Take of the Week:
Our take of the week comes via Joseph Gallo’s tale of a bad Nokia review from a few years back brings up two points of counsel that I often give to clients and stakeholders:

1. You can request to change fact, but not opinion.
In his case of the review gone bad - it may have been 100% accurate, it just wasn’t favorably written. In this case, there is “not” a next step for a PR/Comms pro that produces a more favorable outcome. Journalists are entitled to their opinions and usually put those opinions into their work. This especially holds true in the area of a product/service review, almost every single one will raise a few negative points to ensure complete objectivity. Now, if in the case of the Nokia review, “Nokia” was spelled “Nukia” - that’s a different story of producing a different outcome. Journalists want to be 100% correct, and that is a request to change a factual piece of information, and not their opinion.

2. You’ll never win a battle with a reporter
He writes about how “your response is almost never a response,” and that holds true when it comes to the media relations aspect of this review. If the end game is to earn a positive review, then how does causing strife and conflict produce the desired outcome? Instead, taking it on the chin, seeing what you can do next time and applying those lessons learned should ultimately achieve the goal - just not in the short term.

Resource of the Week:
Our Resource of the Week is courtesy of Kaitlyn. I wish this did not have to be a resource that some would find helpful, but it’s a sign of the times. She put together a list for people who were recently laid off and looking into freelance work.

The Rest of the Takes:
Media Relations
- Brandon wrote about why “guaranteed” is not “earned” media
- If you’re pitching a freelance journalist, Nick provides one easy tip to help that freelancer pitch your story

PR Misc.
- Kate’s “We’ll do PR when we’re bigger” take reminds me of “Don’t let good get in the way of perfect”
- If you’re reading this newsletter, and you do “not” follow Allison Carter - please do so now. She dropped two great takes 1) do LinkedIn hashtags matter? and 2) don’t do the “please let me know what you cover”
- “We’re looking for someone with strong contacts…” - great take from Simon
- H/T to Meredith Klein for sharing Maura’s post about whether or not to start a Substack or (Beehiiv 😄)
- Adam wrote about the rise of the “Comms Engineer”
- Dustin put together a great take on how to be a thought leader

That’s it for this week’s takes, thanks for reading.

-Brian
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkramer/