– from Veer
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PRSA Sacramento hosted a very good media relations panel of four journalists from the Sac area. They were dropping knowledge that left me frantically typing notes into my Blackberry. As you could expect, many of the answers were very much the same as any other media relations panel. It seems interesting that all the do’s and dont’s would be the same from any area or country, meaning public relations professionals are making the same stupid mistakes all over the world.
Here are some of the best pointers:
Faxes – I’m not “in the field” yet, but I had no idea anyone still used such an archaic piece of mechanical equipment such as a fax machine. The panel was a bit torn on this one. A television journalist said she uses them quite often, and gave a few bits of advice for making them useful, another journalist said he will not even look at them.
“Your press releases are getting mixed in with offers for discount cruises. So don’t send them via fax.”
Shifting Spotlight – At any time, your secured PR piece of news can be replaced by a car crash, a fire, an unethical politician, you get the picture. There’s no such thing as secured news coverage. Sometimes things happen and your timeliness is gone. If this happens, one panel journalist said, don’t call five times to see if the news crew is showing up. Call once. If it doesn’t look good, make other arrangements or cut your losses.
Do Your Homework – Know who you’re pitching. Should I even go farther into this one? We all should know this by now. It’s sad to hear journalists repeating it. I’m sure the pace of the PR world gets the better of the best of us sometimes, but this one’s always important.
Stop in for a visit – This is something I’ve never even considered, but the a TV journalist suggested it as a way of relationship building. It would be especially useful for those who haven’t had journalism experience and need to get a good idea of how a newsroom works. The journalist also brought up the idea of sitting in on an editorial meeting or two to get. This would help you get a sense of how the publication or station chooses its stories.
Don’t attach releases
Memorize the important players in the media
Be compelling – Compelling stories are the most important. But it’s not always synonymous with important. You may have the most important news of the year, but if it’s not compelling or interesting, it might get passed on for a dog show. Always be thinking about what makes your story different. Be conscious of how much each publication gets (I’ll give you a hint: it’s a lot), and try to get to understand how each publication decides what’s compelling and important. This goes back to taking a tour and creating a relationship.
News conferences are not compelling–interviews are better
Consider other outlets – If a TV station passes on your story, try pitching it as a Web story as well. Many PR pros forget about the different ways news publications distribute news within the same publication.
Back up your information – Include Web links in your release, not to just your company, but other companies/organizations who support and corroborate your information. This will help the journalist conduct his own research.
Remind once – So you’ve got a big event coming up. Send one reminder call; make sure it gets through, and then leave it alone. Journalists hate being reminded five times of something they already know about.
Be in the know – Make sure you read the news and know what’s happening. If a big story breaks, it may not be the best time to pitch your story. Or perhaps it’s the best time to do so, but without knowing the news, you’ll miss the opportunity.
Send to multiple journalists – Giving your story to more than one journalist can work in your favor, especially if you give it to an editor. It will increase your odds. Just make sure you know the right journalists to send it to. [This one I am not sure about, because I have heard the opposite: that you should never send to more than one person at the same publication.]
What do you all think? Have any quarrel with any of this?
These are quite interesting. I suspect they depend heavily upon your area. Some press outlets in smaller markets are hungry for info on local businesses while newspapers/TV/radio in larger markets will want a real hook that goes beyond the “Mary Doakes was promoted to Vice President” or “International Widget rolled out its 100,000th widget on Thursday.” Knowing and cultivating press contacts is one that many of us neglect. I know I do.
This is never easy.