Quick Fixes For Common PR Mistakes

 

Everyone is busy these days which sometimes means that small things get overlooked. To help step up your effectiveness in PR, here are some of the most common small mistakes along with easy ways to fix them.

Mistakes on the website

First mistake: there is no dedicated press page. — Every company should have a page of media assets including links to press releases, case studies, and published articles/stories. Add visuals like logos, executive headshots, videos, and data resources like research and surveys. Press pages can be highly complex, but don’t overthink it if this is your first attempt at building one. Get the basics on the page and keep it well organized. That is good enough at the start.

The media can’t find a dedicated email box specifically for them to request interviews or comments. — Create both a form for incoming inquiries and a dedicated email address like media@companyname.com and make this clearly visible on the contact page and the press page. Queries coming into that email box should be delivered to multiple people on the PR team. Make sure that everyone on that list understands the response protocol like who will respond first and what that message contains.

Here is an example of a simple first response:

Thank you for reaching out. I wanted to let you know your query has been received. Someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

If using a form, have fields for the name, publication, phone (optional), email, and notes. State something like this: Share as much as you can with us about your story, your questions and needs, and your deadline. Reporters might not elaborate, but if they do, you’ll be one step further in understanding the reporter’s intent and what would be helpful.

Mistakes with linking and socials

Your business does not have a company page on LinkedIn. — Create a business profile page on LinkedIn. It is essential.

Social links on the company’s site are difficult to find and aren’t working. — Make social links easy to find. Include them at the top of your homepage website in a header and on the footer of every page. Make sure links are updated and working. Don’t forget to update sites that may have changed like moving from X to Bluesky.

Links to resources and events go to an outside service, not the primary domain. — If sharing proprietary research or hosting an event, make sure that the link to those resources go to the company’s domain. If a logical page like “events” or “resources” doesn’t exist, create a unique landing page with information, then link from there to the external site. The landing page need not be fancy but it has to exist.

Here’s an example of why that is important: If your company published research promoted in a press release, that link is going to be clicked either from the press release itself or from the stories that result. If people have been directed to a Google Drive or an Eventbrite site, they might not ever land on the company website. Not only is the external linking juice lost, the ability to engage them further with the brand may be lost as well.

Mistakes in engaging with reporters

No one took the time to tag reporters and publications on social posts when an article landed. — When sharing articles, always tag the reporter who wrote it and the publication where it appears. One of your long-term goals for PR should be to become a responsive and reliable source to the media. Doing that takes engaging in a more meaningful way on social properties. If time has been taken to read and share an article, then make sure they see it! It is well worth the extra time needed to find profiles and add the tag or link into your post.

No one is following the reporters you aspire to reach. — There is no excuse for not following the people who write about and cover your space. Public relations and marketing professionals need to read a lot. Smart skimming can work but also have a few trusted outlets for deep dives into relevant topics. Set up Google alerts or social monitoring streams as a filter for relevant topics. Limit news reviews to one or two times a day. Try to break the habit of checking periodically throughout the day because it can be disruptive and sap focus. Instead set filters to move newsletters directly into a folder to minimize inbox clutter.

Mistakes with wire services

The company is wasting money with a free or ineffective wire service. — I recommend using Businesswire and ONLY Businesswire. I’ve written about this before. See this article for details.

You bought a package of press releases, but no one is really paying attention to the contract. — This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, just a caution. I can’t tell you how many clients I have tried to negotiate out of their multi-release contracts. There are some bad actors out there and I’m not going to name names, but if any service tries to hard-sell a package deal, stop the engagement. There are exceptions, though. If there are already a dozen press releases on the company’s schedule, a package deal might be cost-efficient. On the other hand, if you are being hounded with cold calls and LinkedIn pitches to sell a package to your company, then usually it isn’t a wise use of money.

If your company is committed to a package contract, assign two or three people to monitor the account for the renewal date because the contract might have a 60-90 day cancellation clause. Staff can change in a year and if the one person responsible for monitoring the agreement leaves the company, you’ll never get out of the contract.

Mistakes with press releases

Media were not given access to an embargoed press release before it crossed the wire. — The press release crossing the wire should be one of the last steps in the campaign, not the first . Reporters want to be able to write about it before it has mass distribution. Do not post it on the company website or announce on socials until reporters have had a few days lead time to write their stories. Not every press release is worthy of this effort (winning an award, hiring a new executive, etc.) but if the news is significant, use an embargo.

It is acceptable to send an embargoed release early to folks you know or trust. If sending it to a broader distribution though, don’t send the full release. Simply mention the basics in your pitch and offer to send the actual embargoed release once they agree to honor the embargo.

TIP about embargo timing: Many publications go live at 12:01 a.m. Reporters appreciate being able to set up their stories the night before the story runs. However, if your embargo lifts at 8:00 a.m., you’ll need to tell them it is okay to publish at 12:01 or else change the “time off” of the release. If nothing can post until 8:00, make it very clear the story has to wait until the exact time specified on the release.

There are no product images on the release and if there are, there’s no caption (and the logo doesn’t show on the image). — We see this all the time: someone grabs a screenshot of the product and uses that in the press release. Avoid screen grabs whenever possible. Resolution is poor and more than likely, there is no discernible logo on the image. Fix that and also remember to write a caption that includes the company name and the URL.

There is no URL in the first paragraph of the release and the company name is not in the title. — A good wire service editor like the folks at Businesswire will usually point out when these basics are missing. To make it easier to find these little gaffes when proofing, read your piece backwards, or jump around to individual paragraphs. You can also change fonts, colors, or margins to make it look different and thus easier for errors to jump out.

This was originally published in PR in EdTech on LinkedIn on March 27, 2025.