South Africa, July 21 -- Two pitches

What nobody warns you that there are two pitches in this profession, and the harder one is not the one you send to a newsroom.

The pitch to a journalist is actually the second pitch. The first one happens earlier and more quietly, when an organisation has to say yes to the opportunity at all. Ask anyone in this profession which of the two fails more often.

It is a pattern most PR practitioners will recognise. Press releases easily get approved. Social media carousels are always embraced; the more control over them, the better. But the moment an opportunity requires a leader to show up in person and answer questions, an interview, contribute to an opinion piece tied to the news of the day, the enthus...