In my latest Harvard Business Review article, I discuss how the PR efforts of most companies — from huge to startups — is hurting them.

I lay out three problems and solutions. Here is the beginning, and the first problem from the piece:

I’ve been on both sides of public relations. For years, I wrote a syndicated technology column for the Chicago Tribune. Now, I run a consulting firm that focuses on clients’ marketing efforts, helping them craft the strategy and language to create critical masses of loyal customers.

Then, when I was a recipient of press releases, and now, as I evaluate and streamline marketing and PR efforts, one thing has always been clear: that the majority of media-relations work hurts more than it helps.

I know this statement will upset some readers who work in PR, but you can’t read through the problems detailed below and tell me the picture I am painting is not accurate. Also,some PR professionals are terrific, but the majority commit the following three mistakes with regularity.

Today, PR is a numbers game rather than a relationship business.

Most PR professionals blast pitches to thousands of press people, most of whom they have never met. Getting coverage — even online — is a relationship business. When I was a Chicago Tribunetechnology columnist there were a handful of PR professionals whose pitches I always tried to cover, because they were helpful. We had a relationship. They knew me, my work, and my audience. Most other releases? I rarely got past the oft-incomprehensible headline.

Solution: Stop blasting. Build relationships. Learn about who is on the receiving end of your pitches. Understand the audience of the media being pitched, and try to help those people. Anything less is laziness. Good PR takes effort.

Read the rest of the article over at HBR.org.