Tag Archives: reporters

Make Networking Work For You

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People Knowing People


Publicity is basically the networking of people. Whether they are reporters, publishers, editors or broadcasters, you need to communicate with people.

When your network grows among the media, the more people you meet, the better opportunities you have in getting the story published.

If you are a professional publicity agency, or a pr client, then you need to make your network becomes a priority when establishing  your contacts. If you are in a vertical market, then your task is much easier. If you are in a more general consumer market, then you need to be more selective on the media that you network with. Why? Because you can’t expect to have a very large network and stay in contact without giving them nonsense stories. These people are just that, people. Just like you, they too do not like being sent stories or releases that try to sell a product or a company. Make the content be informative, something that their readers will enjoy.

Another tip, you don’t want to oversell your company, or your pr clients. Too much selling, or pitching, is like the salesman who doesn’t know when to stop selling. Your network of media can become a friendly one. Not meaning a social thing. Why? Because getting too close to the media as a social group puts you in a different perspective. Then they, the media, feel you are only getting their attention to get stories published. Keep your relationship professional.

I saw a journalist who has an article about this subject and offers some other interesting insights that expand on my thoughts. Basically, be honest, keep in contact with your network through eNewsletters, and follow-up as needed.

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Using RSS To Get Publicity

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Publicity needs to keep up with technology

To keep in this fast pace of publicity, we are always searching for and want to find access to a lot of information. One of the sources to use is the RSS feed.

This stands for Real Simple Syndication. It allows you to access current news about any topic. It is great for those publicity firms or advertising agencies, or pr clients who are in a vertical market.

It seems the more information we have available to access, the more we want. RSS will satisfy your hunger for all the information you desire.

Sometimes I can’t read that days different feeds coming to us. What I usually will do is scan through the news and click onto those that catch my attention.

Public relations people will find this marketing tool very helpful. When you get into a habit of learning how to take advantage of RSS feeds, you will find it a great source for information, as well as a marketing tool for your client’s pr activities.

Many different weblogs are built around RSS feeds. That is one of the reasons how RSS became a solid marketing media for the news industry. Reporters, publishers and broadcast media use these feeds because they can publish and retrieve up-to the minute news.

For those of you who want to learn the history and how RSS became a daily media, I suggest you visit an article called “Dive into XML”, by Mark Pilgrim.

And for those of you who want to get RSS feeds to your web site, this is one place you can get information on how-to, it is FreeNewsFeed.com. There are many others, just type in RSS into Google, or Yahoo and a Billion sites will be there ready to explain more.

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The Costs Of Publicity

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In-House or Outsorucing?


Companies are always faced with keeping overhead costs low. The first area that gets cut is the marketing and publicity budget.

So how does any company justify cutting these areas and maintain a constant campaign?

One solution that most pr clients and marketing clients think saves them money is to do all the work in-house. But does this really save money, or does it cost you (the client) more in the long haul? Let’s take a look.

To go in-house, you need to hire a marketing or pr director. Typically this person, if professional, and knows what he/she is doing, will have a salary of about $80,000 per year. An assistant would cost $40,000 a year as a starting salary. These figures can be more depending on their experience.

Now you have someone to do the entire writing, planning, meeting with reporters, publishers, coordinating marketing and pr activities and sometimes designing the sales and marketing materials.

Let’s just say this person, for now, needs to do a few releases. How are you going to distribute them? Do you do send them one at-a-time to the handful of media? Or do you go through a news bureau like Bacon’s. Well, Bacon’s costs about $3,000 per year membership and then you pay per release on top of that. In addition, the select few that are to your favorite media, need postage, envelopes, and what about the follow-up?

On top of the distribution costs, we need to again look at this person you hired. They need medical coverage, you need to pay the FICA costs and provide space for them and a phone line. The phone bill will now increase as well. An article that supports my viewpoint is called "Debunking the myth that B2B marketing is cheaper in-house", by John Elliott.

In addition, the person may not have the close contact relationships with the different media as your pr firm.

Ok, did you save any money? Most likely not. The costs when added together are probably more than a moderate publicity campaign for the year would have cost. And you can be sure that the outsource company will get the job done because they won’t be interuppeted with daily problems associated with an in-house publicity person.

No matter how many times we see this happen, it just seems that clients need to learn from their mistakes. Hopefully this brief lesson will give pr clients and public relations service companies the chance to see what really is best for them.

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Articles That Get Published

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Short or long, which is better for editors?


If you own a publicity firm, your clients are probably asking you to write articles that can be sent to the media, right?

And if you are a company, you’re probably asking your in-house pr person to do the same, or wondering why your publicity agency isn’t getting those articles published.

Well, this isn’t the only way to get noticed and published, but this suggestion is one method to consider. We call them "briefs".

These are short articles, usually less than 100 words. I share the same opinion as another company, called PR Ideas. He too writes that sending good short briefs can be excellent for editors who need fillers, or just short stories on different topics.

This can also position you or your company as experts in the field. Everyone is busy trying to jam long articles to reporters, publishers and editors. When in fact, they need short articles many times.

I like to think of doing these as a way to help the media people with their job and by showing them we offer a lot of valuable information.

On the other hand, don’t go wild sending dozens of these briefs every month. Especially to the same reporters. That will put you in a negative position with them. Timely briefs are good, but can be difficult for a publisher or reporter to consider if the timing is not right for them. I suggest doing timely briefs, and have a few that are not subject to an economic situation, or a trend or something that might become dated too soon.

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Working With The Press

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What to do to make it right with the media

Editorial is "priceless". That’s what we are told in the publicity industry.

But how do you get publicity for clients, or for yourself. You need to understand what the media want and what they don’t want.

Too many times, eager pr people are trying to sell their idea and forget to put in perspective what their job really is.

It is to make the reporter, publisher, or editor’s job easier by supplying compelling information about a product or service that their readers will enjoy (benefit from).

One of the things to do is attend your industry’s trade shows. If you can only afford to attend one, or two, select the ones that will make the most impact.

Then do your homework. Just like knowing the buyers of that industry, you should know the media. Know about each publication that interests you, making sure these are the right fit for your company.

Then put together a press kit. The kit should contain a fact sheet, a bio on key personnel, and several releases. If possible, include a company brochure or a product brochure. Don’t put a catalog in the kit. Too much sales information will only get your press kit tossed out!

Assemble information that can be worthwhile to a reporter. Such as industry trends, statistics on your product and how it compares to competitors, new technology, techniques and useful advice. Whenever possible attach a letter, or fact sheet from the CEO, or president of the company describing the outlook of your industry…not your company’s outlook, but the industry.

If you schedule it correctly, invite several press in your booth, or at designated room to hold a small press conference. Make sure you have something worthy to say, or it will haunt you forever.

Also, never assume the reporters know about you, or your industry. I don’t mean that you bring the level of conversation to a 3rd grade. But if the media is diverse in your market, give them some credit, but don’t make them feel foolish by using a lot of abbreviated terms that only you or the "in" people of the industry use.

Last point. The reporter you talk to today just might be that publisher or editor tomorrow at a major publication. So treat all the media with high respect and it will pay off.

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Trade Shows

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Use the shows for positive PR

A month ago we had several clients attend a Natural Products Expo. This show exhibits natural products, for food we eat, to cleaning solvents that are natural, to natural dog and cat food. Yes, even the animals get healthy stuff.

One of our clients was Prime Choice Foods. They produce Organic Snack Foods. The show was held at the Anaheim Convention Center and was in three of the major halls.

Trade shows are an excellent time to get positive publicity and meet the press one-on-one.

This being one of the major shows for my client, we created the booth graphics and carried that image into the brochures for the show to hand to buyers.

In addition, we created a press kit, with several press releases inside describing the new items the client was presenting at the show.

I was able to meet with a few of the media reporters and publishers. At these meetings I presented our clients products and the features they offer in comparison to what already exists.

Being prepared is important. You want to spend your time wisely and not make it a sales pitch but a fact finding for the reporters. Their time is limited and you need to understand that when arranging a meeting with them.

So the next time your client attends a trade show, get the press kit together, any published articles about your company, and samples (if possible) to give to the media. Make use of trade shows, it might be your only opportunity to meet-the-press.

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What To Write About

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Make the story interesting and meaningful

Publicity firms are always asked by their clients to "write something about our company that is great!"

To do this you need to make sure what you are going to write is going to have credible information to that publication’s readers. Just because you or your client feels the information is valid, think of whom you are going to pitch the story to. Go through a list of questions:
1- How important is this information to the readers of XYZ publication
2- Does this offer anything that can help or enhance a readers knowledge to improve their life, business, etc?
3- Am I only writing this to get people interested in the product or service? If so, re-think this and re-write it to be lees self-serving.
4- How timely is this information?

