Last weekend, I went home to Philly and visited a group of childhood friends. During dinner, I realized I was the only one at the table who wasn’t married or engaged. The conversation topics were beyond me. “Oh, we can’t meet for drinks Thursday. We have Pre-Cana class.” “Corey and I put a bid on a house in Chadds Ford.” “We were going to leave the walls yellow, but decided a nice taupe made the room much larger…and there’s tons of room for expansion.” Expansion? Huh? 

I nodded in agreement and attempted to interject with thoughtful comments, but my words were like a flashing sign, “IMPOSTER! IMPOSTER!” On the ride home, I felt dejected. My friend Angie said, “Danielle, you’re not married. We all know you’re not married. So how could we expect you to be an expert on topics like joint life-insurance policies and wedding invitations?” I sheepishly realized pretending to be an expert on topics I know nothing about is like sewing Dior labels on GAP jeans. Anyone who knows better can see you’re not the real deal.     

Angie’s advice also struck a cord in relation to my professional life. As a Public Relations professional, when do I keep “talking the talk” with a reporter, and when it is best to say, “I don’t know the answer to that?” 

We all know the drill. Even before dialing a reporter’s phone number, we’ve researched the industry trend and client’s position, we’ve confirmed the client is available, has something valuable to say and exhausted all angles, and only then do we pitch the topic to a reporter. But, there are times we reach that pivotal moment when there’s a pause that seems to last forever, when the reporter may either hang up on you or ask a question because he’s engaged; and the way you answer that question is a matter of coverage or no coverage. Now, I’m a big fan of saying, “I’m not the expert on this topic. My client is, and I’d love to connect you with him or her to further discuss.” But sometimes, we can read the reporter wants more information out of us before bothering with another call. At that point, who are we? Are we GAP or Dior?

Earlier this week, Andy Marken, president of Marken Communications, wrote an interesting article about the value of public relations professionals in a viral marketing environment. The article shares an anecdote where a computing-industry analyst asks a PR professional about a product area’s return rate. “The little b***** knew it existed—or should have known—and he lied straight to my face," the analyst said with disgust.

This makes me wonder, when is it o.k. to say “I don’t know?” The media landscape is vastly changing and pitching, in the traditional sense of the word, is changing, too. With many viral marketing / Web 2.0 press venues, we PR professionals are required to know more about our clients’ products and business in a conversational manner, but anything we say can be used against us in an immediate blog posting. Even the slightest erroneous information can travel fast; yet not delivering the information 2.0 reporters need straight away may lead to a missed opportunity.