Greg Simpson, founder of Press for Attention PR, discusses the importance of choosing your media opportunities wisely.
What do you get when you cross Prince Harry with ‘mascara’? Well, national coverage in the tabloids and the BBC and a carefully considered conversation about Piers Morgan for a start. All of this happened for a client of mine very recently.
You may have noticed that some chap called Harry had a book out? It is fair to say that it caused a bit of a stir! In it, he gets a heck of a lot off his chest. In fact, royalist or not, some might say…too much? That was a concern for one of my clients, the trauma expert, Danny Greeves.
You see, there is a danger that when something so personal such as a family member’s death (Diana) gets major airtime, it can totally UNINTENTIONALLY trigger old traumas for a lot of people who do not have the support networks in place that others might.
Danny and I discussed this on a recent catch-up call and together we pulled together a thought leadership piece on the topic, designed to position him squarely as an expert on trauma. It was my job to then find a home for it.
It was found pretty swiftly in the Daily Mirror and across a fair few other websites too, including the New York Post.
Now, the attentive among you will know that the Mirror was long the stalking ground of one Piers Morgan and that he is not the greatest fan of Harry and Megan. You might also recall that I spoke on stage to a national business audience, just before the man himself a year or so back – my word time flies!
So when his team reached out to Danny and I to discuss whether he would appear on the show to cover the topic, we had some thinking to do.
- Massive national exposure.
- Right audience?
- Risks and rewards.
After careful reflection, we decided against the opportunity.
This was not from any fear, Danny is a bona-fide expert, published author and multi-award winning therapist on both sides of the Atlantic. No, the concern was that the topic of trauma would be at risk of being skewed to an anti-Harry/Megan message or ‘woke’ bashing session rather than a discussion about trauma. That might then have reflected poorly on Danny as that is not what he was saying at all. Trauma is what Danny is an expert on. Not the politics and optics of Harry and Megan.
You see, there is always a balance to weigh when these mega moments come up. We decided to stick to our knitting. Did it pay off? Well, who knows what may have come from that opportunity but mere days later, after some judicial Twitter research by yours truly, Danny was featured on the BBC. This time he was discussing the hidden dangers of codeword trends on social media, such as ‘mascara’, as they can trivialise very difficult topics.
These words can be used to wangle around censorship filters on the likes of TikTok and according to the article Danny was featured in, the #mascara trend, which originated less than two weeks before the BBC chat, had racked up more than 100 million views.
Was Danny right to turn down the Piers opportunity? I would argue that he wouldn’t get the BBC opportunity if he hadn’t and given his target market, that was the right call.
Remember, the old adage that “there is no such thing as bad publicity” is utter BS! You want to be known for what you want to be known for by the folk you want to know you. Focus your attention on that at all times.
A former business journalist, Greg Simpson is the author of The Small Business Guide to PR and has been recognised as one of the UK’s top 5 PR consultants, having set up Press for Attention PR in 2008.
He has worked for FTSE 100 firms, charities and start-ups and conducted press conferences with Sir Richard Branson and James Caan. His background ensures a deep understanding of every facet of a successful PR campaign – from a journalist’s, client’s, and consultant’s perspective.
See this column in the March edition of East Midlands Business Link Magazine here.
