Media job cuts can offer opportunity for PR pros, but be prepared for some flak....

Most of the following I must credit to its original author, a friend and associate of mine here at INK inc, and one of the best PR pitchmen in the business, Gary Hanauer. Gary’s analysis and conclusion in a recent company memo is so solid, I thought it worth sharing the best of it…

“ It was a horrendous day at Forbes, with editorial layoffs being announced by Steve Forbes today, and writers grieving over their fellow "family members" being let go. Some were good, promising writers, according to one of my buddies, who survived. Apparently 19 were fired from the magazine and web in the wake of Forbes deciding to merge those two operations. Supposedly, none were senior level people. Forbes editor Bill Baldwin and Forbes.com editor Paul Maidment are now coeditors of the combined unit. Time magazine recently went through the same process.

Gawker says 17 were from the print side, "chiefly those with the longest tenure and the highest salaries," which kind of conflicts with the idea that none were senior level folks. The two from the web were recent hires. Most of the junior reporters who served as fact checkers are long gone. Forbes is also rumored to be moving from its fancy 60 Fifth Avenue digs to Forbes.com's dumpier newsroom at 90 Fifth Avenue so that Forbes can sell the old place. But it's a very bad time to be selling real estate, so the move is still undecided.

What does this mean for us old PR types? I've been around the block for a while and have discovered some tricks that work. And since placements are the lifeblood of the PR business and the only way we get paid at INK, I wanted to pass along what may sound like a new perspective to some and an "old hat" to others.

Believe it or not, with a little bit of attitude adjustment, what's happening at Forbes and elsewhere could mean more (media placements) for our clients!

Why? Because we're pros who don't dilly dally around and waste the time of reporters.

Think about it… with fewer reporters, the ones who are surviving are busier. Who will they be more inclined to turn to for help? To us. The pros like ourselves, who know how to come to them with timely, well thought out pitches that stand out from the crowd. And, the pros who are willing to go the extra mile to think of the "big picture" and to think "out of the box" to get the job done.

Obviously, we should always put our own client and their story forward first. But we should be willing to occasionally pitch a broader story that yes includes our client, but also includes mentioning the names of additional sources beyond the client, even at the risk of mentioning a few of the client's competitors, if it would help you sell a trend or other story and achieve the publicity our client wants.

That isn't how most agencies work, which is why their attempts to achieve publicity at top tier media often flop. They’re thinking like PR people, not the reporters and editors they’re trying to influence."

"In other words, now more than ever, we need to put on the "eyeglasses" of the reporter and try to think like them. What are the tools the reporter will need to get the job done right away? What are the ingredients?

Our job has grown. It's no longer good enough to just give a reporter a lead and a source, and to consider our work done. To move our idea from being merely another interesting pitch to one a reporter will actually use and build a story around, we need to, during the first conversation, tell the person we are pitching why they should do the story "now," when our client is available, who else they could or should interview beyond our client, and how you, as the reporter's new best friend, can send them all the information that's needed to proceed. If that sounds like P.R. 101, but if so, it’s been forgotten.

Additionally, many PR people pitch a story without saying why it must be done either now or soon. And they don't go beyond mentioning the client's name or beyond suggesting the CEO is an interviewee. If so, they’ve only done half their job…which is my point.

My advice about pitching the bigger story, even involving competitors, may sound counterintuitive, but in an age when reporters don't have the time to do much homework and at a time when a sophisticated reporter is going to have to gather this information anyway, my view is that we should be maximizing our chances for success in any way we can, as well as speeding the story from the idea stage to fruition".

And good advice it is, Gary.