Daily Ad Brief: ‘PR Champions’ with April Mason from Violet PR

Each week on “PR Champions,” Daily Ad Brief’s host talks to PR experts across the country. This week, the host spoke with Violet PR President April Mason. Read more below!

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WHAT IS ONE PR STRATEGY YOU RECOMMEND OUR AUDIENCE TO USE IN THEIR BUSINESS?

Violet PR has found success by working with clients that we can stand behind. We search for clients that make a positive impact on the communities around them and work to help them tell their stories. Having this personal interest in the work our clients are doing helps us to feel more motivated, and makes us proud when we see those results rolling in.

HOW DOES YOUR PR STRATEGY CHANGE FROM WORKING WITH A LOCAL ADVERTISING CLIENT TO A NATIONAL ADVERTISING CLIENT?

Violet PR does public relations— we reach out to journalists on behalf of our clients. Where advertising falls under paid media, our work falls under earned media, meaning we do not pay for any placements our clients get. We work with a wide range of journalists in local markets as well as national markets. Our PR strategy changes greatly when working with local or national media. With local media, we leverage our existing relationships within the state or region to show the impact that our client has in that market. For national media, we work to showcase why the work our client is doing is important and outline the interest their readers would have in the story.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE YOU SEE PEOPLE MAKE WHEN PITCHING THE MEDIA?

The biggest mistake we see people make while pitching the media is targeting the wrong publications. A big part of public relations is understanding how to reach the audience you are looking for. The best way to do this is to have a specialized media list built from extensive research. You can have the best pitch in the world, but if you send it to the wrong people, the story will never get picked up. Having a specialized media list will always be more powerful than a larger broad list.