They’re proud to be opinionated, they aren’t constrained by the politics of the newsroom or by journalistic creeds, and there are millions of them with more popping up every day – they are bloggers, and reporters are increasingly seeking them out as sources on every topic imaginable. If you’re a PR pro and you don’t have a blog, you may be missing out on interviews with print and broadcast media.

Blogging acts as a complement to a traditional media relations campaign, allowing you to reach out and connect directly with customers, peers, and journalists. When you target a journalist, you’ll be a more attractive source if she can check your blog and see that you have an established following and an engaging style.

Your clients, too, need blogs—unless they want to be left behind as their competitors are discovered through search engines and social media. Nearly anything a client is promoting can be promoted through a blog. Keep the following three tips in mind, whether you’re blogging about your own work in PR or helping a client create a blog:

1. The best blogs are tightly focused. Just like you would when writing a press release, start by finding an interesting angle. Look for a niche that isn’t too crowded. You don’t want to spend weeks on a blog only to find that you’ve got no hope of making it into the first page of Google search results for your topic, thanks to hundreds of competing blogs that are older than yours and already have an active, engaged audience.
2. Err on the side of more honesty, not less. Don’t worry about turning readers off by admitting that the author of the organic cat care blog you’re promoting is your client, who sells organic cat litter. Blog readers want to hear from experts and they’re smart enough to differentiate between content and a sales pitch. Furthermore, if you want your blog to get noticed by the media, showcasing your client’s experience in the blog’s niche can only help you.
3. Be discoverable. So you wrote a brilliant post featuring 25 case studies of companies who are succeeding in social media. What good is it to you if a journalist researching a story on that subject can’t find your blog? Learn about basic SEO, participate in the blogging community by leaving substantive comments on similar blogs, maintain a responsive Twitter account, and use resources like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to reach reporters directly.

This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases, the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download your free copy of 7 Cheap PR Tactics for Success in Any Economy.

This Sunday Nick and I were fortunate to spend the afternoon at Elvington airfield outside York watching and driving a host of supercars on a press visit we had arranged with a number of journalists for one of our clients 6^th Gear Experience.

While chatting to one of the journalists about our other clients that might have been of interest to him he asked if I had any favourites – and which did I enjoy working on the most. I admitted that there were some of my clients that gave more scope for creativity and ‘exciting’ media relations but highlighted that they all had their own attractions.

I stand by that. At Quest we work with a range of different types of clients from lawyers to architects and charities to multinational flight control companies. Yet I enjoy each of them – even the seemingly run-of-the-mill client – for what they represent: passion and commitment to growth and success. I recalled one of the highlights of my first foray in PR was a visit to a Wakefield sewage plant to photograph a well-performing pump that handled ‘rags’ with aplomb. While sewage plants don’t feature on my must-visit list, securing coverage on the story in Wet News – a key water industry trade title – was a real personal triumph.

That sense of picking out stories from even the most unusual places is key to what we do at Quest – as is looking out for opportunities for our clients to offer expert comment. Indeed 6^th Gear themselves picked us over two other firms they had seen based on our dynamism and passion for our own jobs.

So, while not all our clients allow me to drive a Lamborghini LP640 – each of them gives us the chance to turn their stories into genuine opportunities to enhance their recognition among their target audience.

Today has been one of the busiest news days for quite some time. The ongoing situation with Shannon Matthews has jostled with the Mills McCartney divorce, the worsening global credit crunch as well as political troubles in Tibet.

The Quest team has been involved fully in the media scrum ensuring national and international coverage for one client, while fielding calls for another who’s recorded a major victory for one of his clients.

Constantly monitoring 24-hour news channels and key news sites offers us an illuminating insight into the changing perspectives of editors and the pressure to find new angles on the ‘top’ story. The BBC has featured all of the ‘top’ stories in its prime position at different points of the day – and both Sky and BBC have sought constant updates on each of the major items.

Even in an age of omni-present news reporting however it’s clear that some stories are being left by the wayside. The first arrest in the Jersey care home case, attacks on UN troops in Kosovo and three children seriously ill following a methadone overdose are some that are being given short shrift.

Clearly interest in the three main stories is high – BBC News website has reported surges in traffic 15 per cent above average – but it does bring into question the role of 24-hour news and media outlets if they continue to focus on a small number of issues – and not always with very much to add.

It can be frustrating when you have a newsworthy and interesting story to tell, only for the rug to be pulled from under you as the news agenda changes. It’s why we always ensure our campaigns consist of more than a spray and pray strategy. With careful management, even as breaking news proliferates across a range of media, your message can still reach an interested audience.

