We’re a team of media professionals. We should have been better prepared. Instead, last week we were caught without a boat when the dam burst. We received a flood of response after publishing a survey asking about how PR fits into your marketing plan and what sort of training would be most helpful.
When I started PitchRate.com, a resource for free publicity, I had sent out a number of surveys to assess the marketplace. Lets just say that back then the number of responses was uninspiring. We were hoping for more as the team prepared last weeks survey to go live, but part of me was expecting a similar level of engagement. To my amazement, after sending the email blasts, posting it to my blog and informing my social network, we were overwhelmed. Within 15 minutes we had such a large response that areas of our network were nearly over capacity. Luckily we were monitoring everything closely and the team responded quickly, expanding in order to handle the incoming flood.
It’s the same with PR – its possible to make lots of pitches with little response. In order to get results its necessary to keep refining the message and keep on pitching. It’s a numbers game and eventually the floodgates will open. When they do, will you be ready?
