Media relations with white gloves on

You know those stories about a traveler being delightfully shocked by a hotel concierge who didn’t just recommend a show, but scored impossible-to-get tickets and backstage passes?

You can be like that concierge and delightfully shock the journalists you’re working with. And new tech is making it easier than you might think.

This type of white-glove service enabled Inner Circle member Josh Turner to not only salvage a doomed interview, but strengthen a vital media relationship.

Josh had arranged a phone call for his client with a key journalist. But the journalist was pulled away to assist an elderly parent. As a last resort, she emailed Josh some questions, expecting written responses.

Those types of responses are usually unlively and formulaic. You spot those in articles when your brain complains, “Nobody actually talks like that.”

So Josh decided to go the extra mile. He recorded himself interviewing the client with the reporter’s questions, then ran that recording through an AI transcription program. He sent both the recording and the transcript to the reporter.

The result was a grateful journalist AND a more credible media placement.

Josh says, “When we focus on providing value to reporters vs. thinking that we are pests, new solutions emerge where everyone wins.”

Your takeaway – On your next interaction with the media, put on your figurative white gloves and push yourself to go a step further than whatever they are expecting.

• Did they ask you for a source? Give them your guy, plus someone else’s (not a competitor, we’re only taking this so far ;).
• Do they want a copy of a white paper or academic study? Run it through ChatGPT and present them with a high-level summary as well.
• Do they wanna do their own interview? Offer to record and transcribe it for them. Most journalists will have this capacity on their own soon, but they may not yet. It’s worth asking.

As technology usurps more of the work that PR pros and journalists do, it will be easier for you to make a bigger impact simply by being human.

P.S. I took a break this week from using AI to help me write my newsletter. (See previous PSes about how I use ChatGPT here and here.) I didn’t set out with this in mind, but this piece flowed pretty easily and I realized that I was pushing myself to write more vividly without the crutch of ChatGPT to bail me out. It was actually fun. Plus I have the luxury of not NEEDING an AI editor to catch errors and tighten things up. That luxury is named Samantha, and she is amazing. She’s proofread every single one of these for years and years.