though, waiting to be told. And every one of those stories not told is an opportunity wasted.

Going back to my article on the power of publicity, media relations can be an incredible tool for free advertising. It may cost you time and energy, but the key is that you don’t pay for it – making an excellent return on your investment.

Finding those stories can be difficult, and telling them well can be even harder, but an outside perspective can make all the difference. Your company may be working on a project that is significant in ways you don’t realize. You may be having a community impact through some aspect of your work that isn’t obvious from the inside. There might be an opportunity for your company to do something charitable with its unique resources that helps a lot of people for little to no cost.

There are so many ways to find and frame a story that are true, ethical, and newsworthy. Sometimes all you need is a little help from someone who sees the opportunities you might have missed.

If you would like to learn more about how Starling Social can help you through public relations, get in touch today!

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The Power of Publicity & Media Relations

February 2, 2025 - 11:41pm - by Luke Thiessen

Traditional media coverage used to be a sort of “holy grail” in the world of marketing.

It’s easy to see why: normally, you pay for advertising, which is tucked around the edges of the main media product, whether that’s the news or some form of entertainment on the radio, television or in print. But when you get on the news, you become part of the main event – plus, it’s free!

This makes traditional media coverage very valuable, but it can also be frustratingly difficult to get, as there are never any guarantees. You couldn’t pay for it even if you wanted to, and you are always at the mercy of the journalists, producers or hosts who decide what to cover and publish.

The changing role of traditional media

It’s no great secret that traditional media like newspapers, radio and television have lost some of their power and influence. The vast majority of these outlets have been losing readers, listeners and viewers to new platforms made possible by the internet, like social media and podcasts. In many ways, the new “holy grail” of marketing is having something go viral online.

In Canada, we have the added disadvantage of being unable to post links to news stories on Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram and Threads), which even further limits the reach and potential benefit of any news story about your business or organization.

However, there is still value and benefit in getting earned media (another term for media coverage which you did not pay for). I spent several years in radio newsrooms followed by nearly a decade in publicity and media outreach, and as a veteran of both sides of the game, I have seen the changes firsthand. 

With the right strategy in place, integrating your marketing to properly leverage each piece, I believe media relations is still a crucial tool for any organization with the appetite to try it.

How to do media relations

At its most basic, media relations is three things:

1. Writing a news release
2. Sending it to a list of media contacts
3. Being available for (and doing) interviews

A news release (also known as a press release or media release) is basically a sample news article that includes all the important details of whatever it is you’re wanting to say. They are generally formatted like news stories (with a few specific exceptions), and are written in such a way that a journalist can quickly and easily understand the subject – while also convincing them that it’s an interesting or important story to cover.

Once you have your news release created, you’ll need to send it to a list of media contacts. This can be the biggest barrier for a lot of people, since if you don’t already have a list of contacts, you’ll need to build one. 

My suggestion on this is generally to start broad and then start zooming in on individuals. Most news outlets will have a general news or tip line listed on their website, so before going any further, copy those down. Those email addresses will generally forward to at least a few journalists, editors and/or producers at that outlet.

Next, I recommend searching for accounts on social media (especially X, formerly Twitter, and its competitors like Bluesky and Threads), using search terms like “journalist,” “reporter,” “producer,” and the name of your city or region. Many reporters will have contact information listed in their bio. Be mindful of the subjects they cover too – you want to cast a wide net, but not annoy someone who doesn’t even cover the kinds of stories you are pitching.

There are also subscription-based services that collect information about journalists and can help you find and reach people who might be interested in your story. I don’t often recommend these as they tend to be out of date and don’t provide great value, although if your organization is national or international in scope and you have the budget, there can be good use cases.

Finally, once you have your news release and contact list ready, you will need to decide on a spokesperson who will take interviews, and ensure they are available on short notice. This person will need to be able to speak comfortably and knowledgeably about the topic. And, since the turnaround on most news stories is less than a day, they’ll need to have an open schedule.

You may also want a second person available for interview, depending on the nature of the story. This can be a volunteer with your nonprofit organization, a customer of your business, or an employee whose work has some connection to the story – many news outlets require two separate “voices” or interviews on any given news story, and having one to offer is always helpful.

Integrating with other marketing

Given the reality of traditional media losing some power and influence, getting news coverage no longer acts as a huge cherry on top of whatever else you’re doing – you need to be more strategic with it, and ready to capitalize on it if and when it comes.

One of the most important things to keep in mind is that any media attention you get can help strengthen the impact of any other current or recent advertising and communication. Having these things planned together, unified and complimentary to each other can really help your advertising dollars go further and your earned media mean more to its audience.

You also need to consider how you are going to leverage the coverage you get, especially when you can’t post links to most news on social media (at least in Canada). A good workaround for this is having a good website with a blog or news section; you can paste links, excerpts or a summary there, and then share that specific post/page to social media. (It helps too if your website is built so that these posts are easily shareable!)

Ultimately, fewer people may be seeing these news stories on the platforms where they originally air or publish, but it’s still valuable free space if you can get it, and lends some credibility that is hard to achieve any other way.

Telling the story

Now, all of the above is only helpful if you have a good story to tell, and the ability to get the media’s attention. If you need help telling your story or getting news outlets to notice, Starling Social can help.

One of the new things I’m bringing to our clients here at Starling is a great depth of experience in media relations and integrated marketing. This allows us to start offering clients our help building media campaigns and marketing major announcements, as well as training for teams who have the capacity but could use some expertise on how to maximize their impact and results.

If you are interested in getting help with an upcoming project, or would like to learn more about training opportunities, get in touch – we would love to work together!

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