Too much technology, not enough relations?
October 2nd, 2008 by Paul Hughes
On a recent east coast editorial tour, a client and I sat down with an editor that has been working on the same beat, albeit for a different publication, for more than 30 years. Over lunch (prior to our presentation), the editor paused and said: “you know, I don’t think I have met with you in person, since the last time Paul brought you down here.”
I was surprised – the last time I brought this client to see this particular editor was when they were last a client of mine – and that was two agencies and 10 years ago! Surely the agency in between then and now must have brought the client to meet the editors. “No, they emailed, but that’s about it,” according to the editor. According to the client, “they didn’t see much value in these types of meetings.”
It made me think – are we becoming too reliant on technology? Are we, as PR professionals, spending too much time emailing, tweeting, IMing, WebExing, and not enough time working on the relationships we once fostered and held onto like gold?
To me, the technology we use is just a means to fostering the relationship. Nothing matters more than that. And the best way to cement it is the old fashioned way – sitting around a conference room table, or a restaurant table, and getting to know what your client’s editors need and want. Email them, IM them, but don’t overlook the good old face-to-face meeting.
Agree? Disagree?
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm and is filed under Media Relations, PR, Social Media, Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
I completely agree, Paul. The best relationships my clients have formed with media is when they’re able to have a face-to-face, tactile encounter with a journalist or blogger. Media tours are still a great way to do this.
E-mail is definitely a valuable tool, but it’s true that we are starting to rely too much on e-mail and other tech tools to build relationships.
Great post, I enjoyed reading!
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Best example for me– is actually when I was working with you, and took a client on a 2-day NYC tour. We had 8 meetings, resulting in 7 great pieces of coverage and one impromptu speaking gig. Face-toface definitely sealed the odds on this.
Are we spending too much time IM’ing, emailing, Tweeting, phone? Maybe, maybe not, but we must remember these are all tools as a means to an end. Face-to-face can’t always happen, but we must use it when we can.