We hope you enjoy the following PR Wish List. As with other wishes, what we wish for is not always what we get.

Wish 1: Miracles will happen as soon as our PR program is initiated. Reality: It takes a month or two to do the foundation work for a new PR program: get to know the company and its products/services, research the audience(s) and media contacts for the market space, and create messaging that will be carried through the program by everyone in the organization.

If the company already has some name recognition, or executives are known to the media, it will definitely speed coverage. If not, put your belief in miracles where it belongs -- in those with a higher calling. (No, my fellow PR practitioners, we really can't qualify, although sometimes we can perform some magic.)

Wish 2: Each of our press releases deserves to be covered by the media. Reality: If a company uses press releases as they should be used -- to announce news that affects people/customers in a more than minor way, they maximize their chances of getting covered by the media that address these audiences. If they're releasing a constant stream of press releases to stay in the vision of the media or their investors, that's fine. Just don't expect each announcement to generate an equal amount of attention or coverage by the media.

Save your "full court press" placement efforts for those announcements that are most significant to the industry or to the general public. At those times, pull out all the stops to individually contact target members of the media. The key media who have relationships with you will appreciate you respecting their time and contacting them only when you have real news and an interesting story that's right for their audience.

Wish 3: We don't need a customer or third party to testify that our product is good in order to get covered. Reality: Why would a journalist take a company's word for it that their product is great? Of course, a company is going to say their product is the next amazing thing.

In order to be credible to a journalist interested in doing a story on your product, you must have a customer or two, or an independent third party like an industry analyst or expert, who'll say they've tried it, they like it, and it does what it's supposed to do. Third parties are the only ones who can be somewhat objective about the product, and therefore believable. Don't try to get away without having at least one as a reference. If you don't have one, the journalist is going to wonder why. So are other prospective customers.

Last, but not least (and all PR practitioners hear this at least once from company executives):

Wish 4: Let's get in the Wall Street Journal. Reality: Every company has tunnel vision when it comes to how interesting they are to this most sought-after publication. Yes, the WSJ does cover smaller companies if they are offbeat enough to capture their readers' interest or if their readers can relate to what they do in a universal way. But, if a company and its product/service are hard for the average person to understand, or care about, it's going to take a lot more to get the interest of a WSJ writer. If there's a great financial or unique angle, you have a shot. But size does matter here.

Getting in the Wall Street Journal is a good goal. Just don't make it the goal that blots out one of the more realistic, achievable, and productive goals of a PR program: establishing continuous, positive placements, and visibility, in the other media outlets your target customers read, hear and see on a regular basis.

Our wish for all our PR Tips Newsletter friends this holiday season is that your personal wishes will all come true, and that all companies doing PR programs will stay grounded in reality.

Shunra Software announced that it has expanded its Professional Services offerings. It also announced that UK-based Lloyd's Register, a risk management group, has become a customer, and that Magirus has been chosen Shunra's exclusive Tier 2 distributor for Europe and Africa. www.shunra.com

Longwood Software's customer Essilor, an optical lens manufacturer, is using Longwood's TagTeam marketing asset system to save on printing, labor and shipping costs of its collateral materials. www.tagteam.com

Direxxis' customer Budget Blinds is using Direxxis' web-based portal DMEdge to provide marketing support to their franchise owners. www.direxxismarketing.com

Take time between now and the New Year to think about and make a Goals List for the coming year -- for you personally, your own business, as well as for your client programs. Studies have found that goals that are written down are more likely to be achieved.

Looking for a novel yet very useful holiday gift for someone just starting out in PR or just starting their own company and needing advice on how to do PR? Shock PR's "PR in a Box" could be that gift! PR in a Box is an easy-to-read guide that tells you everything you need to know about PR in order to run a program yourself or manage a program. It's very reasonably priced at just $49.95, and is available from the Shock PR website page: http://www.shockpr.com/html/pr_in_a_box.html

Our address and phone numbers are: Shock PR, Inc. P.O. Box 3174 Bourne, MA 02532 T: 508-743-9993 F: 508-743-9566

Copyright © 2007 Shock PR, Inc. All rights reserved.

email: rshock@shockpr.com

phone: 508-743-9993

web: http://www.shockpr.com