"The quandry of whether to achieve one's goals with a few products of high quality or many products of low quality, as one cannot have both high quality and high quantity."

The quality vs. quantity debate is an age-old debate that has been had in every industry, household and business. It's the question of should one seek to have a lot or a little with great quality. This question comes up for public relations professionals when talking about media relations (and not just then, but that's what I want to talk about right now).

Often clients hire PR pros to get them featured in the media. For them, the more exposure the better. But more is not always (or usually) better. Quality media placements are the best placements. What does that mean? PR pros should be pitching and placing clients with media that will help advance their business goals.

Case and point: If Company X has a goal of increasing media placements to increase brand awareness and brand loyalty in a particular local market, then the goal should be to secure stories with local media outlets targeting Company X's audiences. It may turn out that there are only three outlets in the local market that fit that description; and that is okay. The work is not about how many hits you can get, but the quality of those hits. Instead of working for small mentions, calendar posting or other not-so-quality hits, think about how you can secure coverage in all three media and get quality coverage. Consider:

A series of stories
A feature story (focused on issue with client mention)
A client profile (focused on client)

The lesson. PR Pros shld always go for quality not quantity. Begin each project with a goal in mind and keep that goal close to you as you strategically develop the plan to meet it. One quality hit is better than a million small-time mentions.