Quantity of Information Begets Quality PR

In the PR business, you can never gather too much information. Now, choosing what to disseminate--and when, and to whom--those are areas where you want to be more selective.

But out of quantity flows quality.

Case in point: on Monday, I spent three hours with Scott McAdam, president of McAdam Landscaping. I took still photos and shot video at about 20 locations, throughout River Forest and Oak Park, where his company has done its stellar work. It's all part of a longer-term plan to develop more--and more compelling--ways to communicate his company's expertise and experience.

Along the way, we discussed a wide range of topics and Scott mentioned that the cost of doing business has grown markedly this year, and a significant reason for that has been the rising cost of fuel. Besides mentioning a fuel additive that he may want to look into (which has provided my vehicles with 10 to 15 percent better efficiency over the years), I tucked the information away for potential media outreach.

Then, this afternoon, I heard from Geoff Williams, a top business writer based in Cincinnati, "asking if you represent any companies (like the landscaping client you have) that involve a lot of transportation – like, a company that has cars, buses or trucks or makes deliveries. For a gas article."

The article is for a publication with a nationwide subscription of 175,000.

Of course, the dots don't always connect so neatly--or nearly so quickly. But gather as many dots--or pieces of information about your client, its industry, or even facts that may not seem very relevant at the moment--and you are in a stronger position to do more for your client.