What You Need Before You Start PR

When hiring a publicist, they will need a few materials and things from you to get started and do their job representing you and securing editorial placements.

Something new to talk about

"You have to plan for PR months in advance before coverage magically appears within the media."

When engaging a PR, you need something new to talk about, whether it's a new book, song, App, business, or anything really. If your film launched a year ago, then the time has passed for PR promotion.

You want to hire a publicist before you launch. They need to be part of the strategizing and building up things in the shadows before they come to light.

Photos

You will need photos for your PR campaign. The better the photos, the more it increases the favorability of getting the image featured in media — possibly many times.

You don't necessarily need these available before hiring a PR, as the PR can recommend photographers, manage photoshoots, and provide guidance. They can help you find hair and make-up artists and stylists. Just allow an additional few weeks to a month before starting the PR campaign.

Other images your PR person will need are approved stills from films, music clips, product images, and book cover images.

Biography

"Allow plenty of time to prepare materials for the media."

While you don't need a final version of your biography, it would be good to at least have dot points about yourself and what makes you and your project unique. If writing isn't your thing, that's ok — the PR person can write your biography, about, company descriptions, and any copy that needs to be written.

A link to something to watch, listen to, read

When people approach me about their project, I need to be able to experience it myself. It's part of the creative PR storytelling process and is vital. So make sure that the trailer, film, book, song, etc, is ready. The more we know and understand you, the better we can represent you.