What Makes a Good Publicist (or a Publicist Good)?

By Vicki Bohlsen
President

Being a publicist – and a good one, at that – is not for the faint of heart. After more than 35 years in the industry, I’ve learned a few things about the type of person who is truly cut out to perform in this unique and ever-changing role.

To get into this, I think we first need to define and briefly discuss a publicist’s role:

A publicist is a person responsible for promoting a product, person or company in an effort to attract attention from the media.

And therein lies the first and most important question that has arisen in the last decade: what is defined as “the media”?

When I first started in PR and was given publicity duties, there was no Internet. We had publishing and broadcasting as our target audience and, boy oh boy, was broadcasting different then. With just a few options at our fingertips, it was much easier to manage our options.

Granted, we had no Internet, so we used resources like Bacon’s Media Directories to research and identify journalists, reporters and producers. These phone book-sized directories were like the Bible to a good publicist, but you had to wait a year for updates so you could get the current phone and fax number (yes, fax number!) of your targets.

Photo by Erica Kain

With the arrival of the Internet, we had more resources, but it created a bit of a circus with the arrival of the emerging “new media”. The other critical moment came with the emergence of social media.

So, I’d say the first and most important role that differentiates a publicist from a good one is the ability to stay not only up-to-date on but interested in the trends within the industry. And there are a few other key character and personality traits that are critical to being a good publicist.

1. Resourcefulness

Hands down, the most important trait, in my opinion, is whether or not a person in this role has the ability to be resourceful. I have always said that if you are a “perfectionist” or “workaholic” the job of a publicist is for you! There are always more connections to be made and more options for coverage; the work of a publicist can be never-ending.

2. Creativity

Yes, the job of a publicist is to be truthful and factual; however, the way in which you deliver this information needs to stand out from the other thousands of options vying for a decision maker’s attention. Finding the angles within one story opportunity will give you a variety of contact options to reach out to, even at one outlet; oftentimes, this means a story will have to be further developed and made relevant.

3. Determination

A good publicist is determined to get hits and will not stop until they find the right angle to pitch to the best person at the targeted outlet. The goal should be to have all these elements aligned so that the contact totally sees the value in accepting your pitch and it makes it hard for them to say they aren’t interested.

4. Persistence

If a publicist only uses email to reach targets, shame on them. If you are doing your job well, your pitch should totally resonate. A follow-up phone call is the next step if you don’t hear back from your email. A good strategy is to save just a little bit of information for that conversation (or voicemail) to pique or secure their interest.

5. Confidence

Delivering the pitch with confidence is essential! How can a publicist expect a person to cover your pitch if you don’t sound certain that you are delivering them an opportunity that is going to make their boss proud and their audience rabid fans? Tell them why you are pitching them and let them know the additional tools you can provide – photos, graphics, interviews, b-roll, etc.

Over time, a good publicist will start developing relationships where the contact will rely on them for future content.

You can have an error-free press release and an expertly-targeted contact list, but none of that will matter if you don’t have the drive to succeed by being resourceful, creative, determined, persistent and confident.

And that, my friends, is what makes the difference between a publicist and a good one.