Earning It Every Day

Public relations is unpaid communication, but it's never free. To earn editorial ink, you need to help a publication (print or online) serve its readers. To earn "viral" distribution, you need to deliver something really useful and genuinely entertaining.

The paid vs. unpaid distinction is important to the customer, and it should be to you. Paid media is the brand's opportunity to speak for itself. Unpaid media is the market's opportunity to comment on the brand. Both are important aspects of brand identity.

Media are always edited: even tweets are subject to the judgment of the tweeter. If you want to earn a place in today's information stream, try to think like an editor (it comes naturally to me, because I have been one). Is it important? Is it entertaining? Is it useful? Does it take up the minimum amount of space necessary to deliver the relevant information?