Having said that, I would hope broadcast outlets are able to offer us something different, rather than simply competing with each other to get the latest scoop on the same stories.

Having spent a delightful weekend in Paris, it gave me the opportunity to catch up on reading (tip: Small Island by Andrea Levy). Devouring this week’s Media Guardian highlighted several interesting articles – two covered the rise (and rise) in importance of PR versus advertising, which Richard Bailey has written about, and the falling circulations of local newspapers.

While not totally universal, it’s clear that like most other daily newspapers fewer of us read our local and regional newspapers. However, what the article went on to say was that when big issues hit a particular region, city or town, we turn to our local journalists whom we trust to tell the story impartially and honestly. It cited the example of Mansfield’s paper following last week’s earthquake – and I should expect something similar is happening in Dewsbury following the worrying disappearance of Shannon Matthews. The report also said that more and more newspapers are turning ultra local to offer themselves as community sites – certainly the Yorkshire Evening Post has started this process though hasn’t yet built one for my part of Leeds.

The two issues are definitely connected in my eyes and also relate back to the power – and responsibility – of PR. As we all continue to live more disparate and largely unconnected lives from our neighbours and local residents preferring to travel the world and ‘social network’ with our far-flung friends and relatives, we still yearn for the over-the-fence type gossip, news and information that only comes from those people whose eyes and ears are firmly stuck to our small corner of ground and who are the ‘bedrocks’ of our communities. Local journalists provide that missing link and, when there is a story of local importance, we turn to them to trust their more focused perspective. When the national journalists swoop in with a remit from their editors to ‘outscoop’ their competitors at all costs to secure an original or new angle, they are unlikely to have the right contacts and insider information to deliver a more rounded appraisal of a situation. In circumstances like this, their cynicism and competitive nature contrasts starkly with the local media who are more objective because they will still be reporting on local issues and be entrenched in – and accountable to – the local community long after the nationals are gone.

So in an effort to offer the old-fashioned over-the-fence news in a modern format, the local newspapers should no doubt capitalise on being the community messengers and purveyors of news. Equally, for the PR industry it also highlights the importance of local knowledge and contacts. As we work across all regions of the UK we spend considerable time examining the local newspapers and business magazines before pitching a story and ensure it matches their focus. Us PR-types are often considered geographically benighted – and while I’m sure it’s true of some – the rest of us have to maintain our commitment to delivering locally-focused stories and approaches.

Let’s not underplay therefore the impact to our clients of securing positive coverage in local media – maybe those who read it are more likely to act upon it.

So, Lynne Franks – self-styled PR guru – has entered the Australian jungle in this year’s ever-popular ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’. Initial arguments with the world’s first supermodel and uber-cosmetically-enhanced Janice Dickinson have made excellent viewing and headlines across the country.

Laying herself open to the snakes, spiders, assorted animal appendages nd Ant and Dec’s comedy links, Lynne has perhaps – more so than most PRs are prepared to – opened her true self up to the world.

No-one that I can remember (bearing in mind I watch a LOT of them) has ever left a reality show championing its honest portrayal of their inner beauty. The vast majority become acutely aware of their myriad personality flaws and how they frequently clash with their fellow contestants. Lynne Franks, as a PR practitioner of some years knows all too well, managing a client’s messages is a powerful way of ensuring their target audiences understand their product or service and choose to buy from or engage with that company.

Revealing your most intimate self on national television would certainly go against mine – and I’m sure many other PR professional’s – advice. Once you reveal all, it’s a long and slow road back to discretion and control. When advising clients in handling media interviews and liaising with journalists I encourage a strict adherence to key messages and ‘brand identity’ while incorporating as much personality, personal interest and ‘colour’ to ensure a journalist takes on the story. Ticking off a list of the important points and taking a lead in an interview means clients receive positive coverage and their messages reach their target audiences.

Lynne’s latest incarnation is as a ‘lifestyle guru and visionary’- offering the world advice on the changes is today’s and tomorrow’s world as well as encouraging and supporting women in enterprise. Admirable aims and no doubt her raised profile will allow her a louder voice in getting out those messages. But it puzzles me that someone who is so tuned in to the workings of international media, the merry-go-round of our modern-day celebrity circus show and how to orchestrate and manage all of that would throw themselves into the lion’s den so willingly.

I look forward to being proven wrong by Lynne Franks as she succeeds in accomplishing a win-win from her rumble in the jungle. Her spats with Janice Dickinson – and the consequent negative media interest – may reveal otherwise.