These are but a few points to consider when you need to "get the word out" for a client or if you are a company doing pr internally, then re-think your story or release.

The worst thing you can do is submitting non-informative information in the form of a press release or story to reporters, because the industry hears this type of communication. It can cause a negative effect on you, the company you work for and can cause future releases to be less considered when you get this type of reputation.

Make the words count, in more ways than in numbers. It is up to you to put aside the "sell" and write for the good of the potential readers of a publication.

That will position you higher on the list with reporters.

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Press Kit on the Web

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Make Your Web Site Newsworthy

Many companies are posting their press releases inside their web site. Few are including a complete press kit for reporters to download.

Is this what you are doing? If not, maybe it’s time to re-think how you communicate with the press.

Technology has changed how we interact with the media. The positive to this, it becomes easier and faster to update your media information and to post a new release about the company.

Bill Stoller, a publisher, wrote an article about this topic. He points out that although the "printed" press kit has not died, it is important to put the material online for reporters to download. But where to put your link to this information is up to you. Some believe it is best to have a link visible on the main page; others will create an entire section within the site for all press media to view and download.

The choice is yours.

Mr. Stoller gives a few tips on the Do’s and Don’ts about letting the press know about your pressroom site.

One of the most important parts to the article is what you need to put into this newsroom. The obvious, which is the contact info, press releases, and executive bios/photos. But what companies neglect to add is the "search tool". The worst thing a reporter hates is getting lost inside your site, not knowing how to get back, or find what they were just reading.

For those who are proactive in getting a pressroom online, Mr. Stoller provided these web sites as examples of how to build your pressroom:

www.microsoft.com/presspass/default.asp
www.google.com/press/index.html
www.crayola.com/mediacenter/
 

Publicity Isn’t Free

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Know your media

Clients always refer to publicity as FREE. How does it become free when you need to hire someone to either write the release, or article, or hire a publicity firm?

The definition of free means that you didn’t have to pay for the space you got in that particular publication, or mentioned in a news report.

You’re thinking, hey, that was already known, so what’s your point?

It is the knowing how to get that free publicity. Depending upon your industry, the limited space and airtime the reporters have means a lot of companies are fighting for it.

To get a successful pr campaign you need to know the media. Trade journals are in a narrower field and require the writers of your release to understand the mix of each publication. Some publishers in narrow niches like case studies with the releases, or articles. Others prefer bylined articles, also known as white papers (in the tech industry).

The more general the media, the less likely they are in using your bylined or case study, without them re-writing it from their perspective.

To get favorable publicity, you need to stay in touch with the media, reporters, and publishers. This close relationship will pay off in the long haul of a campaign.

Most companies are not staffed to handle a full time pr person. For this reason, you would be best in hiring a pr agency, or a freelancer. The disadvantage to a freelancer, is they may not always be available when you need them

Now you can see that publicity isn’t free. Eventually you need to pay someone (an in-house person, a pr firm, a freelance pr writer) and then when you see in print or hear on the radio about your company or product, it becomes that free publicity you always hear about.

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Publicity Numbers Lessons

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Publicity errors

Ever wonder if the numbers that reporters publish about a sports figure, or political issue are accurate? Probably not. That’s because we pay money for magazines, newspapers so we can get information that answers our questions.

Well, it’s not always that simple. It seems that reporters, publishers are jut not as accurate as we would like to think.

I came across an article that talks about this issue. It seems a person named Richard Holden, who was a longtime editor at the Wall Street Journal, started collecting poorly presented numbers that showed the figures did not clearly represent the facts.

For example, in Carl Bialik’s article that I read, mentioned an article of a baseball manager was seeking his 1,000th career victory. Mr. Bialik went on saying that the reporter didn’t specify how many he’d amassed so far.

If you get a chance read the entire article by Mr. Bialik. He provides several examples that you can "play along" to see if you spot the errors.

What does this have to do with PR? Good question.

It means we tend to sometimes act too quickly to get that important message out to the media that we don’t stop and make sure our "information" is accurate.

Poor or weak information won’t get a reporters attention. And making numbers sound better than they are could get your publicity campaign the type of recognition than you do not want.

II strongly recommend you hire a professional PR firm. It doesn’t mean they are all mighty and cannot make mistakes, but it means another set of eyes and ears outside of your company might challenge your information for accuracy. And that can be the value when paying for outside talent.

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