Making PR Mistakes and Dealing with Them

Hey everyone,

This isn't an easy post for me to write but I thought it necessary to share with you the recent hiccup I had involving a printed mistaken price error in the newspaper.

My boss recently assigned me the task of drafting up press releases which would then be translated into Thai by my Thai intern friend and would be used as the basis for a feature we were promised by a local Thai newspaper. The press releases involved prices and was promoting the Christmas buffet lunch/dinners and New Year's Eve buffet our hotel was offering.

I thought I had done a good job on the press releases and sent up all the documents which were then forwarded to the editor of the paper. When the newspaper came out with our hotel mentioned in it, we were obviously very happy... until my boss noticed an error in the listing of the prices. After going back and checking to make sure it was not the paper's mistake and going through the Thai translation and then my copy, we discovered that I had incorrectly typed up the prices. Of course I was very upset because I hadn't made a mistake like that before but thankfully, my boss was understanding, saying that she should also have properly double checked the prices before sending. It's still a shock to the system because this isn't like a mistake you make in school. Mistakes like this could be potentially damaging if not dealt with immediately and properly.

Right away, she got to work on handling the situation. The first step was to call the editor of the paper and ask if they could make a change for the following day. She made it clear that it was not the paper's fault and apologized, smoothing things over and thanking them again for offering to feature us in it. Unluckily, they couldn't which meant the prices for Christmas Eve dinner were printed incorrectly and was going to come out like it was. So then my boss asked to change the prices for Christmas Day (this day was the 23rd) and luckily we still had time to change it and were also able to correct prices for New Year's Day.

At the end of the day, even though this was not a pleasant experience, it taught me a great deal about making mistakes in the PR industry. As my boss later told me, everyone makes mistakes and even she has done so on occasion. There is no use crying over split milk and the best reaction is instant action. Call immediately and check to see what can be done to rectify the situation as much as possible. Make sure you make it clear it is not the media's fault but your own if it is indeed your mistake. Above all else, make sure you double-no make that triple-check your work before sending it off, particularly when it comes to numbers and prices.

Till next time,
Christy Lau Su Mei
15130659
Curtin Bentley (Sem 1, 2013)