I’ve been in public relations since 1985, nearly a quarter of a century. Back then, newsletters were still laid out using wax-backed paper and fax machines were just sprouting up in offices. And media relations was pretty much a straight-line path — we knew who to pitch, how to pitch, when to pitch. Our targets were print, television, and radio. We worked the phones. We held press conferences. The creativity was in the pitch; it wasn’t in the strategy.

Today, nothing is a simple, straight and narrow path. There is no clearly marked path. The breadth and diversity of information sources means that today, while the pitch is still important, the strategy is everything. That’s where the real creativity is found.

Recently, I’ve done some work with two other public relations firms that are still searching for the straight and narrow path, presenting to clients as if it still exists. For some clients, I guess it still works. For other clients, like the ones involved with the projects we were working on, let’s just say that what these other firms were presenting didn’t go over too well.

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