I was as intrigued by Claire Caine Miller’s New York Times piece, Spinning the Web: P.R. in Silicon Valley, as Michael Arrington and Todd Defren were. Like anyone who read it, I agreed with some of it and I disagreed with some of it. I also agreed and disagreed with various ideas that it spawned within the blogosphere.

The first idea I disagree with came from Arrington. The TechCrunch guru wrote that PR, basically, is  “smile and dial and pray…” The media relations portion of tech PR, good tech PR, is about a lot more than just smile, dial and pray though. Strategic practitioners know that you’re not going to get any influential or valuable coverage by just sticking a junior level person in a cubicle with a phone, Cision account and Bible. In order to get into publications that matter, you need to understand the technology your pitching, understand the motivation and beat of the journalist and deliver a compelling angle that will appeal to his editors and readers. Maybe I read Arrington wrong, but to me the word “pray” implied that media relations relies more on hope than on skill – it doesn’t, it’s all about expertise. If it were about hope, there would be plenty more tech companies getting written about on TechCrunch (“Please God, let Arrington pick up when I call and then agree to cover my client,”  I don’t think that’s a winning pitch). I do agree, however, that there is a lot of dial involved. Eighty percent of my best media relations work results from phone calls, but those phone calls only pay because I know who I am calling, why I am calling and how to present something useful.

I agree strongly with Defren’s “good PR #7″

Good PR doesn’t need to know Larry Ellison or Kevin Rose or anyone in particular in the media, either.  Even though such relationships can come in handy, good PR almost always “gets ink” because a good story has been well-told to the right people.

In 1999, I worked at a hot San Francisco PR firm called Phase II Strategies, ran by the husband and wife team of  Bill and Chris Boehlke. We had a pitch-man on staff, John (I can’t remember his last name), he was always landing hits on AP that would invariably get syndicated across all the major dailies. At the company’s annual party, he made an impact statement, he said he’d never placed a story based of a personal relationship or because he took a journalist out for drink – he secured ink because he delivered compelling news to the right journalist at the right time.

Before closing with Arthur C.  Page’s Seven Principals of Good PR, I will end with one final thought. Good PR is about more than just media relations, it’s about managing the relationships with the various audiences responsible for your clients’ success. As an agency, even if all you are contracted to do is execute on media strategy, you should always keep in mind that you are doing more than just scoring ink, you are helping to manage relationships on behalf or your client through a very public avenue.

Page’s Principals:

• Tell the truth. Let the public know what’s happening and provide an accurate picture of the company’s character, ideals and practices.
• Prove it with action. Public perception of an organization is determined 90 percent by what it does and 10 percent by what it says.
• Listen to the customer. To serve the company well, understand what the public wants and needs. Keep top decision makers and other employees informed about public reaction to company products, policies and practices.
• Manage for tomorrow. Anticipate public reaction and eliminate practices that create difficulties. Generate goodwill.
• Conduct public relations as if the whole company depends on it. Corporate relations is a management function. No corporate strategy should be implemented without considering its impact on the public. The public relations professional is a policymaker capable of handling a wide range of corporate communications activities.
• Realize a company’s true character is expressed by its people. The strongest opinions — good or bad — about a company are shaped by the words and deeds of its employees. As a result, every employee — active or retired — is involved with public relations. It is the responsibility of corporate communications to support each employee’s capability and desire to be an honest, knowledgeable ambassador to customers, friends, shareowners and public officials.
• Remain calm, patient and good-humored. Lay the groundwork for public relations miracles with consistent and reasoned attention to information and contacts. This may be difficult with today’s contentious 24-hour news cycles and endless number of watchdog organizations. But when a crisis arises, remember, cool heads communicate best.