By Danny Sullivan
I read with interest Neville Hobson’s recent comments on PR spam and thought it would be worth raising on this blog too.
Simply using a list building tool to create a media list of over 500 contacts and then sending out every news release to the entire list is not going to yield the kind of results you or your client wants to see. And it’ll probably ensure you end up on a spam blacklist.
In addition to spending the time to actually research each media outlet and contact on your list for its relevance to your clients’ stories, you must also segment your media into the relevant subsets of interest that they represent. And the more granular the better.
While a major product launch announcement might have broad appeal across the majority of your media, it’s unlikely that a vertically focused piece of news is relevant to everyone. By segmenting your list down to focused groups of media with specific interests, you can ensure that you only target the media that will have an interest in your news du jour.
By Francis Moran
…until the reporter has turned off the mike, descended in the elevator, left the building and driven away. That’s what I teach executives when I do media training, but it’s amazing how tough a lesson it is to learn.
I have to admit I occasionally engaged in gotcha journalism when I toiled as an ink-smeared wretch, so I know how the game works. The reporter goes through her tough-but-fair questions and the interviewee responds, honestly but according to the script and messaging prepared so assiduously before the interview. (You did prepare assiduously before the interview, didn’t you?)
The reporter then starts packing up her gear and, ever so gently, in a manner that would make Columbo blush for his jack-booted incompetence, she asks just one or two more questions and the interview subject, relaxed now that the mike’s been put away, strays away from the script. Or maybe gallops away from it like a runaway horse.
So the perils of a traditional interview are quite clear. But they’re also quite easy to avoid with just a little diligence. Not so the scary new world of so-called “citizen journalism,” as this post points out. Anybody, anywhere can write anything and post it everywhere. So beware.
As a journalist, I reserved dirty tricks, if you want to call them that, for those who should have known better and from whom I was only going to get the truth if I defeated their legions of press secretaries and overseers. I like to think I subscribed to Pulitzer’s old dictum that the job of journalism is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and playing hardball was always part of my view of the latter.
As a blogger more interested in supporting my community of technology entrepreneurs, I don’t do drive-by interviews. I wrote previously about my operating philosophy of who I quote and how I seek their approval for doing so.
But just because I intend to be fair, don’t bet that everyone will be. So remember, the interview’s never over.
By Linda Forrest
In a perfect world, clients would have unlimited resources, in terms of both time and manpower, to devote to their PR program. In such a utopia, our jobs would be a whole lot easier, never having to put the governor on and being able to run with the PR ball in all directions… but alas, we live in the real world where this is just not the case.
In the real world, resources are constrained and thus the PR effort must by definition be limited. The program must be oriented, not only to meet budget considerations, but also to have the best effect on the client’s bottom line. Determining what that program will be and where to focus the PR effort is a considered process, one that I’ll go into in some limited detail below.
The first question that must be asked is who are you trying to reach, who is your market? Hopefully, you’ve long ago answered this question yourself and thus tailored your marketing efforts as a whole to speak to a particular target group, a group that may consist of both purchasing decision makers and influencers. Once you have a clear view of who you’re trying to reach, it then becomes about how you will reach them. With the media marketplace growing daily, it’s important to have the correct mix of both media channels (print, online, radio, television) and types of outlets, depending on your business (consumer-focused, horizontal trade publications, industry vertical outlets, etc.)
Most of our clients have target markets in particular industry verticals, such as healthcare, legal, or financial services. It’s also often the case that our clients work across a number of verticals, not just one. Then, the decision has to be made as to when and how much effort is put against the trade publications in these verticals.
If you have an established presence in a particular vertical, garnering coverage in trade publications – by way of news items, bylined articles, and most importantly, customer case studies – will affirm your success in this market. If you are looking to build your presence in the market, by the same token, coverage in these publications will speak directly to the decision makers in your space and perhaps get your solution on the short list when prospects are considering their options.
The other side of this coin is knowing when to say when. In the case of a client releasing a particularly sought after product that is perhaps first to market, you may find yourself with the happy problem of a lot of in-bound requests for interviews and contributed pieces. This interest from your media and analyst marketplace likely coincides with interest from prospective customers, partners and other potential revenue generating parties. Therefore, careful consideration must be paid to where and when you expend your PR effort. If the company spokesperson only has time for a few interviews, which ones will derive the most benefit for the company, will reach the most high-value audience? Is it the size of the audience that will generate the most benefit? Or is it the focus of the audience, the niche publication, that will really move the yard sticks for your organization?
Because we consider ourselves a marketing PR agency, our efforts are meant to ultimately help you sell more of what you offer. Your agency should work with your company to really learn about your business objectives and structure the PR effort accordingly. Coordination of all elements of the marketing mix toward a common goal will ensure best results and create good relationships between clients and agencies.
By Leo Valiquette
I came across a couple of interesting blog posts today about the trials and tribulations of being a writer, not to mention the trials and tribulations of those who must deal with writers without a firm grasp of what constitutes good grammar.
The first is on the Strategic Public Relations blog. I thought it summed up quite well the never-ending evolution of a writer. If you’re a writer yourself, or intrigued by the process of writing, the author is looking for comments on how to deal with various challenges such as writer’s block.
The second post deals with more nitty-gritty issues of grammar and the poor impression that is made on journalists and editors when PR practitioners fail to adhere to the finer points of style such as proper apostrophe use. Check out the post titled Quality is Job #1 on PR Squared.
For those of us who craft words into coherent patterns of thought for a living, it’s often easy to take for granted what others sometimes see as a cryptic, even magical process.
Sometimes it’s easy. Sometimes it’s not. Is there some magic formula, or secret sauce that stirs the creative juices? Not that I’ve ever discovered. It’s hard work, plain and simple, and the only way I know to get in the groove is to clear my head and get the oxygen pumping with some kind of physical activity, then sit down and focus. There are plenty of little things that can help. When writing fiction, sometimes I favour peace and quiet and classical music, other times I go for the background noise of a cozy coffee bar. But in the end, there’s no substitute for sheer willpower and something that drives a sense of urgency. (On the job, it’s amazing how much inspiration can be drawn from being on the clock with a deadline to meet.)
What often makes all the difference with those of us who write for pay, pleasure, or both, is the enjoyment of the craft itself, rather than whatever monetary rewards we can garner from it. Most of us are unapologetically word geeks. We like to play with words as the building blocks of a good story. Maybe that story comes in the form of a news release launching one of our clients, or a case study in a white paper, but it’s a form of storytelling just the same. In the end, what we are trying to do is reach out, capture the attention of, and strike a chord with, our target audience. Is that so different from what a fiction writer is trying to do?
And much like the case with good fiction, what we do is a product of both a writer and an editor working together to create a final, polished piece. It’s all about making a good first impression so that people focus on what you have written, rather than on how you have written it. (Editor’s note: This piece now makes a much better impression!)
By Linda Forrest
Where the tire hits the tarmac in public relations is when it comes time to pitch a story. All of the materials have been written, the stage is set, spokespeople are available, and the news release has been sent. It’s our time to shine.
There’s a reason that news releases clock in at about 750 words – there is a lot to say about the news item that we’re putting out. We’re adamant that hyperbole doesn’t make it into our clients’ releases, but even when we trim away the fat, there is a lot of ground to cover.
Regardless, we have but a few words to grab our target audience’s attention, whether in an email or in a follow-up phone call. Hence, my reference to Shakespeare in the title of this post. We make it or break it in just a few seconds – can we distill the key message of the story in under 10 seconds on the phone? What few words can we lead with in an email to increase our chances of a positive reply? Has the headline included enough detail to communicate the crux of the story? We work hard to ensure that this is the case because in today’s news dense world, our release is just one of hundreds likely to cross that reporter or editor’s desk on any given day; our phone call is just one of the dozens that they’ll field amid pressing deadlines and breaking news. While we are strong believers that every story has an inherent news value, the fact of the matter is that unless we can quickly and effectively communicate the story, regardless of the channel, we are not doing the best by our clients.
Is brevity similarly appreciated when it comes to blog posts? Today, I’ll have to hope so as I’ve got to get back to pitching.
